Vacation?

So, I have come to a realization: "there is no vacation from calling."  You can't just take a break and set down a calling.  I spent the last 12 hours at my church, alone in an attic video/store room.  "Why would you do that?" you might ask (especially when my main plan for while I was at home was to do things to reconnect with people).  The reason: Calling.  I am a filmmaker, it is what I do, make films.  So, when the opportunity to make a film comes up, I jump at it.  The project I was working on today (as well as the last few days) was making short fake commercials for my church's Christmas play.  This is one of the things that I have missed while in Australia, getting to be a part of these plays, they are always a lot of fun.  And its more refreshing than staying at home.  Through this I have discovered something interesting, that by following my calling rather than my planning, I have gotten refreshed.  And so I should restate my opening realization "Taking a break from calling (at least after only a few years) is not a good way to get refreshed."

Entry Home

So when I got back to the states something that doesn't often happen to me happened.  The immigration officer said "Welcome Back."  Now this might seem a small thing, but for a traveler that had been a year and a half away from home, it was amazing.  So way to go US immigration!  Way to make me feel like an American again!

Random Thoughts

So I was working on an update letter and while I was writing about needing prayer and I got onto a random tangent, and afterwards I was like "Wow, this doesn't go in an update letter, where can I put my random thoughts Oh yeah, I have a blog!" So here are some random thoughts that I couldn't just relegate to the trash can:
I need prayer, this next two years is not something I want to face alone as I have come to learn, God is powerful and I see more of his power when his people ask him to move. I think this is mostly because of what asking him does in ourselves, but the fact remains, mighty things happen when God gets involved. Pardon me for sounding possibly a little arrogant, but my time is too valuable to waste on small things, things that don’t matter, things that fade away, things that God isn’t doing, (by the way your time is also just as valuable). I want the mighty things that God does when his people ask. I am finding myself greedy for more, I am no longer satisfied with mere mortality and all its petty problems. There’s too much going on to not throw my hat into the ring. I want to discover new and unsearchable things. I want God! And nothing God does is small, and if He is with me then nothing I do will be either.

My Next Step

So, for a while now I have been praying about what is the next thing that God wants me to do.  My commitment here in Australia is now complete and I have several options.  One, is continuing here, making more movies, another is going home for about 6 months and trying to get film jobs to learn the craft better, and also to make some money, another is just coming home for good, and see what was available.  The option that looked the best to me was going back for about 3 months and working to raise some money and to reconnect with friends family and my supporters back home.  But the more I prayed about it the more I realized how much I like it here and how effective my ministry here is, and not just the filmmaking side of it.  We currently have 75 students on base (about the most there have ever been here at one time).  And, normally, in a situation like this I would seclude myself in my office and avoid even learning their names.  But something has changed in me, I want to get to know the students and to feed into them.  And I realized how much that the campus here has poured into and invested in me in the way of helping me to grow and become the leader that I now am.  I also started to see that the season is changing, the campus is done feeding into me, now I want to feed back in to the campus.  So, the thought I me being away from ministry here for even 3 months is just too much, I have decided to stay on here, renewing my commitment for another 2 years.  I will be coming home right before Thanksgiving and leaving right after Christmas.  Once back I will start to work on developing an internship that will follow the School of Digital Filmmaking.  The goal of the internship will be to help the students gain a better understanding of being a filmmaker, though continued involvement in the process of creating short films.  Along with that I hope to be able to help out in any way possible with the running of the Discipleship Training Schools, which are the core of YWAM. This may be helping out with the recording studio, coming along side the students or the staff encouraging them, or maybe even just helping to wash dishes in the kitchen.  But whatever it ends up being, I'm so excited to get be a part of it.

New Videos...Here Now and Coming Soon!

Setting up a shot on the set of Trouble at Big River

So as my descriptive blog title promises we have a new video up, well sort of new. Last year, as an in class exercise to teach the students how a set works, we shot a western that I helped to write with one of the other staff members. This video was called Trouble at Big River and became an instant hit around the campus here. You can view it on our website here. Since our students this year also needed to learn how a set works we shot it again.  Trouble at Big River '09 is now up on our YouTube site, its awesome you should check it out.

As the second part of my title promised new videos are coming soon. As part of the school we competed in a 48 hour film blitz.  The school broke up into three teams of three, with a staff member assigned to each, to help.  Each team had 48 hours to write, produce, shoot and edit a short film.  I ended up producing and directing.  It will be online sometime towards the end of October.  I'll let you know when its online.  It's called Half Dozen, and is a Fairy Tale in vein of the original Grimm Brother's fairy tales.  So get excited and look forward to it!

I have arrived!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3609812/
So, today I crossed a boundry, one of the most important rights of passage into film adulthood.  I have my own IMDB page.  For those of you who don't know, IMDB, or the Internet Movie Database, is a collection of pretty much every film ever made, it is the first and last word on all things film.  If you want to know who that actor is or what else they were in, IMDB is where you go. 
And now you can look me up, along side such greats as Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, and Ed Wood.  It is my declaration to the world: "I am here!"

New Experiences

So in the breif time since my last blog some interesting things have happened.
First, yesterday we had a massive dust storm. It is a very rare occurrence, and most of eastern Australia was covered in dust clouds that almost blocked the sun. You could stare directly at the sun without hurt to your eyes.  It was surreal.  Even inside you could see the haze from the dust.  Today it has mostly cleared up, but there is a thin layer of fine dust on everything.  Really cool to be apart of.
The second new Australian experience, that I took part in yesterday, was eating kangaroo for the first time. Our speaker this week is Kevin Miller, the writer of "Expelled" with Ben Stein, and he wanted to try some.  So we went into the city and had a Roo-becue.  It was surprisingly good, I had been told that Kangaroo wasn't as good as beef, but this was very flavorful and tender.
So those are my new experiences. Cool.

First Half of the SDF

Acting on the set of "The Cleaner"

Ok, so remember when I said that I would be updating my blog more often? Yeah…so anyway, the past month and a half has been busy. The school started and has been amazing! The students started out really strong, and really wanting to learn. I have been very impressed by their progress. A little while ago they shot some class exercises, two genera projects, a film noir and a horror film. They did a really good job. They are up on YouTube if you want to take a look.
The Death of Johnny Tightpants
Moonlight (contains some intense/graphic scenes)

Last week they shot their first short films, 6 films in 9 days. They are very tired, the last few days were all over 16 hours of shooting. But they have done a great job. Along the lines of that, my main role for the week was that of driver. But, for two days, I was able to take off that hat and put on the acting hat, the star acting hat. I played a janitor trying to keep his bathrooms clean. It gave me a lot more respect for the craft of acting, and I learned much more about how hard it is. And not just lines, lines make it easier, most of this film was action driven, with only a small bit of dialogue. It is so hard to stay focused pretending that you are enjoying cleaning a bathroom. It was so far from my normal character. There are heaps of pictures on our Facebook page. Check them out!

So, that’s about it from here. Please be praying that we can get rest, since this is a very intense school.

One week down...

So, the first week of the school is done. I taught all week, including a last minute workshop (which I was glad to have, there's so much to teach!). I taught on using a camera and the theory behind it as well as sound and lighting. There was a lot of teaching, but most of it I taught last year, so the notes were already written. But I'm still glad to be through it...mostly. One of our students was having some visa issues and has only just been able to come, and all this week I'll be teaching him the stuff I taught last week. After that I will be (hopefully), settling into a routine of essay grading and leading movie discussions. I still have a few class sessions I will be teaching on editing, but that ages away, almost 4 weeks.

Hiking Cedar Creek

So I went Hiking Monday up a creek, Cedar Creek to be precise. It was a great day of relaxation fellowship and exercise, I have needed something like that. It's been years since I have done something like it, no trails, just slippery rocks and trees. There were no other people near (except the few people I was hiking with). The total trek was about 4-5 hard miles.
At one point during the journey I a couple of logs on a rock that had recently been a fire. There were still some coals and I was able to get it burning. so we had a (very) small fire while eating lunch. We also went up a tributary and then cut cross-country back to the small tributary (it was supposed to be back to main stream but due to the lay of the land, we ended up back at the smaller one), through some thick underbrush. Fires, rock climbing, scrambling cross country and a bit of a challenging hike, all the things I like to do when out for a day in the woods. What a great day!
I have more pictures of the Cedar Creek on my Picasa web album.

Loose ends

So, I finally finished our storage closet, all painted, the equipment put in, and the electrics all wired up, yea! I'll put some photos up later. Plus, the school is getting a new camera and that should arrive tomorrow and it makes me happy. Also tomorrow I am going on a hike up Cedar Creek with some friends which should be a lot of fun. And once I get some photos I'll put them up. That's about it for now

Yea for completeing things!

Rerecording dialogue for "Pie Shop"

So, I just finished the two-week training course I was taking to learn how to better gauge student's progress. I also just finished the second part of the 18 month course I am taking as part of what I'm doing here to learn how to be a better leader. I was an amazingly freeing experience to turn in all my homework that had been a source of stress and worry every time I thought about it for the last 3 months. I now have a three day weekend, and I'm going to spend most of the first day of it working, but it is finishing some cabinets and shelving I have been building in our storage closet. I have been working on this project for a long time (my original blueprints are dated August 28, 2007), and it's almost finished. Yea! It's a great feeling finishing things isn't it?

We need prayer!

Me on the set of "Pie Shop" which was shot while my parents were here

These past two weeks have been some of the most intense of my life. I am just about to finish a training course in Australian assessment requirements (it gives you the tools to tell if a student is learning). In addition to the course I still have things I needed to get and do for the school. This is not what has put me on edge. It has been the fighting for my school. I can't remember praying this hard or with this much intensity for anything before. But it seems to be having little effect outside of me, we have had three students who had been completely accepted to the school drop out for various reasons, and it feels like a kick in the chest. I know God is working but even though I haven't met those students (except through some Skype conferences) I am deeply concerned for them missing out on this opportunity. And that is the effect of the intense prayers on me. It has caused me to invest into the lives of these students, and to truly care and feel for what happens to them, and I love it. It's not often we get to see growth in ourselves, but this was an amazing example of it for me. When I think about where I was two years ago when I first came to Australia (it shocked me when I realized how long it has been). I begin to see some of God's reasons for bringing me here.

From my blog title this should come as no surprise. The SDF team here is in need of much prayer. Please pray for me often. We are all exhausted and have had all manner of problems that I can only call spiritual warfare. There is a full gamut of heath and visa and finance issues for both staff and students, students losing passion for doing the school. I don't understand it except that we know God is behind us, so Satan is against us. God must be planning something big.
Specific requests:
Passion in the students for the school
Health and Rest for the staff team.