The last episode of Lost in the Queue Season 1 is a little open-ended. It raises some interesting speculations about the parents of Daniel, Aubrey, and Gleek. Have they been adopted or possibly KIDNAPPED without their knowledge? And if so, why? What kind of a system would allow or even advocate such a practice?
Well, I will neither confirm nor deny the speculation, but I do want to share an interesting story I found on the internet about a week before the final episode aired. It’s about Winona, shown below with her “real” mom, Tracey.
It’s a pretty lengthy article from a British news service. If you have the time, I would encourage you to read it here. The main point of the article is summed up in the following few paragraphs:
Tracey, Winona, and her sister were subjects of a forced adoption, which critics—including family solicitors, MPs, and wronged families—say are happening on a scandalously regular basis, on the flimsiest of evidence, in order to meet government targets to raise the number of adoptions by 50 per cent. There have been cases cited of babies taken from women considered too young or not clever enough to look after them. One boy was removed on the grounds that his mother might shout at him in the future. In Tracey’s case, her children were sent for adoption because they were deemed “at risk of emotional abuse.” No one can really know the truth, and doubtless social services would argue they acted in good faith and in the children’s best interests, but Tracey is adamant she never abused, neglected, or abandoned them.
Worrisome Trend?
It’s scary to think about what can happen when a government agency—in an attempt to do good—gets it wrong. In this case, it was probably a good motivation that drove the goal of raising the number of adoptions by 50 percent. And we need good social workers in society to watch out for children’s best interests.
But what is the basis? Is it an “intellectual elite” that we defer to when it comes to guiding the course of society or is it just majority opinion that helps guide those decisions? What happens when the social system based on one of those human foundations decides it is not in a child’s best interest to be taught moral absolutes based on the Bible? I mean, there are a lot of things in the Bible that don’t agree with prevailing world views we find among our friends, neighbors, teachers, and leaders. What happens when the majority or the intellectual elite say, “We no longer accept your source of truth and moral guidance as valid. In fact, it seems to infringe on the right of a person to do whatever they like. If you want to limit yourself in this way, we respect your right to. But we say it is wrong for you to try to impose this system on another—including your children—and so we are now going to step in and limit your influence on others.” In the case of families, as we saw in Tracey’s case, it could mean social services removing children from the family.
What Should We Do?
It is easy to gravitate toward fear and despair as we look at cultural trends like these. Many Christians don’t spend a lot of time really thinking about these issues because we are supposed to be all about joy and hope. The other route Christians tend to take is to check out spiritually. As in, we look heavenward so earnestly that we no longer have any influence on society. Jesus commissioned us to be salt and light while we remain here on earth. And before that, God gave Adam and Eve a job in the garden—before man’s fall into sin. That job was to rule and subdue the earth. As the people God has redeemed from the fall, we are to be about redemption. We are here in the time between when everything was perfect and when everything is going to be made perfect again. We are here for a reason: to bring redemption to what is broken through sin.
So how do we do that? Paul said the only thing that matters is “Faith, expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). Think of all Jesus went through to bring us redemption with the Father—it was a LOT! Base your life on the Bible, not just the parts that current culture agrees with, but all of it. Expectantly ask the unchanging God to help you understand how to build your life on the foundation of His Word. Then obey what He says and leave the consequences up to Him.
Jesus isn’t only far away in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father. He left His Spirit in every Christian. So the truth is, He is closer (I mean, actually, physically, space-time CLOSER) than any other person in your life. Yes, we have a longing for heaven and for everything to be made right again. Romans 8 says we are groaning for that day. BUT we need not check out and pine away for the presence of Jesus—He is alive in you if you are a believer!
We are here to:
- Love people.
- Live lives that reflect hope and joy when facing abuse, accusations, bullying, and even the removal of our rights.
- Offer a foundation worth building a life on, a foundation more substantial and trustworthy than the shifting sand of the culture of the day.
So back to our fictional story…
If this is what the real parents of Daniel, Gleek, and Aubrey believe, then how do you think they would’ve handled having their children forcibly put up for adoption? And how do you think it will affect the kids’ dependence and trust in God as the story continues?
Steve ODell Creative Director
Here is another great letter from one of our viewers.
Hi, My name is Elizabeth. I saw the summery of this show on the back flap of my Keys for Kids that is got earlier this month (or was it late November?) and the Holy Spirit drew me to it. I got on the website without a second thought.
This show is great. The actors are superb, the videos are put together very well, and the show is very funny, suspenseful, and thought-provoking. I was actually shaking as I watched the show for the first time, which is an achievement on your guy’s part because I only really shake like that when I’m watching a really good movie. In just over an hour, you’ve gotten me hooked to the point that I get nervous (hence, the shaking) about whats going to happen next. Good job.
Please pray for Lost In The Queue in this upcoming new year. Pray that the Holy Spirit will utilize this program to touch people’s lives. In turn, we pray that you have a blessed 2012. Happy New Year!
It’s hard to believe another Christmas is upon us. At this time of the year, of course it’s natural for our thoughts to turn to gifts. As I’m sure you know, the reason we give gifts is to remind ourselves that we are celebrating the day God gave us the BEST gift—His son, Jesus.
Here at Lost in the Queue headquarters (QHQ for short), one of the best gifts we get is our viewers’ feedback! Just a couple days ago, I got this very encouraging email from Jeremy who lives in Illinois, and thought I’d share it with the rest of our Q-niverse.
What got me into watching the “Lostintheque” show was how realistic the collective hypnosis and mind control aspect of the storyline is. I have fallen prey to these very things… if you could pray for me to obtain a sound mind and for God to give me wisdom on what I have experienced and to grant me assurance of my salvation following the experience. Thank you
Thank you, Jeremy, for sharing your experience with us. We will certainly pray for your situation. That’s another gift that we really appreciate—being able to pray for our viewers. And we also encourage our fans to pray for each other, too!
Jeremy’s email is just one of many comments and correspondences that we’ve had the privilege of receiving over the past three and a half months. Thank you so much for your encouragement! We really do consider it a gift!! So keep putting them under the tree (so to speak) and we’ll return them with our gift to you of praying for your needs, and providing encouragement in whatever way we can.
May your Christmas season and New Year be filled with the peace and joy that God offers to all of us through His Son, Jesus!
If you’ve been watching the web video series Lost in the Queue, maybe you’ve rolled a skeptical eye or two and said to yourself, “That’s pretty far-fetched… I mean really, collective hypnosis and possible mind control? Puh-leeze!!”
Well, I admit, some of the elements of the story are a bit more plausible than others. But let me ask you this (especially if you are old enough to remember life before the internet): Did you ever watch Star Trek and think how crazy futuristic those little communicators were on their shirts? They’d just tap them and have this whole conversation going… I’ve got two words for you—Bluetooth (ok, I guess that’s technically one word). And remember when we fantasized about someday not being limited to telephones because we’d have videophones? Hello, Skype, anyone?
And the list goes on.
Sometimes once we arrive at the future we had envisioned, it’s not quite as fantastic as we had expected. In fact, sometimes the process of getting from now to then desensitizes us to the magnitude of the situation. People always used to say things like, “Well, if we can put a man on the moon, then we can ___________”(fill in the blank). Now we’ve forgotten what a massive feat it was to put a man on the moon. Like it’s no big deal.
So if Lost in the Queue is a vision of the future, are we going for plausible or fantastic? That’s easy… BOTH! Every good story requires a certain degree of imagination and suspension of disbelief on the viewer’s part, but it also has to be credible in order for the viewer to agree to go on the journey with you. At the core of Lost in the Queue we find characters—people with real life issues. These characters are set in a situation—the setting which they inhabit (and it’s actually not that far from plausible if you think about it). Yes, their specific experiences may be extreme.
However…
I hope you’ll relate to the characters, see the possibility of the situation, and then with regard to the extreme experiences, just go with it and enjoy the ride!
In future posts, I will dive into some of the source material for the reality we’ve created for Lost in the Queue and show how our own culture may not be as far from some of the aspects of Daniel’s, Aubrey’s and Gleek’s world as you might think.
So by now you have seen the first three episodes of Lost In The Queue (if you missed any, http://lostinthequeue.com/). You’re getting to know our heroes—Daniel, Aubrey, and Gleek—and I can hear you wondering aloud, “Where did they find these extraordinary actors?” Well, I’m glad you asked! You probably wouldn’t expect where we found them…
As we contemplated how we would produce Lost in the Queue, we considered a number of factors, the most expensive dynamic was where we would shoot. Usually, with a big budget (or even average budget), you go wherever the climate best suits the story. Either you cast where there is a big talent pool and take the actors and crew with you to the shooting location (and pay for transportation, accommodations and meals) or you cast once you get to the location.
We knew we were going to be limited to shooting here in good ol’ Grand Rapids, Michigan, and early in the process we realized that it would be best to look for native talent as well. Now, I love West Michigan, don’t get me wrong, and I hope I don’t offend the thriving theater community here, but, well, we’re not really known for our screen acting talent pool. So we asked God to send us the right actors for His project.
Our producer, Daniel, had the great idea to involve a former professor of his, Kathy Sindorf, as our casting director. Since I had been in charge of the daunting task of casting as producer of Down Gilead Lane, I was delighted to hand that task off to Kathy. She did a wonderful job of getting the word out, organizing auditions, and keeping track of callbacks, to name a few of her talents.
We all agreed pretty quickly that Derek and Kaitlyn were great for the parts of Daniel and Aubrey; they had the right look, great acting skills, they mixed well, and had worked together before, so they already had that chemistry. At that point, it was just a matter of whether they wanted the parts or not. The problem was Gleek…
Gleek is one of those roles that is especially hard to cast. He’s quirky but not a joke. We didn’t ever want a character who is some kind of parody, requiring an over-the-top, cartoonish performance. All the guys who came in to audition wanted to go for the Daniel part. I mean, if the character is described as a bit nerdy and slightly awkward, who wants to step into that, right?
Once we narrowed it down to a few candidates, we realized that Justin, a seasoned stage actor but newcomer to the screen, had a level of maturity beyond his years that would really help him discover the Gleek character. And once we put him together with Derek and Kaitlyn, it was clear we had our trio!
If you haven’t seen the first three episodes, please watch them at http://lostinthequeue.com/, and enjoy three of Grand Rapid’s finest actors!
So you have a great concept for a webvideo series, you have a title, a writer, and a great kids’ ministry behind you.
Guess what…you still got a long way to go before you actually have a show.
This was where we found ourselves at the end of my last post. In December 2010, John Fornof was busy writing; here in Grand Rapids, we went to work looking for a producer. We pitched the idea to a few people we knew around town, all capable and possessing a variety of strengths, but I was particularly impressed with Daniel Smith. After several meetings, by around late January, I knew he was the man for the job.
At first, he was Daniel Smith of Red & Black Productions—a young, energetic, positive, talented guy with an impressive demo reel. But as we continued to meet, he became just Daniel—friend, colleague, partner-in-crime (by crime I mean having fun while you work). It’s been really great to have someone like Daniel to kick ideas around with and learn from. He introduced us to Erik Ticen, who became our director for season one, Kathy Sindorf, our casting director, our production designer Philip Carrel, and the rest of our incredible crew.
As John got closer and closer to a final draft of the season one script, Daniel got busy in pre-production and all 115 pages wallpapered one corner of our building. In this way, Daniel mapped out our shooting schedule. Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the building, I was converting office space into a studio! One really cool memory I have of that time was the budget was really theoretical. In other words, Daniel let us know what a realistic budget was for shooting the script which gave us a target to aim for. But the reality was that we didn’t really have a budget for this kind of thing at all, and Daniel knew that, so as the money came in during the fundraising phase, we did what we could on faith that more would show up when we needed it. Daniel never got stressed about money, he never told us to go fly a kite and call us when we had real dollars. He so believed in the project that he was willing to make adjustments to how we would go about production so that the dollars we did have would stretch!
God has really used the stewardship skills of Daniel to get us some incredibly high quality footage on a shoestring budget. He continues to take leaps of faith with us for the sake of making Lost in the Queue a reality—and as good as it can be. I’m really glad we hired Daniel, and I’m proud to have him and Red & Black Productions attached to the show!
Next time: Where did these awesome kids come from?
Steve Odell Creative Director
The excitement for Lost In the Queue, from the leaders of Children’s Bible Hour to the cast, crew and the families of the actors has been unbelievable! When a ministry is on the brink of taking on a project this large, not only large but radically different from the primarily audio based ministry, is an immense task to create a video series that preteens and teenagers will accept. Since I have been involved with Lost In the Queue I have seen the hard work and general excitement for the project multiply with each new day. It has been a great experience and one that I hope we get to continue with season two and beyond. Not often do I get a chance to finish a project and be so excited to do it all over again. But with Lost In the Queue I have seen the genuine passion and excitement to create an end product that reflects the work of Christ loving individuals. I would like to say Thank You to everyone that was involved in the project, from CBH donors to the crew, parents and actors, you have all made this a positive event and one that will help lead people to Christ. Please pray for us and this ministry as we continue to develop this new project.
Daniel Smith Producer
When I first read the Lost in Queue script the one thing that stuck out to me was ‘The Dan and Gleek Show.’ Throughout the script ‘The Dan and Gleek Show’ bring bits of comedy and reality to the storyline. The three main characters create their own web show after school in Daniel’s living room. Although personally I was a bit older than the characters in Lost In the Queue when I started operating cameras, it brought back memories of wanting to document or create videos of my life at that time. ‘The Dan and Gleek Show’ does just that. It allows the viewers a chance to understand where the characters are at emotionally in the storyline. It gives us the opportunity to understand if Daniel is in a relaxed mood or in his ‘detective’ mood. It also helps define each character and where they are in their journey of discovery and self understanding. Ultimately ‘The Dan and Gleek Show’ is a small piece of the story that helps connect the dots to the bigger picture, allowing everyone to interact with the characters and their journey. I am looking forward to seeing ‘The Dan and Gleek Show’ come together and I hope you are too.
Wondering what this whole Lost in the Queue thing is and how it came to be? Well, here’s a little backstory…
Back in early May 2010, after wrapping up 12 seasons of our successful radio drama Down Gilead Lane, CBH Ministries’ leadership team met to discuss what direction to move into next in our mission to help kids be all they can be in their spiritual lives. Team member Sandy Vaughn mentioned the book of Revelation and the idea of “overcoming.”
The next day, the creative team met for a private brainstorm meeting. At this meeting, we came up with an idea for a webvideo series from the perspective of kids (tweens) living in an alternate reality where it is illegal to be a Christian in a fictional equivalent of modern America.
The day after that, the creative team pitched the idea to CBH Ministries’ Executive Director Terre Ritchie. She liked the concept and encouraged us to write up a treatment.
About a week later, I sent the first treatment of “What If” to writer and friend John Fornof and Terre Ritchie.
The next day we received this response from John:
Steve, Every now and then, you run across an idea that has a “wow” factor to it. This definitely pegs the wow meter. This has amazing potential to reach U.S. kids with the “what if” scenario we’ve all played in our heads. It also helps us relate better to our persecuted brothers and sisters in other countries. And that opens up some nice international potential for this series. And what a storyline you’ve got started! Pencil me in for a brainstorming session!
About 10 days later, we were officially given the green light to produce a demo (based on the pilot script/treatment). The only catch: “Do it for free, and have it ready to show a potential investor on June 14!” The working title at this point was Days of Daniel.
Hard to believe that was over a year ago! To make a long story short, we did produce the demo—for free! It was pretty rough and clearly lacked the production value we wanted, but it gave us a good idea of the project’s direction. John Fornof signed on as head writer. We brainstormed the backstory, created the universe, and went through about 20 potential titles, finally settling on Lost in the Queue! And the rest is history (well, almost).
In future posts, I’ll talk more about the schedule and funding challenges, building the sets, finding the cast–basically, the whole process of going from concept to reality!!
