No Need for a Machete Through This Jungle

Where do I begin?

It began in high school.
I had a small part to play in a community film project. A youth anti-tobacco campaign. We were spoofing the popular The X-Files TV series and I played the part of an informant, assisting the special agents on assignment against Big Tobacco.

I was bitten by the bug.
I wanted to “be in film.”
As a writer. Or a director. Someone who could control the story. I would produce stories that shed the Light of the Gospel to darkened hearts of men.

But that was high school. My dreams went bust.
In college I majored in Creative Writing and did not go to film school. Close, but no cigar, as they say. Instead I heard a still small voice: “You won’t have to machete your way through this jungle. Trust in Me.”

There were many false starts and promises. Plenty of opportunities to forsake the commandment to “have no other gods before Me,” and instead place my dreams in the hands of another besides God.

Rare internship opportunities at a Christian film studio in Hollywood. After that, another internship at a major film studio in Hollywood. Secular. Bigger. Better. More potential to “make it big.”

All the while, was I forgetting His words, “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled”?

In the end I returned to my original course. The one I had been inspired to take when I was a sixth-grader: To become a youth pastor.

I graduated college. Started seminary. Turned in applications to local churches.
I was slowly letting go of the False Promises of “making it big in Hollywood.” Instead, I was reclaiming my right as a child of the One who was born in a manger. Jesus peeled away the desirous things in my life that would only serve to distract me and drew my attention back to Him.

Painful as it was, I surrendered. I let go of the many machetes. And I held His Hands and allowed myself to be led by the One who had been through this Jungle called Life On Earth, two-thousand years ahead of me.

That’s when I saw…a website. It read:

“Marchiano Ministries…an exclusive agreement with IBS…to bring to film The Gospel According to John in the NIV…”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I had first been introduced to Marchiano Ministries when I was in high school, watching an infomercial about the film Matthew. I waited and waited for the prices to go down. I collected and collected what little allowance money I got. By the time I got a hold of the movie, it was already the late 1990’s and a new video format became available—the DVD. In the intervening time until I could afford to get Matthew, I picked up Bruce’s [Bruce Marchiano, the actor who portrayed Jesus in the film Matthew] book In the Footsteps of Jesus and soaked in the testimonies on set. Soaked in the love of Jesus so deeply experienced by this actor/missionary.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. John was finally coming to film.
I got so excited, I quickly drew up a kind of poster for John that I thought would look great on the MarchMin website to promote the new film project. I emaled it to MarchMin.

Wonder of wonders, a few days later I actually got a response from someone named Sharon, saying they really liked the poster and were interested in possibly using it.

We kept corresponding over email, as I was sending in different versions of the initial poster design, making adjustments per Sharon’s request.

Then, a strange, unbelievable email came from Sharon: “Can you send me your phone number, Bruce would like to meet with you.”

I met Bruce at a small family restaurant in Burbank, CA on a Saturday afternoon in mid-November of 2005. During our long 4-hour conversation about all things Jesus and all things Ministry and all things Film and all things The Salvation Of Souls, I heard a whisper of a reminder in my heart:

“You won’t have to machete your way through this jungle…just surrender your dreams to Me and I will bring you through into Kingdom adventure after Kingdom adventure…that you might glorify Me…You have waited for a John film from MarchMin for nearly 10 years. So has Bruce. This is a moment I have arranged. I planted a dream in your heart you couldn’t fathom, so you never even asked Me for it in prayer. But, this is a moment I have arranged. Ten years I had Bruce carry this burden to bring The Gospel According to John to film. Ten years it took for you, my child, to grow in faith. To deepen in your trust in Me. To come to a place of surrender where I could use you.”

And He still speaks.
After that first Saturday meeting, the next day, a Sunday, I preached in front of a group of thirty middle-schoolers. I am their pastor today.

This Journey With Jesus continues.

Jim Elliot, the missionary to an Amazon tribe, once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Maybe this is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Our journey into the heart of the Savior deepens as we pray and as we labor with the Holy Spirit to bring John to the screen and Jesus into the hearts of many.

This “John Blog” will chronicle that journey. If Jesus ever ran for President, I wonder what His campaign slogan would have been? Can I take a wild guess? “Pick Up Your Cross And Follow Me!”

Follow our progress, as I share our Journey-with-Jesus stories on Making The Film: The Official Blog for The Gospel According to John.