No More Apocolypse Moviesby Clayton Miller

Hello my fellow Christian Filmmakers. I cannot begin to tell you how appreciative I am for your participation here at FaithFilm.com. I’ve had many of you write and thank me for creating this site, but it is you who should be thanked. Without your participation, this site would not be such an asset.

I am not writing this article today to preach about how filmmaking is such a powerful tool that isn't being effectively used by the Christian community. I’m not writing to charge you with the command to "preach the gospel to all the world" through motion pictures. You know all of these points too well. I’ve read many of your own articles over the internet expressing these very ideas. I know that every one reading this article already has this message burning inside their soul already. And of course it burns inside of me as well.

As a matter of fact, a year ago I would have written about that subject. I thought at the time that I was the only person on the planet who had the desire to see the gospel preached through film. No one else I knew, either in church or my family, ever dreamed of the idea. So imagine my surprise when I first stumbled upon other Christian Filmmakers on the internet! I couldn’t believe it! "God, there are other people who have this same vision!?" Praise God! The whole time I was preparing myself for the mandate that God had called me to - He was preparing other believers with the same vision! How exciting!

No More Apocalypse Movies!

On this subject, I may get a few of you angry with me. I don’t mean to attack or offend anyone. And if you have an "end-of-days" story that’s already in production, then don't let my little article stop you from finishing. But just think about it - Think of ANY full-length quality Christian Film that’s been done in the past 5 years. Now what is the premise of the story? It’s the end-times!!

What is it with Christians and the end times?? Jesus didn’t want us to be consumed with thoughts of the last days! There is much more to our message than the "end of the world!"

I may be wrong, but Hollywood seems to have already gone through the "disaster & apocalypse" phase about three or four years ago with movies like, "Twister," "Armageddon," and "Independence Day." Hollywood seems to understand a simple philosophy that I think we need to understand as well. Never stay on one subject too long. The reason is that today’s audiences are too finicky. They get tired of it. I know I am.

My point is not to offend anyone. My point is: God has gifted us with a "creative anointing." The Holy Ghost doesn’t limit our imagination with stories of the apocalypse!! There are an infinite number of great stories just waiting to be told, on all kinds of premises. C’mon, guys! Let’s start giving Julia Robert’s romantic comedies a run for their money! Let’s start blowing people away with great suspense worthy of Michael Douglas! Let’s make a variety of great movies!! The good news of Christ can be told many more ways than just that one "end-of-the-world" way.

Writer’s, write!

Filmmaking is alot like the body of Christ. Paul explains in I Corinthians 12:12-31 how each of us in the body of Christ have different jobs. We can't ALL be apostles. We can’t ALL be pastors. Each member is important to the other members of the body. In the same way, we can’t ALL be Directors! We can’t ALL be Producers! Filmmaking is a BIG job. It takes alot of hard work. For an excellent film to be made, we need people in different areas of filmmaking who are excellent at what they do.

We need musicians who are excellent in their craft, who can give a film the score to make it into an epic. If you are gifted as a screenwriter, and have a passion for Christian films, don’t think once you write a great screenplay, you have to do everything!! God has gifted others as excellent directors and producers and cameramen.

My point is that only when we work together, allowing each of us to shine in our own particular calling, will we truly start making blockbusters.

I personally think that the most important calling in filmmaking is the calling of screenwriter. You can have the greatest "production value" and have a complete flop, if the script isn’t good. I don’t even want to touch a production until I know that the script is perfect. It is the most important step. I want to admonish any of you gifted with the gift of writing, to WRITE!!!! It is the most needed gift in the Christian filmmaking industry.

Conclusion

Finally, I want to express the importance of UNITY. Jesus said, "When two or more of you agree on anything touching heaven, it shall be done by your father in heaven. (Matthew 18:19)" There is power in a group setting. Why do the miracles of God flow in huge sold-out auditoriums? Because of the corporate anointing. God was very clever when He set up this spiritual law. He doesn’t want any of us to get too big of a head and think we can do everything on our own. Let’s keep working together. As we come together, pray and work hard, we will see this great vision of reaching the world with motion pictures come to pass.

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(c)2000 Clayton Miller. All rights reserved.