One For The 3CW History Book

To start, I would like to say that we've had some pretty awesome shows lately. Some have been huge turn-outs, some have been intimate gatherings, but with the exception of a couple where I think I did really poorly (tired voice = bad, off-key vocals), it's been a wild ride.

Tonight takes the cake.

We played for the Middle School Fuel midweek event at Crossroads Church in Loveland, Colorado. The event started off kinda rocky, particularly for me. When we got to the event, we were getting setup when I bashed my head (really hard) into a hanging speaker. I'm just recovering after 9 months from a similar injury that wasn't nearly as hard as the hit I took tonight. I plan on seeing the chiropractor tomorrow just to make sure I'm okay before this upcoming tour. The big difference is that we got ice on my head and neck right away and I took two Aleve to help with any pain and swelling. Also drank LOTS of water. And will see the chiropractor tomorrow (I hope). The last time something similar happened, I just let it go and didn't do anything about it until my body and mind went nuts (no joke, I'll have to share that story with you someday).

Anyway, took a serious hit to the head, but then took a serious hit to the band. As we were sound checking, the youth pastor looked over at Iain and I (I was sitting at the sound board) and asked if we could turn it down a little. We honestly thought he was joking. You see, we didn't even have the main speakers up yet, just our amps and drums, and we pride ourselves on being one of the quieter bands you're going to hear (we care about your ears!). It's loud, but unlike most, we take care to keep it as lower than the norm. We were all so thrown off by the request and didn't exactly know what to do... well, Ben came up with some good strategies to help reduce the sound, but I was freaked. Partly because I hit my heard, but partly because I thought "uh oh... what did this church think they were getting when they invited us in?" Truthfully, we were afraid that the volume would still be too loud no matter what we did, or that the sound would be just awful, or that maybe they didn't really want us to be there, or a whole bunch of other "uh oh" thoughts, and that this was probably the last time we'd ever be invited.

I just felt a tension all night that I couldn't shake. Even Ben and I started argue a bit.

And then God moved on Josh in a powerful way that changed the rest of the night. All of a sudden, Josh goes "I'm getting that feeling I was getting last week... we're getting attacked spiritually and I feel like God wants me to pray."

James 5 says that the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much.

Soon after that prayer, things starting coming together. And we ended up having one of the best shows I can remember. The crowd was crazy into the whole set, the energy was high, and we were all having a blast!!!

AND THEN, the coolest part of the night happened. At the point where I normally share from one of our quiet times, I felt like God said "not tonight, Joe... tonight, just give them the Gospel, straight up... John 3:16 style." And that's what happened. Iain gave me his Bible and that was the subject. It wasn't a long talk... maybe 5 minutes... and there was prayer... and like 12 students raised their hands saying they had just prayed to commit their lives to Jesus Christ for the first time.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the best part of the night... and the best part of the series of shows we've done in the Rocky Mountain Front Range these last 6 weeks. It was intense... it was beautiful. It was unreal. And it was exactly what God wanted. And it was the best part of everything. As Ryan, the youth pastor said after the set, making that commitment is the single most important thing anyone can ever do. He's right. It really is.

And as a Christian, being a part of someone's spiritual birth is about the coolest thing in the world. In fact, Jesus said that there is rejoicing in Heaven when even one person goes from being "lost" to being "found." So, if one causes a party, I'm pretty sure Heaven is having the coolest rave you could imagine.

I had the chance to talk to some friends of ours after the event who expressed their sadness that so many Christian bands start off so gung-ho about their faith and then with more success, seem to back away from their former boldness... it stops being about reaching people for Christ and starts being about "ambiguously making an impact." Nights like tonight remind me of what I already know everyday... we aren't that band and we never will be. We couldn't survive and NOT talk openly about Jesus Christ and our relationships with Him. He is central to the band's existence and to our very lives. And at the end of the day, we're not trying to make the world a better place as an end in itself... the world is going to burn someday and be replaced according to Scripture. We're trying to reach as many people as we can with the life-changing, soul-saving Good News of Jesus Christ.

We would be miserable if we stopped doing that, because as the Apostle Paul once said... "I am compelled to do it; I feel like I almost have no choice in the matter" (JPT - Joe's Paraphrased Translation...).

Anyway, it was a perfect way to end this set of "local" shows ("local" as in Rocky Mountains), and to transition into this upcoming Western USA tour.

Speaking of, please pray for us... pray for our families, for us, and for all of our safety.

Thanks!

Joe
3CW

P.S. With the upcoming tour, we're going to try to keep up on our updates from the road. So... starting the middle of next week, make sure you're checking in on us every couple of days for updates, pictures... and maybe some video... from our time on the road. Should be fun!