Who Needs an Audience?

As a kid I had the great talent of being able to walk on stilts. I could walk up and down stairs. I could walk around the block. And the best part is that I was the only child in my child-populated neighborhood who could do such a thing. But I always was “better and more talented” when I had an audience.

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An audience helps. Though it can be immensely terrifying, it can also be the source of energy. As a speaker one can “play off” the audience. As a teacher, one can see if the message is hitting the mark simply by watching the faces of the people in the audience. So for many reasons an audience plays an important part.

But when it came to filming, the audience became another sign of the faithfulness of God. It wasn’t that we were negligent when it came to selecting and gathering a film audience. We just did not have the time. The entire team was going ninety miles an hour just trying to take care of all of the details required to produce the teaching DVDs. And so we did the only thing we ever knew to do and that was to simply pray.

By now we were learning that prayer was not just talking into the wind but was a powerful tool that God had given us to unleash heaven to accomplish that which we could not do. We asked Him to bring us an audience and then we moved forward.

There were several times that we were shocked by God’s recruitment policies! The truth is we never figured them out but quickly saw that He had a plan and it was a good one.

The first time we saw His audience recruitment power was when we filmed the music video “Come on into the House” with Jennifer Carozza. We had secured the First Presbyterian Church in the historic part of Roswell. It was perfect and we were delighted that the church elders decided to charge us nothing for the use of the old chapel that dates back to the 1800’s. It was full of architectural details and great lighting that made it ideal for our purpose.

Jennifer was to perform but we needed a pianist, a bass guitar player and a drummer. Now they did not need to actually play the instruments because this would all be lip/instrument synched. Kelle and Shane invited his brother to play the drums (he really could play!) and her father to play the piano (he really couldn’t play!) and a wonderful man with long dreadlocks to play the guitar. He had at one time been an accomplished guitarist but because of hard living before giving his life to Jesus had lost some fingers necessary to play.

Now we also needed some back up singers. Again, Kelle came to the rescue and found two women and a man to “play act” back-up. So there we were…a mixed bag of folks from all walks of life wrapped in the love of Jesus relating to one another as sisters and brothers. It was an incredible experience.

By twelve thirty we were about ready. Cameras were in place, back up singers were practicing, the musicians were chatting and I was pacing. You see we had made a blanket invitation to be an audience at our Women’s Fellowship ladies a week before. “Please come if you can….” and then gave details like where to be and the most important part they had to show up before 1:00!!!!

I had little faith that anyone would have the time or the inclination to arrive for a two hour long film shoot. I knew our prayer team was praying. I knew I was praying. But no one was coming….. I mean NO ONE! I felt shame and frustration arise as I could see we would have to shut all production down if we did not have an audience.

Now to film this particular session with no audience would simply not work. They were an integral part of the whole music DVD. Twelve forty-five and there was not one person in sight. Ten to one and still no one. Seven to one and three ladies came strolling in. Five to one and we now had about ten folks….all women…all white women! One minute to one the heavens opened and we looked out to see a stream of folks coming up the side walk…women, men, children, black, white, old, young!!! The perfect audience! It was absolutely overwhelming!

And they did not just COME! They came to make a perfect video. They clapped, they laughed, they sang along, they did the same scene over and over until it was just right. They were wonderful. They were God’s audience and they did it all for Him

Indeed none of those who wait for Thee will be ashamed.
Psalm 25:3