A summer of LIVE events

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.