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So first of all, thank you to the handful of people who have been uncontrollably supportive of my film endeavor. It's been a rapidly slow-moving journey, full of unexpected turns of events, frustrations, and victories, an age of personal growth. A sort of microcosm of the real world, the great moments being tempered by frustrations and difficulties. And now it's over. At least that's what I'm saying right now. Definitive statements have a way of biting me in the backside.
So I came back to AK to show "Bible Camp" in Anchorage again, the idea being that I heard from quite a few people who had been disappointed about missing the other showing, and wanted to make it available again. So I rented the Abbott Loop auditorium again, this time three months in advance, got a completely new poster/postcard/trailer idea (courtesy of Greger Wright and Jessica Clark), created a new trailer, updated the old ones, had posters/cards printed, and put together promotional packages for churches in the Anchorage area. The packages even has a DVD with the trailers, further information, and a clip from the film. It was another huge time investment, but well worth it since it would allow a broader audience to hear about it and come and support the film and ministry. Everything was looking much better this time around than the last, especially the timing, not at holiday time, not in conjunction with any major Anchorage events, and also during my spring break. The stars had aligned, and all was perfectly in line for beating my previous showing's meager 35+ audience.
Twenty-five people showed up.
I was pretty excited about the day, so at the time I was totally cool. People were generous with their giving, and I got more very positive responses from the attendees. I even pretty much broke even, so ultimately things went fairly well even from a financial standpoint. I knew, however, that for the next few days I would have a hard time thinking of anything but how disappointed I had been in the turnout. Was all the work worth it? I spent hours upon hours redesigning, calling pastors, burning DVDs, calling pastors again, scheduling, praying about it all, and 25 people showed up. That's what I knew I'd be expecting in the coming days. But it never really came to that.
I don't know where this sort of optimistic outlook on life has come from, but I honestly didn't perseverate on the downers of the small group I hosted at Abbott Loop. Sure there was a little disappointment that certain people didn't come, that there was far less support than I was expecting, but overall the exact right people showed up. Not only my fan-club of a group of friends, but some real key people in Alaska ministry, and some truly generous people whose giving was far more than I could have expected. Jack and Mary Lou Bacher later sent me a check which covers my Pioneers orientation fees, which is an astonishing blessing, certainly a miracle I didn't expect. The outpouring of love I received from the people there was incredible, and I consider it a privilege to have experienced joy from disappointment. I have more to say, but it'll have to wait for another blog. My further comments are of a less optimistic nature, a bit of chastising, so I'll save it for another time. But yeah, I guess I'm continuing to grow up despite my best efforts to stunt my own growth. Something like spiritual puberty, maybe. Oh man, there are so many mostly-inappropriate jokes I'm thinking about now. Uh, okay, so maybe not spiritual puberty... Uh, *voice crack*... [awkward pause] see you later.
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