RockTheDesert

Recreate wrapup...Thursday Evening

OK, last, but definitely not least, was our amazing night of worship sponsored by Word Music and held at Cumberland Church which is a Northpoint venue! Even if we didn't have pink cake for dessert, the night would have been wonderful! Jeremy Riddle, Mark Roach, Sheri Carr & Meredith Wilson shared songs. The songs were interspersed with video clips. Max Lucado, Erwin McManus, um, I think that's everyone! I'm telling you - I was so blown away by Sheri & Meredith. They led worship with such authority and passion and conviction. I spoke with Sheri afterwards. Told her how I was just blown away by the songs she sang. Click HERE to listen to a great interview with Sheri. Click HERE to go to Meredith's MySpace page.

Got back to the hotel and started packing. The swag at Recreate is unbelievably generous. CDs, books, DVDs, tote bags, mouse pad and other cool stuff. Here's a picture of the swag - I found it on Kim's blog - I didn't meet her - saw her several times throughout the course of the conference - her church must have not been in the "tiny church" category so she was in a different focus group.

Recreate wrapup...Thursday Afternoon

On Thursday afternoon we visited Kalein. Please visit the website for information and inspiration about this place that is about to be...124 pristine acres that will someday house artists from around the world who want to change things. Artists who are not content with the status quo. Gifted artists who feel a calling to something deeper than themselves. The mission, the goal, the vision, the purpose (whatever you may call it) is to provide a place to encourage and equip extremely gifted artists to discover, develop and discipline their calling.

We were transported to Kalein via 4-wheel drives towing trailers filled with hay! We were greeted by Alpaca and horses. A bonfire warmed us up along with steaming hot chocolate!! I took a few pics while I wandered around the property. When we were all done exploring, Randy Elrod called us all back together to share his personal vision for Kalein. It was a beautiful time of intimacy and solidarity as musicians and dreamers. After Randy finished talking, he introduced us to Charles Robinson. The last pics I've posted are of Charles, his wife, Siouxsan, and his sister-in-law, Dana. They shared Native American dances with and blessed the Kalein property with a dance of blessing.  I absolutely loved this part of our day. Charles has a non-profit called  The Red Road.  Go to his website and read it - every inch of it is interesting and informative and enlightening!

Last full day of Recreate

Wow. What a day. There was a shift today to a more personal aspect of being on the front lines of worship leading, planning, etc. Lots of cool elements today - CCLI shared about their new and improved services. You can actually upload video performances (original songs) to a designated section of their website. That's a very cool feature I'll be checking out soon. Mark Roach led us in worship. We sing a lot of his songs at Fellowship North. They really resonate with our team and our people.

Mike Lewis, the Jesus Painter, led us in an incredible time of worship - visually thru painting giant canvases focused on Christ. It was a magical unfolding of splashes and splatters and random lines and then you'd see it - the face of Christ as clear as anything right there on the canvas. Amazing. We shared communion during his painting time. Very moving and beautiful.

We heard from Mark Stuart from Audio A. He shared about personal stuff and about his involvement with Hands And Feet which is a very cool project in Haiti. Audio A and their fans have created a village - they house 30 orphans right now, but their plan is to house 80 kids. Their vision is to grow them up and nurture them and educate them and love them and then they will have raised up a new generation who can make an impact in their native country. They've built bunkhouses that can accommodate groups coming in on mission/work trips. It sounds amazing. I liked Mark so much. Click HERE to read more about Hands And Feet. There's a lot of cool details I'm leaving out because I'm dead tired and trying to get to bed. But I might, no, definitely WILL have more to say about this in the near future. Because missions and music are the two things I'm passionate about - and when you combine the two together, watch out - it's gonna be strong!

Ken Davis spoke to us - he got really vulnerable when sharing his story. More about this later - I related so much to his 3 points - I got out my laptop and typed fast & furiously during his talk.

Then we got to visit Kalein. Oh my. Breathtakingly beautiful. So many details about this coming later. Let's just say, adventure, vision, blessing.

Capped the day off with a great night of dinner and worship sponsored by Word. I can't WAIT to listen to a couple of the CDs they gave us - let's just say - the girls rocked the house! Such authority and passion in their words and the delivery rocked my world - I'm still thinking about it!

Much more later on all these topics. Off to bed!

Recreate goes on a field trip

We spent a few hours this afternoon at an auto museum. Surprisingly, I wasn't surprised that we were at this museum. Randy gave a huge hint on his blog recently about how cool this place is. When we pulled up in the buses, I had a strange sense of anticipation/completion. I mean, when I read about things/experiences on blogs, it's more of a vicarious thing. Great blog writers leave me feeling like I was really there and saw and felt the same thing. So, today was a great experience for me. This huge warehouse, formerly a bread factory/bakery, houses tons of vintage autos. Some were beautiful, some whimsical, some fanciful, some practical, at least one amphibious vehicle, one powered by coal, one powered by pedaling, tiny cars, three-wheeled cars, a tiny car towing a tiny boat, etc. So many details that would normally be overlooked, yet when you truly study the cars from a design perspective, there's a lot to discover. I loved the car that had a perfect little spot on the trunk to strap on a square, wicker picnic basket. Randy arranged for a professor from O'More College of Design to be our narrator/guide. His name was John. He was very soft-spoken, but shared many nuggets of truth and inspiration. He read a condensed article from the Washington Post called "Pearls Before Breakfast." I challenge you all to click HERE and read the entire article (it's pretty long), along with the video clips. It is telling and inspiring and thought-provoking. Then I challenge you (and me) to take action. I'm not talking about starting a fiery revolution. I'm talking about listening, feeling, tasting, touching, seeing, living life differently - living with more feeling, more empathy, more patience, more kindness, more passion, more eloquence, more thoughtfulness, more adventure, more anticipation, more curiosity, more creativity, more beauty, more of all that is missing from our lives that we alone have the power to introduce and integrate into our lives.

I'm At Cre:ate Blogging Live

Sitting in a breakout session led by Dr. Thom Parham. Sitting with Mario Minardi, Dan Perkins, Mark Warnock. Earlier this morning, Randy Elrod drew a lucky name from a bag full of names - Rick Muchow won a 1-week Caribbean cruise for 2. Unbelievable. Then Michael Olson led us in worship. Wow! I've never heard him (I don't think) or even really of him. Then Marty McGehee (4Him) sang 4 new original songs from his newest solo project. Cool grooves, little bit of rap, definitely a more rock and roll sound than 4Him ever had. Yesterday, Matthew West led worship in the afternoon then we went to an awesome dinner sponsored by Integrity Music. We traveled by motorcoach to The Factory. There's this very cool & vibey church called The Journey at Ecclesia. Awesome venue. Paul Baloche, Jared Anderson, Kelly Jo, and ? led worship after dinner. During the worship time, we started hearing sirens. I thought there must be a massive car accident being responded to. Then the lights started flickering. Then we were interrupted and told that there was a tornado heading our way and we needed to be ready to bolt to the hallway if necessary. That's the closest I've ever been to a tornado, unless you count the Twister attraction at Universal Studios.

cre:ate

cre:ate - Annual Thinktank For Arts & Worship Leaders From Around The World

I attended this conference in 2007 for the first time. Of course, I already love Franklin, TN. So, the fact that I was at an incredible gathering of worship leaders from around the world - IN FRANKLIN - just made it absolutely perfect. It was at cre:ate that I was finally truly inspired to blog.

For more information go HERE.