Using film festivals to foster creativity

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The last two years I have attempted to develop volunteer teams to create media for our church.  The first two attempts I failed….mostly because we just met and never did anything.  We didn’t have a BAG (Big Audacious Goal) to propel our teams to something to truly strive after. Well this year we took a different approach and told our newly formed teams we would enter not just one festival but three.  The first festival we decided to enter is the 168 hour film race which is based in California but anyone can enter.  This race is really cool because they give you a bible verse and a week to write and a week to shoot and edit the entire short film.  In preparation for this our team shot a short film over the Christmas break and got familiar working together and using the equipment. This practice short was a good exercise to get comfortable with each other before undertaking something as big as the 168 hour film race.  Another thing we hope to do in order to prepare for this race is to do a casting call at our church, where we will try and recruit actors early on and see what kind of talent is really out there just waiting for us.  After we compete in the 168 hour film race our hope is to create and submit several short films into the Damah film festival and the San Antonio Christian Film Festival.

The thing about entering these festivals/races is that they all have a deadline.  Unless your incredible at setting deadlines for your non-essential creative projects….the likelihood they will ever come to fruition is very slim.  Another bonus to competing in these festivals is the aspect of working with a lot of people and developing volunteers for use in future projects. To me it really all amounts to stewardship if you think about it.  If God has entrusted me with gifts and there are people in our church that have gifts/abilities… than to just sit there is like telling God our gifts aren’t sufficient enough to tell His story.

May our churches be about creating stories that inspire others in and towards faith in Jesus Christ

May we be about pioneering stories not only in our churches but in our communities and cities

May we tell stories that change lives and strive for greatness in our approach

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