Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Epilogue)

So…….what did we learn from our 1st Musicianary Journey?

1.  We learned that it was possible for us to be on musicianary journies in the first place.

2.  We learned that many people don’t have a clue what a Musicianary (musician missionary) is, and they will never understand because they think we’re just trying to live some sort of American Idol rock and roll dream.

3.  We learned that some people do understand, and love and support us.

4.  We learned that this is what we’re supposed to do.

5.  We learned that by doing what we’re supposed to do God will take care of us.

6.  We learned that there will be difficulties along the way like there are in every undertaking, but… (see # 5).

7.  We learned that the difficulties ultimately don’t matter at all when you feel God smile down on you.

8.  We learned that this job is WAY too big for us, and there are many others who also need to get outside the spiritual ghetto walls they’re living in and get their hands dirty.

9.  We learned that we’re more than willing to speak to any church or group that is willing to listen to what it means to be a “Musicianary”.

10. We learned that this isn’t the last Musicianary Journey we’re going to be involved in, so……..

This post isn’t simply “Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Epilogue)”, it’s also “Spark in the Dark’s 2nd Musicianary Journey (Prologue)”.   We begin our 2nd Journey on May 14th, 2013, and we’ll be posting reports from the road here on our blog, on Facebook, and Twitter.   Keep your eyes open for the Spark in the Dark !

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 7)

Sunday morning, Oct. 28th, we attended service at Calvary Chapel Asheville. After the service, we were invited to stay for lunch and were happy to do so. We spent a couple of hours with the Clarks and some of the leaders of Calvary Chapel, then went back to our hotel where we met up with Debbie and had some much needed relaxation after a busy weekend. The next day, Oct. 29th, we said goodbye to Debbie and went back to Calvary Chapel where the Clarks invited us to their home in South Carolina. We caravaned with them and stayed with them for a very rich couple of days. On Halloween, Oct. 31st, we drove back to Asheville. We encountered a few difficulties, but God was with us and that evening we drove to Pigeon Forge, TN, where we stayed a couple of days to catch up on some personal business. On Friday, November 2nd, we drove to Nashville where we renewed some relationships, attended a worship event called Meltdown and the next day (Nov. 3rd) reconnected with our mentor, Geno. After we left Nashville we got an encouraging phone call from Ted Bruun, the founder of The Objective, a movement that seeks to encourage and exhort Christian musicians to serve and minister with integrity. We then drove to Thomaston, GA where we attended a service at Providence Church with a dear friend, Pastor Charley Chase. From Thomaston, we played street music in Dothan, AL and Tallahassee, FL, then started making our way back to Texas. We spent a couple of days with our friends Dwight and Margie Williams at their home in Katy, TX before heading to our home in Corpus Christi.

– End Part 7 –

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 6)

By the time the Clarks started their set, a cold front had come in and the temperature had dropped considerably.  Also, Daniele Clark’s bass had gone out and Leila rushed to give Daniele one of her basses to use.  During and after the evening’s music, there were a number of angry fundamentalist preachers screaming at the people on the Festival site and condemning the Festival and everyone playing there.  One of them gave Steve’s sister, Debbie, a very hard time.  She came back to the tent where food was being served and told Linda Clark and us about it.  Linda, a very loving woman, prayed and counseled with Debbie and showed her the truth about God’s love.  While the Clarks were doing their set, Leila gave Linda a chair massage. After the evening’s music was over and everything was torn down and packed up, Leila gave Glen a chair massage also.   It had been a long, difficult at times, and beautiful day.  We were exhausted, so we called it a night and went back to our hotel.

– End of Part 6 –

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 5)

In Part 4, we saw the first day of the Harvest Gathering Festival 2012, we hung out with Steve’s sister, Debbie, who had come to be a part of the work of the Festival, and we had been told that we would be kicking off the Harvest Gathering Festival on Saturday.  

On Saturday, October 27th, Spark in the Dark kicked off the day’s events at approximately 12 Noon with a 40 minute set.  Our set list included:  “Shotgun Angel”; “Michael”; “Tapestries”; “The Prisoner”; “Dancing On Ice”; “Dance, Dance, Dance”; “Break The Calf”; and “Redemption”.  We were well received by those attending, and it was especially fun to see Linda Clark (Glen’s wife) singing along with “The Prisoner”.  At the very end of our set, toward the end of “Redemption”, we suddenly lost power and sound.  We were going to do a few more songs after that, but Glen wisely decided that was a good time to change bands.  Upon investigating what caused us to lose power, we discovered that somebody at the Festival deliberately pulled the plug on us.  Asheville, as we’ve mentioned before, is a hot bed of occult activity.  There are a number of covens in the area, so it doesn’t surprise us that the power was pulled on that particular song since it’s all about being redeemed by the blood of Christ.  After the power was restored, the Festival continued with many different bands and solo acts with the Clarks closing out the night’s music. 

– End of Part 5 –

 

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 4)

In Part 3, our intrepid duo was interviewed on Asheville, NC radio station 95.7 “The Choice”, played at Creatures Cafe, and received details from Glen Clark and the Family for the start of the Harvest Gathering Festival the next day. On Friday morning (October 26th) at 9:30, we arrived at Vance Monument in Pack Square, the festival site in Asheville. By 10:30 the Clarks and everyone else had arrived to set-up for the festival. We had never been involved in setting up such a large stage before, but the Clarks were pros and we assisted as best we could in the work. I worked quite a bit under the direction of Beau Clark, an amazing musician and Glen and Linda’s oldest son. Leila worked with Linda Clark and was a courier, running errands and transporting people as needed. An organization of young men and women called “U-Turn for Christ” also provided invaluable help in setting-up. Unfortunately, there were a number of technical problems that day and the festival started at 8:00 p.m. instead of the 6:00 scheduled time. A number of solo artists and bands played that evening, and many people were fed some hot food and drinks. The Clarks take very seriously the actions and calling of Jesus to feed the poor, and many of their shows involve setting up a food tent to feed the poor and homeless. It was a blessing to be able to join with them in this beautiful work, and it confirmed a few things to us that we would be doing in the future. Toward the end of the evening, Glen came up to us and told us that we would be kicking-off the festival the next day, Saturday, starting at 12:00 noon. When the evening’s activities were over, many of us met back at Creatures Cafe to hear a band called “Miracle Made” who would be playing the next day at the Harvest Gathering. Leila and I also made some adjustments to our set-list, hung-out with my sister Debbie, and re-capped the day’s events before heading back to our hotel for the night.

– End of Part 4 –

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 3)

In Part 2, our travelers made it to Asheville, NC, met a number of new friends at Calvary Chapel-Asheville, and had just hurried to a radio station to be interviewed. (Thursday Evening, October 25th).  At Radio Station 95.7 – “The Choice”, we were interviewed about the Harvest Gathering Festival and our band by Joe, his wife Deb, and the Program Manager, Pete.  During that time, Pete also played two of our songs over the air: “Tapestries” (from our second CD release “Beyond The Blues”) and “Break The Calf” (from our debut release “Windows of the Soul”).  Pete then asked us if he could put some of our music into rotation on “The Choice”, and we said definitely and thanked him.  Steve’s sister, Debbie, had decided to meet us in Asheville, and after we left the radio station, met her at our hotel, and got our gear, we drove back to Creatures Cafe and prepared for our first set.  We had gotten a phone call from the Clarks asking us to start off the music that evening. They were having bus trouble and would be at Creatures Cafe as soon as they could.  We played a 45-minute set, and were followed onstage by Rod Morris and Tom Hale.  During this time, the Clarks called again and said they should be in Asheville shortly, so we played a second set for about 30-minutes. Joe, the owner of Creatures Cafe told us how much he enjoyed our music and invited us back the next time we were in the area.  We thanked him, packed-up our gear, and Glen Clark and his daughter Daniele arrived. We hung-out with them for awhile and got a few details about the next day’s activities, then went back to our hotel for some much-needed rest.

– End of Part 3 –

 

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 2)

When we last left our intrepid travelers, we had driven 17 1/2 hours on 3 hours sleep from Corpus Christi, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia where we played a gig.  Immediately following the gig, we drove 3 1/2 hours to Asheville, NC, where we checked into our hotel and collapsed. (Wednesday, October 24th).  After we got some much needed sleep, we grabbed some breakfast, did a little exploring of the city, then contacted Glen Clark, who had invited us to Asheville for the Harvest Gathering Festival, and asked if there was anything we could do to help.  He asked us to go to Calvary Chapel-Asheville to meet Tom Hale, another musician who would be performing at Harvest Gathering, and pick-up some fliers to hand-out on the streets. We did so, and while we were there we met a number of people including Pastor Billy, his wife Fran, and Tom Hale.  We also met Associate Pastor and Worship Leader Rod Morris who told us quite a bit about the spiritual history and condition of Asheville.  After the service we passed out the fliers and then went to Creatures Cafe, a Christian coffee house the Clarks had told us about where we would be playing the next night in a pre-festival event.  After checking out the stage we would be on and having some coffee, we went back to our hotel for the night. (Thursday, Ooctober 25th).  The next day we got a call from Daniele Clark, Glen’s oldest daughter (and an amazing musician, singer, and songwriter herself), who asked us to pick up some posters and more fliers.  We were in the middle of this when we got a call from Joe at Creatures Cafe, who asked us if we could do a radio interview at 5:30 PM (it was 5:00).  We said yes, and hurried to the radio station “The Choice” 95.7 FM.

– End of Part 2 –

Spark in the Dark’s 1st Musicianary Journey (Part 1)

SPARK IN THE DARK’S 1st MUSICIANARY JOURNEY

(or)

WHAT A LONG, BLESSED TRIP IT’S BEEN!

Oct. 22 – Nov. 8, 2012

Texas → Georgia → North Carolina → South Carolina → North Carolina (again) → Tennessee → Georgia (again) → Alabama → Florida → Mississippi → Texas (again)

   

Two and a half weeks, nine states, and nearly 3,500 miles later, we’ve recently completed what we call our “1st Musicianary Journey”.  It was a journey of faith, discovery, spiritual warfare, and great friends and fellowship.  The story really started in May of this year.  We were invited to go to Nashville, TN to be a part of a movement called “The Objective”.  Briefly, The Objective, founded by Ted Bruun, is a movement among musicians, dancers, actors, and other performing artists to have a spiritual impact on culture.  It seeks, among other things, to encourage and raise up artists of integrity.  We were blessed to be invited, so we went to Nashville in early May.  It was at The Objective when we first heard the term “musicianary”.  It would take far too long to share everything that we learned and experienced there.  We need to note, though, that while there we met some amazing and godly people who have had a real impact on our lives and music.  One of whom is Geno Gramm, who became, and still is, our mentor.  We’ll speak more of him in an upcoming installment.  The other was Glen Clark and the Family.  While at The Objective, we had a glorious opportunity to do some street music and ministry with Glen Clark, a man who has a real heart for reaching out to the poor and homeless wherever he finds them.  During this time, Glen asked us to be a part of a festival called the “Harvest Gathering Festival” that he puts on in Asheville, NC each year in October.  We told him we’d pray about it, and after we did we told him we believed it was something we were supposed to do.  The Objective meeting in Nashville ended, time passed, and we kept in touch with Glen and the Family.

While preparing to go to Asheville, we tried to set-up a number of other gigs to help pay for the trip, the most promising of which was in Atlanta, GA.  We applied to play at a concert series called “Music @ Noon” in the heart of Atlanta at Centennial Olympic Park. However, after a few phone calls, it looked like the gig in Atlanta wasn’t going to happen.  We don’t worry about things like that, so we just moved on with our lives and work.  As the time drew near to go to Asheville for the Harvest Gathering Festival, we came up with a list of (about 45) practical things we needed to do before we could leave.  We knew with work we could get them done in about 5 days, so that was the time we budgeted.  We would be leaving on a Tuesday to give us plenty of time to be in Asheville on a Thursday night…then we got an email from Atlanta on Friday saying we could have the gig on Tuesday if we wanted it.  We said yes, we wanted it, and this now left 2 days to do our list of 45 things.  Suffice it to say that we got all 45 things done, and on 3 hours sleep we left Corpus Christi on Monday afternoon, drove 17 1/2 hours straight, and made it to Atlanta in time to play the gig.  We were very well received, invited to play “Music @ Noon” again the next season, and drove 3 1/2 hours to Asheville.  In Asheville we found our hotel, unpacked a few things, and collapsed in our bed!

– End of Part 1 –