people

As you gaze at the people in the previous two posts you may have recognized a few faces, perhaps even your own. One of the joys I experienced during 14 years at the House was people. I look at those faces and realize I was spoiled because the people who showed up on Saturday night wanted to be there. I was not faced with the problems youth ministers encounter because of students who are forced to attend youth group by their parents. I was not faced with problems many pastors have from church members who have lost passion for Jesus and enthusiasm for church but attend out of obligation or tradition but do not enjoy being there. Week after week people showed up for the concerts with joy and enthusiasm. I'll admit there were nights when things did not go well. Sometimes the musicians were boring or very inexperienced. Sometimes the musician was not connecting with the crowd. Sometimes we had technical problems. But those nights were the exception. The normal experience at the Jesus House was celebration, worship and genuine excitement about Jesus, the music and being together.

As I gazed at those photos supplied by Christopher Adams I saw faces of people I dearly love. People I miss. People with whom I have had "one big time in the Kingdom" and look forward to having "one big time in the Kingdom" for all eternity.

Thank you Randy Moody for that theme song for the Kingdom.
Thank you to all of you who showed up, celebrated, and allowed me into your lives.
I hope to see you on May 2.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Second Week of April

1972 - Stan & Frankie from Ball State
1973 - Lee & Reggie
1974 - Kevin & Rick
1975 - Muster Weekend (More on this tomorrow!)
1976 - Muster Weekend (Ditto)
1977 - Jim Bankowski
1978 - One Lane Road
1979 - Randy Matthews
1980 - Harriet Lewis (Someone just told me Harriet recently died.)
1981 - John Gould (Swapped emails with him today!)
1982 - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Told you this was a multi-year tradition!)
1983 - Ocean of Love (Great name but I do not remember anything about them)