Don't Be Overwhelmed! by Michael Brown

We are about to wrap up our first feature film "The Calling." We had originally intended on doing a straight to VHS release. But God had other plans! In fact, that's how He started this whole process.

We had no financial backing for our film in December of 2000, but God had time and time again indicated this was something He wanted us to do, going back as far as July 1999 when I began writing the script. So my wife and I took a leap of faith, we got a loan and lived off it while I began pre-production. At the same time, my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer.

CAUTION: Don't step into the front lines of battle unless you're prepared to do battle!

Once again, I allowed "my way of doing things" to get in the way and spent a good deal of money on a lawyer that prepared an "Offering Memorandum" to properly court investors. We sent out 30 Offerings, not one person responded. Keep in mind, these were Spirit led people, very generous and wealthy!

Meanwhile, I had already gone through the auditions, I had talent about to purchase plane tickets to come here to play their parts and still had no money to go into production.

Two things happened that turned the tide, a friend of mine told me, "Don't look at the entire picture, just lay out exactly what you need, bare bone, to get it in the can." I laid out those figures and sure enough, with a small business loan, I could have enough to produce the film. Then my wife went to the Lord and asked if we should bail, His response turned the tide, He said, "Don't you dare!" That's all we needed to hear. Before I knew it, I had a crew of 12 coming from all over the country and we were in production on our first feature film at the end of May 2001.

By early July the production was completed except for second unit stuff. Now I just needed a $30,000 non-linear uncompressed editing system and software that's all. I paid my reseller $10,000 down to begin the process. Three weeks later, when it was to arrive and I needed the rest of the cash, our first investor stepped up to the plate and provided exactly what we needed to pay for the system.

So here we are in January 2002, the film will be mastered this month, and it turned out great, we're very pleased, but we have no real money to market our film. So the Lord put it on my heart to four-wall a local theater. We will be having our premiere February 28th 2002 at one of the newest theaters in the area, their largest auditorium, followed by a one week special engagement. We have (God has) 10,000 seats to fill.

None of us saw the entire picture or how this would all unfold. God has unfolded it page by page. Too often, we want to see how everything ends before we take the first step. That's not how God works, so we shouldn't try to work that way either.

As I stated at the WYSIWYG Film Festival in Ocober where we showed our trailer, Christian Film is a lot more about God than it is about industry. If we can remember that most important difference, than God can use us. We have to ask ourselves, are we doing this in our strength or His strength. We want His strength, not only because it's less painful and much more exciting, but because we must keep in mind, it's His anointing on a work that makes the difference.

I once watched a guy get up in church who couldn't sing a note much less keep a beat. He got up to sing a praise song. But you know what, God used that song so powerfully, it had people in tears. Now that's the kind of power I want all of our films to carry. AND IT WILL, if we honor God throughout the process and let Him have control. It's not so much what we know, it's who we trust, that assures us of victory!

Michael C. Brown
Testimony Pictures Corporation
www.TestimonyPictures.com
Shine as a light in the darkness!

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