The origins, the roots, the calling.

Since the summer of 2011, God has placed a unique calling on Cameron Kuey's heart to respond to the Great Commission. Growing up in church, Cameron had heard the good news many times and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, however, struggled to figure out what it really meant to "Go and make disciples of all nations...". Cameron had grown a passion for photography and filmmaking and, at the time, was about to go to college, which caused him to think more and more about what he should pursue in life. He was given the honor of serving on the leadership in his youth group, but was given the profound and broad position of leading a brand new "media ministry". From there, he would face the task of figuring out how to use his passion for visual arts for his passion for Christ. This collision of worlds would eventually lead him to starting The Cultivation Project. 

In the winter of 2011, Cameron had the opportunity to attend the Chinese Missions Conference in San Diego. Here, he was introduced to the concept of having a "missional heart" and realized that as a faithful believer, it was his duty to serve God with his life. At the same time, Cameron was applying to colleges and struggled with the decision of choosing biology as a major, which is what he always thought he would pursue, or film production as a major. Cameron decided to apply to half of the colleges for biology and half for film production. As 2012 came rolling in, he found out that he only got into two colleges, both with majors in film production. At first, he was disappointed and felt like he could've done better. 

Fast forward to the winter of 2012, Cameron attended Urbana 12 with a goal of figuring out how missions and filmmaking can go together. After watching dozens of emotional and raw videos of missionaries on the field, he was revealed to how impactful film production can be to share the stories of God's people from around the world. At Urbana, he ended up committing his life to full time missions, but with the mindset that everything around him was the missions field. 

For the next couple of years, Cameron put that calling aside to focus on serving in his college fellowship and growing his technical experience through working at a news station, filming and photographing weddings, and doing multimedia freelance work. At this point, Cameron became distracted by the temporary happenings around him and the scary task of planning out his post-college career. During a small group in the spring of 2014, the topic of "finding your calling" came up. Cameron told his fellow brothers in Christ that he felt like he was called to "use media as a vessel of the Gospel to further missions", but didn't know how to go about that or where to start. To his surprise, his friends Zach and Albert were really excited to hear this and started brainstorming ideas and even silly names for the project. However, the fear of taking on this daunting task prevented Cameron from acting any further. 

In the beginning of 2015, Zach came back from the World Mandate Conference and felt called to start up this media missions project that Cameron talked about the year before. Cameron was surprised that Zach even remember that conversation. However, this helped spark the idea in Cameron's heart again. By March of 2015, Cameron and Zach had a plan to make a nonprofit organization. Cameron got support and the backing of his church, Chinese Evangelical Church of San Diego, and The Cultivation Project was formed. God led three others and his Pastor to help out, and from there, the team attended and documented three missions trips. Unfortunately, the busyness of college, serving in his fellowship, and running a freelance business cause Cameron to put The Cultivation Project on hold once again, resulting in the dissolution of the original team. 

Fast forward another year to July 2016, Cameron would discover that his girlfriend, Josephine, had grown a heart to lead up The Cultivation Project. Shortly after, Cameron would find out that his friend from church, Ricky, had also grown a heart to help out. These moves helped revamp the entire structure and vision of The Cultivation Project. By September 2016, Cameron officially submitted the paperwork and The Cultivation Project became an official nonprofit organization. Cameron hopes that through The Cultivation Project, he can help the next generation of believers find their own roles in responding to the Great Commission.