The rest of the Chicago minutes
University of Illinois-Chicago
It was a privilege to play for one of the most, if not the most, ethnically diverse campuses in the U.S.! For this event Crusade teamed up with Cornerstone fellowship, a group on campus who specifically reaches out to the multi-ethnic students on the UIC campus.
We played in the Inner Circle, one of the main cafeteria's on campus, for at least 150-200 students who were sitting down for most of the show and maybe just as many that were part of the transient crowd just buying food and then leaving the dining area.
It was really encouraging to see that during the gospel message I could see a number of student's faces glued to Teresa and really listening in.
One student in the far left of the cafeteria caught my eye and seemed especially gripped by the message portion of our show.
At one point he looked down at his tray, took a deep breath, and folded his arms, as if something Teresa said struck a chord with him and caused him to think deeply about it. Just looking at his posture communicated to me that he was really engaged and listening.
He didn't stay for the whole show but I hope God planted a seed in his heart and that he connects with someone from Crusade or Cornerstone that can help connect him with Christ.
We had a handful of comment cards, about 20, that Crusade will use for follow-up. The students and staff communicated to us that it was a great way to help build credibility and awareness of who Crusade and Cornerstone were on campus. Praise God!
Roosevelt College
This was our last concert and boy WERE WE TIRED by the time we got to our last show. My eyes were bloodshot and Kevin was pretty zonked too.
Our show took place after Crusade's first weekly meeting of the year for the Chicago metro area, so most of the people who stayed were actually Christians and part of the Crusade movement on their specific campuses. But there were about three to five non-Christians who stuck around for our show.
There was a guy named James who was hanging out on the fringes of the meeting during Jeff Koch's talk and also during the concert. After the concert, Jeff actually got to talk with him and encourage James to come to future Crusade meetings that take place in the very same dorm the our concert was in that night.
From what Jeff told me about his conversation with him, he was a student who said he was alright with God but that wasn't really the case. Please pray for James to see his need for Christ.
There were also two other non-Christian students, Rob, who is studying jazz at Roosevelt, and an African-American student (the name of whom I can't remember) that was also a drummer! We were hoping they could have stayed but ended up leaving towards the end of our show. Please pray for them to also come back to a Crusade meeting in the future.
Some of the Cru students came up to us afterwards and wanted our contact info for future booking opportunities. The night was really relaxed and fun and was helpful for casting vision to the students as to how to use Keynote bands in the future.
The staff really appreciated our coming and were very grateful for our time and energy spent on their campuses. Most all the staff saw each of our events as successful in the scope of what they hoped to accomplish.
I believe our partnership with the Chicago metro team was definitely strengthened and we pray for more ministry opportunities in the future!
We're in the Detroit area now and are taking it easy for the morning. We have a show tonight at Detroit Mercy at 7p.m. and one show a day for the rest of the week. Please keep us in prayer! Thanks!
We played in the Inner Circle, one of the main cafeteria's on campus, for at least 150-200 students who were sitting down for most of the show and maybe just as many that were part of the transient crowd just buying food and then leaving the dining area.
It was really encouraging to see that during the gospel message I could see a number of student's faces glued to Teresa and really listening in.
One student in the far left of the cafeteria caught my eye and seemed especially gripped by the message portion of our show.
At one point he looked down at his tray, took a deep breath, and folded his arms, as if something Teresa said struck a chord with him and caused him to think deeply about it. Just looking at his posture communicated to me that he was really engaged and listening.
He didn't stay for the whole show but I hope God planted a seed in his heart and that he connects with someone from Crusade or Cornerstone that can help connect him with Christ.
We had a handful of comment cards, about 20, that Crusade will use for follow-up. The students and staff communicated to us that it was a great way to help build credibility and awareness of who Crusade and Cornerstone were on campus. Praise God!
Roosevelt College
This was our last concert and boy WERE WE TIRED by the time we got to our last show. My eyes were bloodshot and Kevin was pretty zonked too.
Our show took place after Crusade's first weekly meeting of the year for the Chicago metro area, so most of the people who stayed were actually Christians and part of the Crusade movement on their specific campuses. But there were about three to five non-Christians who stuck around for our show.
There was a guy named James who was hanging out on the fringes of the meeting during Jeff Koch's talk and also during the concert. After the concert, Jeff actually got to talk with him and encourage James to come to future Crusade meetings that take place in the very same dorm the our concert was in that night.
From what Jeff told me about his conversation with him, he was a student who said he was alright with God but that wasn't really the case. Please pray for James to see his need for Christ.
There were also two other non-Christian students, Rob, who is studying jazz at Roosevelt, and an African-American student (the name of whom I can't remember) that was also a drummer! We were hoping they could have stayed but ended up leaving towards the end of our show. Please pray for them to also come back to a Crusade meeting in the future.
Some of the Cru students came up to us afterwards and wanted our contact info for future booking opportunities. The night was really relaxed and fun and was helpful for casting vision to the students as to how to use Keynote bands in the future.
The staff really appreciated our coming and were very grateful for our time and energy spent on their campuses. Most all the staff saw each of our events as successful in the scope of what they hoped to accomplish.
I believe our partnership with the Chicago metro team was definitely strengthened and we pray for more ministry opportunities in the future!
We're in the Detroit area now and are taking it easy for the morning. We have a show tonight at Detroit Mercy at 7p.m. and one show a day for the rest of the week. Please keep us in prayer! Thanks!
Some pics of our time in Chicago!
This was taken at the Institute of Technology. The newly built student center is the current buzz in the architecture world!
Arcthitect Meese Vandero (Not quite sure how you spell his last name) designed the place and it is REALLY cool looking!
One hallway inside is paneled with orange walls that illuminate from the sunlight, so it's extremely bright and orange!
Here's a shot of it from the front:
And yes, of course...
The new drum kit!!!
Yes, it is purtty, isn't it? I am so blessed and privileged to be the proud owner of a new Precision Custom kit. In one word-AWESOME. None like it, none to compare. Fully custom, fully mine.
I've affectionately named my bass drum..."La-Fawn-duh" For you Napoleon Dynamite fans, you know what I'm talking about :)
I've affectionately named my bass drum..."La-Fawn-duh" For you Napoleon Dynamite fans, you know what I'm talking about :)
Please check them out on the web! They do such amazing stuff! www.precisiondrum.com
More pics to come!
This entry was posted by Christopher Wu, on
Wednesday, September 14, 2005.
You can leave your response.
1:03 PM
Hi. I go to UIC. Sorry I didn't get to see you.
But I found your blog purely on accident. I just clicked "Random Blog".
Anyway, I was wondering what you mean at the top of your blog when you say that you use "Original secular music" to connect with your audience. Do you play, like, actual Dave Mathew's songs? or the exact same music and lyrics? or do you mean you use the same "beat". Or melody and what not to be more musically correct...
Its just that I am Christian and I play guitar in my youth group. And I found that odd. To use a product of the world, that is. Yes, of course musical influences overlap and evolve in the secular world. But to blatently use the same beat, with different words hopefully, still makes the sinner shake his hips the wrong way with the wrong state of mind....