Most people know me as a filmmaker. I made the fairly popular movies Finger of God, Furious Love, Father of Lights, and Holy Ghost (with Holy Ghost Reborn coming out later this year!). Far less people know that I am also an author (Filming God & Finding God in the Bible). Even less than that know that I am also a speaker who ministers in churches and conferences around the world with what little spare time I have. But before the filmmaking and the writing and the speaking, I was a simple college professor. I was a teacher. And thats ultimately what I want to get back to here.
The best teachers, in my opinion, don’t tell you what you’re supposed to think and believe. They allow you to discover it for yourself. They want you to wrestle with hard questions, to discuss things with other people. My role here isn’t to spew information or opinions, but rather to offer up ideas, concepts, questions and (yes) possible answers for you to then chew on, share with others, debate, discuss and think about.
Now, a word of warning before we begin. I am probably not who you think I am, and I probably don’t think the way you think I think. It has become obvious to me that my films tend to create weird and unrealistic expectations in people as to who I am or how I operate. Contrary to popular opinion, I am not an overly serious person; I have a fairly childish sense of humor, and I am not very charismatic. When I go into a Starbucks, I order coffee, I don’t pray for people. I’ve never spoken in tongues and I’ve never been “slain in the spirit.” My first priority in making movies is to entertain you, not to convert people to Christianity. I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. I’m just a normal dude with a young family who makes lots of mistakes, but who loves the Lord with all his heart. This column will be my way of working through some of the harder questions in life, and hopefully it helps some of you work through some things as well.
So what will we talk about then? I will most likely deal with a variety of things related to these main topics: Faith & Pop Culture; God & Belief; Hard Questions; The Bible; Parenting; and yes, I’ll probably tell a lot of Stories. If that sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to sign up for the email feature at the front or back end of this article, where you’ll receive all the new posts I make nice and neat in your inbox as soon as they are released.
In an effort to make this as accessible as possible, I’d love to begin by inviting you to let me know what kinds of questions, topics, or things you’d like me to explore in the coming weeks and months. Feel free to put your ideas either in the comment section below, or you can even message me on Facebook.
Darren Wilson is the founder of Wanderlust Productions and the creator of various films, including Finger of God, Furious Love, and Father of Lights. Darren’s new book,Finding God in the Bible, is available in stores everywhere. Visit his website at wpfilm.com.
