Reality TV producer finds new audience with UCC, 'Jesus crowd'

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Reality TV producer finds new audience with UCC, 'Jesus crowd'

> Written by Jeff Woodard
> December 13, 2010

Learning that Laura Madden's entry point into
freelance writing for the UCC has come via India is an 
attention-grabber.

Then you find out her journey also has gone by way of Brazil.

> And Mozambique.

> And South Africa.

> And China.

> And that she is back in India.

> For the third time.

A highly experienced photographer and

television/film producer, Madden has worked on
several "reality" shows. On her resume are
editing projects for reality TV shows to include
"Rescue Ink," "Border Wars," "Dog the Bounty
Hunter," "Family Plots," "The First 48" and "DogTown."

The success was all well and good, but Madden
found herself at a creative crossroads.

"I was having a tough time reconciling working on
TV shows that I wouldn't watch in my spare time,
so I decided to take a year off to work on my
still photography portfolio," says Madden, whose
credits also include work on an Emmy-winning PBS
documentary about Benjamin Franklin. "So I packed
my Canon 30D and my laptop and hit the road."

The journey began in November 2007 after a family
friend in India had put her in touch with Dr.
Anil Henry, who heads up Mungeli Christian
Hospital in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

"Think 'Trauma: Life in the ER, India style,' "
says Madden, who later in that leg of her travels
met a group of UCC members from Atlanta.

Her first order of business, however, was

fulfilling Henry's suggestion that she shoot
photos of a woman's hysterectomy. "Over the
course of five days, not only did I experience
the shock of up-close-and-personal medical care,
but I also learned a lot about the Indian medical
system through what I wasn't seeing at MCH."

Madden says Henry questioned the practice of many
doctors in rural areas such as Mungeli, where
antibiotics were being prescribed with abandon.
"Dr. Anil and his crew were going against the
grain, in some cases whipping out medical texts
if they got a patient they didn't know how to treat."

Most inspirational for Madden has been meeting
"everyday people" who work so diligently for change.

"People who had finished the day at their

full-time job headed over to the refugees' house
to sort through the mail, or help draw up a
household budget," says Madden. "Parents of kids
negotiated with the refugees' kids' schools when
they would otherwise have been at home preparing dinner for their own 
kids."

Fast-forward to early 2010 when the Rev. Gregg
Brekke, United Church News editor, called to
request photos of Henry for the debut issue of
StillSpeaking Magazine. Madden came through, and
later in the year introduced herself to the UCC ?
a k a "the Jesus crowd" to some of her friends
and colleagues ? by writing a freelance article for United Church 
News.

The subject of the piece was the work of

resettlement committees that provide long- and
short-term assistance in the United States for
<http://www.ucc.org/news/ucc-congregations-offer-hope.html>Iraqi
refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Conducting interviews and composing the article
led Madden to a new-found appreciation of the UCC.

"With years of Catholic school as my point of
reference for the Christian community, I was
thrilled to learn about the UCC's practical
approach to modern life," says Madden, noting the
open-and-affirming position of many UCC churches,
as well its support of women's reproductive
rights and staunch opposition to the Iraq war.

"I hope that sharing these kinds of stories

inspires other people ? Jesus lovers or not ? to
get out there and make change in whatever way they can," says Madden.

To learn more about Madden, her work and her
journey, please visit her
<http://lauramadden.wordpress.com/>blog and her
<http://www.globalministries.org/sasia/overseasstaff/a-personal-experience-
 at.html>personal
account of time spent in Mungeli in 2008.