The Real Jesus DVD nears completion

We've had the podcast version on the Real Jesus done now for about six months. It's available by going to the What's New link at my website and of course at my V-Log channel on YouTube. In June, I started working with Eric Holmberg on the standups and getting some interviews with experts in history and theology to corroborate the points covered. I'll be receiving the last of these interviews next week. From there the DVD ought to be available in mid to late October.

I've worked on half a dozen projects with Eric and Reel to Real Ministries (now The Apologetics Group). By the way, if you haven't seen anything by The Apologetics Group, you should check them out.

Writing, producing and editing The Real Jesus been a long process. This is mainly due to the fact that I didn't have any video equipment when I first got started with the script. Then I got sidetracked by a couple of big life and career changes -- getting married for the first time at age 39, moving three times, starting as a first year teacher in two different schools. Finally, we got settled in a nice house in the Kissimmee/Clermont area about five miles west of Disney World. I was able to pull together a small production budget to move forward. All during this time, I told Eric about the project and tried to get him interested in being the host and narrator for the script. Of course, he is always busy with several other pressing projects.

In the meantime, I laid out a narration track and got two friends of mine from Melbourne, Joel and Ariel, who did a pro-life activism segment on MTV's Unfiltered, to do the "podcast version." Originally, I was going to release it as is, but then Eric saw it and got excited about the project. In the past few months, I've been re-editing the video with new material. It's definitely a big step up from the Internet version. I imagine that lot of serious productions start off as simple podcasts and are then produced on a higher level once they generate a buzz. That shows the revolutionary power of YouTube.

I was surprised to see that all 10 parts together have about 60,000 views to date. So it's not just a video that is being shown to other Christians. It's been interesting to note which parts draw the most viewers and the most comments. Most of the discussion generated on YouTube comes from skeptics and Jesus Mythists. I don't expect that these are people who will buy the DVD so it's a great apologetics outlet to generate controversy and let the enemies of Christ do some free advertising for us.

Here's what's left to be finished:

1. Edit interviews into relevant clips to be used in each section.
2. Create "B-Roll" material to illustrate the interviews.
3. Re-edit some of the musics tracks.
4. DVD packaging -- inserts and disc art (this is essentially finished).

Just a little bit more! At this point, I am really anxious to get it done. There are so many other projects to get to work on and this has taken most of my time. I am shooting for October 15th. That way we can start marketing it everywhere in November and December.

Time really flies when you get older. Six years come and gone since I first conceived of the idea. I am happy that I was able to accomplish a lot during this time through writing and publishing two books, staying involved with missions in an effort to reach teachers in Ukraine, and now getting started with several video projects. I am just thankful to God that He has brought me to a new threshold of opportunity.