conversations from the couch

Love these guys! They’re awesome to work with–and they were psyched about the personal/authentic themes of the conference. When we asked about them doing a talk-back session with fans after the concert–they’re game. They’d actually heard that we did that last year at the conference with Toby Mac, and thought it was a great way for sharing their heart and ministry behind their music.

More details to come–but plan on Sunday night as a late-night happening sometime after 10 pm–Kutless Unplugged: the Ministry Behind the Music.

And the best part of it is I’m still not technically supposed to be announcing it–but I can’t stand it any longer! Plus–I just looked at the Kutless website…and NYMC is on their tour schedule…so you heard it first here!  The details have been inked for weeks–but stalled with Christmas break and a few little details to clear up (their people making sure we weren’t going to market Kutless with weird copy like “open mic night with Kutless” or “Back stage passes for everyone to hang out with Kutless in the green room” or something of that nature.)

Anyway–that’s the big announcement–(thanks to Allen Weed at Interlinc for making this a super-easy deal) The bad news is that Leeland won’t be joining us this year (in person, anyway)–Leeland had a change in their tour with Casting Crowns that kept them in Florida through Sunday too late to make the general session time.  They were legitimately bummed, and their booking agent was legitimately nervous when I threatened to post his personal cell phone and email on the blog to field complaints about the cancellation of a band this late in the game. I still think we could negotiate some free Leeland CD’s (for everyone) in return for a few days of extreme aggravation. HMMMMM….

We’re getting a few requests from churches asking for 1-day passes for extra people to attend NYMC to hear the speakers and bands.  We tossed the idea around and decided that it’s no fun  searching for seats in a crowded setting, especially when you have a group hoping to sit together. We wish we could say yes–and there have been some compelling requests for 1-night only, but it’s not fair to pick and choose. Here’s the “official” word: 

Although we’d love to accommodate requests for evening-only ticket sales, the National Youth Ministry Conference was designed to be a complete conference experience for youth workers who come for training, connection and worship. Seating and facilities have been arranged for registered conference attendees. To respect the conference attendees, we do not sell tickets to portions of the conference. However, you can choose to become a conference attendee by paying the conference registration fee, and attend the portions of the conference as you wish

Tim and I are out in sunny Orange County for a few days connecting with the Simply Youth Ministry folks, and finalizing the conference programming details. Went to church at Saddleback yesterday–got to hear Doug’s sermon WITH special guest Tim Timmons, our NYMC worship leader. (he was visiting Saddleback from Mariner’s yesterday) This made getting to CA from CO on a 6 am flight worth the lost sleep.

So I’m trying to work from the SYM offices today, but the lighting in their building totally sucks. I can’t even get my solar calculator to work, and this is supposed to be the sunshine state (or maybe that’s Florida).  I should go out to Starbucks and sit outside, but then I’d miss the conversations. I think I’ll go buy some lamps.

It’s been a wild week this week. Got the event-planning nightmare of phone calls which added to my frustration about some of these band booking agents. (I’m itching to go into details, but it might be below the line of integrity.)   A few days of frustration was followed by some incredible news that’s once again proved God’s got these things under control. 

Thank you Allen Weed, our ministry partner from Interlinc, and long-time dear friend.  Your heart for serving youth workers, years of experience in the Christian music industry, and the authentic friendships you’ve created with so many people are evident in this awesome new announcement. (I also appreciated your  sage wisdom and comfort– thanks for “talkin’ me down off the ledge” this week when I was struggling with the stress of it all.) The Christian music industry has a great ambassador in you.

 To the rest of you all–check the blog in the next few days for the big news…

A whole bunch of us are going to see Jeremy Riddle in concert tonight in Ft. Collins. I’m excited to hear him live because there’s a cool story how we connected with him for NYMC. This was a God-thing. 

Last spring we wrestled through tough decisions on which Christian bands to hire for the evening concerts at NYMC. I thought this would be the fun part of event planning, but working with some of the booking agencies was sometimes pretty discouraging. I realize it’s a business like anything else, but the conversations just felt so far removed from the DNA of the event. ($40,000 for a 30 minute set? You need to have WHAT in the green room? ) 

Actually, I almost quit at that point, my job was so burdened by a number of shallow administrative details it just sucked the fullfilling ministry part right out. I couldn’t justify the sacrifices on my family if this was it. So I was driving to our final band meeting, fuming and praying (nice blend), and a song came on the radio that blew me away. I didn’t know the singer or the title, but I pulled over and wrote down the lyrics. 

I came bursting into the meeting with the news that we had a band for the Saturday night general session concert, but I’d have to google the lyrics to figure out the song/title/artist first. The team was much less inspired about this God-delivered song, but we ended up giving it a shot. About 2 hours later we figured out the mystery song and artist–Sweetly Broken, by Jeremy Riddle. I contacted his booking agent (the part I always hated) discovered that Randy McCoy, Jeremy’s agent at Creation Associates, actually lived a few miles from Group.

Randy wanted to meet for coffee before we signed anything though. He explianed that Jeremy doesn’t book events that just want him as a “gig”.  He values the integrity of his worship ministry, and chooses opportunities that fit his filter of authenticity. A few cups of coffee later, we had Jeremy Riddle filled into the Saturday night spot, and I had a new favorite song I listen to whenever I need some inspiration.

Tim Timmons is our conference worship leader, and he’ll be opening each evening general session, as well as the closing general session on Monday. He also leads worship at Mariner’s Church , and is another one of Doug’s youth group legacies. Tim’s so talented, and has one of the most authentic, humble spirits. It’s so cool to see all of these guys grown up and passionately leading different ministries because they were so impacted by their youth ministry experience as students. We’re excited that Tim’s bringing his whole band this year.

Chris Tafalia (Taffy) is also part of our conference worship team. He’s the student ministries worship pastor at Saddleback, is absolutely hilarious, and has an incredible heart for leading students in worship. He’s bringing his student worship band to NYMC–a bunch of 15-18 year old kids that share this passion. They’ll be leading worship in the morning general sessions. Taffy is also doing a workshop on Leading Students in Worship at the National Youth Ministry Conference.

We had another meeting today about some more worship ideas, including a “worship unplugged” feature each day where we’d have some stuff going on outside of the general sessions. (late-night, etc.) We’re also talking about adding an affinity group for youth workers who are also involved in student worship. More on all of that soon…