Wow, what a summer it has been – I’ve been incredibly privileged to be involved in some of the best and biggest Christian events on both sides of the pond over the summer. These include The Global Day of Prayer, Frenzy, Ultimate Event, Onething Jerusalem and The Call – all in all, probably LIVE audiences of over hundreds of thousands of people and some of the most significant events to be shown on Christian TV!
So, what have I learnt through it all? Well firstly that God is alive and well and living on planet earth. Secondly that the younger generation (I’m 41 so getting a bit older to be considered the younger generation) are a passionate committed bunch and if you give them something to get involved with they will – all they need is a cause. Thirdly that to capture the moment when these young people worship God in abandonment is not easy but can be done and is incredibly rewarding both for you and the viewer – however there are a number of things you need to watch out for, be aware of and find some answers for (and believe me I don’t have them all)!!!
So, firstly lets ask the basic question – why do we film events such as these? Well it’s all about “capturing the moment” and taking them to a wider audience. These are significant happenings that should be brought to the attention of the body of Christ, for example the Onething Jerusalem event was the first significant spirit filled gathering of young Christians in the nation of Israel. It saw approx 1000 young Christians from Israel come together to worship God – let me put that in context if proportionally this had been in the US it would have been a gathering of over 100,000 young people so a substantial gathering. The Call in Nashville was a gathering of close on 70,000 people to pray and fast to see their nation change – again significant. Surely the role of Christian TV is to be there and capture these moments and take them to a wider audience – but why?
Well, there are a number of answers to that, but I guess the key issues are two fold, firstly to show what God is doing in the nations and encourage people that he can do the same wherever they are, and secondly to connect people – the bottom line is we believe in a God who transcends time and space so if we can connect people LIVE via television and bring them into unity, worship and prayer together is that not a powerful thing – I think so which is why I am thrilled at being critically involved in these programmes and gratified to be so.
OK, so what are the challenges associated with filming these kind of events and how do you try and find a balance to them:
1. To intrude or not intrude – these are personal moments where an individual is connecting with God and you are looking in and bringing the TV audience into that experience – how do you balance the sense of intrusion with needing to tell a story by showing what God is doing in someone’s life? I would suggest that these are key moments that as you want to show what God is doing you MUST show these moments – however it is vital that you don’t intrude on the person. So I always try and keep the cameras at a distance and do more using zooms etc. and try and be sensitive to what we show – so for example we try not to show deep emotional moments or what we consider to be things that are too intrusive – however clearly that is a balance and one that you as an individual HAVE to be personally happy with – other people may disagree with you BUT be happy to defend your position.
2. How do you capture what you can’t see? – bottom line is we can’t see what God is doing and yet that is exactly what we are trying to capture – so how do we do it? Well as I said I don’t have all the answers – BUT my take on it is essentially what we are trying to do is tell a story – in fact I believe all TV is about telling stories so we try and paint pictures and tell stories through the pictures that we capture and the moments that we commit to tape – always think about the viewer – what would I want to see if I was at home watching, and when – for example when there is a preacher preaching, why would I want to see irrelevant cutaways of people in the audience – NO rather show me the whites of the eyes of the preacher – let me connect with him!!! Don’t show me things that are irrelevant – always capture the moment and think of the viewer.
3. Voyeurism – now here is an issue we need to be aware of and find a way past – let me share a problem for you: generally speaking most of the time in Christian circles its females who most visibly respond to God so as a director or a cameraman you naturally chase the action – in this case usually females. THEN add to that you want to try and find “beautiful” people who look good on camera and I would say the average filmed Christian event consists of primarily cutaways of “beautiful” females. Now you don’t always notice this when you are filming BUT the viewers may – so you have to try and find a balance. So throw in plenty of cutaways of ugly women and ugly men as that way it will balance it out – its not a science BUT it does help to have it at the front of your thinking – of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!!!! The other option is to have female camera people etc. as hopefully then we’ll balance it out.
4. Having everyone on board and working together – I say all the time, its about teamwork – I want everyone to know and understand what we are trying to achieve and to have at the forefront of their minds what we are trying to communicate and to whom. It’s very important that everyone on your team is on the same page, that way you’ll all be working for the same ends – although admittedly that can be difficult when you are using freelance staff – for example in Israel we often work with freelance secular crews – but we also often find that their professionalism overcomes the issues of spirituality – so if you can’t find “anointed” crew, find professional crew – preferably find both!!!!
Capturing these events is certainly NOT easy BUT if we can get it right then these are moments in history that we can take to the world. It is our privilege as TV producers and directors to be there in these “moments” and use the skills and talents that God has blessed us with to bring these historic moments to the world – BUT we have a huge responsibility to the audience and the viewers to represent them at the event and be their eyes and ears and capture these moments in such a way that if we succeed they forget they are watching on TV and effectively are there part of the event.
Long may we continue to bring these moments to the screens of people world wide, and long may we continue to perfect our skills and talents to be able to do so.
Thursday 27 September 2007
Sunday 16 September 2007
Nine days of fundraising – hurrah!!
Now here’s a funny thing – why is it that you can tell people what God is doing through an organisation/ministry, you can even show them LOTS of fruit – changed lives, people getting saved, healed, set free etc. BUT it’s not until you tell them that if they “sow” money into that vision they will be blessed – their finances will increase, their family will be saved, they will be prospered etc. – that they actually put their hand in their pocket and give – WHY!!!!!!
That’s the question I have been wrestling with these last 9 days as I have been producing GOD TV’s Missions Week. GOD TV, the ministry that Rory and Wendy Alec started over 11 years ago has profoundly changed lives on a global basis- they have numerous testimonies of this. They started broadcasting 2 hours per day in the dead of the night on the Sky Analogue satellite in the UK (I know, I joined them on day 2) and have grown incredibly ever since to where now they broadcast to a potential audience of 125 million homes, 6 different 24 hour channels – on 14 different satellites, plus cable etc. Globally All this has been achieved through the vision and the drive of Rory and Wendy with very little help from LARGE investors, churches etc (though there is 1 man who has been an incredible financial support to them) – no one can deny what they have achieved – and yet it still takes an appeal to the selfish nature of the viewers to see the finances come in to fund this – and I don’t understand that.
I do wonder though if Christian TV has done this to itself. Have we created a culture in our viewers where they have become selfish – and if they don’t see something in it for themselves they won’t support it? If so then that’s very sad, but not surprising when you consider how prominent the “prosperity” message is on Christian TV. Now let me nail my colours to the mast here – I believe passionately that God wants us to prosper, I believe that God does not want us poor and in lack, I believe that God wants us to be prosperous for 1 reason – to release finances into His Kingdom for His work – otherwise we won’t be able to fulfil the great commission. BUT and I believe this is a big but – we are supposed to give out of obedience to His word – I believe in Tithes and Offerings (I also believe you can’t “out give” God) – but our motive for giving should never be out of what we can get from it – it should always be out of a motive of obedience. My Bible tells me that God loves a cheerful giver – not a selfish giver. It’s this I believe that is hindering Christian TV. Most of the time the “message to give” is tied into some “blessing” coming back – and whilst I believe this is true that if we give (from a motive of obedience) we will be blessed – every time it is said it reinforces the selfish motives of our giving – so much so that people now wait to hear what’s in it for them before they respond. But how do you break away from that and get back to sharing vision and people responding – in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?
I personally believe (maybe I’m naïve) that the answer has to be faith. Our Telethons, Missions Weeks, Fundraisers, call them what you will is NOT our source and supply – that is God alone and every time we look to our ingenuity, cleverness, maybe sometimes “manipulative techniques” to raise the finance we need, instead of to God himself we will always come up short.
My wife and I sometime back read the story of George Muller and were incredibly inspired (get hold of the book and read it) – put simply; here was a man who founded Children’s homes in the South West of England BUT he never asked anyone for anything, he never had an offering, never passed the plate round – simply when he had a need he prayed and God supplied!! Am I saying ditch our offerings, get rid of our Telethons etc. and instead lets go to our prayer closets and pray – categorically NO (though I for one could do with praying more) we must give people the opportunity to support our activities, we must “publish” the vision – it’s scriptural to do so and if you don’t you maybe denying someone an opportunity to get blessed through their giving? What I am saying is do them in full integrity – don’t try and manipulate people to give by offering them blessings etc. but lay out your vision and ask them to support it. But what happens when they don’t – that’s when the prayer kicks in – let’s believe that God provides all our needs – not our Telethons. Now here’s a wild thought – maybe if he doesn’t come through we shouldn’t be doing it anyway!! Perhaps then we can slowly break the cycle that has been established and slowly people will start supporting our ministries for the right reasons – not for what they are getting out of it but because they believe in what we are doing – I’d be very surprised if in the long term these type of partners were not far better for us than those who give out of more selfish motives.
Let’s tough it out and change how we do things, if we don’t I believe we are storing up big trouble for the future – ‘cause the next generation (the kids) don’t buy into this at all – if anything they are turned off by it and they need to be our future funders – but they do want a cause they can get behind, you only have to look at the success of the Make Poverty History movement to see that – let’s us in the Christian Media give them a cause they can get behind and support but do it with total integrity, no manipulative techniques, no promises of blessings – BUT just because its worth it and we can TOGETHER make a difference.
That’s the question I have been wrestling with these last 9 days as I have been producing GOD TV’s Missions Week. GOD TV, the ministry that Rory and Wendy Alec started over 11 years ago has profoundly changed lives on a global basis- they have numerous testimonies of this. They started broadcasting 2 hours per day in the dead of the night on the Sky Analogue satellite in the UK (I know, I joined them on day 2) and have grown incredibly ever since to where now they broadcast to a potential audience of 125 million homes, 6 different 24 hour channels – on 14 different satellites, plus cable etc. Globally All this has been achieved through the vision and the drive of Rory and Wendy with very little help from LARGE investors, churches etc (though there is 1 man who has been an incredible financial support to them) – no one can deny what they have achieved – and yet it still takes an appeal to the selfish nature of the viewers to see the finances come in to fund this – and I don’t understand that.
I do wonder though if Christian TV has done this to itself. Have we created a culture in our viewers where they have become selfish – and if they don’t see something in it for themselves they won’t support it? If so then that’s very sad, but not surprising when you consider how prominent the “prosperity” message is on Christian TV. Now let me nail my colours to the mast here – I believe passionately that God wants us to prosper, I believe that God does not want us poor and in lack, I believe that God wants us to be prosperous for 1 reason – to release finances into His Kingdom for His work – otherwise we won’t be able to fulfil the great commission. BUT and I believe this is a big but – we are supposed to give out of obedience to His word – I believe in Tithes and Offerings (I also believe you can’t “out give” God) – but our motive for giving should never be out of what we can get from it – it should always be out of a motive of obedience. My Bible tells me that God loves a cheerful giver – not a selfish giver. It’s this I believe that is hindering Christian TV. Most of the time the “message to give” is tied into some “blessing” coming back – and whilst I believe this is true that if we give (from a motive of obedience) we will be blessed – every time it is said it reinforces the selfish motives of our giving – so much so that people now wait to hear what’s in it for them before they respond. But how do you break away from that and get back to sharing vision and people responding – in obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?
I personally believe (maybe I’m naïve) that the answer has to be faith. Our Telethons, Missions Weeks, Fundraisers, call them what you will is NOT our source and supply – that is God alone and every time we look to our ingenuity, cleverness, maybe sometimes “manipulative techniques” to raise the finance we need, instead of to God himself we will always come up short.
My wife and I sometime back read the story of George Muller and were incredibly inspired (get hold of the book and read it) – put simply; here was a man who founded Children’s homes in the South West of England BUT he never asked anyone for anything, he never had an offering, never passed the plate round – simply when he had a need he prayed and God supplied!! Am I saying ditch our offerings, get rid of our Telethons etc. and instead lets go to our prayer closets and pray – categorically NO (though I for one could do with praying more) we must give people the opportunity to support our activities, we must “publish” the vision – it’s scriptural to do so and if you don’t you maybe denying someone an opportunity to get blessed through their giving? What I am saying is do them in full integrity – don’t try and manipulate people to give by offering them blessings etc. but lay out your vision and ask them to support it. But what happens when they don’t – that’s when the prayer kicks in – let’s believe that God provides all our needs – not our Telethons. Now here’s a wild thought – maybe if he doesn’t come through we shouldn’t be doing it anyway!! Perhaps then we can slowly break the cycle that has been established and slowly people will start supporting our ministries for the right reasons – not for what they are getting out of it but because they believe in what we are doing – I’d be very surprised if in the long term these type of partners were not far better for us than those who give out of more selfish motives.
Let’s tough it out and change how we do things, if we don’t I believe we are storing up big trouble for the future – ‘cause the next generation (the kids) don’t buy into this at all – if anything they are turned off by it and they need to be our future funders – but they do want a cause they can get behind, you only have to look at the success of the Make Poverty History movement to see that – let’s us in the Christian Media give them a cause they can get behind and support but do it with total integrity, no manipulative techniques, no promises of blessings – BUT just because its worth it and we can TOGETHER make a difference.
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