Drove up to Orange City, IA yesterday to speak at a My Choice event early this morning at the middle school in Alton. My Choice is a middle school youth group that started a few years back with one guidance counselor and four kids. Now it's one guidance counselor and about 175 to 200 kids.
It's a pretty amazing group run by a pretty amazing guy - Scott Starkweather. It's a secular school. It's at 7am on Thursday mornings. Its attendance reaches 200 at times. That's just amazing. I have enough trouble getting 9 kids to show up on a Sunday night, let alone 175 on a Thursday morning.
We had fun. I even got to stick around and give a message to a home room class during second period. Good friend from RISE Ministries, Rob Rozeboom was there pitching his RISE on the Road that I'll also be speaking at come June in Knoxville, IA.
On the way home I broke out the old Willie Nelson and Family Live CD, and had a honky tonking good time grooving out. Willie's sister Bobbie Nelson plays a pretty mean country, honky tonk piano, and it reminded me of a story that I just shared with the Fergen brothers a few weeks back.
Last year, Troy, Dawn, and I all went up to lead a retreat in Oh Canada. We were staying at a camp that's made up like an old west town - including a worship room that's set up like a saloon.
Well, long story short, Dawn (Happy the Dog's resident piano player) obviously can't pack a piano to bring along, so she's at the mercy of whatever the host has to offer. We walk in, and they show Dawn her electric piano. A little casio jobby that's still in the box, kind of like one you'd buy at Walmart to learn how to play.
Dawn just stood looking at that box with her arms crossed for a bit with a look on her face of, Dawn not happy. Which, if you know Dawn, can be pretty amusing as long as you're not the one Dawn's not happy with.
Well after a bit of hemming and hawing, Dawn looks over at the saloon piano in the corner. It's a real old honky tonk job. Barely tuned. The "ivory" on the top of the pressboard keys is coming off of several keys. But Dawn bangs away on it a bit and finally declares it usable.
Now, I don't know if Dawn was completely satisfied with the sound, but I loved it. It added a real honky tonk sound to the songs that weekend, and I felt right at home.
I think my next show is May 7 in Dell Rapids (South Dakota?) with Jonah's Wale, and then I have a Morgan Valley Social Club show in Pella at the home church on May 9.
I also have my own middle school overnighter tomorrow night, and . . . I'm . . . not . . . quite . . . ready for it. I don't know how I'm going to stay up all night. I stayed at the Dutch Colony Inn last night after eating dinner with one of Happy the Dog's best friends - Jacklyn Punt - and the motel was a bit cold and noisy.
My room was right next to the door, and lots of people came and went all night. I would have switched rooms, but I'm lazy that way. Seeing Jacklyn again was great though!
Till next time,
Jason
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Comedy in Lincoln, NE
Buzzed down to Lincoln, NE last night for a stand up show for a church volunteer appreciation night. Had a great time and met lots of new people. It's crazy how small of a world the Reformed Church really is. Pastor PT (I'm not sure what it stands for) at Hope church knew my Pella pastors and my Pella Pastor's father, and he'd also come out of Northwest Iowa and knew ministry guy Bob Cleveringa and several others. PT and his wife had also gone to Iowa State University just like I had. So many connections.The show went well.
The crowd laughed at all the laughy parts. Great food was enjoyed. Prizes were given out. Puzzles were solved that seriously hurt my brain to look at.
As my portion of the show ended, I thanked all the volunteers for having me out and for volunteering their time at the church. I asked how many of them volunteered with children or youth and about 1/3 of them raised their hands. I asked how many of them volunteered with adults and got about another 1/3. It certainly made me wonder what the last 1/3 did. Animals perhaps? Maybe that's why the pastor's name is PT . . . they have a circus ministry!
In all seriousness, they were a fantastic church and it looks like they've got a great ministry going on in Lincoln. PT shared some really cool stories with me about their recent relocation and how the old church is now being used for a Hispanic ministry.
******************
On a side note, I'm always looking for new things to keep my mind occupied on LONG lonely car drives. Music can only take me so far. Ricky Gervais podcasts can only take me so much farther. Last night though, I downloaded about eight hours of NPR's comedy news quiz show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! What a fantastically funny show. I listen on Saturday's whenever I get the chance, but to have it as a free down load is just superb. Thanks NPR and itunes!
In two weeks I'm in Alton, IA for the My Choice youth group at the middle school in Alton. I may blog before then, but we'll see what the week brings.
The crowd laughed at all the laughy parts. Great food was enjoyed. Prizes were given out. Puzzles were solved that seriously hurt my brain to look at.
As my portion of the show ended, I thanked all the volunteers for having me out and for volunteering their time at the church. I asked how many of them volunteered with children or youth and about 1/3 of them raised their hands. I asked how many of them volunteered with adults and got about another 1/3. It certainly made me wonder what the last 1/3 did. Animals perhaps? Maybe that's why the pastor's name is PT . . . they have a circus ministry!
In all seriousness, they were a fantastic church and it looks like they've got a great ministry going on in Lincoln. PT shared some really cool stories with me about their recent relocation and how the old church is now being used for a Hispanic ministry.
******************
On a side note, I'm always looking for new things to keep my mind occupied on LONG lonely car drives. Music can only take me so far. Ricky Gervais podcasts can only take me so much farther. Last night though, I downloaded about eight hours of NPR's comedy news quiz show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! What a fantastically funny show. I listen on Saturday's whenever I get the chance, but to have it as a free down load is just superb. Thanks NPR and itunes!
In two weeks I'm in Alton, IA for the My Choice youth group at the middle school in Alton. I may blog before then, but we'll see what the week brings.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Justin
Had a very busy long weekend with Happy the Dog. We started last Thursday in Estelline, SD, and ended up on Monday in Rock Valley. If you want to read all the details, you can. I'm in a little bit of an awkward spot right now as I'm currently blogging on three different sites right now for three different reasons . . .
I'm updating Happy the Dog Trips right here: http://happythedog.com/index.php?page=blog for the ministry. But I feel it important to keep updating this site because I know there are a lot of you out there who come here for the non Happy the Dog engagements. So until it becomes too big of a burden, I'll be doing some double posts. I'm short on time today, though, so I'll just comment on a few things, and then you can check out the Happy site for all the crazy details of the fun stuff.
Yesterday, the Happy the Dog crew had a very solemn morning as we attended the celebration of life for Justin Bousema. Justin, as you'll remember, was a guy from my former youth group in Rock Valley that had become a pastor. Happy the Dog had the privelage to go up and do a benefit for him a couple months back while he was in the hospital battling aplastic anemia.
Unfortunately, last week, Justin lost his battle and passed away early Thursday morning. Jonah's Wale led worship at the funeral, and it was nothing short of an amazing experience. Justin's wife Bethany not on spoke, but sang - even singing a song that Justin was supposed to sing on CD until the CD skipped! It was a powerful and moving testament to her faith.
The main sermon was from Justin himself. It was recorded from a Sunday message he'd given quite a while ago. Hearing his voice and confidence as he delivered the message was very emotional, and we send out our love and prayers for the entire family.
Justin will be sorely missed.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
New CD and Book
So the Church of the Brethren show was recorded, and Pastor Tim was nice enough to send me a CD of the show. The audio quality was great - for one of our shows, anyway. And overall, it was a great show.
Long story short, I used a freebie web audio editor and came up with pretty good CD for the show. The plan right now is to include it in the back of the new poetry book (as of yet untitled because Andrea didn't like my last title) as a bit of a freebie, although the book will cost a little more anyways. The book is in the final stages of development, and we hope to bring it and the CD out at our next show at Second Reformed Church on May 9.
The show is a fundraiser for a group our pastor works with during the year, and we're going to have a TON of great music. Lots of extra high quality down home bluegrass musicians are coming on board for the show, and it should be great. When I get a specific time, I'll post it on the blog to let you know.
We've also done a major revamp on our ministry site - happythedog.com - so check that out. Soon you'll be able to navigate our ministry a little easier, and there'll more than likely be another blog attached to that site where several other cohorts I work with will post. Not to mention that the donation and merchandise buttons will be a lot slicker to use. Troy said he just got some great new stuff in, so in about a week when the site is fully operational, check it out and support some great worship.
Jason
Long story short, I used a freebie web audio editor and came up with pretty good CD for the show. The plan right now is to include it in the back of the new poetry book (as of yet untitled because Andrea didn't like my last title) as a bit of a freebie, although the book will cost a little more anyways. The book is in the final stages of development, and we hope to bring it and the CD out at our next show at Second Reformed Church on May 9.
The show is a fundraiser for a group our pastor works with during the year, and we're going to have a TON of great music. Lots of extra high quality down home bluegrass musicians are coming on board for the show, and it should be great. When I get a specific time, I'll post it on the blog to let you know.
We've also done a major revamp on our ministry site - happythedog.com - so check that out. Soon you'll be able to navigate our ministry a little easier, and there'll more than likely be another blog attached to that site where several other cohorts I work with will post. Not to mention that the donation and merchandise buttons will be a lot slicker to use. Troy said he just got some great new stuff in, so in about a week when the site is fully operational, check it out and support some great worship.
Jason
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