I was certain that we had completed filming with the New Orleans Mardi Gras trip in March. I called Lance in late May to see if we could have some higher resolution copies made of photographs that he gave us. As usual, he was easy to reach on his cellphone -- all Hallelujahs and Jesus loves you. No matter what I believe or don’t believe, hearing Lance’s greeting never fails to lift my spirits and brighten my mood. I hope we can find reason to include footage of him answering the phone in the final cut of the film. When we include it in test cuts, the audience usually reacts with chuckles and gasps. It’s a nice touch and a good view into how he operates his ministry. Lance is not your run-of-the-mill fundamentalist pastor, after all.

 

Lance was excited to tell me that he had managed to organize a 44-day tent revival in Vicksburg, MS. Of course we had to film it. With our diminishing funds, it looked as though we could only send a skeleton crew (just camera and sound). But wait a minute, this would be our last shoot. It was a tent revival -- and after filming Lbil for almost five years I still didn’t feel as though I had a legitimate sense of what a Christian tent revival meeting was. Going for broke, I added myself to the skeleton crew, and also called Heixan and Julia -- the ideal crew support.

 

 

Minus Julia (who was not able to go), we trekked down in late June for 2 days and 2 nights of muggy, buggy, 100-degree sweat-soaked days. It was heavenly. This footage has to end up in the final cut of the film. Mind-blowing stuff. And it was wonderful to see the Rowe family again. They had just moved back to their idyllic encampment by Thompson Lake after having been forced out for a couple of weeks by spring floods. Most people would have been scrambling to file insurance claims and find an honest contractor for repairs. It was no surprise to us that the family had just taken it in stride, and moved their trailer to the parking lot of their friend Dave's restaurant, Gregory's Kitchen, till the water receded. 

 

Before catching our flights home on Monday afternoon, we headed out to the Rowe family campgrounds. After interviewing Lance -- our last interview, definitely -- the kids came out of the trailer to swim and play in the lake. It was a beautiful sight: Abby, Noah and Hoshea -- three joyful, innocent kids diving off the raft, walking the plank like pirates, searching for gators, and horsing around in the water with a friendly Czech cameraman and his somersaulting Puerto Rican camera assistant. I wonder if these kids will someday look back and remember how happy their days spent swimming in the lake were. I am sure it will be as we all remember -- rich or poor, from north or south, leaning left or right -- the perfection of a summer day spent splashing in the water.