The Show was a Rockin’ Success

For a long time, I have wanted to have the band Seventh Day Slumber at our church. When we got the Horizon Center, I knew that somehow we needed to make that happen. When I was in Silver Beach a few months ago with Robert, I said again, “We need to have these guys at Voice.” I spoke to Bob about it and showed him some of their testimony, and a few days later he said, “Ok, book them.” Just like that. I made a call to their agent and they said it would not be ’til spring, most likely. That was fine with me. Then I get a call from the agent and he said, actualy, I do have a Sunday open – September 27th. If you want to do a Sunday show, they’ll even lead worship in the morning. That sounded awesome to me although it was just about a month and a half away. Leadership approved it and suddenly, I found myself in charge of doing something I have never done before. Reading the rider is a daunting task – all kinds of stuff to be done – from hiring the sound crew, caterer, finding volunteers to usher, run book table, security, ordering print materials, promotion, tickets and all the tons of details that you would imagine is involved. Bob decided that it would be a free show. Because of the economy and the fact that we really wanted people to hear the message, we would just foot the bill. So that took out the hassle of ticket sales and collection.

Anyway, Sunday morning rolled around and I arrived at 7:45am. The band was already there, sleeping in their bus. We had been getting the place ready all week. The sound crew came in on Saturday. Billy Burket helped me all day moving chairs and getting the place vacuumed and clean. Scott Starkweather had an army of volunteers ready. We started unloading their stuff at 9am and had a great time with Matt, their road manager. By 10:10, they were doing some preliminary sound checks, and the band started their check at 10:30. Church was supposed to start at 10:30 and the lobby was chock full of people waiting to get in. We had not even advertised the morning worship other than to the Voice crowd, but word gets around. The doors opened at 10:50 and we were off. Worship was really good, they did a great job and the people seemed to enjoy the change and the different style. I wish I could have connected more, but I was doing the proverbial “headless chicken run” for most of the day. During Bob’s message, Bryon Stamets got up and gave this really strong prophetic word over Joseph, the lead singer. It really touched him. They shared later that this day was exactly what they had needed. There was a weariness from being on the road, and just having the opportunity to sit, in a church and receive encouragement and hear the message spoken is a rare thing for them to be able to do while they are on the road. Joseph said he felt that there was definitely a purpose for this show to have come together and it was no accident that we were the last show on this tour.

The afternoon was busy with unloaded the rest of their sound and lights for the big show, and setting all that gear up. It went really well thanks to the many volunteers who stayed. They did a sound check, and talked briefly with Bob. He was talking about the prophetic and that we had a team ready to give them a word for each of them if they wanted. Three of the guys went in, and from what I heard, were tremendously blessed. Even Joseph’s mom went in and came out amazed. The prophetic rooms are such a great thing – so many people come in weary and down, and leave with hope and joy.

The lines were forming at 4:30 and when the doors opened, we had over 500 people show up. It was loud and awesome, as their shows always are. Joseph told some stories and they did quite a few songs. He ended with letters to SDS, essentially reading emails that people had written to the band that were stories of heartbreak, of desperation, suicide, and questioning. He shared his testimony about how the Lord had delivered him from all kinds of stuff, and had made him new. Many came forward – probably a least a hundred. I pray for these people who were touched and those who chose to accept God’s gift of salvation.

Load out started right after the show and by 11, the stage was clear the trailer was loaded up. Scott, Billy, and Dustin stayed til the very end, helping clean up. We left a little after midnight, exhausted but happy that it all went well, and all planned on sleeping in and enjoying a much needed day off.

God is good and we are privileged to be able to do these kinds of events. I was glad we had no major problems and everything went very smoothly. One thing I noticed is that these guys were one of the easiest bunch of guys to work with. I have heard so many horror stories about Christian bands and how “rock star” they can get – demanding this and that, treating people badly, etc. These guys were so easy to work with, so willing to give their time to anyone who asked, and who all just jumped in and did what needed to be done. I was very impressed that their actions matched what they were speaking on stage. Check out the gallery here >>