Movie Star

At the end of February, I had the amazing opportunity to be part of a video taping through Focus on the Family.

In our Focus Leadership Institute Alumni newsletter last December, we received an invitation to participate as students while Dr. Del Tackett taught the third set of lessons for TrueU.

For those who are familiar with the Truth Project, Dr. Tackett's name will be familiar. He taught that study of Christian worldview and society in a 12 lessons DVD-based curriculum intended for small group adult Bible studies. Now, a similar series has been developed for students in late high school and early college that centers on equipping students to embrace and defend their faith in college.

So far, two sets of lessons have been filmed and distributed. The first set addressed the question "Does God Exist?" and the second was "Is the Bible Reliable?" Now the third set will ask "Who is Jesus?" and will be available in October of this year. If interested, you can pre-order it here. (Though if you plan on using it for a Bible study, I would recommend doing Sets 1 and 2 first since they all build on each other.)

It was an absolutely amazing experience that left me feeling immensely blessed to have had the opportunity to participate. We had been previously told to bring around six different outfits for taping and I'm glad that some of mine were interchangeable and could be added to since we ended up doing about nine outfit changes, even if some were only minor (add accessories, change hairstyle, etc.).

It was refreshing and stimulating to sit as a student again under Dr. Tackett's teaching. I scribbled notes as quickly as I could while still keeping in mind all the instructions and cues we'd been given by the film crew. "Look Alive!" "Don't look at the cameras!" "Don't slouch or cross your arms!" Only half my brain could pay attention to the lesson since the other half was focused on not hitting my microphone (lapel mics that plugged into a wire on our chairs), staying alert, and not shivering too much (the room was cold!). The whole crew was great and the makeup/wardrobe ladies kept us looking good. I felt a little like a movie star! :)

I don't want to spoil too much of what the lessons are about but I will share two statements I highlighted in my notes that made an impression:

"We are offended by Jesus when he doesn't fit our image of what he should be." <<< We referred to this image as our "Jesus doll" throughout the study.

"We struggle with exclusivity [that Jesus is the Only Way] because we think too little of Jesus and too little of what he did." <<<Explaining why we tend to think we have to defend Jesus or give into a doctrine of "tolerance" which in fact demeans what he did and elevates ourselves in our own minds.

If you want more you'll have to watch the series when it comes out in October! :)

Believe it or not, this was only the first half of my trip that started in Colorado! :) Second half was a girls' weekend with my roommates from the Focus Leadership Institute in Dallas, TX...that deserves a post all to itself! :)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

P.S. This photo was taken and posted on the FLI Facebook page :) I'm in the front row in the bright pink shirt (also visible in the camera screen in the foreground). How cool is that!

Giving Back

Sometimes, an era in your life is so impactful that you can truthfully say that you wouldn't be who you are or where you are today without that time. FLI is that for me.

FLI is the Focus Leadership Institute. My semester there in the Fall of 2007 was the original reason this blog came into existence. I met some lifelong friends there, friends that have been willing to love me and call me out when necessary. I learned a lot about myself, God, my dreams, the kind of life God wanted for me, and His promises. It was a truly incredible time. And now, I would like to give other students that same opportunity.

This summer, FLI graduated their 50th class. To celebrate and help provide for the next 50 classes, they've been running a giving challenge to provide $50,000 to the scholarship fund for future students by September 1st. Alumni are allowed to create pages to help with the effort and I have done just that, setting my personal goal at $1,000. I've included some pictures on the page from my time at FLI. However, they have only raised 36% of their goal and there's less than 4 weeks left!

If you have a heart for college students and forming the next generation of godly leaders, please consider a donation to the scholarship fund at FLI (click on the image below). For more information on the Institute or to apply, please visit https://www.focusleadership.org/.

Click on the image to go to the Donation website.

Don't delay though! Challenge ends on September 1st, less than a month away! :)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan