Portland observer., January 25, 1995, Page 25, Image 25

from the magnitude of what God wants for
you to do.”
“We have a core of 4-5 people that is the
planning and strategizing core. Hollywood
would have a staff of 30-50 people to do
what w e’re trying to do,” chuckles
Gallagher. "We rely on God doing infinitely
more through fewer vessels. It takes ten guys
about six hours just to setup the stage. Then
there are two and a half more days checking
the nightmare of lighting, setting up all the
audio and getting the studio ready for taping
a show. The biggest challenge in the first
year was to get the set built. Bids came in for
$55,000 to $60,(MX) just to build the set—just
the background on the stage for the show.
Needless to say, we didn't have that kind of
money. During the first half of 1993, God
brought together an incredible pool of volun­
teers who built the set with donated materi­
als. When all was said and done, we had
spent $5,200.”
God can do a lot with what seems like a
little!
Besides the strategic core, and the faith­
ful laborers, LightSide has a Board of
Directors and a Board of Advisors which
includes well-known Christian leaders such
as Luis Palau, Ron Mehl, and Kristan Dunn.
Since LightSide is penetrating the arts and
media, Gallagher is determined to have a
solid accountability structure. The television
industry, even Christian television, often has
undertones of financial irresponsibility that
LightSide plans to avoid.
LightSide Productions is a non-profit
organization and as such depends completely
on donations, primarily from within the
Portland area. But the long term design
includes commercial funding from national
sponsors, even though many people believe
that any programming with religious under­
tones will fail to attract the corporate pocket­
books. “We are determined not to ask for
money on the air.” insists Gallagher. "That’s
where people who know broadcasting—and
especially religious broadcasting— say
‘Good luck,' and basically send it to the
grave. There’s enough of a fighting spirit in
me io say ‘Why not? From what I know you
haven’t tried it, so don’t tell me it can’t be
done.’ Maybe I’m just living in a fantasy
here, but so far, we're two and a half years
down the road and I'm still in the fantasy.
God has provided everything we need.”
“When I see giant corporations funding
violent or illicit programming,” says
Gallagher. "I think. ‘Wow! They’re taking a
gutsy risk to fund that show.’ "Night Light,”
with its strong entertainment value and
Christian principles, is much less of a risk. ”
The banal details of the working world
have not dampened Gallagher's passion
David Gallagher
about bringing God’s light to shine without
using the limited cable-access stations. He
has never been trained in broadcasting or
producing, although he is a highly decorated
veteran of Christian colleges throughout the
U.S. and had served five years as youth pas­
tor at Beaverton Foursquare Church before
venturing out on this quest. But nothing in
his background prepared him for this partic­
ular challenge, except God alone.
Gallagher has purposefully, carefully
God can do a lot
with w hat seems
like a little!
and prayerfully followed His Savior's lead
into this unknown territory. “I talked to sev­
eral people in Christian broadcasting,” says
Gallagher. “They told me that if God wants
me there, he’ll put me there. That wasn’t
what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear how
to break into the business. But. instead, 1 put
it on the shelf.” He was willing to wait for
God’s timing.
Though Gallagher was willing to return
to school to learn the art of television pro­
duction from qualified and experienced pro­
fessors, he found no peace on that road. "I
really gave prayerful thought to going to
Regent’s University for its media and broad­
casting degree,” says Gallagher. "It was pret­
ty clear to me that that was not what God had
in mind for me to do. In fact, I believe that
what God was saying to me was ‘You are not
to go on to school and learn production
because at the point in time when this
becomes successful and becomes something
that people know about, I would never want
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1995
them to be able to look at you and say “Oh,
this happened because Gallagher got his
education and training in television produc­
tion.” ‘ God wanted to put me in a place of
total and utter dependency on Him. so that
when He did give life to it and bring success,
I would be the first one to give Him the glory
and the credit and the honor for having have
been the One to raise this up.”
It wasn't long before friends producing
a Christian show on cable access television
asked Gallagher to help. "That was the open
door.” says Gallagher, "but I didn’t charge
through it blindly. I’ve always made it a
point to go to people I regard as leaders over
me spiritually— people I respect, such as my
pastor and others. I submit decisions like that
to them ask them to pray with me about it
before I ever step out and just do it on my
own.”
Leaning forward and placing his hand
firmly on the table, Gallagher continues
earnestly, "I really believe that God speaks to
people who have a position of accountabili­
ty in your life; people who are willing to
speak the hard things to you. So, I went to a
group of those people before I ever made the
decision to actually pursue that open door
and they all felt good about it. Tney believed
that it was an open door from the Lord. That
was a reassurance to me that this desire was­
n’t just me and my own flesh.”
Relaxing. Gallagher breathes easily,
"There’s a spiritual covering that takes place
when you submit your life to people that you
have become accountable to. There's a reas­
surance that you're not going out on a limb
by yourself and cutting yourself oil. I defi­
nitely submitted this vision to them because I
just know the importance of that kind of cov­
ering. I can pursue this with mt,re freedom."
So began Gallagher's quest to liberate
morally upright entertainment.
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