Zeal for your house shall consume us

Hello friends,

I'm writing to you tonight not about Marbles, but about the project that has consumed the other half of my existence - a documentary on the Hollywood Church.

I'm writing to ask for your prayers because I believe that the success of Marbles rode mainly on the backs of your prayers . . . and I consider this documentary to be more important and further reaching in its impact for God's kingdom.

I started attending the Hollywood Church a year ago when it was empty and broken. I got to watch and participate as this group of people began to ask God to dwell with them; to ask him what his purpose was for them in Hollywood. And I got to watch God's Spirit fill the place and a true community, a true family -- a true church -- begin to form.

For the rest of this year I'll be editing 100+ hours of footage into 60 minutes of content that will tell that story.

At a time when "church" is often thought of as no more than an obligatory, compartmentalized, once-a-week ritual, I think the Hollywood Church's story desperately needs to be heard. The North American Division of the Adventist church will be distributing the videos online throughout North America as a resource to church leaders.

I need your prayers! Watching the Holy Spirit work is one thing; catching it on film is another! I think it might be possible to do the story justice, but I need him to guide me.

Participating in the formation of this community has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. The people at Hollywood have become like brothers to me -- my church -- a group of people who have covenanted together to live missionally in a certain place.

I feel like I'm using lots of superlatives in this email. Let me go back and check if they all apply. Yup, pretty much.

Psalm 40 is my prayer for the Hollywood Adventist Church.

Psalm 66 is my prayer for this documentary.

Thank you for being part of my extended church family,
Lotsa love,
Mel

p.s.
Kevin Ekvall and Brian Bazemore are doing similar projects at two other churches in California. Keep them in your prayers too (as long as you pray for me more... J.K.!)