flat tires bring out the good in people

so today i was riding my bike, and i decided to push a little further than i'd ridden around the streets of nashville. the greatness was that i got to ride a few more miles, the bad news is that the extra miles included a rough railroad crossing. i made it over in one direction with no problem, but on the way back, the crossing was so rough that it immediately knocked all of the air out of my rear tire. and i was about 5 miles from my car.

so i called my parents, because i didn't have a pump or tire patch with me and they were the only people i knew that would be able to come help me. but while i was on the phone with them, another rider stopped and asked if i was okay. and then he offered to help me patch my tire. but we couldn't find the hole. and then another rider stopped and ended up giving me a new tube. and then another rider stopped and let us use his pump, and then the first guy remembered he had a co2 cartridge that would pump my tire up to 80 psi in a flash.

so in a matter of 20 minutes, 3 people stopped to help me, and gave me a few dollars worth of stuff to get me up and riding. all this to say, i love nashville, and i love the community that is bicyclists.

the update

here's a couple of pictures to update everyone on my last few months...

i finished up my summer with pureNRG. i seriously love these kids, and they taught me a few things about love. after only a couple of months, we had established a great relationship. they have such sweet spirits and a genuine love for everyone they encounter that it's impossible to not love them, and i pray that they can maintain their great attitude as they grow and continue in an industry that has, all too often, a negative effect on people.


the reason i'm not touring with pureNRG anymore is that i am now production managing for the encounter tour. we finished up a marathon 6 week pre-production last weekend...


and this weekend we finally had our first event. it's amazing how far a group of 34 interns who had little to no tour experience have come. seriously. my "crew" is a group of 19 and 20 year old kids whose only ambition is to serve Jesus, and in this season of their lives, they are serving in the industry i have chosen to spend my life in. so while i have spent the last 5 years of my life trying to become a professional, they are only 6 weeks in, and more often than not, they are living up to the extremely high bar that i am setting for them.

so there's the update. i spent the majority of the past 2 months preparing a group of youth, and myself, to put on a tour - a tour that could rival the many others in production quality - and we are well on our way.

i really hope i heard right

today was a very bittersweet day.

as i blogged about a few days ago, i just took a new job that is going to keep my gone from home the majority of the next year. on the one hand, i have steady work until may - which is a big deal for guys like me who live gig to gig. on the other hand, i have given up A LOT of things, and today that was made very clear to me.

i spent about 5 hours preparing to train a group of interns about the things that i have been a part of, that they'll need to know to make our tour the best it can be, and i barely scratched the surface of what i need to have prepared. but i got a lot done, and i'm very excited for what i get to be a part of.

now - thanks to the feeling of safety i get from just typing my feelings, i am going to share that one thing i really want is to have a family. i really would like to wake up next to the woman prepared for me, to be honesty, sooner rather than later. and today i realized that in committing to being gone 4 days a week, i am committing to only being home 3 days a week, and 1 of those will be spent in meetings to get ready for the next weekend. that all but eliminates any possibility for a relationship... and that has me going to bed feeling pretty down.

i'm just hoping that it was truly God calling me out of what i've been doing the past few years into a new ministry, and that i'm being faithful, not stupid. here's to hoping!

big news

now that everyone i needed to tell face to face has been told, i am ready to tell the entire world. last monday i officially accepted the position of production manager for the acquire the fire encounter tour. this is a huge step for my career on the road, as i will be in charge of an arena tour...

the opposite side of that coin is that it is a huge commitment as well. i will be flying to texas on august 16th, and will be there (except for a couple of side trips) until we fly to our first event on october 1st. after that i'll be flying out every wednesday and flying home every sunday until may. this has brought on a couple of big changes in my life.

first - i can no longer tour with pureNRG... it may sound silly to some of you, but i really have enjoyed working with those kids - seriously. i LOVE those kids, and i will miss very much carolyne, caroline, and jordan.

second - effective august 16th, i will be resigning from my position as youth ministry director at advent lutheran church.... which means leaving another set of teenagers that i LOVE. i have spent 3 years at that church developing relationships with some of the coolest teenagers - ever. i do feel like my ministry there is done - i knew that when we came to a controversial point while studying "the shack" and all of the students had no issues with it. and they used the same words i would have to describe why they had no issue with it. i have given them everything i could have, and they have a beautifully personal faith now.

the backstory - for a couple of years now i have been splitting my time between touring and local church youth ministry. this has left me not giving 100% to either, which isn't fair to either of them, and recently i have been feeling called to touring full time. and then i got a phone call asking if i was interested in a fall tour with acquire the fire. turns out it's really a much longer tour than that, and it is a youth-focused tour. after a good bit of prayer and conversation, it became clear to me that this was God making it obvious that this was the way i was being led. and while the past two days, when i had to tell 2 different sets of teenagers that i would no longer be working with them, have been very VERY hard on me, i have a peace that i am making the right choice, and following God's call on my life.

so now i ask that, if it's your thing, you please pray for me as i embark on an exciting new voyage.

i got called out

for not blogging for a while, so here you go katie.

i've been in several different countries since i last blogged. instead of telling stories, here's some pictures.

elliot and josh in zurich. i'm starting with this one, because it's one of the best concert pics i've taken. thanks to the guy there who gave me some pointers.

jaci v with salvador in zurich. it's a confetti storm!

goofing off in oslo

the seaside festival in norway. it was kind of like a mini red rocks

the - newly updated with a wiimote, now wireless - david crowder guitar hero guitar

jaci v onstage at a mike silva festival in honduras

acadia - the purenrg mascot - at the park in oslo

acadia with natalie grant

one man band in oslo


the angry baby at the park in oslo

check da email

here's how you know that it's been too long since you last checked your email.

luckily for everyone who sent me one of those emails, i had already gotten them on my other computer. but now i have to organize all 554 of those emails. yikes.

post tour depression

so i've been absent from blog-ville for quite some time. it's all because, for the past 3 months, i didn't do anything that wasn't in some way related to "the wonder of the world" tour. well, the last show was sunday night, so monday morning we all went our separate ways. it's taken me the last few days to process all of the things that went on, and here's where i am now:

i am convinced that our community was a great example of heaven on earth, and here's now i got there - i believe that heaven is perfect community with God. i also believe that wherever two or more are gathered in the name of God, there He is also. and i believe that "God is love" (1 John 4). our little group was definitely gathered in the name of God, and as we loved each other, i believe we shared God with each other. all of this added up to such a huge, tangible presence of God that i'm sure we all got a glimpse of what heaven will be. honestly, look at the love on this face.

there are far too many memories for me to share here, but i do remember one night that i was in a bad mood, and it must have showed because joy noticed. when she asked me why i was in the bad mood, i answered "because i'm tired and cranky." and as soon as i said it out loud, it sounded so silly and immature that my bad mood went away.

all of that adds up to me becoming a bit depressed now that our community is no longer. don't worry about me, i'll get through it. i'm just wondering if this is something that happens at the end of every tour, because it hasn't happened to me before, but this was my first tour as tour manager. is it because for the past 3 months i spent almost all of my time i've been pouring my life into the 14 other people in our group?

in any case, thanks to adam, wes, kevin, jacob, jd, jamie, jimmy, tim, tyler, chasen, sarah, ben, joy, tim, andre', and everyone we encountered along the way. there's a good chance i'll never forget what we shared.

one of the best crowds. ever.

this weekend we did a show in columbus, ga - home of fort benning. here's a view of the crowd from stage right


in a crowd of 547, the soldiers made up 312 of them. that's more guys in uniform than civilians. these guys were all in the middle of basic training, and the night was their first off base in several weeks. they ran a couple of minutes late, so i held the show for them. there's nothing quite as distracting as 300 people showing up in the middle of the show! it's a good thing i did too, because as soon as they started walking in, the rest of the crowd was on its feet cheering. after they were all in, we started the show, and when the emcee acknowledged them, they stood in unison and recited the soldiers creed. and not another single person spoke or made any noise through the whole thing. it was just that impressive.

the soldiers sat through our first acts with very polite cheering. at intermission, the soldiers got to go through their own, separate concession stand where they were able to get their first refined sugar since they entered basic training a few weeks earlier. that sugar, combined with some rock from rush of fools had the soldiers looking like this


unfortunately, since they were still in basic training, the soldiers had a curfew of 10:30pm, which meant they had to leave the show a little bit early. during intermission, i was talking with the chaplain, when a private stopped and requested to speak with him. when the chaplain asked him if his matter was urgent the private replied "actually sir, my battle buddy was hoping to request a song." well that's when i stepped in. i asked what song he was hoping for, and he told me "awesome God." that's definitely not part of our set, but the chaplain explained to me that it was the soldiers favorite, and they do it almost every sunday at chapel. i figured playing their favorite song would be a great way to acknowledge them, make them feel like a big part of the show, and put the focus on them so that when they got up to leave, it wasn't as big a distraction. i went and told the band, only to find out that they didn't know it, but they told me to remind them after a certain song in the set. when the time came, i shouted a reminder in their ears. since they didn't know it as a band, wes just started the chorus accapella. as soon as he did, the soldier were on their feet singing along and after the line "he reigns", the soldiers shouted "HE REIGNS" army style. after two times through the chorus, wes pointed at the soldiers and they took a time through the chorus by themselves. i'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but i was moved almost to the point of tears. it was one of the moments that keeps me doing what i do. it was truly a great night.

yay hockey

definition of a good friend... they call you when they have get free tickets to a hockey game and there's an extra. tonight i got to enjoy a game with my friends farns, nicole, and a new friend (who was actually the source of tickets) david.


there is a cheer here in nashville, and other places i'm sure, where as the opposing team is introduced, their names are followed by an enthusiastic "SUCKS" from the preds fans. tonight's intro was a bit different. when the announcer said, "and the coyotes are coached by..." there were far less "SUCKS"...


cause their coach was non other than the legendary wayne gretzky... who is pretty much the opposite of suckage.


oh, and then there was a fight.

can never be too organized

i've set up a giant check list to keep me on track as i prepare for my next tour. hopefully a bit of uber-organization will help make my transition back into tour managing a smooth one. thanks to everyone who was involved in my "learning year", especially farns and mel. honarable mention goes to carter, snooch, darren, francey pants, and the rest of the crowns family. i'll miss y'all!