Late Evening Ramblings of a Tired True/False Volunteer

True/False Film Fest 2010 - "Miniature City" from Boxcar Films on Vimeo.

So it only took me a little over four years as a Columbia resident to figure out that the True/False Film Festival is pretty darn cool. This past weekend Janice and I were neck deep in the festival, and we had a great time.

Before this weekend if someone were to ask me about True/False I really would have no idea how to answer. I never had any idea just how engulfed our city becomes with the True/False madness, but after experiencing it for the first time, I can say now that I understand.

For those of you that don't know, True/False is a film festival that focuses on documentaries. While other film festivals have documentaries as part of their festivals, True/False has ONLY documentaries. The film makers that make documentaries prefer this environment for a couple of reasons. First, at other festivals their films are usually over-shadowed by feature films and the stars that show up at those festivals to walk the red carpet for the cameras. People will see the documentaries while they're there, but oftentimes they watch the films when there is nothing else better to do. At True/False the festival-goers are there specifically for documentaries. Second, the film makers love Columbia. They love the small town and the community that welcomes them in with open arms. They love the feeling they get when they see that over 600 volunteers are there pulling this festival together. They love walking down the street and being asked by festival-goers to tell them why they made their film.

We were recruited by Rob Gaskin to be part of the "Rob Squad." (aka "The Tourniquet Team") We were a group of nine who were ready to jump in at any venue that needed help with anything. I found myself doing everything from finding a roll of tape, to ushering people to their seats, to carrying a 300 pound projector up the back steps (3 flights!) of the Missouri Theater with five other guys. (That was the highlight of the weekend! No joke!) We were armed with radios and comfortable shoes ready to go to any venue when the call came. We worked quickly to solve problems and to use our crystal balls to see into the future to try and stop problems before anyone knew there were problems. This was the first year there was a team like this at the festival, and I think some veteran staff members were a little skeptical. But I think we impressed a lot of people.

So Rob is a friend of mine that goes to Karis Church with me. I've known Rob since we first met at Karis over two years ago. As a matter of fact, I think he was the first person I met at Karis. Rob was hired by the Festival this year to head up this "Tourniquet Team," and his thought was to staff it with Karis folks. This was important for Rob because we, as Karis, are located in the downtown area and we feel a close connection and a real love for our City, and when you love something you want to serve it, and serve it well. So what a better opportunity to serve our City by serving at the Festival.

I didn't really understand the importance of this, or really even think about it, until early Sunday morning. I volunteered to make a couple of airport runs during the festival along with serving on Rob's team. I got to pick up a film director in St. Louis on Friday evening and I got to take a festival celebrity to Kansas City Sunday morning. So, at 5:15 am on Sunday, I picked up Jonathan at the hotel so he could make his 8:30 am flight to Los Angeles. When he got in my car he immediately thanked me for volunteering to drive him two hours one way at 5am. Then he asked me, "How did you get involved with True/False and why are you doing it?" So I told him about Karis Church and the "Rob Squad." I told him that we were a group of people that loved Columbia and we just wanted to be there to serve our City. His response was probably one of the funniest things I've ever heard. At first he just sat there with his mouth wide open. Then he said, "You mean a church is out doing practical things and serving a film festival? No f*****g way! Whoops, I guess I shouldn't cuss in front of you!" He then went on to tell me about Los Angeles where he lives and how churches there are so self-focused and that there was no way any church there would ever do what we were doing. Now who knows if that is really true, but that is at least his perception. Then he thanked me for being part of a church who was not afraid to step out of our own little comfortable box. (Not his exact words, but that was what he said in a nutshell)

So I'm hoping that Jonathan got a little better view of Christianity on Sunday morning. Not that I have it all figured out, but I feel like somehow he got to see something a little different than what he is used to seeing.

The bottom line I think is this: I don't know that most of the people involved with True/False would be folks that I would normally hang out with. Many of them probably have a whole different set of views than I do in many areas. Many of them are probably much more liberal than I am, and there are probably many social issues that we wouldn't see eye-to-eye on. But, this weekend none of that mattered. All weekend we had this "we're in this together" attitude. While carrying the 300 pound projector up the narrow staircase of the theater our views about the world didn't matter. My goal was to serve these folks, and to do it well. By doing this I think a lot of respect and trust was earned and it undoubtedly has given us some credibility with many folks. Now that many have seen us in a different light this weekend, hopefully their thoughts about us are something like, "Those Rob Squad guys are from that cool church that meets in the Tiger Hotel," instead of "Who are those weird people who meet at the Tiger every week?"

These words are probably poorly written, and they probably don't make a lot of sense because after a long weekend I am very tired, but I wanted to capture some thoughts while they were fresh on my tired and weak mind. Here are some words from Chris Tomlin to kind of tie all this stuff together:

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here