Here's a clip of Francis Chan saying the Lord's Prayer in Chinese.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
BASIC Follow Jesus
The second film in our BASIC Series is Follow Jesus. It's probably simplest yet most powerful film we have made to date. It starts out as a film about how to follow Jesus. As Francis unpacks the story we get the point pretty quickly. Figuring out how to follow Jesus is pretty easy. Jesus was pretty clear on what to do - love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, give to the poor.....we know what he said. The problem is, most of us don't actually do it. We identify ourselves as "Christians" but we don't actually follow through.
Now that may sound a bit harsh, but I ought to know because I am one of those people. I grew up a Christian. Went to some great churches all of my life. Attended every week and for most of my life more than once a week. That did not mean however that I actually tried to live my life as Jesus instructed. Why do I that? Why do we do that? Why do we think that we are following Jesus when we don't do what he said?
Francis goes on to point out the words of Jesus. What did He mean when he told the disciples that follow Him would not be easy? That they might be hated for doing so? What did it mean when He said there is a narrow road that leads to life?
Ultimately the question is not HOW to follow Jesus, the question is WHY. What did Jesus mean when He said "not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said that in order to find your life you have to lose it. That's not always an easy message to learn in our American culture. We have everything we need (compared to everyone else on the planet). Why would we want to lose our lives to follow Jesus? Because He is the way, the truth and the life and because He is worth it.
Making this film helped us remember that our goal here at Flannel is not to try to market Christianity as something cool, easy and fun. It's simply to tell people the way of Jesus in a beautiful powerful way.
Frankie is a new friend of mine. He is much like me. He thought he was following Jesus, attending church, even helping others understand the teachings of Jesus. After watching Follow Jesus however, he had to stop and ask himself if he was truly following or if he was going through the motions. He had to confront a habit that plagues "Christians" as much as it does others; pornography.
Do yourself a favor and watch Frankie tell us his story.
Now that may sound a bit harsh, but I ought to know because I am one of those people. I grew up a Christian. Went to some great churches all of my life. Attended every week and for most of my life more than once a week. That did not mean however that I actually tried to live my life as Jesus instructed. Why do I that? Why do we do that? Why do we think that we are following Jesus when we don't do what he said?
Francis goes on to point out the words of Jesus. What did He mean when he told the disciples that follow Him would not be easy? That they might be hated for doing so? What did it mean when He said there is a narrow road that leads to life?
Ultimately the question is not HOW to follow Jesus, the question is WHY. What did Jesus mean when He said "not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said that in order to find your life you have to lose it. That's not always an easy message to learn in our American culture. We have everything we need (compared to everyone else on the planet). Why would we want to lose our lives to follow Jesus? Because He is the way, the truth and the life and because He is worth it.
Making this film helped us remember that our goal here at Flannel is not to try to market Christianity as something cool, easy and fun. It's simply to tell people the way of Jesus in a beautiful powerful way.
Frankie is a new friend of mine. He is much like me. He thought he was following Jesus, attending church, even helping others understand the teachings of Jesus. After watching Follow Jesus however, he had to stop and ask himself if he was truly following or if he was going through the motions. He had to confront a habit that plagues "Christians" as much as it does others; pornography.
Do yourself a favor and watch Frankie tell us his story.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Fear God
The first film in our BASIC series with Francis Chan - Fear God - was introduced a little over a year ago now. It was an exciting time for us at Flannel. We had set the bar pretty high with our NOOMA series and knew the expectations would be high. We relish that. We want our films to have an impact and we want them to be beautiful. We hate to see films that are labeled "Christian" and then poorly done. We strive to make each of our films better than the one before. So the launch of Fear God was important to us.
Fear God is the first of seven films about the Church. Having started a church and watching it grow over the years, Francis found himself asking questions about what he and his church had built. The Church in Western culture has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades. In a broad sense, the Church has been shaped by our culture. Many of us have become reluctant to speak about issues that are uncomfortable when it comes to Church. In many cases, church has become an event or a concert. It's where we go once a week to recharge the batteries. It's almost like a concert: highly produced, professional, prompt.
But when we look at the first century Church, we see something much different. We see a group of people that is like family. They live their lives together with a common purpose. It wasn't a once a week event. In talking through all of this with Francis, we realized we both shared the same observations. We both were noticing a trend were the church in some cases has drifted to the point where many people may be interested in Jesus, but not the Church. Any yet He set up His church for us! How can we think that we want Jesus but not His church?
The problem is so endemic, that often we are almost embarrassed to talk about how scripture describes God. So for example, Solomon said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. In fact, the fear of the Lord is discussed over and over in scripture. Today many people feel like that is old school. We can't say that anymore because it may turn people off. So if we must talk about it, we water it down and decide it means respect, not fear.
So in making Fear God, we were looking for a metaphor, that would illustrate that fear actually means fear. There is a beautiful thing that happens though, when one reaches this point of fear. We gain a perspective of who God is. We learn that once we fear Him, He then tells us to fear not. This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. He is God and we are not! This simply realization is transformative. We are hopeful that the visual metaphor used in Fear God helps to show that the fear of the Lord actually leads to life.
Fear God is the first of seven films about the Church. Having started a church and watching it grow over the years, Francis found himself asking questions about what he and his church had built. The Church in Western culture has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades. In a broad sense, the Church has been shaped by our culture. Many of us have become reluctant to speak about issues that are uncomfortable when it comes to Church. In many cases, church has become an event or a concert. It's where we go once a week to recharge the batteries. It's almost like a concert: highly produced, professional, prompt.
But when we look at the first century Church, we see something much different. We see a group of people that is like family. They live their lives together with a common purpose. It wasn't a once a week event. In talking through all of this with Francis, we realized we both shared the same observations. We both were noticing a trend were the church in some cases has drifted to the point where many people may be interested in Jesus, but not the Church. Any yet He set up His church for us! How can we think that we want Jesus but not His church?
The problem is so endemic, that often we are almost embarrassed to talk about how scripture describes God. So for example, Solomon said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. In fact, the fear of the Lord is discussed over and over in scripture. Today many people feel like that is old school. We can't say that anymore because it may turn people off. So if we must talk about it, we water it down and decide it means respect, not fear.
So in making Fear God, we were looking for a metaphor, that would illustrate that fear actually means fear. There is a beautiful thing that happens though, when one reaches this point of fear. We gain a perspective of who God is. We learn that once we fear Him, He then tells us to fear not. This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. He is God and we are not! This simply realization is transformative. We are hopeful that the visual metaphor used in Fear God helps to show that the fear of the Lord actually leads to life.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Francis Chan - BASIC Series
Early in 2008 the board of directors of Flannel met to plan for the future. For years we had talked about who we are as an organization. Flannel has always been an organization dedicated to telling the world the way of Jesus in creative ways. We wanted to serve as a catalyst to a number of speakers who were great communicators whose mission aligned with ours.
NOOMA was accomplishing our mission in a tremendous way, but that second offering just did not happen. We got close several times, but never quite got there. At the meeting in 2008, we decided to get very serious about making it happen. We started with a list of individuals who we thought might work. We met with A LOT of potential speakers, but nothing seemed to gel. After months of this, we decided to take a completely different approach.
We began to think about the "what" as opposed to the "who". We came up with about a page of criteria outlining the qualities the type of individual who would be well suited. High on the list was authenticity. We wanted to find someone who lived their life in such a way, that it was obvious that teachings of Jesus was so real to them that they actually lived their life in such a fashion that there could be no doubt. Honest, real, committed 100% to Jesus.
A year into the search, I was talking to a friend about the "what" (as opposed to the who) and she said "Oh that's Francis Chan". I had never Francis, but had seen a video he did a couple years earlier called Just Stop and Think. I contacted Francis and he agreed to meet. We met a number of times and the result is what we now know as BASIC.
Francis tells more about how this came together here http://support.flannel.org/category/news/basic/
So here we are in 2011 and five of our BASIC films have been released. God answered our prayers and we did find someone who loves Jesus with every fiber of his being. We are honored to work with Francis on BASIC.
NOOMA was accomplishing our mission in a tremendous way, but that second offering just did not happen. We got close several times, but never quite got there. At the meeting in 2008, we decided to get very serious about making it happen. We started with a list of individuals who we thought might work. We met with A LOT of potential speakers, but nothing seemed to gel. After months of this, we decided to take a completely different approach.
We began to think about the "what" as opposed to the "who". We came up with about a page of criteria outlining the qualities the type of individual who would be well suited. High on the list was authenticity. We wanted to find someone who lived their life in such a way, that it was obvious that teachings of Jesus was so real to them that they actually lived their life in such a fashion that there could be no doubt. Honest, real, committed 100% to Jesus.
A year into the search, I was talking to a friend about the "what" (as opposed to the who) and she said "Oh that's Francis Chan". I had never Francis, but had seen a video he did a couple years earlier called Just Stop and Think. I contacted Francis and he agreed to meet. We met a number of times and the result is what we now know as BASIC.
Francis tells more about how this came together here http://support.flannel.org/category/news/basic/
So here we are in 2011 and five of our BASIC films have been released. God answered our prayers and we did find someone who loves Jesus with every fiber of his being. We are honored to work with Francis on BASIC.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Ed's Story - It Ain't Over
A few years ago now, Ed Dobson came to visit us at Flannel. He had an idea for a series of short films that discussed his journey since being diagnosed with ALS. The meeting was somewhat surreal for me. A few years before meeting Ed, I was diagnosed with Leukemia. Sometimes in life, an event comes along that forever changes your perspective on things. Ed has an expression he uses: "All of our days are numbered, it just doesn't mean anything until you hear the number."
Ed is right. Unfortunately, most of us forget about our own mortality. We tend to worry about the things that don't really matter and forget about the things that do matter! When you "hear your number" everything changes. Ed has a perspective on life that is sharpened by his own circumstances. Ed's perspective is one that all of us can benefit from. Ed's Story is a story of hope.
Please watch this first short film in our new series with Ed. If it speaks to you, please pass it along to a friend. Help us spread some hope.
Ed is right. Unfortunately, most of us forget about our own mortality. We tend to worry about the things that don't really matter and forget about the things that do matter! When you "hear your number" everything changes. Ed has a perspective on life that is sharpened by his own circumstances. Ed's perspective is one that all of us can benefit from. Ed's Story is a story of hope.
Please watch this first short film in our new series with Ed. If it speaks to you, please pass it along to a friend. Help us spread some hope.
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