Christ-like

To lead by public opinion poll may be fine for Bill Clinton, but in the church the result (from James 1) is a double-minded man unstable in what he does.  A Disciple leads according to the Word.  (John 8:31-- Jesus says if you continue in my Word, then you really are my Disciples).

A church leader who is swayed by the more vocal gossip in the congregation, and not by any convictions he has from the Word, is that double-minded man.  If you want a large church, sure, you might need to lead by opinion polls.  Leading by the Word, will at times, make you unpopular.  So for the popular-minded-- you'll need to pick and choose which verses are suitable for your personal goals.

Years ago when I was in college, we were working on an evangelistic drama piece.  A church leader didn't like one of the actors.  He said he needed to be more "Christ-like."  Because he believed inaccurate gossip not handled scripturally (Matt 18).  Makes me wonder if he means Christ-like holding a cute little lamb?  Christ-like leaving footprints on the beach?  Christ-like running after the rich young ruler saying "just kidding, you can be my disciple just as you are, no need to change!"

Or could he mean Christ-like where Jesus insulted the gentile woman calling her a dog, or Christ-like looking in the chief disciple eyes and speaking to Satan?  Or Christ-like taking a whip to the money people in the temple? Or Christ-like where he told the rich young ruler what he needs to give up in order to follow Him, and then watched him walk away?

There's a huge disconnect here.  I hope my image of who Jesus is is based on scripture and not on church culture.  Of course, that would mean I'd have to actually read the Bible.

I'm just saying.

Been Away

For a period of time, I wrote this blog fairly regularly-- averaging every other day.  Sometimes as a blogwriter, I wonder what's the point?  Does anyone read them?  I wish I could write with humor and maybe not be so intense.  But that's not who I am.

What has been encouraging is all the emails I've gotten this year from people who have been going back through the archives and reading different entries.  I'm glad for that.  Not sure I'll write with the regularity of the past, but I might not quit cold turkey like I did last December.

I've been working.  Corporate and Commercial work has kicked up.  And suddenly a script I wrote 7 years ago has drawn some new interest.  Perhaps this fall we'll be shooting that movie.

In the meantime, the DSLR craze has renewed my own interest in shooting.  As a Director, more and more over the last decade I've been getting away from actual hands-on shooting.  This season has been one of falling back in love with cinematography.  I've really had a lot of fun going out and shooting the different projects-- be they corporate communications, a commercial spot, or even a music video or two.

I'm in the process of redoing the SFilms website and will probably post more often there on filmmaking techniques, leaving this blog more for the faith-based articles.

Vacation

I have taken a nice vacation from the blog.  With the holidays and work, focus has been elsewhere.  Business has picked up-- been doing more commercial work.  And we're hoping to keep moving forward on the next feature film.  Here's to 2011.

We're in the midst of moving our offices as well.  We're in the Studios121 building in Fort Worth, and are moving our suite to #211.  If you have us in your address book, might be a good time to change our suite number.

In addition to Deadmen's Red and 5D, SFilms has just gotten a 7D DSLR.  Right now, we're doing a corporate film documentary style and enjoying shooting two cameras for it (the 5D along with the 7D).  Perfect for giving edit points on interviews.

We'll probably schedule some more workshops and seminars for February and March.  We have gotten a lot of buzz for the screenfighting and will probably break it down by day-- one day for firearms, one for fighting, etc.  We'll limit the class size to make sure good hands-on time can be had.  More info soon on that.