The past couple of weeks have been an exciting time for The Fuel Project.
At the beginning of the month we launched a new initiative asking for your help in making a brand new feature-film. And in the intervening days, while waiting for volunteers to submit their footage, I've been taking the opportunity to go back and revisit a beloved project from a few years ago - Stay Free.
I don't often get to look back - normally I'm always looking ahead towards the next phase of the Fuel vision. But it's long been in my mind to go back to Stay Free at the first opportunity. You see, I love the content of that series. I love it. In fact, it's probably the most important series I've completed to date. It's about the gospel. It's about freedom. It's about making sure we understand that all our prosperity, safety and liberty ultimately rests in an obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's about letting him heal us and our broken society. I love these themes.
But there's something that has always bothered me about Stay Free too - I just don't think I presented it as well as I could have. Those who know me say I have a perfectionist streak so perhaps I'm doomed to always look back and never be fully satisfied, but in the past few years, as I've developed as a writer, and learned more about videography, audio, design and editing, and as I've been blessed to meet people who have gifts in these areas and who have been willing to get on board with various parts of the production process, I've seen how Stay Free could be greatly enhanced. It's also true that when Stay Free was originally made, I didn't even have access to proper recording equipment, and due to generous donations from supporters like you, we now do. And so again, it's from this vantage point that I now look back and think the time is right to revisit and refresh.
So that's what I've been up to in the past couple of weeks! It's been an incredibly rewarding, enjoyable experience, that's reminded me of the wonder of the cross and deepened my love for our Saviour. And I can now announce that the brand new revised edition of the book should be released within the next week or two. When I say 'revised', I would estimate that around 80% of the book has been reworked in some way. The message is exactly the same, but it's more focused, cleaner and easier to understand.
At the time of writing this blog, we just need to design a new cover and fine-tune some of the internal graphics, but I'm so excited to add this update to the Fuel catalogue this summer. Of course, in time-honoured Fuel fashion, we will also be releasing a revised version of the video series when time allows. The new series will be completely re-recorded from scratch with a new design, fonts, and improved audio and video. This all ties in with the Lord's message for this ministry this year - to array the truth in beauty.
I'll post again when it's all ready to go.
God bless
Mark Fairley