How To Be Happy: A guest post by Vince Antonucci

June 18, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, bible, gospel, happiness, Jesus, kingdom of god, leadership, life change, love, meaning with 0 Comments

Recently I sent an email out to some friends asking them to guest blog about happiness. As you probably know by now, our movie A Strange Brand of Happy is coming to theaters Sept. 13. This series is sponsored by the movie.

Happiness can be vague, elusive and subjective. What makes us happy? Can we choose happiness? Is it even a worthy or noble pursuit in the first place? These are questions I have asked myself for years. I don’t have all the answers. But my hunch is that my friends, as a collective, probably do. Over the next three months you will hear from my real-world friends – people of different faiths, backgrounds and experiences. This series is about taking those bits of truth we’ve all learned through our journey and compiling them to help one another find a better life. Today’s post is by a long-time friend Vince Antonucci. Vince is an accomplished author and the pastor of the The Verve church in Las Vegas. (Coincidentally, I will be speaking there on June 30th and July 1st.)

How to Be More Happy 
By Vince Antonucci

Vince rockin a soul patch.

Vince rockin a soul patch.

In John 13 Jesus washes the dirty, smelly, very possibly animal crap coated feet of His friends. He then tells them, and us, to be foot washers. To be willing to do servant-hearted acts of kindness that are unexpected, and perhaps unexplainable outside of our faith in God. Jesus then concludes by saying, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).

What does “blessed” mean? Well, basically it means “happy.” But it’s deeper than that. It’s the kind of happiness that God can give us. It’s the kind of happiness that happens when we connect our lives with God, and He pours His life into us.  It’s the kind of happiness Jesus was referring to in John 10:10 when He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

And the path to that life, the path to that kind of happiness, is through serving.

This is obviously the opposite of what the world teaches you.  The world says the path to true happiness, the road to the greatest possible joy is to serve yourself.  To look out for number one and get as much as you can for you. It’s like: The faster car you have, the happier you’ll be. The bigger house you have, the happier you’ll be. The nicer clothes you have, the happier you’ll be. The larger your bank account, the happier you’ll be. Whoever dies with the most toys wins. That’s the way you find and achieve a full, abundant, happy life.

But Jesus says, “No. The way you find and achieve a full, abundant, happy life is through serving others, not yourself.” It’s like: You need to look out for everyone else. You need to give away as much as you can. The slower car you have, the happier you’ll be. The smaller house you have, the happier you’ll be. The worse clothes, the smaller the bank account. Whoever dies with the least toys wins.

I’ve sent hundreds of people on mission trips through our church and when people return they rave. “Vince, it was the best week of my life!” And they always think it’s because of where they were. “God is really moving in Laos. He’s doing incredible things there.” “If I lived in Haiti, I’d be close to God all the time, my life would be simpler and better there.” But it’s not because of where they were. It’s because of what they were doing. For a week, they just washed feet. They never thought about getting a faster car, bigger house, nicer clothes, or larger bank account. They worked their butts off, ate some gross food, had no entertainment, and hung out with poor people they wouldn’t give a second glance back at home.

And that was the best week of their lives? Yeah, it was. Not because of where they were, but because of what they were doing. Because Jesus told the truth: You will be blessed if you serve.

Happiness comes to those who stop seeking it, and start serving.

——

So what you think about Vince’s upside down take here? Have you found this to be true for yourself?

Follow Vince on his blog and get his books at www.vinceantonucci.com.
Support A Strange Brand of Happy, the movie, by reserving your tickets today at www.strangehappymovie.com.

How To Be Happy. A guest post by Brian McLaren

June 14, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, happiness, health, progressive christianity with 3 Comments

This week I sent an email out to some friends asking them to guest blog about happiness this summer. As you probably know by now, our movie A Strange Brand of Happy is coming to theaters Sept. 13. This series is sponsored by the movie.

Happiness can be vague, elusive and subjective. What makes us happy? Can we choose happiness? Is it even a worthy or noble pursuit in the first place? These are questions I have asked myself for years. I don’t have all the answers. But my hunch is that my friends, as a collective, probably do. Over the next three months you will hear from my real-world friends – people of different faiths, backgrounds and experiences. This series is about taking those bits of truth we’ve all learned through our journey and compiling them to help one another find a better life. With that it mind, it seemed like Brian McLaren was the perfect person to write the first post. Brian has been a mentor to me for 15 years – sometimes from afar through his books and sometimes from the other end of a phone call when I just need some advice or talked off a ledge. I’m lucky to know him. And happy to let him share here on my blog:

How to Be More Happy
by Brian McLaren

bm

1. Notice birds. Notice their songs. Catch them in flight. Watch them interact. Learn about their migration patterns. If birds were our only Bible, we would have a lifetime of reasons to worship and celebrate.

2. Learn the names of the living things that surround you. You are surrounded by trees, insects, flowers, grasses, animals … each is like a book, full of wonder and intrigue. Each has habits, a way, a lifestyle, characteristics, a personality, if you will, and if you start noticing that richness, you’ll be happier. Go to the library or use the internet or find a naturalist … one way or another, get acquainted with the living things you have been taking for granted.

3. Pay attention to weather. Notice clouds. Understand high and low pressure systems. Feel wind. Notice the signs of changing seasons. Observe how the living things you’re learning more about adjust to the seasons. Feel alive as a creature in a climate.

4. Enjoy being on a planet. Learn your environmental address – not a nation, state, city, and zip code, but a watershed by which you are connected to everyone upstream and downstream. Enjoy sunrises and sunsets as often as you can. Notice the phases of the moon. Learn to identify some planets in the night sky.

5. Go outside at night. Start learning about stars and galaxies. Don’t stop learning and looking up until you feel a mix of vertigo and wonder, humility and grandeur, joy and awe.

6. Enjoy food. Mouthful by mouthful. Enjoy cooking it, eating it, cleaning up after a meal. Enjoy shopping for groceries and learning about where products come from. Make decisions about whether you’ll keep eating meat at all, and if so, how often, and why. Make decisions about junk you’ll stop eating and healthy foods you’ll replace them with.

7. Enjoy sleep and other realities of having a body. Don’t take movement for granted. Don’t take digestion for granted. Don’t take breathing and heartbeat for granted. Enjoy good sex. Enjoy good sleep.

8. Laugh all you can. Dance all you can. Skip stones, fly kites, whistle, smile, and tell jokes more. Realize how easy it is to become glum and grouchy. Realize how easy it is to be overcome with mirth and jubilation … if you want to.

9. Stay in touch with family and friends. Don’t let old friends slip off your radar. Find them and make contact again. Inconvenience yourself for family – especially the oldest and youngest members of your family. Just be with them. Tell stories. Show pictures. Make the most of holidays. Send cards. Give gifts. Observe and create traditions.

10. Show kindness to strangers and especially enemies, opponents, and antagonists. Realize that without antagonists, you would be a worse person. Whenever possible, do kindness in secret. Never ever seek revenge. Let random people think that someone is secretly plotting for their well-being. Make a new friend. Smile contagiously. Spread cheerfulness widely. Pay someone’s check or toll for no good reason.

11. Be grateful. Let your first waking thought each morning be … thank you, thank you, thank you. Let your last waking though each night be … thank you, thank you, thank you. Let each meal inspire gratitude, each departure and homecoming, each reunion with those you love.

12. Learn more about the “you” whom you thank when you say “thank you” – for birds, living things, weather, the planet, stars, food, your body, for joy, for friends, for family, for strangers and enemies too. Assume that whoever and whatever God is, that God is way bigger and better than the best thought or doctrine you have ever conceived. Expect that every great religious leader – Abraham, Moses, the Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Mohammed, and others – have something to offer you and the world. Have a favorite, choose a path, become a specialist, make a commitment … and at the same time, keep your heart open to the complementary gifts that the others offer too.

Those dozen things won’t make you happy all the time. But based on my experience, they’ll make you more happy, with a better brand of happiness, more often.

——

So what you think about Brian’s list here? Are you going to try one of these 12 things?

Follow Brian on his blog and get his books at www.brianmclaren.net.
Support A Strange Brand of Happy, the movie, by reserving your tickets today at www.strangehappymovie.com.

On Being Self-Promotional

June 10, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, art, church, culture, entrepreneurship, filmmaking, independent films, movies, passion, rebel pilgrim productions, storytelling, vineyard, vineyard cincinnati with 6 Comments

This past weekend I talked to my home church, Vineyard Cincinnati, about the upcoming release of A Strange Brand of Happy. I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to talk about. After Saturday night, I asked my wife Debbie about it. She said that I was, “good,” but just seemed too serious and not very excited.

“It’s an exciting thing, right?” she asked in her annoyingly spot-on highly supportive tone.

Yes. It is very exciting.

I should have been totally comfortable talking about it – everything was stacked in my favor. I had the ultimate home court advantage in my own church. The Vineyard is a producing partner on the film. We’ve arranged for the church to get 15% of the proceeds of the movie. The heart of the film lines up with the heart of the church. The movie is good and I’m proud of the work our team has done. So why was it so hard?

Because no matter how you slice it, it’s a little self-promotional.

My company produced the movie. I’m acting in it. It’s a giant collaboration of many people, but it’s also clearly “mine.”

I don’t like self-promotion, but my whole life I have drifted to occupations and circumstances where it’s part of the deal. (Side note: being a pastor involves a lot of promotion for your own church, which happens to also be your employer. So promoting your own church is a form of self-promotion though not everyone sees it that way. It’s a bit easier to mask.)

I’ve got some hang-ups. I don’t want to be seen as selfish or self-absorbed. (Who does? But who isn’t?) I don’t want people to think I’m trying to get $10 from them for a movie ticket. But I sorta am.

A friend came up to me after church and said. “Forty-four theaters! That’s a lot of money you’re going to be making.” I smiled. Truth is, it’s a lot of money we’re risking.  It’s way easier to lose money on this kind of thing than make it. (For the record, odds are I won’t see a dime from the theatrical release – it’s going to pay distributors, theaters, and my investors…but that’s way too complicated to explain, so I digress…)

As the weekend went along (we have four identical services), I grew more excited and less nervous when it came time to talk about the movie. I believe I came to the following realizations:

  1. Some people are not going to like me no matter what I do or say. (I keep learning this year after year.)
  2. We’re all probably self-promotional at some level. Like most things, it’s about where your heart is, which only God knows.
  3. I want this movie to do well because I believe in it, so I need to not shy away from asking people to see what I see in it…and support the mission.

So, this whole summer-long journey of promoting a movie is going to teach me a lot. Thanks so much to all of you who are starting to catch the vision of what this story can do when it is released. And thanks for reserving tickets to help us show the decision-makers that it has your support. What’s that? You haven’t reserved tickets? Hmmm.

Does our movie suck?

May 30, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, acting, art, creativity, filmmaking, independent films, movies, passion, rebel pilgrim productions, storytelling with 0 Comments

So last week I was having a discussion with my friend, collaborator and long-time creative partner Brad Wise about A Strange Brand of Happy, the movie he directed and I star in, that is about to be unleashed on the world Sept. 13. It’s hard to explain the vastly different emotions that exist as an artist when you share something so close to you. You can be terrified and ecstatic at the same time. We decided that most of our friends are probably just worried that it’s going to suck…so I asked Brad to write a guest article for my blog based on that observation. Enjoy…and fair warning. He’s a much better writer than me.

Is it Going to Suck?
A guest post by Brad Wise.

I know what you’re thinking. Or at least what you’re worried about.

You’re nervous this movie we keep pimping is going to suck.

Trust me, I get it. I’ve gone to lots of my friends’ art shows, improv gigs, concerts, open mic nights and world premieres. Leading up to every single one of them I was nervous they would suck. And it would be awkward. And I would have to lie. The whole thing is a blended cocktail of anxiety that I’ve imbibed numerous times.

So firstly, I apologize for the unease I’ve unintentionally placed in your gut.

Secondly, take me for my word. I promise this movie won’t embarrass you. Sure there will be scenes you don’t like. But that happens in every movie. Well, except Mary Poppins. But you’re not expecting movie perfection. You’re just hoping it won’t suck. Like my old friend, Sarah. Check out our conversation after she watched it:

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I love her honesty. A Strange Brand of Happy could’ve sucked. For multiple reasons. Chiefly that a bunch of naive dreamers in Cincinnati, with very little money, set out to do something they had no business doing. But instead of making Sarah embarrassed or sad or angry it made her proud.

And I’m willing to bet my reputation (’cause that’s all I got) that you’ll feel like Sarah after seeing our little movie.

I promise it doesn’t suck. And I’m asking you and your friends to take a risk and trust me.

To watch a video from Brad and me talking about the film, please visit www.strangehappymovie.com. 

Build a Dream with Us.

May 15, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, acting, comedy, community, creativity, culture, entrepreneurship, filmmaking, improv, independent films, life change, love, meaning, movies, passion, rebel pilgrim productions, storytelling with 0 Comments

Here’s a quick update that went out to our A Strange Brand of Happy weekly email blast. I won’t likely be re-posting many here, so if you want to get them make sure to sign up for it at this link.

“The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question, therefore, is not “How can we make community?” but “How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?’”  -Henri Nouwen

A Strange Brand of Happy isn’t just a movie. It’s the intentional by-product of a community of friends. Nothing about making a movie is individualistic – from writing to producing to acting to distributing to experiencing the final product. This film comes from a group of friends who genuinely love each other. We wanted to make a movie that felt more like a movement than just a piece of entertainment. We wanted to invite the world into our friendships and into our vision of seeing people move from boredom and despair to hope and life.

I sincerely want you to feel invited into that.

I hope by the time this movie hits the big screens all across the country on September 13, you can authentically say that “our movie” is in theaters. There’s still time to join the team and become part of our “our.”

By my rough count, about 300 people have combined to get ASBOH to where it is today. We need hundreds more who will join us to help us finish the race we started. There are no shortcuts on this one…no millions of dollars in advertising, no huge celebrity endorsements, no major studio partnerships. It’s just you and me and a few hundred of our friends heaven-bent on the world being a better place – desperate for people to find their strange brand of happy…and in doing so, ignite sparks of hope in some lonely and lost hearts along the way.

Won’t you join this community? Invite others in as you do. Help us finish what we started.

Right now all we have is a movie.

With your support, we can have a movement.

Sincerely,

Joe

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Here’s what we really need this week:

1. If you haven’t, please reserve your tickets now. This is the ONLY way we can add new theaters.

2. Email Harmony Hensley now if you can join the team and help us promote the film in your city.

Here are a few outtakes from A Strange Brand of Happy featuring one of my friends, Mike Betette. He’s a great example of someone I love like a brother…and love working with. I’ve got a pretty good gig.

*If you read my blog in an RSS feed you may need to go directly to www.joeboydblog.com to see the video.

Meet my pal Ray. You’ll be glad you did.

May 10, 2013 in creativity, culture, leadership, meaning, rebel pilgrim productions, social networking, storytelling, Twitter, Uncategorized, writing with 0 Comments

So we all have a story, right?  There are narrative through-lines that run through our life that make us who we are. I can’t tell you how many times I have said the following sentences in my life:

“So I went from working at a church to working at a casino overnight.”

“Then my wife got me classes to The Second City and it changed my life forever.”

“I had no idea how selfish I was until my first son was born.”

“I was a working actor in LA and the next thing I knew I was driving to Cincinnati to become a pastor again.”

You get the idea. Those are turning points in my story. Strung together with a pinch of revisionist history and presto! You know who I am.

Flash to February of this year. I meet Ray Attiyah. Ray has a new book coming out that he wants to promote. I read Ray’s book and it’s really good. I go to Vegas with Ray to get to know him better…and 72 hours later I really know Ray.

 

Ray and Bumblebee in Las Vegas

Ray and Bumblebee on our trip to Las Vegas

Here’s the cold hard truth:

Ray’s book is good. But his story is unbelievable.

So when the time came for us to make a video about his book, I told Ray that what we needed more than anything else was to tell his story. “The world needs to meet Ray,” I said. Sprinkle in the magic creative dust of the Rebel Pilgrim team, and you get this video below. I want you to see it because I’m proud of my team. But more than that, I want you to meet Ray. He’s a client who became my friend. And I am happy to say that our stories are now destined to be entwined for a long time to come. I couldn’t be happier about that.

*If you read my blog on an RSS feed, you made need to go to www.joeboydblog.com to see the video linked above.

See more about how we’ve devoted our lives to telling stories like Ray’s at www.rebelpilgrim.com.

Follow Ray Attiyah on Twitter at @RayAttiyah. His book, The Fearless Frontline,  is available on Amazon.

The Only Reason I’m Still a Christian Died Today

May 8, 2013 in afterlife, atheism, bible, church, evangelicalism, evangelism, gospel, Jesus, kingdom of god, meaning, passion, progressive christianity, religion, resurrection, theology with 4 Comments

About a decade ago I was done with Christianity in my heart. I didn’t believe it. I wasn’t sure there was a God. (Full disclosure: still struggle with that one.) Beyond that, I didn’t really like Jesus either. The gospel I knew seemed all about getting to heaven after I die and being forgiven of my sins through believing a series of less-than-logical facts in my head. Since I was a pastor, I wasn’t telling people this stuff. I was just looking for a way out – a way out of my job and ultimately a way out of my faith.

And then I met Dallas Willard.

2008-05-26-dallas-willard

Dallas WIllard

Not, literally. I never actually met him. But he brought me to Jesus.

I didn’t know Jesus until I read The Divine Conspiracy.

I don’t know how else to put it: That book saved my life.

Dallas passed away today. It broke my heart to hear it. I feel like I lost my Ben Kenobi. If there’s one thing he taught me, it’s what he says in response to John Ortberg’s question at the 2:10 mark of the video below. The bottom line is that Dallas is in Heaven today, not because he died, but because he lived there in the first place.

*If you read my blog in an RSS feed you may need to go directly to www.joeboydblog.com to watch the video.

Five Ways to Be More Creative

May 7, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, acting, art, creativity, culture, filmmaking, improv, independent films, life change, love, meaning, movies, passion, prayer, rebel pilgrim productions, storytelling, writing with 4 Comments

A major theme of our new movie A Strange Brand of Happy is that in discovering that creative thing God put in you, you can begin to discover God in a new way. I find a lot of people want to be more creative, but are afraid.

Here are five simple things to get you going:

1. Start right now. Your art will never be perfect. If unstarted, your art will simply never be.

2. Be alone. It’s in regular solitude that we begin to hear our inner voice.

3. Get honest feedback. Critique is how we all get better. Defensiveness is just a reminder that you need more time alone. (See #2.)

4. Help others. Someone out there needs your help to get where you already are…no matter where you are.

5. Fail. Over and over. As much as you can. As fast as you can. Until you just run out ways to fail and the only option is success.

A Strange Brand of Happy

To view the trailer for A Strange Brand of Happy and to help us bring it to a theater near you, visit www.strangehappymovie.com.

I need help! And why I’m OK asking for it.

April 25, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, acting, church, cincinnati, comedy, creativity, culture, evangelism, filmmaking, gospel, independent films, Jesus, kingdom of god, life change, love, meaning, movies, passion, prayer, progressive christianity, rebel pilgrim productions, social networking, storytelling, technology, Twitter with 9 Comments

A few years ago I went through a series of fairly intense assessments while making some major life and career decisions. The person I hired to help me figure out my life, after reviewing my tests, came to a quick and firm conclusion: Joe Boyd is a performer.

When she said that to kick off our meeting I had two distinct and immediate emotional reactions:

1. Yep.
2. And that’s a bad thing.

The truth is that I am hard-wired to perform – to speak, teach, produce, improvise, act and write. And I’m not at all a pure artist. I only like doing those things with people watching. At the bottom of it all are some very dark and scary motivations: to be popular, to be needed, to be important, to control others, to acquire money or fame. I hate those things, but I’d be lying to myself to say they aren’t there. The truest thing I can say is that they are there, but they aren’t there nearly as much as they used to be.

Truth is, I should have had a third reaction to her comment:

3. It’s also a good thing.

The older I get, the more comfortable I am in my own skin…and with my own faith journey. I’m never going to not be a performer. My only hope is to become a redeemed performer: to use my urges to be seen in away that benefits others more than myself.

If you had told me ten years ago that I would be the leading actor in a movie coming out in over 40 theaters nation-wide, I would have acted humble but been inwardly proud. I would have thought about the perceived glory in that. The truth is that the greatest thing God has ever done for me is to consistently give my all of my life dreams AFTER I don’t want them anymore.

When I was 25 I wanted to be a mega-church pastor.
When I was 30 I didn’t want that at all.
It happened when I was 35.

When I was 30 I wanted to be a movie star.
When I was 35 I gave up on that dream.
Now at 40, I am not movie star, but I am starring in a pretty darn legit movie.

I tried to get out of acting in A Strange Brand of Happy no less than ten times. Every time I tried to quit, Brad Wise, the film’s director and my friend and collaborator, convinced me that I was the best man for the job. The main reason I didn’t want to act in the movie was that I was worried about people questioning my motivations. Brad pushed and pushed. Luckily, I find the release of this movie timing up perfectly with a true inner sense of not needing anyone to approve of my motivations. Think whatever you want to think about why I do what I do. I honestly don’t care if you think bad things about me. Thank God, I’m not that way anymore except for occasional short bouts of ego-inflated remission. (Side note: Richard Rohr’s book Falling Upward closed the deal for me on this. I recommend it to anyone ready to move beyond needing approval or success in life. There is a second half of life that is exponentially more fulfilling than the first half.)

So here’s the deal: I’m starring in a movie opposite Shirley Jones, the Academy Award winner for Best Actress in Elmer Gantry, a favorite movie of mine somewhat ironically about both preaching and acting. That’s a cool thing, but it’s not a big deal to me. What is a big deal to me is that I have been allowed co-tell stories of hope and faith in a world that needs that more than anything else.

I feel like the luckiest preacher in the world…I get to proclaim good news outside of the church walls to people who don’t even know they are getting it. I love that God is letting me do this – and to top it off, I get to do it with my friends. I can’t prove this to anyone, but all I care about in regard to this project is the story. I want people to believe, if just for a second, that perhaps there is a God…and perhaps that strange brand of happy you feel when everything suddenly feels right…perhaps that is a taste of heaven. Maybe what Jesus called the “Kingdom of Heaven” can break in anywhere. Like a movie theater in Canton, Lexington, Las Vegas, Kansas City or Dayton.

So here’s what all this means for you:

I need your help.

I don’t want you to help me become famous or make money or be successful. I need you to help me get people to see this movie. My friends and I have devoted three years of our lives to create a story that sparks hope and action. We want people to see it. Of that, I am unashamed.

sept 13 release

So here’s how you can help me get this story to lots of people:

1. Fork over some American greenbacks and pre-buy a block of tickets for you and your friends. I know it’s really silly to buy tickets for a movie four months in advance. I’ve never bought tickets for a movie more than one day in advance. But the bottom line is that we haven’t yet proven to the Hollywood decision makers that we can sell tickets to our movies. If we sell tickets now, they will take notice. (Money is their love language.) More tickets now = more theaters opening in more cities on September 13th = more people seeing the movie in more cities = a little more hope bubbling up in the world.

It’s that simple. So please reserve your seats today.

2. If you live in any of the 42 markets currently booked, please consider connecting us to your pastor or a community leader who can help us get the word out. Or volunteer to join one of our street teams in each city.

3. If you live in another city where the movie isn’t scheduled to play and you think you can lead an effort to pre-sell 500 tickets, then we can open up in your town. Again, contact us. (Pastor friends, we can work with you to sponsor it through your church as an outreach for non-churchgoers.)

4. Sign up for weekly email updates and stay in the know.

5. Help us spread the word on social media by linking the website and trailer.  Follow the movie on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

6. Have a little patience with me if I talk about it too much. It’s important to me. I’m eerily silent during presidential elections, so maybe I’ve bought a little grace to talk about my passion area? I will try to be careful not to annoy you…

7. Pray for all of us involved. Sign up for Rebel Pilgrim prayer updates by sending an email to pray@rebelpilgrim.com. We sincerely believe this matters more than anything else.

I just asked for a lot. But I think I’m ok with that.

We have but one life…and when we find what we were put here to do it seems best to me to talk about it and to invite others to join the adventure.

So, join me in telling this story. I’d be honored.

Here’s a video explaining more about the movie:

And here’s the trailer:

*If you receive my blogs via email, you may have to go to www.strangehappymovie.com to see the videos.

Watch Our First Rebel Pilgrim Animated Short!

April 11, 2013 in a strange brand of happy, business, creativity, entrepreneurship, leadership, movies, passion, rebel pilgrim productions, storytelling with 0 Comments

We’ve been pretty quiet over the last twelve months at Rebel Pilgrim, but that’s about to change. We’ve been planting a lot of story-seeds that are about to be harvested.

In the coming days we will be releasing the trailer and release date of our movie A Strange Brand of Happy. We’re excited that the movie will be opening in at least 40 theaters across the nation this fall.

We’re also busy preparing to shoot a new movie called Hope Bridge at Asbury University in July.

When we first launched RPP a year ago, we had no idea where the journey would take us. The greatest surprise has been the emergence of our Short Form video division. Under the leadership of Mark Haas, this new initiative allows us to partner with others to tell their stories with a Rebel Pilgrim twist. These videos are a mix of animation and live action. I’m excited to share our first video with you today and look forward to showing you more in the weeks to come.

This is our first in a series of “Fearless Fables” called Socctorpus. Working with our friend Ray Attiyah, the author of The Fearless Front Line, we took one of the core messages of his book and re-imagined it as a soccer game between Sea Horses and T-Rexes. (It could happen.)

Ray and the team here at RPP would like to freely give it to anyone interested in using it to help teach the important lesson that fearless leaders won’t stop until they get their players placed in the position where they can truly thrive.

Congrats to the RPP team on completing our first short! And I highly recommend Ray’s book for anyone in a leadership or management position. You can read my Amazon review of The Fearless Front Line here.

If you are reading this in an RSS feed and the video did not embed you can view it at this link.

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