Community Highlights: Meet Alyssa van Beek of AgapeFilms

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa van Beek.

Hi Alyssa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I always had such a sentimental part of me that hated time – how quickly moments were fleeting, and the memories it took with it. I eventually started to feel so passionate about the little moments, and how they all amount to a beautiful life. This passion inside me took to another level when I started to find myself watching all the wedding videos on YouTube, and falling so in love with the way precious moments could be captured and relived, over and over again. High school me would stay up for hours on end in tears over a stranger’s wedding video, now that is powerful art.

Fast forward a few years and I am only 18 and supposed to know what I want to do with the rest of my life. So, what do I do out of panic? College. During my time at college, I felt so incredibly lost. Questioning what God was calling me to. I felt a craving to create, but I didn’t have a clue where to start. After enough feelings of being lost, afraid for my future, and alone, the craving to create became stronger than ever. And I am talking about the kind of strong enough to make me drop out of college and move back to my hometown and back in with my parents’ kind of strong.

I felt God pushing me to take a risk. Here I was back to where I started, with no next step in sight. I took up a caregiving job for three boys with special needs in the meantime. After enough work, I FINALLY had enough to purchase the bare minimum of gear. I had a total of $600 to my name. So now I have no idea where to start and only $600 in the bank. Was this intimidating? Absolutely. But God continued to push me to take the risk.

One night, I messaged just about every videographer in Colorado offering to assist for free. I got a whopping 2 responses back. But one day, I got a call from my friend Lizzie from @lizziestudios, who had responded to my email and had my very first wedding opportunity for a couple who had been scammed out of a videographer the night before their wedding.

This wedding lit a spark in me. All because someone gave me a CHANCE. God bless Lizzie!

I continued to crave creating, I posted on Facebook ever since that like a mad woman! Fast forward to today in my first year of business and filming over 25 weddings. All because I listened to what God put on my heart, took a risk, and took a chance on me.

This is your sign to take the risk!!!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In creating my own business, I wanted to create something that reflected my heart, and my story. My whole life has been a true testimony that God is loving, patient kind and he always meets us exactly where we are. Jesus Christ gives freedom from the chains that hold us down in his love is where I find complete joy and freedom.

1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen god, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us”

So why agapefilms? The word “agape” means the sacrificial and unconditional love of Jesus. I believe in striving to follow loving others the way Jesus calls us to. This means loving in a way that is forgiving, not judgmental, keeps no record of wrongs, trusts, supports, and sacrifices. And coming alongside each love story I have the privilege to document, I see Christ reflected in every one of our love stories whether it be a couple on a wedding day, a mother and her child, or a family.

I see every love story and the people in it (no matter WHO you are!). As a gift from God, I treat every wedding as something very sacred, and worth celebrating from the rooftops!!

What do you think about happiness?
Human connection! I love seeing God’s hand in the interactions we have with others.

I love having the opportunity to love and serve others. I love capturing people loving life and the people in it! It brings me so much joy, truly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.agapefilmsco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agapefilms.co/

Image Credits
@lydiamariephoto, @brandibullardphotography, @leahvannotephotos, and @nomadicfitlust