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Stab Alley
by Kirk Cameron
Last week’s shoot took place in downtown Los
Angeles. I drove through one of the worst parts of my
own city that I had ever seen. The streets were lined
with hundreds of homeless people living in tents and
makeshift plastic huts. I later learned that this was
just around the corner from an area called “Stab
Alley” (a very dangerous place in LA, known for
stabbings). Fortunately, our call time was very early
in the morning, so most of the residents of the area
were still sleeping.
We shot in an upper room of a 100 year old warehouse
used to process wiping materials out of discarded shirts,
trousers, and blankets. Our set was a wonderfully weathered,
old brick room- perfect for our 1st episode entitled,
“The Firefighter- The Case for Evangelism”.
This episode is so important because it will be the
“pilot” (the starting episode of the entire
series) and we will be using it to represent our vision
to the TV networks, CBA, and all potentially interested
partners. It seemed par for the course to have the electric
company working on a crane life just outside our windows,
fixing a power line and making that “beeping”
each time we tried to roll our cameras, making it impossible
to get our shots done. We were off to a late start,
and only had the room for 9 hours, so we had to make
up time during by doing less takes.
With a laptop computer and a slide projector, we had
flames of fire as part of our backdrop while we spoke
about how we, as Christians, are like firefighters rescuing
people from burning buildings. We must take no thought
for ourselves when it comes to seeking the lost, “[saving
them] with fear, pulling them from the fire, hating
even the garments spotted by the flesh.” (Jude)
What a sobering message this was. We also had to complete
two more episodes titled “Stealing” and
“Lying and Coveting”. We had our work cut
out for us. But with God’s help, we did it.
During a much need snack break, Ray lifted a box of
bottled water off of a tabletop (which was balancing
the entire table’s contents of fruit, granola
bars, chips, etc.), causing the whole table to flip
up into the air, spilling everything onto the floor.
Instead of getting upset, everyone just laughed, because
they knew this was very normal for this New Zealand
kiwi. In fact, his book Comfort,
the Feeble-Minded is a documentation of all
the ridiculous mishaps that have occurred in the world
due to Ray Comfort being in the room. He is chronically
clumsy and things like this always seem to happen whenever
he is nearby. So, if you happen to see Ray Comfort walking
down the street, hold on to your chips and run the opposite
direction!
We brought in Burger King for lunch and took some burgers,
fries, and drinks to the homeless families living in
the tent village behind our warehouse. They were grateful.
We finished up our work for the day, completed all three
episodes, and went home. What a blessing to be working
on a program that could impact millions for the Kingdom.
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