Collide Magazine

Media From 30,000 Feet

Gary Molander - Originally posted Tuesday, May 26, 2009 -

There is a view of media from the ground level. Much has been written about this particular viewpoint. It’s the stuff that slams Christian creatives every day:

* What’s the best way to encode a video if size is the key issue?
* My pastor just had a brainstorm, and now I need to work all weekend. How do I stay creative and positive?
* How do I respond when staff members miss the weekly bulletin deadline?
* How can I add a click track to a video so the band can be in sync with it?
* Should I start a blog? Should I keep my blog when no one reads it?
* How soon should I be expected to get our church’s website updated?
* We need more volunteers. Who are they? Where are they? How can I reach them?

Everyday stuff. Challenges everyone in a media position will face. They’re all great questions, and they’re all from the ground level.

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But what happens when we jump into an airplane, and leave the ground? If you could free yourself from your unique daily challenges and expectations for a short time, and take a step up to see your ministry with the eyes that once launched your dreams in the first place, what would be there?

As we’re sitting on the plane, two courageous questions move us in the right direction:

Question #1: What do I hope to accomplish?

Ministering in any capacity—whether part-time or full-time—has a way of making us forget what we truly hope for. The daily urgent makes us forget our dreams. When we create anything, what are we hoping will happen to those who view our creation?

For me, every time I create a mini-movie for the church, I’m hoping that all who watch it will experience a stirred heart. There are reasons, but that’s for another time and place.

How about you? What are you hoping for? When you’re sitting in the airplane looking at your own creative heart, and you remind yourself of your hopes and dreams, what’s there? What has God spoken over and over to your heart?

Question #2: Is my behavior at ground level leading me into my hope at 30,000 feet?

I’m convinced that vision is not the key factor in realizing our deepest hopes and dreams. Neither are core values, mission statements, a talented staff team, or intentions. All of these things are important, and all play a part. But they are most definitely not the key to everything.

The one thing that has the power and authority to make or break our God-given hopes and dreams is ...

Our behavior.

Behavior at the ground level. The conscious decisions we make every day. The plans we execute.

Artists are great at having another new idea. But we can become extremely passive and scattered with the execution of our ideas, with consistent behavior that will lead us into our new idea. We can spew vision, mission, and intention all day long. But if our behavior and our plans don’t lead us into our hopes and dreams, then we’ll feel flat.

And we’ll question everything.

If the videos we create at Floodgate Productions do not stir hearts, I promise you that the answer can be found in the daily choices we make with regard to scripting processes, actors, locations, musical underscore, and other factors. The choices we make daily determine whether our deepest hopes are realized.

Or not.

So if you were to express your hopes and dreams for the stuff you create, and if you were to write it all down WITHOUT editing yourself, what would it say? What do you really hope will happen as a result of your labor? Be unedited. Smile. Cry. Cuss. Don’t worry about proper punctuation. Just answer honestly.

And, while you’re looking at your unedited page of hopes and dreams, will you have the courage to ask yourself: Is my daily behavior leading me into my hopes? Into my dreams?

If not, it’s time to change your behavior. Because your hopes and dreams will never go away.

They’ll just become a thorn of frustration.

Gary Molander lives with his wife and three daughters in Clovis, CA. Gary is the co-owner of Floodgate Productions, and leads worship at his church.