'Jesus Camp' makers back with new documentary - 'Lord's Boot Camp'
by Elena Garcia, US Correspondent
Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008, 20:57 (BST)
The makers of the disputed "Jesus Camp" are back - this time with a special documentary on teen missions that will air this weekend on CBS.
"The Lord's Boot Camp" is a collaboration between CBS News and Loki Films, the production company behind the Oscar-nominated documentary on the charismatic summer camp for children at Devil's Lake, North Dakota.
CBS' newsmagazine '48 Hours' will air the one-hour special this Saturday at 8 p.m. EST/PST.
Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, co-founders of Loki films, helped produce "The Lord's Boot Camp", which looks at 700 teens training to become Christian missionaries in the United States or Africa at the Teen Missions Intl headquarters in Merritt Island, Florida.
The presentation tells the story of the physical and mental challenges teens face during the intensive two-week training camp through the eyes of three teenagers.
Tabitha Taylor, 13, of Bellwood, Pennsylvania, is a camp standout. Nicole Scrivener, 15, of Tallahassee, Florida struggles with drug and alcohol abuse and a rebellious attitude. Valerie Smith, 15, of Las Vegas, Nevada, has a hard time being away from her boyfriend.
"We're the ambulance of people's souls," said Tabitha in a preview video on CBS News. "And we can't sit around waiting for people to get a heart attack. We need to get in there and save them before it happens."
Following the camp, one camera crew also documented Nicole's missionary trip to Zambia where her team helped construct a staff house for missionaries, met with AIDS orphans and distributed shoes to orphans.
Ewing, co-founder of Loki Films, said each of the three girls "represents a different reaction that religious belief can provoke in a young person: bold confidence, angry rebellion and feelings of doubt," according to CBS News.
"All three characters struggled with the physical and mental demands of the camp as well as the looming question of what role their belief in God will play in their lives as they enter adulthood," Grady, also co-founder of Loki Films, added in the report.
Both filmmakers of the New York-based production company said they try to portray their subjects objectively and without agenda, according to past reports.
Critics, however, say that the "Jesus Camp" documentary purposely presented a negative portrayal of Christians.
"The directors' claims that they were simply trying to create an 'objective' film about children and faith ring hollow," Ron Reno, Focus on the Family's assistant to the chairman, told Plugged In Online.
"Unfortunately, however, it appears that [the young people pictured] were unknowingly being manipulated by the directors in their effort to cast evangelical Christianity in an unflattering light."
After the release of "Jesus Camp" in 2006, the camp site of the film was vandalised and faced $1,500 in damages. Owners of the property subsequently decided to ban Kids on Fire School of Ministry from using the premises for future camps.
Teen Missions Intl said it will be praying that the special "will be a positive documentary that will honour the Lord and will encourage others to be involved in missions", according to its website.
The group claims to have established 200 missions projects in over 110 countries since 1971 and says it is a pioneer of the concept of providing short-term missions experience for teens.
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Added: Thursday, December 4, 2008, 16:03 (GMT)
Teen Missions Int'l is an awesome ministry. They show God's love in truth, not words. Hospitals, schools, ophanages, churches, you name it, have been built, improved or blessed in different ways by TMI. I haven't been able to see the CBS documentary since I live abroad, but I experienced TMI for 18 months as a Missionary to America from 1998 to 1999. It totally chaged my life by learning unselfishness. Choosing to serve others besides yourself is a tough lesson to learn. TMI shows love, and teaches others to do the same. Refusing God's love is living in hell, both here on earth and on the other side. Living without God's love has bad consecuencies.
Warning people about those bad consecuencies is an act of love. It's not preaching fear. It's telling the truth. If you miss a trafic light you may crash and even die. Dont' be afraid, because you just have to be careful and respect transit law and authorities and nothing bad will happen. Nobody should be afraid of hell, because Jesus paid a big price for us no to go there, but if we lied about it and told people no one can go there, then we wouldn't be showing love. If you believe in Jesus as your saviour then Why should you fear? and if you don't, just do, its as easy as believing and accepting His grace.
One big problem with youth is America is the lack of discipline, they feel free to do basicly whatever they want. But you need discipline for everything you do. Studying, working or raising a family. It all takes discipline. Boot camp is a short time experience, TMI work is not always as tough, but when you are responsible for taking 30 kids to a foreign developing nation you need as much discipline as you can get, since you're responsible for their very lives. One single act of disobedience could jeopardize the entire goal of your mission or endanger the whole team. Not wearing your boots properly could cause you to get worms in your feet, not drinking enough water could even kill you in no time, going astray from your team could get you lost, etc. It's not narrow mindedness, it's safety, responsibility and concern for other's needs. American kids need to learn that, which was so common in America decades ago, which made this country a big nation, which people nowadays lack.
This unsolved need is causing bad things to happen, if people understood they are accountable to God for their bad acts, they would probably think twice before doing a crooked business when nobody is looking, since God is always looking. Isn't this lack of accountability the reason for America's economical crisis?
Discipline would have kept America's economy from what has happened, had it been taught to her kids in the last decades. But it hasn't and now we are living an economical hell. I PRAY TMI WILL GO ON, AND GROW, AND BE BLESSED AND PROSPER, AND BLESS AMERICA MORE AND MORE
antonio cordero, Venezuela
Added: Monday, November 10, 2008, 7:14 (GMT)
Different types of troubled teens help programs are running in the country to recover the struggling adolescents. Few of the programs are wilderness programs, boot camps, residential treatment centers and many others.
http://www.restoreteens.com/Search/0/Boot-Camps/index.html
Boot Camps, dsfsf
