GOD STORIES & THE
Tent of Meeting
B y Pa t B r a d f o r d • P h o t o g r a p h y b y B u c k l e y Hu bb a r d
IT began as all chance encounters do, with no warning, just
two men passing in a tight church passageway.
“Oh hi,” this divine appointment began, followed by,
“Remember me, we met at the tent in Moravian Falls?”
Fifteen years had passed since Wilmington storyteller
Buckley Hubbard and businessman Neil Blake had spoken.
Blake was in the process of receiving shipment of a custom-built
revival tent, complete with red edged canopy border. Not new to
revival meetings, he had tried to get a tent up in the Wilmington
area in time for Easter but encountered roadblocks.
Both men were at the church the first week of August 2021 for
the celebration of life service for Mike Blanchard. Failing to speak
wasn’t really an option.
Sharing details of the upcoming tent meeting, Blake began talking
to him about camera work. Hubbard replied he’d “probably not be
the guy you want. My passion is telling stories, with pictures.” Blake’s
response? “That’s perfect.”
Hubbard, a filmmaker was just coming off a hiatus. He had walked
away from film three years before to take a lucrative sales gig in business
coaching. He says “God was calling me back to creative work.”
In March he had set up a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. With his wife’s
support, he was ready to take a leap of faith and step away from sales
to live on God’s provision.
A feature film internship before graduation and a clever Tarboro,
North Carolina grandmother had steered him to Wilmington near
cousin Pem Nash, rather than the more exciting West Coast. He
learned the trade over 25 years working for studios including NBC,
Universal, Paramount, Disney and Hallmark. He worked on big
20 december 2021
WBM