{"id":605,"date":"2007-09-17T13:20:15","date_gmt":"2007-09-17T13:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/09\/the-man-who-sings-pt-2.html"},"modified":"2007-09-17T13:20:15","modified_gmt":"2007-09-17T13:20:15","slug":"the-man-who-sings-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/09\/the-man-who-sings-pt-2.html","title":{"rendered":"The man who SING(s), pt. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is my interview with John Scanlon, the man behind SING.
\nYou were a lawyer and a banker and you read a Washington Post article\u00a0
\nand a month later you were in Uganda. Huh?<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know, it sounds nuts!\u00a0 But here’s what happened.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nI was just reading the paper one morning when I came across the story of a little girl who was about to become yet another victim of Uganda\u2019s AIDS crisis.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nWe\u2019ve all read similar stories a hundred times before.\u00a0 But this one really planted a hook in my heart.\u00a0 I somehow just knew that I had to respond in a way that was more personal than writing a check or a letter to the editor.
\n\u00a0
\nAt first, I had no idea what form that response would take.\u00a0 But I showed my wife the story, and we agreed to pray together about the next step.\u00a0 She was the one who suggested there might be some connection to my longtime interest in film.\u00a0 And she was the one who discovered that there was a film school being held in Uganda two weeks later.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nLong story short: two weeks later, I was on a plane to Kampala, reading the manual for my new camera.\u00a0 Shortly after that, I was filming my first documentary, SING, in the refugee camps up north.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0
\nWhy did you make the leap? What the bigger obstacle – comfort or fear?<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Honestly, this call was so strong and so clear, it was something I just knew I had to do.\u00a0 Not doing it didn\u2019t really seem like an option.\u00a0 There was a lot of fear involved in preparing to go: what did I know about filmmaking?\u00a0 What would I shoot when I got there?\u00a0 Was I going to make a total fool of myself?\u00a0 What if I came back with nothing more exotic than a case of malaria?\u00a0 But I really felt like I had no alternative but to show up and see what happened.
\n\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is film a hobby? A calling? An unknown?<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

If those are my choices, I\u2019d say it\u2019s a calling into the unknown, where I am learning from scratch how to trust God every day that I walk down this path.\u00a0 And that\u2019s hard, because for most of my life I\u2019ve simply tried to figure it out on my own, based on what seemed logical and rational at the time.
\n\u00a0
\nThe closest analogy I can think of is to falling in love.\u00a0 When I saw my wife for the first time, it was literally love at first sight.\u00a0 I knew from the moment I laid eyes on her that I would ask her to marry me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really spend a lot of time worrying that she might say \u201cno\u201d (though I probably should have!).\u00a0 How do you know that you\u2019re in love?\u00a0 You just know that you know.\u00a0 Same deal.\u00a0\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0
\nIt is not a year later, your movie has just premiered on GodTV, have\u00a0
\nyou continued down the artistic path?
\n<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Absolutely.\u00a0 I am producing a feature film and have been working on another documentary about human trafficking.\u00a0 I\u2019m learning as I go that there are rhythms to the filmmaking process \u2013- films usually take years to develop, and these two are no exception.\u00a0 I have ideas for films all the time, and I am trying to be obedient to those creative leadings.\u00a0\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0
\nFor so many people there is this joke and this temptation to “give it\u00a0
\nall away and move to Africa to help the poor” is that ultimately a\u00a0
\ngreat idea? A good idea? A poor idea?<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

You know, my sister and brother-in-law did exactly that. They are in full time service as relief and development workers and missionaries in West Africa.\u00a0 We call my brother-in-law \u201cthe missionary MacGyver,\u201d because he seems to accomplish so much good with so few resources.\u00a0 He recently told me his secret: he simply does what God puts in front of him to do, every day.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nI think each of us has a responsibility to ask God, \u201cwhat do you want me to accomplish for You today?\u201d\u00a0 If we just do that, on a daily basis, we can\u2019t help accomplishing His purpose for our lives.\u00a0 Maybe that will take us to Africa.\u00a0 Maybe it will just take us into the lives of \u201cthe least of these\u201d in our own neighborhoods.\u00a0 Either way, what greater adventure could we ask for?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is my interview with John Scanlon, the man behind SING. You were a lawyer and a banker and you read a Washington Post article\u00a0 and a month later you were in Uganda. Huh? \u00a0 I know, it sounds nuts!\u00a0 But here’s what happened.\u00a0 \u00a0 I was just reading the paper one morning when I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-popular-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nThe man who SING(s), pt. 2 - J Walking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/09\/the-man-who-sings-pt-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The man who SING(s), pt. 2 - J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is my interview with John Scanlon, the man behind SING. 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