On the set of “Rogue Saints”

Yesterday, Karen and I spent the evening hanging out on set at Lake Sammamish Church with some very fun and very committed people. Rogue Saints is a film that bills itself as “the greatest church diamond heist, romance, comedy, drama, adventure you’ve ever seen.” The director, Adam Lubanski, grew up in Redmond and attended Redmond Assembly. He’s been involved in film making for quite a while, especially in doing motion graphics for films such as Transformers 2, G-Force, Charlie’s Angels, Swordfish, Eagle Eye, Hancock, and more. He recently directed iWitness, a short film that was selected as a semi-finalist for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

We first connected to him when he asked if he could use our building to shoot the trailer for the movie last summer. That trailer got them started and helped raise awareness of their project. Now they are getting close to finishing the actual shooting. Karen has been taking still photos for them at several of their shoots. And I was the “pastor on set” last night.

What we especially like about these guys is the attitude. I talked with several of the cast and crew and realized that almost every single one of them was a volunteer. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a cheesy basement production. They are people with real talent. Just check out the teaser on their website (http://www.roguesaintsmovie.com) to get a feel for how good it’s going to be. But this film does not have a major production studio behind it – what drives it is the pure love of the art and the love for God. This really excites Karen and me. We are longing to see God using people in the creative use of the arts. (One of our dreams is that CCA could become a center for community theater… but that’s another story!)

It was invigorating to be around a group of people who are so excited about what they’re doing. It reminds me that God is the author of passion – and that he’s the farthest thing from boring!

If you’d like to get involved, they still need a ton of extras for a shoot this Saturday. You can sign up on their website. I hope you do.