Behind the scenes with Rascal Flatts

This post has been sitting in my drafts literally for months and for some reason I never finished it off to post it.  Mindy and I had a great opportunity last February to hang out with the audio crew on the road with Rascal Flatts when their tour came through Detroit.  Jon Jon Garber (Flatts FOH) was a gracious host for the day and the entire experience was a great case study in excellent live production.  Please enjoy my photos and commentary of that day…

Ch…ch…ch…changes…

I mentioned this announcement last week on Twitter & Facebook but wanted to elaborate a bit, so here we go!

I’m excited to announce a new chapter in my professional life and for our family.  After 4 years as the audio director at Kensington Community Church in Troy, MI, God has called us to a new adventure with New Life Church in Conway, AR.  For those of you not familiar with New Life (I’d never heard of them either before we started this journey), the church is 9 years old, has 5 campuses all over Arkansas that average 7,000 people per weekend with more on the way, and has awesome leadership and vision we’re looking forward to being a part of.  My new job will draw from my experience at KCC in leading all things audio related and joining a talented & gifted staff and creative team.

The journey leading us to this decision first began 8 months ago.  Since that time, at every turn, our life has led back to New Life.  I was never sure if I would work for another church besides Kensington because it was hard to imagine another place would be as great of a fit spiritually, creatively, and personally for our family.  It was especially wild to be visiting this church a few months ago for the weekend having no idea what to expect when we’d get there.  As God always does, we were completely blown away.  Every excuse I had made in my mind ahead of time of why New Life wouldn’t fit was out the window.  The talent and artistry I experienced was inspiring, we loved everyone we met and spent time with – so friendly and welcoming, the volunteer audio guys currently serving are rock stars with such great attitudes and dedication to the ministry, Rick Bezet, the senior pastor, is the real deal – gifted communicator, down to earth, and approachable, an instant connection with the guys I’ll be working closest with (Brandon, Neil, & Phil), etc etc etc.  I could go on and on.  In my limited life experience, opportunities come along all the time but the doors normally close on their own as quickly as they open.  This time, the door kept being opened, often times not even by my doing.

It has been clear for a while now that God was using my experiences at Kensington to prepare us for an adventure that would require us to completely leap out in faith and trust Him with our security.  This step represents that jump off the deep end for us.  Already God has been so faithful, providing us a brand new house to rent, bringing a buyer for our current house in Michigan, and resolving countless details along the way.  I’m humbled to be able to put my money where my mouth is, following God even when it is scary and doesn’t make sense to some.

There is lots to be done between now and mid-June when we will pack up the cars and head southwest.  Prayers for this transition would be greatly appreciated by our entire family.  For as excited as we are, it is bitter sweet and emotional to leave everything we know here – our families, a church we both love, and great friends.  I am so thankful for my time at Kensington, the lifelong relationships that have been formed, and the way I’ve been shaped artistically, creatively, and personally by this place.  This time has been a great gift.

A new chapter…here we come!

VIDEOBLOG: The Making of Venue

It is no secret that I’m quite a fan of Digidesign’s Venue line of live audio consoles.  There are certainly other tools out there but Digi has proven to be an excellent fit with the kind of art we create at Kensington and the way I am most effective mixing.

Check out a really cool video from Digidesign on the Making of the Venue platform.  One of the best parts of partnering with Digi is the accessibility of the leadership team and this video is a great example.  I’m not aware of another console manufacturer with a more public and accessible team.

VIDEOBLOG: Kensington Production

In a break from some of the serious content of the past few weeks, I want to share a couple of what I think are really cool videos about the production team and music team at Kensington.  These were prepared as part of a Fall push for more volunteers on our teams.  Kensington can sometimes be criticized by outsiders for unorthodox methodology in reaching the community for Christ, but I think these videos really capture the heart and mission of why we do what we do.  I’m very proud to serve on this team.  

Watch the music one first for more on our mission and some stories about our incredible artist team, then check out my team’s profile.