CWVFF Bonus episode with Cameron and BJ Arnett

Jaclyn: 00:00:00

Hey, this is Jaclyn Whitt.

Jaclyn: 00:00:01

I am at the Christian Worldview Film Festival.

Jaclyn: 00:00:04

You're listening to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:00:07

And our guests right now are Cameron and BJ Arnett.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

I've actually, I've met you guys before at several places, you know, content I think is where we first met.

Jaclyn: 00:00:19

Um, and so I love being able to meet people at film festivals.

Jaclyn: 00:00:23

It's a great opportunity to make those connections.

Jaclyn: 00:00:26

So, tell me about what you guys are here doing at this festival this week.

Cameron: 00:00:31

Well, um, we had to speak here from the perspective of, you know, being a couple and dealing with having the relationship aspect with God and how that flows not only through our marriage but through our businesses.

Cameron: 00:00:45

The bottom line is that God gives us to each other in order to facilitate what he wants done and he uses us individually but also simultaneously together to make things happen, or to at least allow what he has done to flow through us.

Cameron: 00:01:01

We've had to give ourselves to the point of understanding that obedience is key.

Cameron: 00:01:07

Everything that we do, we deal with, what did God say first?

Cameron: 00:01:12

Mm-Hmm.

Cameron: 00:01:13

, you know, how does God want it done?

Cameron: 00:01:15

what does he want us to fulfill together in the sense of how we do it as husband and wife?

Cameron: 00:01:21

And so before we deal with the, "what we have to do" in a sense of the practical, uh, something that's outside of us, whether it's making a film or anything else.

Cameron: 00:01:30

We deal with how are we supposed to do it as a couple, how do we handle it, who does what.

Cameron: 00:01:35

It's kind of like the division of labor in the home, You know, so that's, that's pretty much what we were teaching this morning.

Cameron: 00:01:41

Yes.

Cameron: 00:01:42

And, it was a lot of fun.

BJ: 00:01:43

It was a lot of fun and, you know, it's, really a, understanding of how to live out life together as husband and wife.

BJ: 00:01:49

Mm hmm.

BJ: 00:01:49

Mm hmm.

BJ: 00:01:50

And we, we have seen some amazing things happen in our lives since we've been married.

BJ: 00:01:55

And God continually amazes us every day.

BJ: 00:01:59

So it's been, um, a joy to be able to talk about it this morning and share with people the lessons we've learned.

BJ: 00:02:06

Yeah.

BJ: 00:02:06

And, uh, the successes and all of the things that it takes to, to stand for what God says the way he tells us to stand.

Jaclyn: 00:02:15

Yeah, and I love how vulnerable you were because you weren't just saying like hey We did this well, and we did this well And we we won over here and like all of the wins which of course it's great to be able to share the wins But I love that you shared the journey of getting there because wins don't just happen You know you have to put in that hard work.

Jaclyn: 00:02:34

You have to sort through times where you didn't necessarily do it right and then you have to sort, you know How do we actually get past this as a couple as a business, you know sometimes it's even just my relationship with God I need to get that figured out so I can move forward, right?

Jaclyn: 00:02:50

So I want to ask do you guys ever have like this feeling where one of you thinks God is calling me to this or calling us to this, and the other one is like, I don't feel that call.

Jaclyn: 00:03:00

You know...

Jaclyn: 00:03:02

, Cameron: I don't think we've ever really had that one.

Jaclyn: 00:03:04

Ah, no.

Jaclyn: 00:03:04

You know, I mean we've all of course heard of other couples that have Mm-Hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:03:09

. But I think on the onset of our marriage, it was such that we were only obeying God in the marriage to begin with, to get married, right?

Jaclyn: 00:03:19

That was an obey God.

Jaclyn: 00:03:20

To even get married, it was an obey God.

Jaclyn: 00:03:23

It was a God said, it wasn't a one, you know, it's like, it's not like, you know, she was infatuated with me.

Jaclyn: 00:03:28

I wasn't infatuated with her and we decided to get married.

Jaclyn: 00:03:30

No, we, we obeyed God.

Jaclyn: 00:03:31

And then God fashioned the marriage.

Jaclyn: 00:03:35

So we haven't had that issue only because I think that from the onset, it was God putting it together, so he was putting together two people that were going to agree with what he wanted for them.

Jaclyn: 00:03:48

We don't really have individual vision, we have a household vision between us.

Jaclyn: 00:03:56

It's not like anything that I take to my wife as a vision, she doesn't have already within her, you know?

Jaclyn: 00:04:01

I don't have to convince her of anything.

Jaclyn: 00:04:03

She doesn't have to convince me of anything.

Jaclyn: 00:04:05

We're just like, yeah, that's, that's God.

Jaclyn: 00:04:08

And that's basically how it's always been.

Jaclyn: 00:04:10

And in the 25 years we've been together.

BJ: 00:04:12

And I think my husband is so correct in that has a lot to do with how we came together in the first place.

BJ: 00:04:18

It was, it was an answer to obedience.

Jaclyn: 00:04:22

Strong foundation.

Jaclyn: 00:04:24

So what would you, I mean, not everybody necessarily has that dynamic.

Jaclyn: 00:04:27

What would you recommend for somebody who is.

Jaclyn: 00:04:29

In the film industry, which is kind of a strange industry to be in, if you have a spouse that is, um, not sure if they're on board with things, how would you approach

Jaclyn: 00:04:39

advice for them?

BJ: 00:04:40

That's very interesting because I think that it doesn't matter what it is.

BJ: 00:04:45

It matters who you're serving.

BJ: 00:04:48

You're not serving one another before you're serving God.

BJ: 00:04:50

So I think that if, if we come from the perspective of whatever this vision, this thought is, Is it from God?

BJ: 00:04:58

And if it's just a, a something, "Oh God, I really want to"...

BJ: 00:05:01

take it to him.

BJ: 00:05:03

And allow him to say the yay or the nay, or yes, I put that in you, and this is how you're going to do it.

BJ: 00:05:10

And then it becomes an easier way to introduce it to your husband or wife.

BJ: 00:05:16

Because if my husband comes to me and said, A "God said," that's it.

BJ: 00:05:20

There ain't nothing for BJ to say, but we're in.

BJ: 00:05:25

Hey, hey, you know, but if it's, if it's an unction, I think this is what we should do.

BJ: 00:05:32

We're both serving the Lord God together.

BJ: 00:05:36

So that becomes the basis of which every decision is made and it becomes less of a push pull.

BJ: 00:05:44

And I think that it's all in how you say things.

BJ: 00:05:48

I think we forget.

BJ: 00:05:49

as husband and wife sometimes, that the person that you're with all the time, that you wake up in the morning with, you go to sleep with at night, is, is that person that you need to take care of the most.

BJ: 00:06:02

So we need to take care how we speak to one another, how we introduce anything to one another.

BJ: 00:06:08

Um, this is the king of my home.

BJ: 00:06:11

He serves the king of my life.

BJ: 00:06:13

So how I speak to him is only a reflection of how I speak.

BJ: 00:06:19

To the king of my life,

Cameron: 00:06:21

The issue is, the breaking down to the point of what did God say about the marriage, the man and the woman.

Cameron: 00:06:27

Yeah.

Cameron: 00:06:28

And once you get to that, those things kind of fade away because now you know, How do we know how to operate?

Cameron: 00:06:35

Alright, we're not always going to agree, but when we disagree, how do we make that work?

Cameron: 00:06:41

That breaks down to what did God say about me husband, you wife.

Cameron: 00:06:46

It doesn't, it's not about the business.

Cameron: 00:06:48

That's about just the two of us and obeying him in the process.

Cameron: 00:06:51

sometimes, you know, God will say something to me and I'll say, Okay.

Cameron: 00:06:55

I understand that within following God, give me a vision, or a direction, or a command, but what he gives her is the wisdom on how to fulfill it.

Cameron: 00:07:05

Right.

Cameron: 00:07:06

So for me, what I do is, I'll come and say, Hey, this is what we're doing.

Cameron: 00:07:10

This is what God said.

Cameron: 00:07:11

What am I not seeing?

Cameron: 00:07:12

How do we get there?

Cameron: 00:07:13

You know, so we, we both know our place and our part.

Cameron: 00:07:17

And so we work in tandem that way.

Cameron: 00:07:20

What I don't want to give me is another vision.

Cameron: 00:07:22

I say, if I say, this is what God said, you can't give me something else.

Cameron: 00:07:26

You know what I'm saying?

Cameron: 00:07:26

But at the same time, if I can't say it's an unction from God or that this is God speaking for sure, then there's a discussion that we can have because it's we're not dealing with God being the commander of that.

Cameron: 00:07:39

It may be an idea that I have.

Cameron: 00:07:41

Well, if it's just an idea that I have, well, then we can talk about maybe it's not a good idea.

BJ: 00:07:47

I

BJ: 00:07:47

think another thing that he has said to me about some of my creative ways, um, he'll say, um, That sounds good, babe, but it may not be for right now.

BJ: 00:07:58

In other words, just kind of like, okay, let's, let's sit that over here for a minute and see what else occurs so we can see if that fits within the total of what God has given us.

BJ: 00:08:09

Cause you know, I'm a creative and I've got lots of ideas.

BJ: 00:08:12

We can't do all of them.

BJ: 00:08:14

We should do better.

BJ: 00:08:15

And he's like, okay, how many wives are in that little body right And it's, it's funny to me because I'll come up with stuff.

BJ: 00:08:22

He's like, Okay, BJ.

Cameron: 00:08:25

Well, you know, be like this.

Cameron: 00:08:27

I know who I am and how I flow.

Cameron: 00:08:29

And I know what I will and will not do.

Cameron: 00:08:31

I know all of that.

Cameron: 00:08:33

So when something comes up, it's just like being a pastor, you know, people come to you with ideas all the time and you say, okay, well, are you going to lead that?

Cameron: 00:08:39

And they're not going to lead it.

Cameron: 00:08:40

Well, no, don't put another thing on my plate, you know, that kind of thing.

Cameron: 00:08:43

So we deal with those kinds of, but those are ideas that we have versus God said.

Cameron: 00:08:49

And so even with those, there's a way in which we function, that is about what God said about a husband and a wife, not what God said about what to do.

Cameron: 00:09:00

You know what I'm saying?

Cameron: 00:09:00

Instead of like a project.

Cameron: 00:09:03

And I think husband and wives need to understand that they have to boil it down to what did God say about a husband and a wife.

Cameron: 00:09:08

And it may not look like us, but there's something that he said that is everybody.

Cameron: 00:09:13

You know, when we read Genesis, that belongs to everybody.

Cameron: 00:09:17

And from that point then there are differentiations.

Jaclyn: 00:09:21

Tell me how people can get in contact with you or in your ministry.

Jaclyn: 00:09:25

How can they find out more about what you guys are talking about?

BJ: 00:09:28

So you can look me up on Instagram at BJA today or Facebook and that is BJ Billy Arnett

Cameron: 00:09:38

And you can find me on IG at Cameron Arnett Actor and also on Facebook, Cameron Arnett Actor.

Cameron: 00:09:43

And on, the website is cameronarnett.com

BJ: 00:09:47

And my website is bjarnett.com

Jaclyn: 00:09:50

Fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:09:50

Thank you guys so much.

BJ: 00:09:52

Thank you.

Cameron: 00:09:52

Thank you.

Cameron: 00:09:52

Appreciate it.