August | 2023 | J. Paul Cooper, Writer

August 25th, 2023 was a day marked on the calendars of many writers, because it was the day the quarter-finalists were announced for the Final Draft/Big Break Screenwriting Contest. I was one of the many who were disappointed that their entry didn’t make the cut. It’s on days like that, when you’re discouraged, that you have to make an effort to avoid negative self-talk. One of the worst words you can use, is the highly toxic term, wannabee.

The term wannabee is dangerous for writers because it can be so discouraging, making us feel that only writers who have written bestsellers or have won awards are real writers and the rest of us are, well, just wannabees. And yet, we are writers, because we continue to craft stories, with no guarantee that our work will be published or if self-published that it will be popular.

If you have a private pilot’s license and you enjoy flying your single engine aircraft, you’re not a loser because you aren’t in the cockpit of an F-35 jet fighter. You just love to fly, and take to the skies every chance you get. Writers love to sit down at a keyboard, accepting the challenge of taking the images in their minds, and creating original stories that others can read and enjoy.

Any challenge worth pursuing involves risk. The fact you’re willing to accept risk by entering contests, submitting work for publication, or posting it in public, knowing it may be criticized, proves you aren’t a wannabee. How serious a writer you are, can’t really be measured by how much you write, because everyone’s schedules are different. Being discouraged doesn’t make you weak, because disappointment can be very difficult to overcome.

Consider how many chain stores you see in shopping malls. You could walk through a dozen shopping malls and barely seen any difference, other than the order in which the stores are arranged. And the food courts? You can probably guess the brands before you see them. If you’re actively writing, you aren’t a wannabee, you’re an artist accepting the responsibility of creating something unique every time you write a story.

The reason that you can write something original, is because you’re an original. Only one person out of over seven billion has your imagination, and that’s you! Take some time today to write, and show us what you can do.

The Essential Church (2023), Written and Directed by Shannon Halliday, is a documentary about pastors, on both sides of the United States/Canadian border, who refused to comply with government restrictions during the Covid-19 crisis.

In California, Pastor John MacArthur, a man in his eighties, was threatened with fines and imprisonment. In Alberta, Canada, Pastor Tim Stephens and Pastor James Coates both spent time in prison. While they were behind bars, their congregations were meeting outside the churches, because they had been locked out of the buildings.

The documentary includes discussions with the pastors, their lawyers, and church elders, as well as television interviews and clips of police and health authorities. One clip records police arresting Pastor Tim Stephens at his house, in front of his wife and children. During the arrest, one of the police officers can be heard quoting scripture to Pastor Stephens. Would a police officer quote the Koran (Quran) to a Mullah?

Since I find history fascinating, I enjoyed how modern events were contrasted with events that took place hundreds of years ago in Scotland. When the Crown tried to dictate how they were to worship, some congregations rebelled and Christians lost their lives as a result. The stories of martyrdom use an animation technique with stone carvings in dark shadows. The unique animation adds a sense of gravitas to the narration.

During the Covid-19 crisis, the question many pastors had to grapple with, was whether government restrictions were forcing them to disobey the Lord Jesus Christ. The Essential Church is the story of three pastors who believed that was the case, and refused to back down.

J. Paul Cooper, Writer

Month: August 2023

A Toxic Word

The Essential Church: A Review