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Alcatraz Island
by Kirk Cameron
On Tuesday, May 18th, Ray and I met at LAX and got
on the plane to meet our crew in San Francisco for the
taping of three new episodes for the television program.
Here are the titles:
1. “Alcatraz, Al Capone and Alcohol”
2. “How to Witness to Someone Who’s Gay”
3. “True and False Conversion”
We landed at the infamous prison stranded on “The
Rock” where inmates such as “Baby Face”
Nelson, Al “Scarface” Capone, and Robert
“The Birdman” Stroud spend years behind
bars. The Alcatraz episode is loaded with lots of cool
history, information about famous escapes and shots
of the prison. The episode is about the subject of breaking
out of the unseen “prison” of sin that enslaves
a sinner and holds him in its chains. Like Peter, asleep
in Herod’s prison, awaiting execution, most non-believers
are “asleep” in their sins, unaware of their
fate and must be “awoken” by the light of
God’s Law.
We landed on the island at 5:00 pm but had to wait
until the island was deserted by the tourists before
we could begin taping. We were deep in the prison at
11:00 pm when suddenly, all the power went out. It was
pitch black and a bit uncomfortable until we found the
light switch again. We finished just after midnight
and took a water taxi back to the mainland. Ray had
a chance to witness to both the security guard and the
Island Marshall that oversaw our shoot. They were both
very open to the gospel and the Marshall even prayed
with Ray to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.
After a short sleep we woke up and had a delicious
breakfast with some of our crew. A few of us also exercised
our minds with some brain squeezing theological questions
and then, it was off to the Golden Gate Bridge for two
more episodes. Well…almost.
We got a late start (about an hour) due to the fact
that our camera man took us on the “scenic route”
to the set by going over the Bay Bridge instead of the
Golden Gate Bridge. (Ray and I are sure he didn’t
get lost…it was simply his great love for bridge
architecture that compelled him to lead us in the opposite
direction from our set. We love you Ron. Thanks for
the tour! J)
The set for “How to Witness to Someone who is
Gay” was located high above the Bay with a breathtaking
view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city. On top
of the mountainside, the winds were high and presented
some sound quality issues, but our soundman (Scotty)
made it work. Ray and I spent many hours writing this
script, consulting several ex-homosexuals including
one Christian man who “previously lived the lifestyle
for a lifetime”. Their input was priceless and
helped a great deal. We took tremendous care as we spoke
about the very prevalent and sensitive subject of homosexuality.
Many Christians have asked us how to share the gospel
with someone who is “gay”, and now we have
a wonderful new episode that addresses the subject in
detail. It focuses on how to gently address the “root”
of the problem instead of making the common mistake
of offensively attacking the “branch” of
a particular sin. It includes plenty of witnessing footage
on the streets to demonstrate the teaching.
With only a couple of hours of sunlight remaining,
we broke down the gear and set up for our next shoot
on the beach below the bridge. The view again was phenomenal.
We ate lunch on the fly and completed “True and
False Conversion” just in time to return our rental
car and make our flight home to Los Angeles.
I have worked on many TV and film sets and I know that
we at The Way of the Master have been so blessed. Our
director Duane is so good and has such an incredibly
artistic eye that every shot is cool and interesting
to look at. Scotty (sound), Carol (photography), Ron
(camera) and Louis (equipment), along with the rest
of our crew and helpful volunteers love the Lord and
made this shoot a particularly memorable one for us.
I can’t wait to see the final cuts and get them
on the air and on the website. In fact, Ray and I are
so excited about these three episodes that we are rushing
them ahead of the others so we can get them to you sooner.
Please write and let us know what you think of them.
We love to hear from you. Until the next shoot…
Kirk
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