Project-ed.

I got some stuff going on. It didn't really hit me until this week. I've been rather consumed with launching Reset and the Virtual Bible Study over the last few weeks. Now that those are in full swing, I can see what looms on the horizon. Honestly, it's all exciting stuff.

1. The Road to Emmaus, PA. We have been negotiating a contract with a sales agent in Los Angeles for a few months now to represent this film to distributors. We signed the contract this week and I'm looking forward to see where it ends up. There are three stages to making a film: conception/script - production - distribution. Each stage can take months or years. I think I enjoy the process so much because each stage is a different challenge. (As it turns out, I have a film in each stage right now, because...)

2. VCC 2010 Film Project. The follow-up to The Road to Emmaus, PA will be a narrative film written by Brad Wise. The script is written and we are revising it now. It's a comedy with a big heart and a true message. It will be the biggest project we've done to date as a church. As producer, I've begun looking for alternative ways to fund the project outside of the VCC ministry budget, but it will be a VCC production that we will connect with a teaching series in late 2010. We'll also be seeking distribution for the project on a wider scale.

3. On the personal front, I've had a poker-themed comedy film in various stages of pre-production since I was living in California. At one point, it had grown to a bigger Hollywood movie with name actors attached, but I've recently decided to finish it at a lower budget this summer. The working title has been "Hitting the Nuts: The True Story of the Scott County Series of Poker," but that may change. It is a "mockumentary" (Spinal Tap, Best in Show, etc.) surrounding the underground poker world in rural southern Indiana. I'm producing it through my production company, Rebel Pilgrim Productions. My plan is to shoot it on my summer vacation here locally and in Indiana. We just need a few more pieces to come together over the next several months.

4. Throw my book project in the mix and I've got plenty to think about. (I just received my notes back from the content editor this week.) I have about three weeks to get a revision back to the publisher. I have some decisions to make about the story and characters based upon their initial feedback.

This is all good stuff. I am in no way complaining. The strangest part is that I don't feel especially "busy" these days, just appropriately busy. I am committed to working on church projects on church time and personal projects on personal time. It's amazing to know that making films like Emmaus and the 2010 movie are part of my church job. What a blessing. It's also just like God to let my do some other exciting things in my other time. At some point about a decade ago, I asked God to let me build a career out of telling stories. I thought back then that I'd became an actor or writer or producer or maybe even a teaching pastor. Turns out, he made me all of them. I think maybe that's redemption. That's the way God answers genuine prayers. He starts immediately, but it takes us about ten years to see that he has been in the process of answering them the whole time.