Where do we go from here?

The same question I've been asking myself since I got back from Faith Alive now has to be asked about this blog. I really enjoy writing stuff here, but I don't have much else to say. I mean, I do, but it doesn't necessarily relate to the topic of this blog. I guess what I'm getting at is the fact that I don't know what, if anything, you can expect from this blog in the future. If I decide to completely abandon it, I'll at least post one final message saying so. That just means you need to check in still!

One thing I would like to do is provide some links and more information about ways you can help. I'm at work now, so I don't have time for it, but that would certainly be a reason to come back.

Have a good day!

Happy Earth Day!

What you've been waiting for

Well, the moment that's been 2 1/2 months in the making. Really I guess it could said that it's been over a year in the making sense that's how long I've been looking for a project like this. I hope you enjoy it.

A Bittersweet Moment

The past 2 days have been wonderful. Hanging out with Dr. Chris and the other members of the January trip has really been a blessing to my spirit. The past week was a little stressful knowing that I had this deadline coming, but also with added projects at work. But after I completed the video late Monday night and got it out to DVD, everything immediately got better. Well, almost. I still had to make it through work yesterday, which was one of the most frantic days I can remember. But as soon as Dr. Chris came in to dinner yesterday, I felt an enormous sense of joy and relief. For the past month I have been working steadily on this video in anticipation of his arrival. I wanted everything to be perfect with the video even though I knew he'd be thrilled to have it in any form. So when he showed up, all the stress melted away. It was no longer a deadline that I was trying to meet, it became a chance to share my gift for Faith Alive with a man who has inspired me to take on this journey of video craziness. And then to have him compliment me, and thank me and tell Anna how appreciative he was for my work absolutely blew me away. I have so much respect and admiration for Dr. Chris, that those words of gratitude will probably sustain me for a long time to come. I must confess to that I felt very unworthy of his praise. Here is a man who has devoted so much of his life to helping the less fortunate, and yet he's thanking me for 2 months of work in my spare time? I guess I really can't explain the joy that brought me.

Tonight was when Dr. Chris spoke to our church. The turnout was very good, in my opinion. The sanctuary was probably at about 80% capacity. When he was here in November, the crowd wasn't even large enough to justify using the sanctuary, so I was very pleased. My video was shown just before his talk and it seemed to complement his presentation very well. I hope that it is a tool that he can use in the future, to help put faces to the stories that he shares.

So the bittersweet part of all of this is the fact that it's all over. My video is pretty much ready for mass distribution, Dr. Chris will be leaving tomorrow, and the Heart of the Father in Africa campaign will be over in the next couple of weeks. So what do I do now? I'm hoping that this video will open some doors for me to work for other non-profits in the future, but in the meantime I guess I'll just look for ways to pitch in as I can. I don't want this to be my one big contribution. I want to make a habit of it. Actually, I want to make a life of it. As hectic as the past weeks or months have been, they have also produced the most gratifying works I've ever made.

By the way, the video is encoding right now and I'll post it as soon as it's done. May God be with you all and please offer an extra prayer for Dr. Chris and the entire Faith Alive family tonight.

Refreshing

I'm not going to write much, but I just wanted to say that you should look for the Faith Alive promotional video on Thursday evening. Tomorrow promises to be extremely busy and I doubt that I will have a chance to post it. I showed it to a small group tonight comprised mainly of my fellow travelers, but it also included Dr. Chris. It was great to see him again. I have been looking forward to his visit since we left Nigeria in early February, and now that time has come. Tomorrow is his talk and I can't wait to hear him speak and hopefully pass along the passion that he has shared with so many of us, now.

Have a great day and may God be with you!

Burning the Midnight Oil

Okay, so it's not quite midnight. It's 11:36 to be precise, and I'm trying to finish up the intro graphic for the Faith Alive video. Stylistically, it is done and looks good. I based the design off of an idea that my friend and former co-worker, Dion, came up with. I just need to tweak a few things and it isn't the fastest process in the world. At any rate, I am nearing the end of this leg of my journey. I have mixed emotions about almost being done. On the one hand, it'll be great to have my life back to normal. But, on the other, I'm not sure how I feel about my involvement with Faith Alive reaching an end. Yes, there are other ways I can help, I'm sure. But basically since January 25 (and before), my life has been all about this video for FA, and now that's going to end. I kind of feel like I'm going to finally be leaving Africa. I've had daily reminders of the people and the sights and sounds of Jos, Nigeria for 2 months since we got back. Now, I won't necessarily have that. I'll have the videos and all the raw footage, but it won't be something that I have to open up and look at everyday. It's going to be weird. After 2 months of probably 60 hours of working on video stuff (between my job and Faith Alive stuff), I'm going to just have my work. I never would have thought this would be a problem, but I don't really see how all the momentum that's been building within me is just going to stop. Clearly I'm going to have to find another way to get my dose of giving back. Okay, my latest graphic preview is done. Let's hope it looks good so I can go to bed!

Thanks for reading! God be with you!

Progress

It's hard for me to believe, but I am actually almost done with the main Faith Alive video. I met with Scott (a pastor at our church) this morning, and he recorded the voice-over for me. And tonight I laid down his voice track behind my rough cut and synced up the video. It is looking really good, if I do say so myself. I'm meeting with Dion tomorrow to brainstorm some ideas for the graphics side of things, and then it'll just be a matter of polishing the video up. There are a few shaky shots that I need to replace and some others that are just too dark. Imagine that, filming people with dark skin in a dark room with little or no light, and I can't use the footage? All in all, this has really come together quite rapidly in the past week. I met Russ to discuss the script 2 Sundays back, and now it's looking like I'll have this done by Saturday night if I work a full day on it! I must thank God for the ease with which this has progressed, because I was starting to get burned out a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm once again excited about this video and can actually start looking down the road to what other projects I might take up. One that I am considering involves using this blog to showcase several excerpts from my interview with Dr. Chris. If you watched the last video I put up, then you know that he has a lot of compelling things to say. I feel like I would be doing the clinic and the world a disservice if I didn't share more of his insights.

Well, it's 11:00 and I can go to bed at the earliest time I have all week! Dr. Chris will be here next Wednesday and I'll post the video soon after that! Thanks for stopping by and God be with you!

An Interview with Dr. Chris Isichei

This video was composed for church to promote the upcoming visit of Dr. Chris Isichei. For those who may not know, Dr. Chris is the founder of the Faith Alive Clinic in Jos, Nigeria. He is an incredible person and I may post more video of him on here later on just to share some of his story and outlook with everyone else. He is truly an amazing individual, and I encourage any of you in the Fort Collins area to come hear him on April 16. It was his visit in November that lit the fire in me to go to Faith Alive. I still find his statement of "the greatest investment you can make is in human lives" to be one of the most compelling statements that I've ever heard.

Elim Private School

One of the core focuses of our church's post-Lenten campaign is support of Elim Private School. This is a video I put together to promote the project. Elim is in Jos, Nigeria and I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours there while at Faith Alive. The school's headmistress (principal) is also a volunteer at Faith Alive, specifically with the Sunday afternoon support group. Like most schools in Jos, Elim charges their students a minimal fee to pay for teachers and other supplies. I think a student's fees for a whole year are less than $300. If you are interested in supporting a student financially or learning more about Elim and how you can help, send me an e-mail and I will put you in touch with the appropriate people. For any educators who might be reading, this may be a good opportunity for a pen pal relationship. Who knows, but let me know if you're interested. Enjoy!