I was recently in South Africa at the Mighty Men’s event with Angus Buchan. There were 2 things that particularly distinguished this event for me – amongst all the events I do. Firstly the sheer scale of it – 250,000 men in one place at one time ALL praising and worshiping God and secondly the fact that Angus had a heart attack in the middle of the event and no one quite knew what would happen next – very unusual for LIVE TV.
There had been a few Mighty Men events in the past and it was growing year on year – last year (2008) they had expected 20,000 and had got 60,000 – this year they knew it would be big – they planned for 200,000 and it certainly did not disappoint – conservative estimates put the attendance at 250,000 – all coming to hear a potato farmer!!
I was there for GOD TV who had decide to broadcast the 4 meetings LIVE across the network and I was responsible for overseeing the LIVE broadcast. We had a very nice, big OB truck, 7 cameras, 2 jibs and a full crew. Just to make life difficult they decided to hold the meetings in the “round” meaning that Angus was free to wander to all 4 sides of the stage and preach. This was the first time I had shot anything in the round and was certainly an interesting experience. The key thing for me was always having something other than the stage to cut away too – even a VERY wide shot so you could reframe and get a shot of Angus – having the 2 jibs proved invaluable in that.
Technically the shoot was in fact very easy, Angus’ ministry had put on a great event, very well organised and thoroughly professional. In fact as an aside ONE thing that I admired tremendously was that Angus has a policy that IF you are working for him you MUST be paid – he does NOT believe in taking a loan of people but instead insists on paying people what they are worth – how tremendously refreshing in Christian circles (maybe that’s why God continues to bless whatever he does). There were a few technical challenges, such as lighting an entire stage for someone to wander wherever they wanted and we had some minor issues with microphones etc. but generally all went well.
In fact, the biggest challenge technically speaking that we faced was communication with the outside world. When it came to trying to do satellite line up etc. our ability to communicate was a problem. 250,000 people in the middle of nowhere tended to overload the signal on the mobile phone network. Consequently it could take 15 or even more tries to get a phone call established and even when we did it could be cut off at any moment – that’s when you have to have faith in the people the other end – that they are getting on and doing what they need to do. Thankfully GOD TV has great staff when it comes to that and they were ace.
By far and away though all of the circumstances became nearly meaningless – the camping, the open air showers, (pictures above of the tents, OB truck and the showers.......) the fluctuating weather etc. all paled into insignificance when after the 2nd meeting Angus had a heart attack (well to be exact 2 heart attacks). This was certainly NOT in the script!!!
We were faced with a choice – do we continue broadcasting or do we stop and replace the last 2 sessions with something else? Well, firstly the response of the 250,000 men on site was magnificent. They didn’t get in their cars and leave – instead they held an impromptu prayer meeting to pray for Angus as he was airlifted to hospital. I was also in communication with Wendy Alec (GOD TV’s Director of Programming) who immediately instructed that we continue with the broadcast and start running a “scroll” to tell the viewers what was going on and encourage them to pray – which we did.
We continued with the 3rd meeting which ended up being more of a worship time and then went to bed that night with one more meeting to go – not knowing what would happen the following day.
Well, God came through. Angus was HEALED and whilst still not 100% in terms of strength – came back to preach a profound message on the last morning – I don’t think anyone could have stopped him. It was profound in that he had clearly been deeply impacted by his near death experience the day before and REALLY had something to say that I am sure impacted ALL those present and ALL those watching – me included!!
I think it would be fair to say that the fact that just over 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks Angus could get up and preach is a testimony first and foremost to the power of God BUT also to the man himself and his total commitment to the message and the mission that God has given him.
It was an awesome privilege to be there for this event and to be involved in broadcasting it to the world – time and again we heard testimony’s of people’s live transformed through the broadcasts and on site at the meetings and to see God come through with Angus in such a profound way and heal him was incredible.
More power to GOD TV’s elbow for doing this and also for Wendy Alec for being prepared to stick with it and see what God would do. What an amazing testimony to see what God can do when he gets hold of someone (like Angus) who is fully committed to Him and is prepared to lay down his life for the cause.
I truly hope Angus has many many more years preaching his message – South Africa and the world really needs it and to see the power of God work and someone 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks stand up and preach was amazing – GO ANGUS and GO GOD!!!
There had been a few Mighty Men events in the past and it was growing year on year – last year (2008) they had expected 20,000 and had got 60,000 – this year they knew it would be big – they planned for 200,000 and it certainly did not disappoint – conservative estimates put the attendance at 250,000 – all coming to hear a potato farmer!!
I was there for GOD TV who had decide to broadcast the 4 meetings LIVE across the network and I was responsible for overseeing the LIVE broadcast. We had a very nice, big OB truck, 7 cameras, 2 jibs and a full crew. Just to make life difficult they decided to hold the meetings in the “round” meaning that Angus was free to wander to all 4 sides of the stage and preach. This was the first time I had shot anything in the round and was certainly an interesting experience. The key thing for me was always having something other than the stage to cut away too – even a VERY wide shot so you could reframe and get a shot of Angus – having the 2 jibs proved invaluable in that.
Technically the shoot was in fact very easy, Angus’ ministry had put on a great event, very well organised and thoroughly professional. In fact as an aside ONE thing that I admired tremendously was that Angus has a policy that IF you are working for him you MUST be paid – he does NOT believe in taking a loan of people but instead insists on paying people what they are worth – how tremendously refreshing in Christian circles (maybe that’s why God continues to bless whatever he does). There were a few technical challenges, such as lighting an entire stage for someone to wander wherever they wanted and we had some minor issues with microphones etc. but generally all went well.
In fact, the biggest challenge technically speaking that we faced was communication with the outside world. When it came to trying to do satellite line up etc. our ability to communicate was a problem. 250,000 people in the middle of nowhere tended to overload the signal on the mobile phone network. Consequently it could take 15 or even more tries to get a phone call established and even when we did it could be cut off at any moment – that’s when you have to have faith in the people the other end – that they are getting on and doing what they need to do. Thankfully GOD TV has great staff when it comes to that and they were ace.
By far and away though all of the circumstances became nearly meaningless – the camping, the open air showers, (pictures above of the tents, OB truck and the showers.......) the fluctuating weather etc. all paled into insignificance when after the 2nd meeting Angus had a heart attack (well to be exact 2 heart attacks). This was certainly NOT in the script!!!
We were faced with a choice – do we continue broadcasting or do we stop and replace the last 2 sessions with something else? Well, firstly the response of the 250,000 men on site was magnificent. They didn’t get in their cars and leave – instead they held an impromptu prayer meeting to pray for Angus as he was airlifted to hospital. I was also in communication with Wendy Alec (GOD TV’s Director of Programming) who immediately instructed that we continue with the broadcast and start running a “scroll” to tell the viewers what was going on and encourage them to pray – which we did.
We continued with the 3rd meeting which ended up being more of a worship time and then went to bed that night with one more meeting to go – not knowing what would happen the following day.
Well, God came through. Angus was HEALED and whilst still not 100% in terms of strength – came back to preach a profound message on the last morning – I don’t think anyone could have stopped him. It was profound in that he had clearly been deeply impacted by his near death experience the day before and REALLY had something to say that I am sure impacted ALL those present and ALL those watching – me included!!
I think it would be fair to say that the fact that just over 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks Angus could get up and preach is a testimony first and foremost to the power of God BUT also to the man himself and his total commitment to the message and the mission that God has given him.
It was an awesome privilege to be there for this event and to be involved in broadcasting it to the world – time and again we heard testimony’s of people’s live transformed through the broadcasts and on site at the meetings and to see God come through with Angus in such a profound way and heal him was incredible.
More power to GOD TV’s elbow for doing this and also for Wendy Alec for being prepared to stick with it and see what God would do. What an amazing testimony to see what God can do when he gets hold of someone (like Angus) who is fully committed to Him and is prepared to lay down his life for the cause.
I truly hope Angus has many many more years preaching his message – South Africa and the world really needs it and to see the power of God work and someone 24 hours after having 2 heart attacks stand up and preach was amazing – GO ANGUS and GO GOD!!!
