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<\/a>A few months ago, I wrote about how I reluctantly submitted to God, crying on the floor, when I entered a church film fest<\/a>. Shortly after I wrote that article, I submitted to God so willingly and so instantaneously, I barely recognized my own voice when it happened. So, Part 2 of this evolving story is about 2 things:<\/p>\n It was late summer, and I felt pretty settled into this new church, the one whose iPhone Film Fest<\/a> I\u2019d entered in the spring. So far, I had submitted to God\u2019s call to enter a film, attend the festival, and meet the pastor for coffee. Then my son and I both submitted to His call to actually move to this church, called Reimagine Church, in order to support my husband because he liked it enough to go with us (he felt overwhelmed at our previous church).<\/p>\n Now, I felt the pull to serve at Reimagine. It\u2019s still a small start-up church, so there aren\u2019t a whole lot of ministries in place for me to choose from. Nothing seemed an obvious fit for me to jump into. So I prayed for an opportunity.<\/p>\n After church one Sunday, I fell into a typical, \u201cno-biggie\u201d conversation with the pastor, David Cobia. Basically, along the lines of, \u201cThat was a spot-on message, David. How do you manage to come up with these, David, you must have a great little film team.\u201d<\/p>\n You see, David\u2019s sermons are almost always pre-recorded mini-documentaries. They rather brilliantly weave together Scripture, local locations, local and Biblical history, and a mind-opening take on what this all means for our Christ-centered lives. These video-sermons are so effective, I really did assume David had \u201ca great little film team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, no,\u201d David answered, almost flippantly. \u201cI just write my script on Wednesday, go out and film with my tripod and selfie stick on Thursday, and edit on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n My jaw literally hung open for several seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s impossible,\u201d I finally retorted. \u201cI thought for sure you had a team to create these.\u201d (And if you want to see for yourself why I was so dumbfounded, check out this terrific example of a typical Reimagine Church video-sermon: \u201cConnections \u2013 Part 7\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d David began hesitantly. Then, sotto voce, he spilled the tea. \u201cActually, Coco, I\u2019ve been hoping that someone from the film fest might bubble up as the person who could start helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n I noticed that my hand was physically raised while I blurted out, \u201cI\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Wait, who said that?<\/p>\n I agreed to meet David for lunch that week. That\u2019s when he\u2019d tell me all about \u201cwhat he had in mind.\u201d It seemed like an awfully big deal just to discuss my assumed role of holding the camera on his video shoots. But OK, I was just pleased that God seemed to have answered a prayer of mine and a prayer of David\u2019s, and I was following along.<\/p>\n Over empanadas, David told me about a book he had spent the past 10 years writing. It apparently explored the intersection between creativity and spiritual formation. An intriguing topic, for sure. A part of me thought, But aren\u2019t we all \u201cwriting a book\u201d? And another part of me thought, And why is he telling me about this? This has nothing to do with being a cameraperson for his video-sermons.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to create a video-sermon to go with each of the 10 chapters, like companion pieces,\u201d David explained.<\/p>\n Yet another part of me thought, Wow, even more intriguing\u2026<\/p>\n A tiny quick bit of backstory:<\/p>\n 18 years ago, when I was on maternity leave from teaching, my husband, who was working in the film industry in Santa Fe, New Mexico, dragged me to a \u201cspecial\u201d Saturday industry meeting. It was \u201cso special\u201d that my husband refused to tell me what it was about; he wanted me to be surprised. Diaper bag over my shoulder, I was not enthusiastic.<\/p>\n The line in front of Santa Fe College was surprisingly robust. At least this meeting was popular.<\/p>\n The woman at the table at the entrance was asking each person a question and then handing them a packet from one of 3 piles. I strained to hear the question. I wanted to at least be prepared for my \u201cspecial\u201d turn\u2026 because I didn\u2019t know why I was there!<\/p>\n We finally got close enough for me to hear. The woman was asking which \u201ctrack\u201d you were interested in: producing, directing, or screenwriting. Oh, brother, how could I escape? But it was too late, it was my turn, and I answered with a completely convincing, \u201cI\u2019m deciding between directing and screenwriting.\u201d Clearly, I should have actually gone into acting because she handed me 2 packets.<\/p>\n I listened to the presentation for an outstanding new intensive program to develop New Mexico-grown producers, directors, and screenwriters \u2013 and I became one of the dozen inaugural screenwriters. It was such a valuable experience on so many levels. And God meticulously worked things out during that time of turning my back on Him.<\/p>\n The key thing to note for my Reimagine Church story is this:<\/p>\n In my mind, I would NEVER be a producer. Ever.<\/p>\n So, 18 years after deciding I would never be a producer, and 6 months after producing\/directing\/writing a short documentary for this church, and 20 minutes into a lunch meeting that I was still clueless about, David my pastor said, \u201cAnd I\u2019d like you to produce the video-sermons. You know, make them like mini-films for each chapter of the book. I really wish I could focus on delivering the content. So, I\u2019d really like for you to be the producer.\u201d<\/p>\n And somehow, I found myself grinning and giggling and wholeheartedly agreeing. Without a pause for even a fraction of a second, without a moment\u2019s hesitation, I said, \u201cI\u2019d love to!\u201d<\/p>\n Somehow, my previous sense of never-be-a-producer-self\u2026 never even crossed my mind. Somehow, to answer in such a way to God\u2019s answer to a prayer\u2026 came naturally and instantaneously.<\/p>\n And somehow\u2026 it made sense.<\/p>\n I realized pretty quickly that God had been preparing me all along. He provided me with screenwriting skills. He provided me with an assistant director learning experience. He provided me with leadership and organizational skills with an academic department chair job. He provided me with a husband in the film industry and many new and old connections to tap into.<\/p>\n Most of all, He provided me with a willing heart. Willing to submit. And it opened up an incredible experience that has already touched so many.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to watch the very first episode that I produced \u2013 made possible through God\u2019s provision \u2013 click this link and enjoy!<\/p>\n Jumping the Path, Episode 1<\/a><\/p>\n A few months ago, I wrote about how I reluctantly submitted to God, crying on the floor, when I entered a church film fest. Shortly after I wrote that article, I submitted to God so willingly and so instantaneously, I barely recognized my own voice when it happened. So, Part 2 of this evolving story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5118,"featured_media":1783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
What was happening (I thought)<\/h3>\n
Wait, who said that?<\/h3>\n
The set-up<\/h3>\n
But I\u2019ll never do THAT<\/h3>\n
The ask<\/h3>\n
What happened, really \u2013 AKA Part 2, really<\/h3>\n
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