From the Land of Linkin'
I’ve been in the windy land of Oprah, hot dogs, and the Sears Tower since Wednesday, though I’ve actually seen only the inside of the hotel. I'm here for the Evangelical Press Association's national convention.
My intern, Katherine, is with me, and she booked the airport shuttle. When it picked us up at O’Hare, it turned out to be a black stretch-limo. Okay, so I should let her handle arrangements from here on out. We got treated like celebs and paid less than for a cab!
The speaker for the opening banquet was Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales and voice of Bob the Tomato. He lost it all in a bankruptcy, and shared humbly (and entertainingly) how he learned a lot:
. Bigger is not necessarily better. Having a lot of stuff actually slows us down today. The more fixed overhead limits creative opportunities.
. Look for a unique need that you can meet in a unique way. He saw biblical literacy as a need, and he put it in a form the whole family can enjoy. He now creates the “What’s in the Bible” DVD Series, which he describes as “The Muppets Go to Seminary.” He also has the Jelly Telly interactive web site.
. Listen to your audience over sticking to your ten-year plan.
. Ask yourself what you’re holding on to. Let go of your ego and outcomes.
Phil likes the jellyfish metaphor because a jellyfish can’t choose its own course. It gets carried by the current. He wants to be carried where the Spirit leads. His 20-year strategic plan and the miscasting of himself as “the next Walt Disney” got him off track. He told us, “Stress is not a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from holding too tightly.” He became a slave to his own dream.
Afterward we heard music by Nathan Tasker, an up-and-coming Aussie musician who has a new album releasing soon.
A few hours later, Provident Films provided us with a preview screening of "Courageous," from the same people who brought us “Fireproof.” “Courageous” is set to open in 900+ theaters on September 30.
I give it a “B.” The film is targeted to fathers and the need for dads to man-up and get involved with their kids. That’s truly a worthy message, and I went through a few tissues. Also, the action scenes were terrific. Yet in a few places the acting felt awkward, and talking heads delivered the message (telling) rather than showing.
Afterward I stood around talking with some young women who attended, and they felt it was a little heavy on the “take charge” view of fatherhood rather than the ideal of parents working together. Still, everybody gave it an overall thumb’s up and said they hoped men especially will see it.
The film was produced by a church full of volunteers with a $1 million budget. All profits go to outreach, like the 82-acre sports park they built in their community, where the church runs a sports program.
The first workshop I attended yesterday was on how the media affects your brain and way of thinking; the second was on the interaction between editing and media.
At lunch we heard from Steve Taylor. He’s producing the film “Blue Like Jazz,” based on the 
book by Portland, Oregon resident Donald Miller. (Taylor described Portland as “the place where young people go to retire.”)
The clips look fab. Taylor told us of the three fruitless years he spent trying to raise money to get the film made. As he consistently hit brick walls, he observed some frustrating trends in Christian media:
.It tends to be synonymous with “Safe for the Whole Family.” Nobody wants to fund something kids can’t see. Yet he wondered, “Aren’t we producing any content for adults?”
. We act like we think our audience is kind of dumb. And money is the tail that wags the dog.
. We lack appreciation for originality. Yet a true artist wants to be where originally is welcomed. Think of U2, Marilynne Robinson, C. S. Lewis, Veggie Tales, and Flannery O’Connor. Blue Like Jazz had no parallel when it was released. And it was a huge success.
Ultimately Taylor got funding when some quirky Miller fans set up an account on kickstarter.com, a crowd-sourcing site. Such sites are set up for the masses to fund creative projects. If the creator can raise the money, Amazon charges everybody’s account for their pledge, and it’s a “go.” If the project doesn’t get enough backing, nobody gets charged.
In thirty days 4,500 backers came forward, making this the largest crowd-sourcing project in history. Taylor credits this to a generation of Christians who want to create culture instead of mimicking it. Christian media, he said, is a place for truth tellers.
Believers tend to dislike satire and public critiques of ourselves because we don’t like to “air our dirty laundry.” But the truth is, we’re not airing laundry the world hasn’t already seen. And they like it when we examine/critique ourselves.
During the awards presentations that followed, I learned that the magazine I edit took first place in the single-themed edition category for our issue on immigration. We also received an award of merit for a photo on one of our back covers of a homeless woman with her dog.
After lunch I attended a workshop on raiding the ivory tower for article ideas/sources. When the breakout room for that workshop emptied out an hour later, about fifteen of us sat around discussing current events. Big topics were Rob Bell (Love Wins) and Osama bin Laden.
Last night we watched a preview screening of “The Mighty Macs,” coming to theaters October 21. The wonderful film, which I give an “A,” tells the story of Immaculata University's Mighty Macs, three-time National NCAA Women's Basketball champions from 1972, 1973, and 1974.
Tonight’s closing banquet brought piano music from Stanton Lanier, reminiscent of George Winston's style. And the speaker was Brad Abare, with churchmarketingsucks.com. We also saw a trailer for “Soul Surfer,” currently in theaters, and "Jumping the Broom."
I hear some people were joking that the organization needs to change its name to EFA—Evangelical Film Association.
Tomorrow we’re set to return to the airport in a Ford Focus. The ride is free. Still, I shoulda let Katherine make the arrangements, huh?