Hey all!

Here are the rest of the pictures from Colorado!


Fernando Orega in concert!

I can't believe Fernando Ortega used to be a part of Keynote ministries. WOW. I still can't get over that. I'm not sure when he was on staff with Crusade but older staff have told me that he's given concerts numerous times before in the past so this concert was no new thing. He is definitely an example to aspire to considering he came out of Crusade as is now a professional musician on a recording label as a major Christian artist.I didn't get to catch a lot of it but I still really enjoyed what I got to hear.






The Rock and the Rabbi:

The Rock and the Rabbi is a Christian musical all about the relationship between Peter, the Rock, and Jesus, the Rabbi. It was an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT show. VERY VERY well done and very professional. Apparently they perform in front of audiences whom are mostly non-Christian and don't get exposed to the gospel in such a creative way as this. They tour in certain parts of the country and tour as often as they can.

The score is purely original and it incorporates a lot of interesting percussion instruments and musical arrangements for songs that were very creative. As a fellow drummer, of course, I was enchnanted by their percussion rig and took plenty of pictures of their percussionist performing. Very cool stuff!






Joel Rosenberg!

This is a picture of Joel Rosenberg! Famous author who wrote The Last Jihad and other great books that include a synposis of the gospel in each one. His hope in writing these books was that he could his creative writing skills as a platform from which to share the gospel with his non-believing audience.

Basically, as he explained, in each of his books he would write about some relevant world event and then use that as a way to launch into the gospel about two-thirds into the book. He wanted to write in such a way that would captivate his audience and draw them in to read more and then be able to share the gospel. VERY cool and exciting that he was there among us staff. It's a really inspiring story and I must read his books when I get the chance. If any of you have read it before, please let me know how they are!


Speed dating

Yes, that's right. SPEED DATING. Dr. Henry Cloud, famous Christian author who wrote major counseling books like Boundaries and Changes that Heal came to CSU to give all the single Crusade staff a seminar on dating and relationships.

At first I was thinking, "What is this?! Speed dating??? This is wack!" But after I heard what he had to say and understood his viewpoint better I actually ended up agreeing with him.

For those who have never heard of the phenomenon called speed dating, it's basically sitting down with a person for three minutes, asking a series of questions to see whether or not you might be potentially interested in this person for future interest. But since you are actually sitting down with a total stranger for three minutes with totally exclusive time with them, it is considered a date. And because it is such a short one, it's called a speed date, hence the term speed dating. Very interesting, right?

He explained to the staff a scenario about a woman whose view on dating was extremely conservative and almost anti-faith when you broke down her view on relationships. She basically believed that God would simply bring the person into her life that she's supposed to marry. She would just pray, keep on doing what she's doing, and trust God to bring him in when the time is right. Granted that's not an entirely narrow view, it doesn't really require much faith or self-initiative on her part to be in the right place at the right time to meet that right peson.

Through a series of questions he discovered that this woman was desperate for fellowship and hadn't had a date for two years. She doesn't have nearly any interaction with men and isn't meeting anyone new. Dr. Cloud's question to her was, "how are you supposed to meet him if you don't put yourself in a place of visibility?"

Long story short, he became her dating coach to help her move forward from where she was because with the mentality she was holding onto, she wasn't going anywhere and hadn't in the past two years. He told her to go meet five new men each week and have enough conversation with them in order to find out some things about them like where they were from, what were their jobs, and what their faith looked like.

At first that sounds really dangerous but Dr. Cloud's whole intention was not for her to "hook up" with five guys in a week. No. His point was for her to get talking with men and along the way discover what she did and didn't like in the man she was looking to marry. So she wasn't asked to go on dates but merely talk so that she was moving forward from her spot in this area of her life and growing in her faith. All in all, within six months, I believe it was, she was happily married. If only it was that easy!

Anyways, so Dr. Cloud's entire point of having a speed dating session with the Crusade staff was to promote interaction between all the single staff. Most of us would never had had conversations with each other if we had not had the speed dating session. Some took it more serious than others but all in all, I really thought it was a beautiful thing because we were just getting to know each other as the body of Christ and promoting safe, healthy interactions with the opposite sex to help those who have been stuck to move on. And that was great.

Did I participate? Nope. Unfortunately. Now that I look back on it, I regret it. Drat. I should've at least tried a few times but I was a bit timid and plus I really had to have a serious conversation with a friend that night whom I wasn't really on good terms with. So I wasn't exactly in the mood or mindset to be kind and courteous and engaging with people at the time. But there is always another time!

What's funny is that after the speed dating session a lot of the guys at the conference had a renewed sense of boldness, I guess you could call it, and started asking out girls left and right! It was quite amusing to hear that one of my female friends from new staff training got asked out a few times by different guys. Gee, I wonder who that could be ;)



This is one of my favorite pictures from CSU. After our last session there, we had an all-staff party outside of the main stadium and I caught the sunset sky in B&W with my camera before it went away. BEAUTIFUL!


Janie! I am going to miss this girl. Janie, for those who haven't read past blog entries, is from Brazil and came over here to train with us for music ministry. This was the last time we got to see her before she went back! so sad! We wish you well Janie!

One of my favorite pasttimes while at CSU was going to one of the local pubs that had a sweet shuffleboard table! Don't worry, no unwholesome activity happened while there. :) We occasionally went there to unwind and hang out and, of course, play shuffleboard. Fun times!



So, as I said, the staff had a party the last night after our last main session. It was really humid but then started to rain a bit which was quite refreshing! This is a picture of Jamie Resh, Kelly Rudisill and one of their staff friends in the rain.


Since it was the last night there, a bunch of us from my new staff training class all hung out and talked until about 12 in the morning since for almost all of us this would be the last time we'd see them for another two years! It's quite sad but that's just the dynamic of being on staff with Crusade. You learn to kinda ebb and flow with the friendships you make because you know you really can't keep in good contact with them unless you're really intentional about phone calls, e-mails, etc. Otherwise you really won't just naturally bump into these people and talk with them!

Mike Powers and Kelly Burch. Kelly is actually from the Indiana area! We got to hang out on the Sunday following after staff conference. She took me to check out her church, Traders Point, which is close to where I live, since I'm still in the process of becoming part of a church.


Jamie Resh is on staff with Student Venture and is a RIOT. She's a super cool sister and I'm sure Piper Down looks forward to making working her in the future for an outreach! Here she is with a few Keynote folks: Andrea Sather, Corbitt, myself, and Laura "D".

This was the last time myself, Corbitt and other folks got to see Mary Elizabeth before she left for her missions assignment! We definitely are praying for her and wish her all the best as she's out there. I know she's going to do great works for God. Keep strong M E!



Of course, M E with the fellas. Here, we are, her three best guy friends from new staff training. She's such a fun sister. We love you lots!


And that's it! Again, as I wrote in my last entry, God spoke to me in very powerful and important ways at CSU concerning my vision for a lifetime of ministry and where He's leading me. That made my time there an invaluable experience that I don't think I'll ever forget. I'm looking forward to many more CSU's in the future.

I'm so sorry this blog entry is so late! I've been swamped with rehearsals ever since I came back from Colorado. And while in Colorado I barely had enough time to upload all my pictures because of software problems.

But praise the Lord my first week of practice with BSN (BlueSkyNine) went awesome. PRAISE GOD! ALL GOD. Totally. I am amazed we were able to come together as quickly as we did. Of course we still have a lot of work to do but praise the Lord it's not as difficult as it might have been. So I thank you for all your prayers and concerns for me.

Please continue to keep our band in prayer. Teresa, our lead vocalist, has been struggling with insomnia and actually sat this morning out to catch up on sleep because she almost had none the night before. My ankle is holding up amazingly well but it's still painful after extended use. And 8 hours of playing drums a day is plenty extended use!

The rest of our band members are in relatively good health, which is great, but I'm sure they could use your prayers as well. Their names are Amy Snow (lead guitar), Adam Smith (Vocalist/guitarist), and Kevin Touma (bassist).

Again, for our fall tour, we'll be staying mainly in the midwest. We'll be in Northern Michigan first, I believe, then down to Kentucky, back up to Detroit, Chicago and Butler University in Indiana. We'll also be at several places elsewhere in the midwest region. If you can start lifting up those campuses we'll be reaching and the students we'll be ministering to right now that would be awesome. I know God will do awesome things the more that we pray now. I am confident that the Lord will do great things. I'm really looking forward to this season out on the road. Exciting things ahead!

And now without further ado...the rest of my pictures from Colorado!



As with almost every major Christian conference, worship is always a huge part of the experience. For myself, the worship times were very powerful and the most meaningful to me. The talks were also great but it was during the worship times that I really felt like I connected with God and had the most clarity.

The last night of the conference God affirmed my vision and calling by reminding me of that fateful morning at Urbana '03 when He called me to "bring this gift to the world." He was affirming me that "yes, Chris, you are in the right place" and that was great to hear from Him.

To "bring this gift to the world" can be interpreted in a number of different ways but, I believe He was telling me that He meant this in the literal sense-that eventually He wants me to go overseas.

It's funny how we always apply the Great Commission to our lives in reverse order. What I mean is that we want to go to the ends of the earth before we want to go to our "Jerusalem." Jerusalem was where the disciples were. Jesus summoned them to go first to where they were, then out from there, out a little farther and then so far as the ends of the earth. But often we get it the other way around and I must admit I am no different.

When I have thought about missions I had always thought "other-culturally." "Out there...they need Jesus." But what about the people that are next door? And what about ministering to my own people? I have often always thought I would go abroad to a country vastly different my own. But ever since my trip back to Taiwan last winter God put a burden on my heart for the people of Taiwan. And I found myself feeling something I have never had for my own people-compassion.

Taiwan is what, 1% Christian? It's a materialistically rich country that people don't normally associate as a country of need. Oddly enough I never hear about Taiwan being a huge draw for missionaries either, though the statistic for evangelical Christians there is so low. This strikes me because spiritually speaking, this is a very poor country that has a lot of need. When Jesus was talking about the poor, He didn't just mean in the literal, material sense, but in the spiritual sense as well.

On the last day I was in Taiwan, I remember walking by a bunch of street vendors who were all throwing fake money into a fire inside a steel offering urn, hoping to "pay" their way for a better fortune and also to appease the gods so that they wouldn't strike them down with bad luck. I was told that these types of offerings are also given on behalf of their loved ones so that they'll be well taken care of in the afterlife.

As I passed by I thought, "Do you really believe in what you're doing? Do you really believe that if you "pay" with this money it will help you and somehow changes your fortune or your life?" And if they did believe that how sad a faith!

The more I think about this the more I am troubled in my soul, grieved in my heart that these people believe these things. It's tragic to me. And I think to myself, "if they only knew about Jesus, who God is and who He created them to be...they would find the meaning of their lives and live in freedom and purpose." And their faith would no longer be offered up to meaningless, powerless idols and ritualistic nothings.

What am I trying to say? Eventually, I believe God may be leading me towards mission in Taiwan. It's a thought that had never occurred to me before because I've never seen my home country with a missionary mindset. I also struggled a lot with accepting my Taiwanese identity during my high school years and was ashamed of it in a lot of ways. I shunned it, my own people, and never really had a desire to be connected with it, let alone have a heart for the country itself. But how things have changed.

God brought to mind this vision to my heart again and I am going to pursue that vision of going overseas in faith. I have no idea when or how but I don't want to let circumstances deter me from that vision. I'm just going to ask God to help me remain faithful to Him and continue in the direction He's leading me right now with Keynote. It's exciting to see a glimpse of what's coming over the horizon.



During the conference most of the Keynote staff sa on the left of the stage at CSU. Here we are!


I was disappointed I didn't get to walk as new staff across the stage with the rest of my NST class from the winter but it was enjoyable to see Vonette with the other emcee staff greet the newcomers from this summer's NST class.


All staff came out by state with the person in front carrying the state flag. Here's Randy Pahl with the Indiana flag-a fellow Keynoter!



And who's this strange man in the hat?!



The Impact worship team!

The Impact worship team got to lead worship for one evening and morning session at CSU, which I was extremely ecstatic about. They are UBER-talented and led us into some awesome worship times.


Mr. Jason Burris on the drums. Ripping it up I might add!


The Impact movement is the African-American ethnic specific Crusade movement that specifically reaches out to blacks on college campuses. This particular worship team was actually made up mostly of students! It was comprised of SoulSeed members from the student summer project and other Crusade staff, like Jimmy LeFontRoy of Chasing Elvis. VERY COOL, VERY AWESOME. I wanted so much more!

After our first official evening at CSU, we had a county fair on the CSU grounds that featured some of our Keynote bands, Chasing Elvis and BlueSkyNine. David Pendleton also got to do a portion of his act, which was great as well.
Chasing Elvis on stage!



My NST caregroup!
I was so happy we got to meet up together again minus our dear brother, Brandon, who couldn't be with us. We hung out and shared and prayed for each other up at Horsetooth, a nice hang out area on the side of the mountain that overlooks the Fort Collins area.


Beautiful view of Fort Collins from up top:



And now...presenting...one of the best parts of the entire conference......drum roll please......


THE CAEDMON'S CALL CONCERT!!!

I still cannot believe that Caedmon's Call came to CSU to give us a private concert just for the Crusade staff! That was so exciting! I volunteered to go to the airport to go pick them up but I think people were already assigned to do that so I didn't get to talk with them or anything. DRAT! BUT!!

They needed some extra drum equipment for the concert so their drummer actually used my cymbals and hardware!!! WOOHOO!! I was so stoked about that!

Caedmon's Call has been such a huge musical influence in my life since I became a Christian, basically. I first heard of them my freshman year in college, I believe, and ever since then I've been listening to their music and even did a few of their covers with my former band AVID.

When AVID did a small demo, we even asked Aaron Tate, one of their songwriters, express permission to use one of their songs on our CD, which he gave us to use free of charge, which was sweet!

Their songs and lyrics have meant so much to me and have really helped my walk in a lot of ways so to be able to interact with them a little bit up close and actually have them use my stuff was soooooo exciting! I even got the band to sign my snare drum skin, which was SWEET!

And, of course, being the drummer fanatic that I am, I took plenty of pictures giving evidence that he indeed DID use my cymbals and hardware. Observe:


Some of it's hard to see, but those are my two crashes, hi-hats, hi-hat stand and double-kick pedal he's using as well.

Here they are doing their soundcheck before the show:


They played almost all their classics that I love so much, like Lead of Love, Hope to Carry On, This World and many others. They shared about their missions trip to India, I believe it was, and how they picked up a few musical things while over there and shared with us the "Share the Well" song that features an Indian percussion instrument, which was really cool. Man! They're so awesome!


And for their last song they did Potter's Hand, with that huge percussion solo at the end, which was AWESOME. The keyboardist joined the drummer and percussionist for a percussion trio, which was SO great. Man...I love that stuff. Encore! Encore!


And that was the show! Man, it was fantastic. Following them after a few days, Fernando Ortega actually came out to CSU to give the staff a private concert as well, since he actually used to be with staff with Crusade as a part of Keynote! woohoo! Can't believe he used to be a part of us. That is so awesome because he's such an amazingly talented musician and songwriter and is really professional. That was great too. Wish I had pictures to show but I'm not quite sure where they went...hmmm...

I have many more pictures to come! Sorry I keep delaying everything! Just mondo busy with rehearsals and practicing and getting all my drum equipment in time for tour that it's been hard to keep the site updated but I hope you enjoyed this entry! I'll post the rest very soon. God bless!