When God tells you to do something, it’s a good idea to do it. And be prepared for war.
It’s not very often that I have a clear impression from God that He has something specific He wants me to do. For me, hearing His voice is usually more generic or obvious. (“You have some money—go buy that homeless guy a sandwich.”) I believe He speaks clearly, but I think I don’t always hear Him clearly because of all the noise and racket in my life.
On January 10,2004, it must have been very quiet. Or God was speaking very loudly.
Steve McEveety was the executive producer of Mel Gibson’s phenomenon, The Passion of the Christ. Steve was speaking at a men’s gathering early that Saturday morning at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Because we’d all heard stories in the press about the film, its controversy, and its realism and violence (guy stuff), the place was packed. In front was a man who was going to show us a clip and then tell us firsthand what it was like making the film. We couldn’t wait.
The chp was riveting and moving. I was stunned. Then Steve, in his quiet, unassuming, and still somewhat slightly mystified state, began sharing stories of miraculous occurrences during the filming which clearly indicated God was up to something: an epileptic girl was healed of seizures.. .a Muslim actor portraying one of the sadistic Roman guards who beat Jesus was
now a Christian...a production assistant was struck by lightning twice and is perfectly fine.. .a rebellious Mel Gibson experienced spiritual transformation.
In a moment I knew God was indeed up to something big— something I’d never seen before in my 30 plus years in the TV and film business.
I took a scrap of paper and quickly scribbled on it “TV doc. about changed lives from the film” and showed it to my screenwriter buddy Michael sitting beside me. He read it and then looked me in the eye, nodding with strong affirmation. He knew I was on to something.
After the meeting I chased down McEveety as he was walking to his car (a very Hollywood thing, but I had to). I shared with him my idea and told him I’d been invited to a special screening of the film that night with some potential investors (of which I certainly was not one). He thought the idea was intriguing and asked me to call him after the screening to let him know how it went.
The film was overwhelming. I was determined not to like it or be moved by it just because I had high expectations or because, for gosh sakes, I am a Christian. But it was incredible. I was speechless. And in an instant I knew that what God had told me that morning was exactly what I had to do: go find and tell the stories of people whose lives have been miraculously changed by an encounter with the living God through seeing The Passion of the Christ.
The next days were filled with a crazy rush to find a way to do this. The movie was coming out in a few weeks; the buzz was building. I needed to shoot opening day, and I knew there would be hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of people incredibly impacted by the film. We would need to find them, tell their stories, and get those stories into a documentary that I wanted on the air by Easter, a few weeks after the film opened.
What was I thinking?
A project like this would usually take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars—and I had neither that kind of time nor that kind of money. But when God tells you to do something, failure is not an option. So off I went. I felt as though I were running toward a cliff with a smile on my face and God was going to catch me when I jumped off.
Which He did, of course. But it was still the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
As a documentary filmmaker and journalist, I’ve learned to work very, very fast under really scary deadlines. I thrive in that environment, actually. So this would be another mad dash to the finish line. I’d surround myself with the best and fastest producers and crew I knew...and I knew a lot of them. Seasoned journalists, field producers, cameramen, soundmen, and editors who knew what I was looking for and would go get it, bring it back, slam it together into compelling television, and make it happen—on time.
And these were my friends. We’d dreamed of doing something in our business that really matters. Sure, we’d done hundreds
of stories for shows such as 20/20, Primetime, Dateline, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and The Today Show, but rarely did we have the opportunity to tell stories of people whose eternal destinies had been miraculously rerouted—and because of a movie! This was going to be great.
Oh, yeah.. .the money. TV is very expensive. We had crews flying all over the country with expenses involving hotels, airfare, rental cars, per diem, and equipment rentals ($1500 a day on the high-definition camera alone). Then there was editing, producer’s daily rates to put together the segments, original music to be composed, graphics, attorney fees for contracts and legal/business affairs, insurance...
So I did what any good American who owns a home does. I took out a second mortgage.
What was I thinking?
I’ve worked with Diane Sawyer quite a bit at ABC News. During the war in the Persian Gulf in 2003,1 shot all her stories. We spent some time in sealed shelters wearing gas masks while missiles possibly armed with deadly chemical or biological weapons exploded overhead. It was a stressful experience but good for building camaraderie.
Diane and I also spent several hours together at the Academy Awards in February. I’d agreed to work the Oscars for ABC before I had this crazy idea to do this documentary about changed lives, and we were deep into editing my show and were
shooting the last segments. I really didn’t have time for it, but I’d made a commitment to them.
Diane’s compelling interview with Mel Gibson had just aired on Primetime.
We had some down time on our shoot, so we had time to talk about the interview and about the TV special/documentary I was doing. She was particularly intrigued with a bit of technology I was employing that ABC had used in the Persian Gulf. I had received permission from Icon (Mel Gibson’s company), the theater, and the audience to take a night-vision camera like we used in the war into the theater and film people’s faces as they watched the movie. As far as I know, that had never been done before—certainly not in high-definition.
My camera captured lots of men and women crying or covering their eyes. Some jumped out of their seats (literally). Some sat in shocked, stunned silence. I could see transformation beginning to touch people right then and there. It was truly something to behold. I was quite emotional shooting it, and I felt that emotion again recounting the experience to Diane.
My tireless crews were in the field, trying to get from one city to the next under incredible deadlines. Luggage and equipment lost, flights delayed and canceled, critical interview subjects unavailable on the only day we can be in their city, dead-tired crews arriving at their hotel at midnight to find no reservations and no rooms available, a producer sent to one airport while the crew is waiting for her at another airport in another city. It was a circus of mayhem and I was the ringmaster,
working 18-hour days in editing, writing, directing the host segments, negotiating contracts and deals, managing interpersonal conflicts, carrying spare cell phone batteries to handle the 100 plus calls each day, and seeing my bank account being depleted like the gas tank of an SUV flooring it trying to make it up Mount Everest.
But we were getting terrific interviews, great footage, and truly compelling stories. When it all came together, the documentary was really firing on all cylinders. We knew this was going to be something special. And we weren’t alone.
Amid another frenetic afternoon an unexpected but welcomed phone call came from Diane Sawyer’s office. They were considering doing a piece about “Changed Lives” on Good Morning America and wanted to know if I’d be interested.
“Sure,” I calmly replied. I was calm on the outside anyway.
I went back to my editing tasks, thinking about the possibility of sharing these powerful stories about Jesus with a nation.
Two hours later my cell phone rang again.
They wanted me the next day.
“I’ll be there.”
I was doing my best “this is truly excellent but I’m going to ' act very calm as to not appear too excited” routine. After all, doesn’t God do miracles like this? Why should I be so surprised?
That night I finished editing around 10:00, drove home, and slept for three hours. A limo was scheduled to pick me up at 2:00 A.M. to take me to the ABC affiliate in Hollywood where I’d do the live interview via satellite. I’d shot dozens of these interviews for GMA, but this time the camera would be on me.
It was a terrific experience. They ran a clip from “By His Stripes,” one of the amazing stories you will read in this book. It is a story of prayer, miraculous healing, and God’s faithfulness, and I was the lucky guy who got to tell millions of Americans what God was up to—saving lives, transforming lives. And all because of a “coincidental” evening with Diane Sawyer a few weeks prior.
God was clearly up to something here.
Then we were hot property. The phone really started ringing. Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, was next in line. I was on that same night, running the clip of the resurrected baby story and talking about how God is changing lives through The Passion. Then CNN was calling, newspapers, the Associated Press, even The National Inquirer. The Crystal Cathedral called and wanted me for their internationally broadcast Hour of Power. I became an “expert” on changed lives, at least in their eyes. It was a role I was happy to fill.
God’s hand was clearly on us. The battle was terrific, and we were exhausted every day well before our work was done, but God’s strong arms held us up and provided everything we needed to complete our task. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, and the most rewarding.
Those two things seem to go hand in hand in my world.
Shortly after the show was finished, I had sent a copy over to Icon Films to get their approval for the film clips I had licensed to use in the broadcast version of our show. My phone rang around 6:00 p.m. It was Steve McEveety and Mel Gibson.
Having briefly met Mel once, 19 years ago, this conversation felt a bit surreal yet at the same time strangely natural. Our mutual excitement for the testimonies in the documentary and the amazing things God was doing through The Passion of the Christ turned what could have been a typical Hollywood, all-business conversation into a time of sharing between some heavy hitters and me.
For the next half hour we chatted about the various stories and what they liked most, what most moved them. Mel particularly liked the home videos at the end. He was curious how many stories were out there like the ones I had gathered.
“Based on our research, I’d say about 70,000.”
There was a pause in the conversation.
The gravity of such a number struck us all. Seventy thousand. And the film had been out only a few weeks.
“Yes, Mel, the stories are unending.”
This book tells just a few of those. They are true stories of real miracles. Real people who have been changed forever by the power of God through The Passion of the Christ.
The message is this: Whoever you are, wherever you are, God can reach into your circumstances and make everything new.
All it takes is giving Him a chance to do it.
Just be prepared to be surprised at what He does.
—Jody Eldred Executive Producer “Changed Lives: Miracles of the Passion”
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