Nashville friends... I want to see you!

So.... its been sooooo long since I've seen you my Nashville friends! I'm back in town for another week before I head back on tour with Alabaster Box and would love to catch up with friends on Sat night.

The plan - Picnic dinner at Centennial Park (in otherwords - BYO food and a blanket to sit on) and just come hang out.
Meet where they do the dancing in the park so those who feel inclined can dance... those of us who have two left feet and are unco can chat... or watch... (that I've done before... it sure is an interesting 'people watching' experience :-) )

Meet 6:30pm. Dance lessons are at 7pm.

A robotic church?

This past week I heard this story written by a young guy, Jacob Fackler, that I met at Deep Camp. It's awesome... and so much can be derived from it. It feels like a modern day parable.

In light of the article in newsweek and a story thats been floating around in my head, I've decided to write the story down and see what others think.

There is a church that is entirely run by robots. They were created to serve the human congregation but slowly and surely they came to be the only ones left in the church. It started one day, when a man decided he was too ill to greet people at the door. Because of his illness he set about to create a greeter-bot. The greeter-bot was an instant success. Not only could it remember everyone's names who came into the church, it remembered their stories too. Every week the greeter-bot would greet the humans with its greeter-bot smile and inquire about the humans' lives. The greeter-bot was never in a hurry to accomplish it's tasks, it's sole purpose was to greet; it never rushed introductions or made people feel like they weren't important. The humans loved the greeter-bot and soon they asked the ill man if he could create more bots. The ill man agreed, greatly appreciating his congregations interest in his skills.

Soon he created usher-bot. Usher-bot was an even bigger success than greeter-bot! Not only did the usher-bot always know where the open seats were, it could elaborate on the upcoming church events. Together usher-bot and greeter-bot were turned to for any information about church activities or membership participation. They knew everything and kept perfect records. Time past and the church was absolutely thrilled with the robots. So thrilled that they decided to expand the robot system when other important members became sick.

The third addition to the bot family was worship-bot. Worship-bot had an amazing voice, could play any instrument, and knew every Christian song (even the ones on the radio). Worship-bot could even break out into a four part harmony! Because of worship-bot's extensive musical and lyrical knowledge, it soon became the full-time worship leader. Worship-bot produced the most profound arrangements of both old and new music. The beauty of it's music brought the congregation to tears nearly every week, and it was never off key!

Elated with the success of greeter-bot, usher-bot, and worship-bot the congregation decided to see what else they could perfect. One day the pastor became sick. He worried about who would oversee his congregation, shepherd his sheep, and most importantly preach biblical messages. Turning to the ill man he asked him if he could create a preacher-bot. The man thought long and hard about this, but in the end decided that if the previous three bots had been such a success, this last one would be too.

Preacher-bot was the pinnacle of all the other bots. Its knowledge of the Bible, biblical commentaries, and attention to the happenings of the world was astounding. In its first sermon, it so far outstripped the abilities of the human pastor, and received such an emotional response, that the pastor decided to give up preaching.

Time went on for the church with the four bots. Together they presented the best attitudes, the least amount of awkwardness associated with a church, the greatest arrangements of music, and the most heartfelt sermons. Everything seemed to be going well for the congregation, but as time passed so did the members of the congregation. The ill man who created the robots looked to the future of the congregation and saw that the maintenance he was doing for the robots would end when he passed away. So he created maintenance-bot. Not only was maintenance-bot capable of servicing the other bots and himself, but he could also do maintenance on the church building. This assured the congregation that their church would survive the test of time and exist forever.

Slowly yet surely, all the members of the congregation passed away. Greeter-bot greeted at the funerals, usher-bot led people to open seats, worship-bot played the music, preacher-bot preached, maintenance-bot dug the graves, and all with the most appropriate mournful attitudes. Even though all the members of the congregation passed away: greeter-bot remained at the door, waiting, smiling, and flawlessly remembering the lives of the congregation; usher-bot waited to show humans to open seats and to tell them about the calendar of traditional events; worship-bot continued to stay current with music and produce the most amazing and flowing worship arrangements, the best blend of Christian music ever heard; preacher-bot stood behind the pulpit, preaching the word of God with beautiful words, vivid images, and heartfelt sincerity; and maintenance-bot was there, to make sure that it all stayed in place, everything just the way it was supposed to be. Perfect.

Naarah from Alabaster Box smashing a pie on July 4th!

For July 4th this year Alabaster Box got asked to play at a little celebration in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. 850miles away from Nashville... yeah... I'm writing this blog from the bus and we're STILL driving! I thought it kinda ironic that an Aussie band would be playing at such an 'American' celebration.

The highlight for me of the night was when Naarah came up to me and said 'They're having a pie eating competition... I've always wanted to do something like that...' I could tell by the tone of her voice that she really wanted to do it. And she did! She was the second to sign up... closely followed by Josh who couldn't stand the thought of being beaten by a women at such a mans sport :-)

Well... Narn made one fatal move... she innocently sat beside Josh during the race and he smashed her face right into the pie. It was all on then... she didn't win the pie eating comp but she one the hearts of the peeps in Medicine Lodge!!!

Deep Camp - Young people deciding not to be silent!

This past week I've been on the road with Alabaster Box at Deep Camp in Seymour, IN. It was one of the highlights ministry-wise of my whole time in America I think. We worked with the guys from KBM. The young people who came to camp came wanted to intentionally go deeper with God. Words cannot describe the hunger of those kids for a deeper understanding of God. The picture shown is of an early morning non-compulsory 'prayer and worship' session. I was in a meeting with leaders as we were discussing whether or not we should bother holding it. It was a fairly general consensus amongst us that few of the students would show up so early in the morning after such an already intense week. We were proved wrong! Nearly 100 kids rocked up... more than were actually on 'Deep Camp'! Leaders from other areas of the camp also showed up. It was a true indication of what was really going on.

One young bloke, probably only 15 years old, got up and shared a bit of his story. He stood up wearing very dark 'cool' sunglasses and said the reason he wore them was to hide from people his addiction to porn. No one could see where his eyes were wandering. As he was sharing he threw them off and professed deliverance from this sin and shared how he accepted Christ as his Saviour!

The week epitomized repentance, forgiveness, deliverance and an overwhelming sense of God's absolute love for us.

My highlight of the week was Friday morning when Alabaster Box played just two songs during the finale. Students sang with hands lifted high - 'We will not be silent this is our salvation day' so loudly and passionately that the heavens opened. The presence of God was so tangible in the room I (who's heard that song more times then I could care to imagine) had tears streaming down my face. It was a declaration of what God had done and was doing in their lives. I wish I had my camera there to capture the moment.

I'll share more thoughts and stories from this week... but for now I'm gonna close with the lyrics to 'We will not be silent'... Click here to listen while you read if you want to join in!

We carry a cross
For this life
For this life
Once we were lost
But to die for this
To die for this
Reprise our lives will not be…

~Chorus~
Silent
Silent
It’s our salvation day
And we won’t be
Quiet
Quiet
And this is our Salvation Day

And people will stand
For liberty, liberty
Forgiveness of man
Who’s bored with
This bored with this
Reprise and our lives will not be…

~Chorus~(x2)

For this hope on which we stand
Salvation
Salvation
For this hope on which we stand
Salvation
For this hope on which we stand
Salvation
Salvation
For this hope on which we stand
Salvation
Salvation will not be…

Silent
It’s our salvation day
And we won’t be
Quiet
Quiet
And this is our Salvation Day
Silent
Silent
It’s our salvation day
And I won’t be
Quiet
Quiet
And this is our Salvation Day

The big boys trucks...

Last night we did a show in Caldwell, OH... seriously a long way from anywhere! Our GPS, 'Sheila' had us going on some wild goose chase trying to find the joint. Great night! We stayed with some friends, Eddie and Kathy Crock. Eddie has this amazing truck he's done up. I made a little video of it...



It's a 1979 Kenworth W900A truck that was once used as a heavy equipment hauler. Eddie decided to change its cause of life and give it an extreme makeover... remodeling everything from the hardwood flooring, to the engine and the frame block. It's seriously a 'sic-mobile'! They get lots of people gawking at them when they drive to the 'Truck Shows' and have even had people taking pics out their windows as they pass. Eddie's 'toy' won the Novelty Class at the U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals in Englishtown, New Jersey.

So... if you wanna new truck... give Eddie Crock a buzz... he's got a couple for sale... just not the red one!

My music pick for this week....

This past couple of weekends I've been to a couple of different festivals - Ichthus Festival in Wilmore KY - the longest standing Christian festival in the US and Big Ticket Festival in Gaylord, MI - a festival that was started just four years ago. Alabaster Box played at both festivals and had an awesome time.

We were hanging out on our bus one of the days and got to meet the band 'Remedy Drive' from Lincoln, Nebraska. It was great putting faces to songs I'd heard on radio. Great guys, great music and great live show! The first time I saw them perform was at the Dove awards in Nashville earlier this year. They literally had less then a minutes performance and went absolutely nuts. Dave, the lead singer dived into the drum kit at the end... and kept going! Classic moment. Apparently a stunt normally part of the set but the whole kit was on wheels :-) Anyway I recommend you check them out! My favourite band this week!

Remedy Drive are currently 6th on Australia's Hot 25 countdown! So cool! Alabaster Box's third radio release, 'Fearlessly Stumble' from their album 'We will not be silent' has just entered and is #23!

As much as I'm a fan of Remedy Drive... I think you need to help Alabaster Box get to another #1... vote here!

Till next festival...

A tenacious social media entrepreneur

Back in the day when you stumbled across a dream job on offer you would update and print off your resume and dust off your portfolio of accomplishments and submit an application. Hoping and praying you would somehow stand out from the crowd and get a shot at an interview.

Today job applications are looking a bit different for cutting edge social media junkies. Remember the 'best job in the world' campaign where 1000's submitted video 'resumes' to try and get sellected for an amazing job on the Great Barrier Reef. What an amazing marketing ploy! Only one person got the job but thousands got educated about this amazing tourist destination amidst a dying tourist economy.

So this past week I've been inundated by tweets from a passionate entrepreneur who wants a dream job. This artist, wine and fine foods connoisseur... Avid blogger... Twitterer... Has submitted a video app for an amazing job working with Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County Wine Country. They are looking for someone who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about their wines and where they live: the Sonoma County Wine Country. Check it out here! Randy Elrod would nail this job and needs our help getting him there. He's currently #4 out of like over 900 applications!

So all you need to do...
This is where you come in. Please take 70 seconds to complete these four simple steps:

1. Watch Randy’s very cool video on the Murphy-Goode web site.
2. Enter your email address to vote for Randy.
3. Wait for the verification email and click on the link inside the message body. Note: Your vote will not count until you do this!
4. Tweet or facebook this post (http://bit.ly/yN1X9).

Makes you wonder hey how we all could benefit from using today's social media to our advantage to promote a new product or cause... anything you're doing different this year?