Blog

Hey everyone, I know it’s been a good long while since I sat down and did an honest-to-goodness blog post, but I’m making a commitment to at the very least keep you guys updated with what’s happening and how we’re progressing on our many exciting projects. So consider this the first of many more to come on a regular, weekly-to-bi-weekly basis.

OUR PROJECTS
Furious Love Event DVDs
Our sincerest apologies for those of you who pre-ordered these at the Event back in April. We knew it was going to be tight getting these things out quickly, but we had no idea exactly how much work they would be! 11 DVDs, over 22 hours of content, and lots of things to fix already means a lot of time and energy, but when you add to that our insanely busy summer schedule of traveling to finish filming our Shamrock movie and Father of Lights, well, hopefully you can see why it’s taken us so long. But we’re working very hard to get them out so you all can enjoy the wonderful content. Right now, we’re looking at an October release, but again, I’ll keep you posted as we get closer to a firm date.

The Greatest Fight
This is our film with UFC great Ken Shamrock. We’re currently awaiting clearance to use all the UFC/WWF footage we want to use within the doc, and once we get that I can finish my rough cut and Braden and Matt can go nuts making it look and sound absolutely amazing. We like to think that we’re a company that is known for pushing the limits of Christian media, and this film is certainly going to do just that. I’m hoping for it to be finished by the end of the year, for an early 2012 release. Look for a trailer coming within the next month or so!

Anointed Fighters
Our first cartoon! We’re super close to finally getting the animation that we will then take into post-production and create music to, as well as some other fun stuff. There’s truly NOTHING like this out there right now, and if you’ve been waiting for a cool cartoon with a kingdom mindset for your kids, look no further! We’re getting stoked about revealing this one.

Father of Lights
The big one. By far our number one question these days is, “When will Father of Lights be released?” Unfortunately, we can’t pinpoint a date yet simply because we don’t yet know how it will be released. Columbia Pictures is interested in seeing if it, and there are a few other options we’ll be looking into for a theatrical release for this bad boy, but again, the bigger the release, the later in 2012 it will come out. We’re hoping to have that film finished by early 2012, and after that we’ll be showing it to the powers-that-be, and then we’ll have a clearer view of a release date. I know for sure that I’ll be taking it on the road on probably a 15 city tour where we’ll be showing it in VERY large venues, so keep an eye out for that next year. Again, we’ll work to keep you up to speed on everything that happens. We’ll also probably be asking for your help at some point!

So that’s how things are progressing. Braden and I will be heading to Israel next week for the final filming of Father of Lights, so please keep us in your prayer from Sept. 1-7. We want to end this trilogy with a bang!

More to come soon…

In case you haven’t heard, there will be another Furious Love Event in Harrisburg, PA on Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Registration is now open, so hurry to sign up before it’s sold out!

sign up here

We are currently putting together a short, 30 second teaser for Father of Lights, and in the process I had to sit down and write out everyone who will be appearing in the film. The list is pretty impressive! Mind you, this list of names isn’t everyone–there may be a few surprises left, and we also filmed a number of people who we can’t name yet, but this should give you a good idea of the caliber of leaders we will be jamming into this movie.

Bill Johnson
Heidi Baker
Jesus Culture (they will be writing the theme song for the film)
Mike Bickle
Lou Engle
Andrew Wommack
Kris Vallotton
Philip Mantofa
Greg Boyd
George Barna
Randy Clark
Robby Dawkins
Doug Addison
Todd White
Majed El Shafie
Andrew Farley
Jack Deere
Banning Liebscher
Shawn Bolz
Matthew Barnett
Shampa Rice
and many more…

Get ready, this thing is going to be epic.

The Furious Love Event is over, and by all accounts it was a smashing success. My crew and I are used to working long hours when we go places to shoot, but this was other level. When we got back home to Chicago, we took 3 days off and all felt like we had just come back from Africa–it was jet lag without the jet!

Many people have asked me to write an update explaining what the week was like, and I think I speak for most people who attended that writing, or even talking about what happened at that thing is hard to do because what happened was on such a deep level that words simply won’t suffice. If you were to look at the surface, you could say that many people were healed, encouraged, challenged, and set free. You could say we had a packed house every night, and the speakers brought their A-game every session. You could say 9 different speakers with various viewpoints and beliefs all came together in one heart to call the worldwide church to action. You could point out that many are telling us this was the single best, most impactful event they have ever been to in their lives. You could say a lot of things about it, and they would all most likely be true. But to try to explain to you what happened Saturday night, for instance, when Philip Mantofa brought a word of such simplicity to a crowd of die-hard believers, and then to try to explain how the Holy Spirit fell with such ferocity afterwards is to do the whole thing a terrible injustice.

When it was all over, I ran into my dad and Linda Piippo, the wife of the head pastor at Redeemer Fellowship, standing in the back of the church. She was crying, as almost everyone was at that point, and trying to compose herself. “I feel shell shocked,” were her words, and I thought those four words pretty well summed up how I felt when it was all over. The Event was a trauma to the system of comfortable Christianity and a world of excuses. It was incredibly fun and terribly stretching at the same time. I have never experienced anything quite like it.

I hate to say “you had to be there”, but this is one of those times when that’s pretty much all that can be said. My crew and I now have the long, hard task of taking 2 TB of footage and creating a mammoth 11 DVD series from everything we filmed. I can only hope that we were able to catch even a sliver of the power and majesty that emanated from the King all week. It was a holy time, and in some ways, it felt a little historic, especially on Saturday night. What Philip unleashed on that place, and indeed on America, was something to behold. My prayer now is that it will not stop within the four walls of that church in Michigan, or even the DVD players of the many thousands who will see it when we’ve finished putting it together.

For those of you who are wondering, the DVD series will include every session, plus the Q&A session (which turned out to be incredible), and an entire DVD from behind-the-scenes that I’m calling Viewpoints, where I ask each speaker many of the same questions in an effort to give as many sides to the hot button topics of the films as possible. It’s going to be great for small groups especially. We’re hoping to have that released by late May/early June, so bear with us in patience as we strive to create the gold standard of conference/teaching DVDs.

The movies I have made have both taken almost two years to complete from start to finish, and I have become somewhat comfortable with the process. There are a million moving parts at any given moment, but the time frame you have to juggle those parts makes it tolerable. Putting on this Furious Love Event (a little more than a week away) is an entirely new experience for all of us here at Wanderlust. I think at this point we’re just hoping we don’t fall flat on our faces and forget something important. I think God likes the fact that I dream big, but I also think He gets a kick out of watching me trying to go after that bigness. It’s like my 9 year old proudly announcing to me that she’s going to write a novel and her daddy is going to get it published for her. Okay sweety, lets see you write it first and then we’ll talk about reality. Sometimes I feel like God is just patting me on my head, inwardly chuckling at his crazy kid with his big visions filled with hope and change.

But I also believe God is the great enabler of big dreams and visions, so while He’s humoring me, He’s also rolling up His sleeves to help His kid out, and in turn, make the reality of my dreams far bigger than even I thought they could be. It all points back to the fact that I can do nothing without Him. Absolutely nothing. But with Him, in Him, and through Him, I can change the world–even as I bumble around in the dark.

It appears that the Furious Love Event is going to be one jammed affair, and I hope everyone who is coming is ready for a Holy Spirit blowout of epic proportions. We’re going to be filming like maniacs all week there, and, once again, I’m dreaming big in regards to the DVD series we’re going to create from it. 11 DVDs, tons of stuff from behind-the-scenes, extra teaching even attendees won’t be seeing, and a lot of fun. I’m famous for not being the biggest fan of conferences, so I figure if I’m actually going to put one on, then it better be doggone fun, and I’m going to try to capture that in what we film. It’s time for church to stop being so boring and serious. I’m sick of serious. I just want real.

We also recently got back from filming overseas in China and Taiwan for Father of Lights. While in China, we decided to make our mark on the Great Wall…

I guess when it all boils down to it, that’s really what we want deep down, isn’t it? To make our mark on the world, whether it’s the wider world or the one directly in front of us–we just want to feel…useful. The most depressing times of my life is when I wasn’t particularly doing much of anything for anyone. I think we’re hardwired for service, especially once we have become a new creation in Christ. As much as we want to just worry about ourselves, we never really feel fully alive until we’re outward focused. But of course, our culture isn’t big on worrying about others. Just do what makes you feel good, you gotta worry about yourself. I wonder if that’s why so many Christians are bummed out by the lack of their own lives. Why they’re constantly buying more books on what to do next, or how to get “more of God in their own lives”, as if what they currently have isn’t enough.

I would submit that we do have everything we need in Christ. If you’re feeling insignificant or downtrodden or depressed that you’re just a big, crappy Christian, that you must simply look up. Not to the sky, but in front of you. Who is there? Who needs you? Who needs to be loved? I don’t think you’ll have to look far.