Josiah, Myself, Josh from What We Do In Secret, and Mark touring with Sleeping Giant at I Matter Fest in NY.
Waking the this morning, we roll through the normal punches. Climbing out of the bus, brushing our teeth in a seemingly abandoned parking lot in Pennsylvania. Garrett has a mouthful of toothpaste while the other boys are having their morning smoke. Butz and I are both individually giving ourselves a wet-wipe shower. As Butz and I are cleaning the inside of our underpants, we see children walking near us. This seemingly abandoned parking lot isn’t so much abandoned. Josiah barks and catches my attention, we are at a public park. Monkey bars, swing sets and all. I can only imagine what the parents thought, seeing a bunch of shirtless tattood men, mostly wearing black, grooming themselves by a creepy bus near a children’s park.
Majority of the time spent on the Race will be doing behind-the-scenes work. We will be able to get the grunt work done so that the local missions and pastors can go into their communities they do life with, love them well and serve them without having to worry about these projects or daily activities that we will be fulfilling for them.
This is the mindset I’m trying to maintain whenever serving these brothers on the road for this tour. Sometimes it isn’t always about talking to people, witnessing by example, or building relationships. Sometimes it is just being able to cover the ground work so others can do the aforementioned. I believe the Lord can do whatever he wants to do, but I also believe that he uses relationships to draw people to himself. Whenever we meet someone brand new, who has no idea who you are and probably will not see you again, it is hard for me to understand that people can feel genuinely comfortable explaining to them where they fall short and how if they are facing separation eternal. Why would that person have any reason to trust or believe you? Hypothetically let us say that person does trust and believe you, someone they barely know anything about. If that is the case than wouldn’t their trust and hope be swayed just as easily by the next person that runs along spitting a different song and dance about another way or philosophy?
Rob Bell in his 2005 best seller Velvet Elvis wrote that whenever someone tells someone else about a loved one they don’t argue the superiority or absolute dependance on that loved one. Not at all! They pull out a picture of him or her from their wallet and share all the values they adore in them, how they have changed their lives and how important they are to them. I believe that is how we should go about sharing our faith. Without people knowing who you are, or your character, they will see no ground for you to stand on when sharing your story or the Gospel.
There were a few people who stood out in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There was a couple, Becky and Chris, who absolutely loved touring bands and blessed us and NTB with a giant bag full of healthy treats and breakfast foods along with a few cases of water. Greatly appreciated! There was a younger gentleman named Danny who was about to leave on mission in India for three months around the same time we will be in India during the Race. This kid talked my ear off about local bands, his appreciation for their arts and relationship with friends and fans, and his faith. Really neat dude who didn’t really leave our sides the entire night. Right before we were leaving I just felt like the Lord wanted me to give him a book I had on me called Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. It’s a book about biblical manhood that I read when I was eighteen years old right after I was saved, thanks to my buddy Alex who gave it to me to read. Changed my life and I highly recommend any man regardless of age read that book. You might hear a lot of what I say be influenced or inspired by it!
The last man I met that rocked my world was an elderly man named Omer. Omer is 75 years old and his main ministry is working with bands in their 20’s and 30’s. He works with them to work through past hurts and issues that in the end help him or her grow into who Christ has them to be. Omer had carried around the pain of his father’s sexual abuse against his sisters until he was in his fifties! He has been working with a few men in Mouth of the South work through some past issues and had some really great and encouraging words.
This kid at I Matter Festival had “KISS ME” written on the front of his shirtless chest. I thought it pretty lame and told him to let me draw on his back and to trust me. He shouldn’t have! This was the result.
Jared, Bobby and Ryan from Dallas band Fit For a King killin’ it in front of thousands of kids at I MATTER.
The next day we went to upstate New York and had a blast at the I Matter Suicide Awareness and Prevention Festival with a lot of our buddies bands. When I was younger and went to big shows or festivals I would have my jaw dropped at seeing all my favorite bands. Now that I’m older it just seems that I am stoked to be at a festival with all my other friends who are playing! It’s humbling how those tables have turned. Here’s a plethora of pictures from the day.
Garret and Michael from MOTS and Zak from NTB.
Jared from FFAK, Tanner from MOTS, Mark and I.
Matt from Sleeping Giant and Tyler from Gideon. They are much happier than they appear in this photo. We had a lot of laughs, high fives, and stage dives.
People in New England cannot cook Mexican food. We ate with a few other bands afterwards at a Denny’s. Tanner added this antedate whenever I was complaining that my nachos came with chili on them rather than taco meat, who knew a 24-hour breakfast diner in upstate New York wasn’t known for it’s Mexican cuisine?
Here is Josiah speaking in New Jersey. This is why we do what we do.
More to come for the last few days of this run! Thank you so much for following my story!
A self-portrait with Colton sleeping. He is literally sitting next to me at this venue in Ringgold, GA and has no idea I am posting this. I’m sure he will be thrilled.
You can follow me on instragram @texasfornever.
-J
