This past Friday, I had the opportunity to attend an event with my friend and neighbor (affectionately known as "neighbs"), Susie. We are both long-time fans of musician Sara Groves, so when we heard she was coming to town, we eagerly looked into getting tickets. Only to discover this was a large ticket of five artists, also including one of my favorite songwriters, Derek Webb.When Susie and I arrived early to get the best possible seats for the price we paid (center seats of 4th row!), our biggest question was the order the artists would play in. However, as the show began with all artists on stage and they took turns playing one or two songs of their own at a time, we were moved from engaging with the individual artists into engaging with the Tour. We were shown videos and told stories in such a way that compelled us to engage with the cause, consider ways we can further the causes with our own action, and then consider ways we can financially help the cause. No buckets were passed, but they were readily available. The whole mood of the room shifted from beginning to end. We could sense the urgency in what they were saying without being burdened by it. They took time to pray in the middle of the show. They led the way by telling their own stories, by displaying in words and emotions on stage, by showing us - whether intentionally or not - how very much this campaign meant to them.
The Art *Music *Justice Tour is a music tour - a series of concerts -of five artists who are seeking to do something more with their stage. They are using the opportunity of these 22 shows (September 19- October 26) to raise money and awareness for worth causes: Food for the Hungry and International Justice Mission.In a very small way, I felt a connect between Sara and this tour, and Sara and her role in the Ride:Well Tour. It reminded me of Tyler, Texas. It reminded me that even the smallest community can make unimaginable differences.
This tour is going to achieve great things and provide a great show to those present while at it. If at all possible, I highly recommend you go out for it.
3 comments:
ah! Do you know I was just reading about this tour this morning and looking to see if it traveled to Chicago? I can't wait to live in a city where people actually come to play real good music. I'm pretty jealous, I'm not going to lie! Derek Webb and Sara Groves get all their stuff from me...or...maybe it just feels like that because we share similar hearts...one of the two. Have you heard of Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God" tour? It's very similar in that Sara and Derek (yeah, we're on a first name basis :) are a part of it along with some other greats (jill phillips, eric peterson, sandra mckracken) and they take turns singing and its this amazing Christmas program Andrew peterson put together and actually includes the WHOLE story and is an incredibly moving concert...though..."concert" doesn't seem to be the word I'm looking for. oh. you would love it.
oh. p.s.
Did I tell you we just started a well building program here!? I tried to contact BWM about their criteria for working with local african orgs, but they never replied! Regardless, God has been doing some pretty crazy stuff and there will be about 52 youth groups working to raise money for us to begin building. I'm pretty pumped. I recently went to the site for our first planned well and took the walk they all take...wow. http://ajourneytobehad.blogspot.com/2008/09/water-woes.html
hello! my name is mary kaech, and i work with food for the hungry ... i helped prepare for this tour and got to "rep" two of the dates. i just wanted to say hello and thank you for your blog! i also thought the tour was so wonderful... i hope they can do it again next year. anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts and your heart. take care!
-mary
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