Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Portrait of Ted Jackson, Christian Photojournalist
by Cindy M. Brown

Conclusion – How God Led Ted to Use His Professional Life

Jackson
told this story (see Part I about how he felt convicted

by his little crying son to move a lady’s furniture) to a large

crowd for the first time at a meeting in Fort Worth
of Christians

in Photojournalism, a professional organization for 

photojournalists who consider their work to be a calling from

God.[9]
He had made presentations about his work before, but

this time he says his
approach was totally different,because the

audience was different. “I really
tried to explain what it was that

Christ was helping me do in my photography, which I felt was

totally appropriate to the group,” says Jackson.

He started
his presentation with the story about the incident

over the walkie talkie,
which he used to talk about how the

people photojournalists take pictures of
have a huge stake in

the work photojournalists do.

I don’t think we need to be involved in everybody’s
lives in the situations we find ourselves in, but we really need to remember to
look at life from their perspective and understand what they’re going through
and remember we play a huge role in their life … And to take that into account
in everything we do.[10] 

Jackson was scheduled to speak to the Mississippi Press Association (coincidentally, or was it providentially(?) Tom was at that meeting and remembers Ted distinctly) soon
after he finished his presentation in Texas. He was squeezed for time and says
that he started thinking he would love to say the exact same things he said in
Ft. Worth. Even though he knew the presentation he had given to a group of
Christians wouldn’t be considered “appropriate” for a secular audience, he kept
feeling himself pulled in that direction. The closer it got to the time for the
presentation he says, the more he thought he was being faced with a sort of
crisis of faith.

I was being called, to say exactly
the same thing. But the question was, did I have the guts to do it? Of course I
wouldn’t be telling this story if I had chosen the other route. So I decided to
do it. I brought the exact same notes. I told the stories the exact same way,
same pictures, same ending, same everything. It was unbelievable. It was like a
standing ovation. People lined up to talk with me. They were just stunned to
hear what I had said in a setting like that.[11]

The next thing he knew, he was asked to speak at a
prayer

breakfast in New Orleans where he made the same presentation.

He says he
hadn’t really even paid attention to whom he was

speaking until after his
presentation. He found out he had just

presented to a group of people who
planned state press

association meetings.

What
I realized was I had just walked into a gold mine. They all wanted me to come
to their meetings. “We want you to do word for word what you just did.” And I
was stunned by that. It was just a little bit of boldness that God gave me to
speak.[12]

Jackson’s work as a Christian educator is not
limited to his

chosen profession and speaking engagements. He also teaches

Sunday School on a rotating basis at the Tammany Oaks Church

of Christ, where
he is an elder. Dee Andrews, who was a

member of his Sunday School class
several years back, says

Ted’s class was very engaging. “I was privileged to be
a part of

his Sunday School class,” says Andrews, adding that Jackson

used
PowerPoint presentations to convey information that had

been gathered from a
wide range of disciplines – history,

philosophy, ethics, and archeology.[13]
Not only does Jackson

serve as an elder in the church and teach Sunday School,

according to Andrews, he helps with the church web site and

with layout and
design of church publications. “In whatever

ways he can, he serves,” says
Andrews.[14]

            The way Ted Jackson lives his life provides religious

instruction to those around him. The stories he tells with his

photographs move
people to action in accord with Christ’s

instruction to love one another. The
presentations he gives

provide bold witness to other journalists about ways
they too

can order their professional life as Christian calling.

           Ted Jackson calls his readers to a
practice of social justice. One of his favorite photo stories is a story he did
about the Desire Housing Project. It’s a story about a housing project in New
Orleans that Jackson says best demonstrations how photojournalism can make a
difference in the world. After publication of the story that documented what it
was like to live in a xxx, politicians seeking reelection began to use the
newspaper story in their campaigns for reelection promising to build better
places for these people to live. Jackson says it took a long time to see these
promises play out, but the project has since been torn down. The more immediate
positive effects of the article, according to Jackson, were seen in the work of
a minister working in the project. He was able to use the documents to help
raise money to support the work he was doing there. Jackson says today “It was
really gratifying to see those pictures take on a life like that.”[15]

            Jackson
and other journalists who view their work as a calling teach others that
following God’s call in one’s professional life can be rewarding personally and
to a wider audience. Jackson says that he encourages everyone he meets to use
their talents for God, and he notes that they’ll have a lot more times to use
those talents for good if they can find a job where they can put those talents
to work.
            In
his Sunday School work, Jackson is committed to the idea of using visuals to
teach, which is really just an extension of his belief in the power of visuals
to teach that he practices on a daily basis in his job at the Times-Picayune. Like many other religious educators, Jackson knows that art
can bring about change in people’s hearts.
            It’s
not self evident in the above portrait, but Jackson is committed to the
concept of life-long learning. He speaks to groups of all ages, most often to
folks who have been out of traditional schools for quite some time. The work he
does in the newspaper world is really all about life-long learning – about
helping people confront issues they may have never considered, or know little
about, about helping people understand in new ways issues they’ve already made
their minds up about, about pushing people beyond their comfort zones of prior
learning.

          More
traditional religious educators can take away from

Ted Jackson a desire to
integrate new technologies into our

curriculum, a desire to enliven dull
subjects with enlightening

graphics and a desire to push students to search for
a calling in

which they can use their God given talents. We can also take

from
Jackson recognition that the media can be used in many

ways to help us teach
spiritual lessons. The media tell stories of

hope and sorrow; stories that can
call us to social action;

stories that can raise our spirits; stories that can
test our

belief; stories that can raise questions and ones that can

provide
answers.

[Dee:  Comment to let Cindy know what a great job she did showcasing Ted's life and how much we appreciate her work.  Thanks, Cindy, and thank you, Ted, for your invaluable work and example for us all, even in our blogging.]