The products are currently being packaged to be sent to our shipping company, at which point we will be able to fulfill all orders.  Unfortunately, this final stage will most likely take the remainder of this week.  Once we have specific information on a shipping date we will be updating our website.

We do sincerely apologize for the delay and understand your frustrations.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us through email at contact@wanderlustproductions.net or by phone (847) 628-1142.

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…

sign up here

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.

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.

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…

The Great Wall of Wanderlust

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.

I’ll be posting production photos and video from our travels around the world while we make Father of Lights, as well as other fun announcements pertaining to all the films and projects we’re working on at the moment. For those of you who want an easy way to keep up with what we’re doing, this will be one of the best ways to do it. Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see!

In the meantime, we are gearing up for the Furious Love Event in Monroe, Michigan next month, and I want to encourage any of you who have been affected by our films to sign up for this Event. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime meeting, that’s for sure! If money is an issue for you, contact us and let us know. We want everyone there who is supposed to be there, everyone who is truly hungry for more of this limitless and wonderful God we serve.

I am currently in the middle of editing our next film, a documentary about UFC legend Ken Shamrock, and am about 1/3 of the way through the rough edit. It moves fast and will be a lot different from our first two films, which is exciting for us. I always want to push myself as a storyteller, and as just one example, have forbidden myself from doing any kind of voice-over for this film. We’ll be shooting some “narrative” inserts this Spring with my young son, Stryder, standing in for the boy Ken Shamrock, which should be a lot of fun. His big sister, the actress of the family, is already swimming in jealousy that her little brother gets to be in a big movie before she does!

For me personally, one of the most exciting events of late is the release of my first book, Filming God. You can pick it up right now in our store online, and it should start to show up in bookstores soon (request it if you prefer to get it the more “traditional” way). If you have ever wondered what it has been like over the last three years, traveling the world and meeting all of these people and seeing all of these things, then you’re going to love this book. I tried to make it funny yet powerful. It is, after all, my journey from skepticism to true belief. My hope is that it will both entertain and stretch you.

Look for more video blogs coming soon! And don’t forget to sign up for the Furious Love Event today!

Darren

For one, there is the pressure of expectation. No matter how much people tell me otherwise, I know there is a certain expectation that the next film must be better and more powerful than the last. It’s partly the reason I feel the need to end the story at Father of Lights. I only want what is genuine and real, and when you’re constantly trying to outdo yourself, then the theology you wind up pushing is one of greater and greater experiences. I don’t want to do that. I’ve seen too many ministries in silent competition of one another–if someone experiences this at their meetings, then someone else needs to experience something even greater. I don’t know if these “greater things” are legit or not, but I do know that mentality is a dangerous place to live.

The other pressure (a lesser one, but still something to give me pause) is the financial considerations I now have to make for each trip. Gone are the days when I just hopped on a plane by myself with a camera. Now I’ve got a crew, and a full-on production company to manage. To the world, these movies have microscopic budgets, but to us, they are enormous investments–and since the movies take so long to complete, there is that ever present weight of spending without any return.

So when I get on a plane now, it is with fear and trembling that the Lord MUST move while my cameras are rolling. Add to that the insane desire I have to allow the Lord to direct these things, and suddenly I find myself traveling to places I know very little about to film…what? Most of the time I don’t know.

Why am I writing all this? I suppose I’m introspective at the moment because I’m coming out of a week of being surrounded by incredible people with incredible wisdom, love, and Godly persistence. There is a holiness that has been tangible in every person we’ve filmed this past week. At the orphanage in China, with Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, Heidi Baker, and Philip Mantofa in Taiwan. I’ve said all along the movies I make are very personal, and Father of Lights is no different. This trilogy is my journey into the great unknown of God’s goodness and love. If I am not getting impacted, then no one will, because it’s my interpretation of what I’m experiencing that ultimately becomes the story you will see onscreen.

I guess I always have a sense, then, of what the impact will be for most people–what they will FEEL when they watch these movies, and I get that sense while I’m making them. It is my feelings that will ooze from the screen–simply by the very nature of the medium I’m choosing to tell these stories through.

With Finger of God, there was a sense of initial skepticism, which eventually led to a humbling discovery that God really does love me. In Furious Love, it was the initial shock of the war, followed by the deep understanding that love truly does conquer all darkness. For Father of Lights, at least initially, there is a real sense of the importance of holiness and love and how it can change the world. But for this journey, it’s not about head knowledge anymore. You’re going to feel what love feels like.

And what you feel will leave you speechless. I know this, because I’m writing now in an attempt to give words to what I feel. But I can’t do it justice, because the love of God made manifest in us is breathtaking to behold.

I can’t wait to show it to you.

My new book is now available for pre-order in our online store. I really hope you like it. I tried to write it with “normal” people in mind, tried to make it funny, breezy, and very accessible. It’s filled with some of the nuttiest stories you’re ever going to hear, including many that happened directly to me that never made it into the films. It’s a full-on behind the scenes access to the last four years of my life traveling the world, making these movies.

If you’d like to see whether or not I’m anything of a writer, there’s even a sample chapter you can download for free right there in the store. It’s the story about how everything started, including my wacky first encounter with an angel (a story, mind you, that I kept to myself for MONTHS because I didn’t want to sound like a total nut-job). The first time I stepped out and told it publicly was on Sid Roth’s program, and that was not an easy thing to do. But now I’ve seen far more than that, and I don’t really feel like a nut-job anymore.

It will be released on April 1, but it may ship sooner, so keep that in mind. And if you’re going to the Event in April, we’ll have a load of them there, of course, and I’d be happy to feel all weird and sign your copy if you’d like.

Enjoy the rest of our storewide sale while you’re at it! International Editions of Finger of God and Furious Love with multiple languages are coming soon, as well as a new Resources section of the website, digital downloads of the films that can be downloaded from anywhere in the world, and more video blogs, this time, from the field while we’re shooting. Check back often, because we’re ramping things up!