Presidential Debate

(Picture from the Washington Times)

Our company is all over the news across the USA and world today...although you might not know it. For some reason people are more interested in John McCain and Barack Obama than the production company that's going to make Belmont look amazing. :)

Kudos to Bert and our tech guys for their hard work and for preparing the campus to look incredible tonight! (Notice the black shirt Jacob has on down below...GARY MUSICK!)

(picture from the Knoxville News Sentinel)

When you see the scenic work tonight on stage, on the huge banners that cover Belmont's campus, and the draping...give a little cheer for Gary Musick Productions!

Now...onto that debate!!!!

ZOE Conference Weekend

The weekend was awesome! Thursday night we had some good friends from out of town over for chili. It turned out to be such a fun night. Josh and Kara Graves and Josh and Kayci Ross stayed and, along with my mom, we all watched the VP debate. It was such a great kick off to the weekend!

Kip Long, me, Josh Ross, and Stephen Bailey--great friends!

Two of my favorite people...Josh Graves and Josh Ross

Rich Smith came in from Texas as one of our resource speakers for worship leaders. Rich leads a great ministry called Levi Ministries. He and I have known each other since High School. Great guy!

Sally Gary was here presenting about her ministry called CenterPeace. Sally was my speech and drama coach in high school and is like a sister to me.

Kara Graves and my mom

Kayci and Josh Ross and their cool son, Truitt

Lindsey and Peter Wilson were here from Sonoma, California. It's always so great to sing with them and get to spend time with them.

Rich and Eric work the ZOE store

Philip Organ, Peter Wilson and Amy Westerman

ZOE leading worship for one of the sessions.

Teresa Newsome...she as such a gift of signing. She is beautiful to watch!

My ZOE family (L-R) Kevin Penna, Amy Westerman, Karin Hensley, me, Philip Organ, Sheryl, Melissa Kirby, Zach Wilson, David England, Peter Wilson

The conference was called "Fearless". It was such an encouragement. Jeff Walling, Mike Cope, and Randy Harris did a wonderful job speaking. Larry Mudd blew my mind with his dramatic portrayal of John and his writing of Revelation. Amazing! There were so many great moments...so many great friends...such incredible worship times!

We are all exhausted tonight, but feeling so full and thankful.

ZOE FEARLESS

As I get ready for bed tonight I am struck by the way God has worked over time in our lives through the ZOE ministry. Our first ZOE conference was in 1997. Over time we have invested much of our lives into this ministry. However, I feel we have gained so MUCH more than we ever gave. The ZOE singers have been family to us. We've grown up together, gotten married, raised kids, traveled, sung at weddings and funerals, laughed, cried and lived life together. What a tremendous gift that has been.

Then I am struck by the people we've met and fallen in love with over the years through traveling with ZOE...people like Eric Noah Wilson (our Executive director), Lex and Sandra Henderson, Jeff Walling, Tim Castle, Josh and Kara Graves, Julie Danley, Bruce and Taylor Morgan, Lee Smith, Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet and others. Each one has touched and changed our lives.

I can't forget Joe Smith. Joe was a huge ZOE supporter from Arizona. He fought a very hard battle against cancer. I still miss him. There have been times I have wanted to pick up the phone to call Joe and had to stop myself. Honestly, he's still in my address book after 5 years. I can't bring myself to delete him. I won't forget that last time we were together when we sang out there. We both knew we wouldn't see each other again in this life. Joe was such a blessing to me and so MANY others.

Tonight and tomorrow men and women are flying into Nashville from all over the country to share a weekend together and worship. Stephen is here. Mike Cope is here. We have family driving in from Minnesota (Gail and Chris and kids). There will be guest speakers, special music, art displays, powerful messages, CD releases, and lots of great times. But the best part of all of it will be the people. Friends will reunite, new friendships will be formed, hearts will be encouraged and community will break out. What an awesome thing!

I remember back in early 2001 when we chose "Deep Calls to Deep" (an exercise in lament) as our CD title and conference theme that year. Little did we know that only a few weeks before that conference 9/11 would hit. I had a similar feeling this month watching the chaos of the economy, gas prices, and our political craziness and remembering our theme this year... "Fearless". We have a lot of fear around us right now. People are losing money, jobs, marriages--you name it. I think God knew what He was doing when this theme emerged last winter. We need this word. I cannot wait!

Countdown

Only 2 more days!

FEARLESS

Our ZOE conference is only 5 days away! We are getting so excited! For those who don't know, we have been producing worship conferences for over 10 years. We also produce worship recordings and resources such as books of music, an online magazine called "Wineskins", and other offerings. We have a Nashville conference each year that kicks of each year's theme and then we carry that out through the year with regional conferences. These regional conferences have been hosted in cities like Orlando, Dallas, St. Louis, Fresno, Lubbock, Houston, and other places. Our regular spots during the year include Fresno, Malibu, and Nashville. Stay tuned for our 2009 itinerary.

This next weekend we will have our conference entitled, "Fearless". It will be an awesome experience and I am excited to see everyone! If you're interested, check out the website listed over on the right.

Today we are celebrating Randy Read and Elle Bobier as they get married. Elle owns a very cool shop in Edge Hill called Elle’s Marché des Fleurs. It's a floral design shop. Randy is the publisher and editor of the Nashville Arts Magazine. Check out his website at http://nashvilleartsmagazine.com/ .

Randy and Elle are having a small ceremony outside and Sheryl is doing the food and some decor. Elle, Randy and I have gotten to be buddies through work stuff. They immediately fell in love with Sheryl...who wouldn't? It should be a fun day. Would you join me in praying for them and that God will surround them and bless their lives together?

And one last thing...thoughts on the debate last night??

Depression

Economic Depression? Bailing out Wall Street? Cancelling debates? Coke or Pepsi? I mean...these questions are haunting me. What are you guys thinking out there?

More From the Infinity

If you've never been to Seattle, go. It's way cool. My favorite thing was the Public Market. I went with some of the old cast on board. They showed me all the great places to grab snacks (the best fresh peach I have EVER had and some cool dried fruit roll-ups dusted in coconut). We even happened upon the ORIGINAL Starbucks. The vibe was quite cool and different there than the franchised ones. Here are some pics of Seattle...

The Original Starbucks

I took a little video of the players and Kaitlyn joining in for some fun! :)

Laura, Kaitlyn and I pose in front of the Infinity.

working backstage with the dancers on back-ground vocals

Claire, Holly, Sarah and I pose at the outgoing cast's final night party

Matt, Holly, Sarah and Mitch during dress rehearsal for the opener

The Broadway show opens with a number called "Don't Tell Mama" and they pull a volunteer from the audience. I was a reluctant volunteer for dress rehearsal.

Holly--42nd Street

West Side Story--Jets

West Side Story above and below

Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera

Matt as the Phantom

Mitch and Holly in Les Mis

Matt--Les Mis "One Day More"

"One Day More"

The barricade--battle scene

Matt singing "Bring Him Home"

"Do You Hear the People Sing"

"Do You Hear the People Sing"

Chorus Line--"One"

Those are the last of my Infinity pictures. I am praying for that cast out there. Great people who have had a tremendous amount to deal with in the last week.

Nine days and counting until ZOE conference!

Abide

This morning at Fellowship Bible Church was really awesome. (check out the link page over to the right and watch for podcasts from this morning.) Sheryl and I sat with my mom, Nathan Slingluff, Lauren Gingles, Jeff and Anna Berry, and David Wilkins...some of our favorite people. The worship was awesome as usual and the message was deeply feeding. Jeff Helton talked about the next thought in the series on dangerous ideas. He spoke about God's abiding love. Such an amazing message today.

I want to say out loud on this here bloggy thing...I am so thankful for God's love. Although I have days of doubting it, I know He IS perfect love and cares for me in ways I can never imagine. He cares for you too. Even if you're out there thinking there is no way that what I am saying is true. He does. He cares for you. He wants to know YOU.

I don't have things figured out. But one thing I was convicted of again today is the truth in being called to just rest in the love of God. No matter what anyone tells you...even Christians...God loves you and wants you to know Him. He knows you--all of you (and me) and still loves us. What in the world??? That alone is mind boggling. I hope just hearing this is as encouraging for you as it was for me today. I needed it.

AUDITIONS!!!

It's that time again! We're planning cruise ship auditions for this fall, and here is a sneak preview of dates and locations. Complete details will be posted on our website in the next few days, but this will give you an idea of where we're planning to be in the coming weeks...

NEW YORK - Ripley Grier Studios
Friday, October 17:
9:30am - 4:00pm (tentative)...Open call singers
9:30pm - 5:00pm (tentative)...JADE singer auditions (casting for "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "Shout" as well as two other shows
Saturday, October 18:
9:30am - 4:00pm (tentative)...Vocal call backs
10:00am...Dancers open call
2:00pm...Dancers open call (choose either start time)


LOS ANGELES - Debbie Reynolds Studio
Friday, October 24:
10:00am - 4:00pm (tentative)
Singer open call and appointments for JADE singers
10:00am...Dancers open call
2:00pm...Dancers open call
Saturday, October 25:
10:00am-4:00pm (tentative)...Singers open call and Appointments for JADE 10:00am (tentative)...Dancers open call
2:00pm (tentative)...Dancers open call


LONDON - Pineapple Studios
Thursday, January 8, 2009:
9:30am (tentative)...Open call for dancers
1:00pm - 4:30pm...Open call for singers and JADE singer appointments
4:30pm - 6:00pm...Callbacks for singers
Friday, January 9, 2009:
9:30am (tentative)...Open call for dancers
1:30pm - 4:30pm...Open call for singers and JADE singer appointments
4:30pm - 6:00pm...Callbacks for singers


We will post complete audition information on our website, as well as in BACKSTAGE and other trade publications. PLEASE DON'T CALL US WITH QUESTIONS JUST YET. All details will be answered on the website. This is just posted to give you a "hold the date" opportunity if you're planning to audition for us.
Thanks!!