2014 Tour Week 2
2014 Tour Week 2
WOW! What a jam packed week… We finished up our stay in Brookville, OH with a whopping youth night that was run by Joel, Deano and Sam. It was a 4-piece band and I packed my guitar rig and slipped on keys for the night. Each of the boys brought a word encouraging the youth about the joys and power of serving in a local church as a young person in this generation. The night ended with some amazing ministry time with the whole youth group on the altar! Thanks once again to Ps Josh for hosting us through this part of the tour. We were so blessed to be with you.
Andrew Ironside & Darrel Evans
On Thursday we packed up and drove to Bloomington, IL to be with our good friends Ps Ed & Beth and Ps Jarred & Elizabeth at Victory Christian Center to be apart of their leadership and worship conference Time To Rise. After setting up all of our gear along side of the house setup, we stood back as Darrel Evans lead the attendees in amazing spirit filled worship. This was followed by a great word by Ps Olen Griffing from Gateway in Texas. The night ended with Andrew and Darrel free worshipping on their instruments.
Friday morning it was a blast as we joined teams together to lead the leaders of the region in worship. It was truly amazing how easily we all flowed together even though we didn’t have a full rehearsal or had even heard some of the songs prior to that morning. After a day of leadership intensives it was an all out praise and worship session with the Andrew Ironside tea. We had one lady say to us afterwards “I have never experienced worship and the presence of God like that in my entire life”.
Chris Lang
Keith Banks
As Saturday came it was a complete muso intensive day. Andrew took the main session speaking on Secret Place Prayer and Worship followed by some fun practical examples with the team and some cool samples of MainStage and Omnisphere. During one of the break out sessions I snuck into the drum room with Keith Banks. Keith is one of the most humble, fun and talented musicians I have ever met. He had such an amazing sense of groove and was so intentional about honing in his gifts to be effective for the kingdom of God. I so look forward to working with him again some day.
Claymore by Risen Amplifiers
I ran the guitar electives in the afternoon session and was blown away by the willingness to learn and be creative by shown by the guys who joined me for the session. It was so great to take the time out to talk through the heart of why we need to continue to grow as musicians in our sound and playing, and of course, all the geeky ins and outs of building a nice sounding worship rig.
Fulcrum-Acoustic FA22ac with TS215ac
It was straight into the car again that evening as we drove to Life Church in Jacksonville, IL with Ps Tom & Judy Herbert. When we arrived to get some setup done that night, I was blown away by difference in the sanctuary from when I was there in 2010. They had really freshened up the church with a new color scheme and tidy look on stage. Sunday morning came around and we were back in early to finish setting up and sound checking. Having the Fulcrum-Acoustic speakers with us is making tour so much easier with consistent quality sound in every venue. After powerful time of praise and worship, Andrew taught the congregation on releasing the anointing that abides in all of us. The service concluded with 5 salvations and a spectacular lasagna lunch prepared by Christina and her mum. Special thanks to Nathanael and Caleb Herbert who helped us getting around their venue and ran our multimedia during the service. Unfortunately this was a short stop so we didn’t get to hang out with these boys much… next time! Then straight after lunch we loaded up the vehicle and we were on the road again.
We arrived in Lincoln, IL at 3pm and the boys were all hands on deck getting the car unpacked and set up for a 5pm cut-off and 6pm start time. Joel managed to slip in a kip on the pew as he waited for a can of red bull to arrive. We so enjoyed meeting our new friend Ps Darren (informally known now as Dazza) at Lincoln Faith Church. The layout of the stage was likely one of the smallest stages we will encounter on tour, which actually worked in our favor. As this band is still getting to know each other, being so close together on stage really helped us connect musically, physically and spiritually. Last night that unity amongst the band really brought a sense of freedom in the worship and the congregation was so responsive to the sounds we created as we worshipped. The night ended with a bang when Kristen Miller joined us again to sing Wake.
Walmart Mart-Karts
After dinner we made it back to the hotel just in time to use the hot spa… such a reward for a big weekend. So proud of the boys for powering on over the past week. As we headed back to Bloomington we were able to kill some time at Walmart for some mart-karting adventures.
Tomorrow we’re off to Wisconsin… think I may have to pull out the red jacket soon.
Chris
21 October 2014