Great Commission Day - Fundraising Call To Action
Produced with Joshua Whiteman, Christian & Missionary Alliance
“I was hesitant to outsource something this big, but Max made it painless. He got it right from the jump, understood our goals, and elevated the work. That’s why I’m planning to build out more contracts with him.”
Joshua Whiteman, Christian & Missionary Alliance
What They Needed
(Even If They Couldn’t Say It)
The Christian & Missionary Alliance came to me with a mountain of raw material and no clear roadmap. They knew this video would be a centerpiece of their Great Commission Day campaign—a direct call to action for donors—but their internal team was already swamped.
Outsourcing something this important made them nervous. It wasn’t just another internal piece. It had to hit emotionally, feel cohesive, and be done in under a week.
There was no script. Just five interview recordings, four hours of talking head content, and 15 hours of B-roll. All non-scripted. All raw. All needing transformation.
Joshua and his team had never outsourced a project this big before. They were skeptical. Stressed. Time was tight. And they were worried that nobody outside the organization could understand their voice, tone, or purpose.
But I’d done this before—a lot. And I told them exactly that.
I explained that I’d worked on dozens of short-form mission-driven films, and I knew the pieces required to take something from chaotic footage to a cohesive, emotionally resonant narrative. That clarity—and confidence—helped put them at ease.
Before We Started: Stressed and On Deadline
My Role: Take It Off Their Plate
They handed the entire project to me. Structure. Pacing. Emotional arc. Graphics. Music. All of it.
They needed someone who could:
Build the story from scratch
Find the narrative thread inside five unscripted interviews
Create a 2-3 minute piece that inspired donors to act
Keep the entire process on schedule, with minimal lift from them
And I did just that.
Understanding What They Couldn’t Articulate
They thought they needed an editor.
What they really needed was a story architect. Someone to listen deeply, identify the one quote that would serve as the emotional crux of the piece, and shape everything around it.
That quote was:
“I was talking to a woman on the subway about Jesus, and when it finally clicked for her, she asked: ‘Why did it take people so long to tell me this?’”
It captured everything. The mission. The urgency. The heart.
Once I built the story around that quote, everything else aligned. Music rose. Emotion built. Then dropped into the final call to action. It landed hard.
The Creative Direction: Full Trust, Full Ownership
They gave me full creative freedom—and I returned something that was 95% there on the first cut.
I chose a moody intro to set the stage, slowly building to that pivotal subway quote. From there, the music and energy soared. We didn’t start high and stay high. We built toward something, so when the ask came, it had weight.
My job was to ensure every quote, visual, and musical swell worked in harmony to serve one purpose: move people to give.
Process: Fast. Clear. Collaborative.
Timeline: Delivered first cut in one day
Accuracy: 95% there on first pass
Refinements: Quick revisions, all collaborative
Communication: Constant availability, quick replies, daily updates
I even hired a colorist and sound designer to elevate the final polish—because the work deserved it.
And when I sent the final invoice? They told me to charge more. (I didn’t.)
Outcome
The Christian & Missionary Alliance: Great Commission Day