Danl Blackwood's GMA 98 Daily Diary Page

My week at the Gospel Music Association
GospelMusic 1998 in Nashville, April 19th - 23rd, 1998

Tuesday, April 21st, 1998

• Start the day in prayer. Martin Luther used to say that if you know you're going to have a particularly difficult day, then you should make sure to pray even longer. I didn't necessarily expect a difficult day, but I also know that if you're on the front line for Christ, you're gonna take some shots. So we stopped by the Prayer Chapel again this morning to arm ourselves in God's armor, because Satan most assuredly is gonna start letting it rip - with all the kingdom work going on around here.
  
  
• My first session of the morning was The Artist-Church Relationship with Scotty Smith, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Church and Steve Green, artist. What a blessing to hear such strong, intelligent, men of God speak. Even though the session referred to an artist-church relationship, Scotty (who spoke first) shared with us that it almost seemed wrong to refer to it that way, since we are the church. He explained (and I agreed completely) that the church is not some entity that does things for us - we are the church, and that we could just as well be discussing the people-church relationship. He went on then to explain where he felt the church was today, and shared some concerns he has for the present state of the church. First he felt that many in the church body today are too consumed with living for the moment and not focusing on life remembering the past (what Christ did on the cross), the future (where Christ is taking us), as well as the present. Also he felt that too many think and walk with a spirit of entitlement (what's in it for me), rather than a spirit of stewardship (what can I do for the church body - how can I serve). He shared many other prophetic, convicting observations, and then gave Steve a chance to talk. Steve shared with us how he was raised in a very strong Christian missionary home, but was bombarded by religion to the point that he completely rebelled (while yet singing Christian music). After a long time of running from God and heading to certain ruin, he finally fell at God's feet at was reconciled. He began to hunger for the word, and it eventually led him to Scotty's church. He then shared with us several advantages he found (and encouraged us to find) in a local church body, including preaching of the Word, organization and discipline, safety to confess sin, and opportunities to serve. He shared a humbling experience of service one Sunday morning serving his turn in the nursery after just the previous evening's large concert. One night he's receiving the praise and appreciation of hundreds of people, and the next morning he's sitting on the floor with a snotty-nosed, spitty-up baby. It gave us a very strong illustration of being a servant, and helped confirm the importance of remaining and growing with a local church body. Let's pray for Christian artists as they continue to pursue that relationship in the midst of the difficulties and temptations of their unique vocation.
  
  
• After lunch, I attended a seminar on Making A Website Pay For Itself with Bob Thornton of KTLI Light 99 and Tim Johnson of the Better Book Room. Not so much to make money on websites, but it was interesting hearing the whole story on how that whole relationship between KTLI and BBR started and grew. Though I must say, I was definitely taking notes, as I prepare to expand my web creation efforts beyond donated ministry efforts.
  
  
• Next I met up with the Rick, and Billy, and Mark (Whiteheart) as they prepared to participate in a Music Video Show Workshop, entitled "The Art Of The Interview." It was facilitated by Kip Kirby (who has done interviews for TV shows like Crook & Chase, and now has a consulting business), and was also joined by Tammy Trent for the artist perspective. It was a very informative session and I picked up many tips on proper ways to interview artists, areas to be sensitive, and what things to avoid.
  
  
• After that session I joined the group and their publicist Brian Smith of Turning Point Media Relations, Inc. as we walked the couple blocks over to the world renown Gruhn Guitars to shoot a video for Real Videos. The guys were absolutely hilarious, as they toured the guitar shop and visited with the proprietor. Keep a look out on the Whiteheart Web Page as to when to see this video.
  
  
• For dinner, I hooked up with a new friend Jeff Nelson (whose church we visited Sunday morning), a transplanted-from-Houston songwriter/producer. We went to a Taco Party being held by EMI for some good food and fellowship. Before we went to eat and while we were hanging out in the lobby visiting with a few people, I had the opportunity to say hello to Ragamuffin and former 77's drummer Aaron Smith. I told him how excited I was to hear The Jesus Record, and he expressed his thanks for all the prayers that were offered in his behalf and all the Ragamuffins as they recorded it. Standing in the lobby you don't have to wait too long to see some very familiar faces, and as we were just getting ready to go eat, I got a very cool photo-op with Larry Norman.
  
  
• After dinner I took off to meet the rest of my party at Caffe Milano to get early seats for the late night performance of the awesome group Burlap To Cashmere, that not only my friends were raving about from last night's performance at the Ryman, but very many people were buzzing about today as well. The evening was sponsored by Steve Taylor and his new company Squint Entertainment (who was hilarious as usual), and included Sixpence None The Richer (who were just awesome), The Insiderz (power-ska-praise), Miss Angie (very interesting alternative pop), and Skypark (pretty cool new rock). Though Burlap To Cashmere was who everyone was there to see, and they did not disappoint. They are several young men from New York who have created a Santana-Gypsy King like latino praise sound that simply captivated and wowed the packed house (Standing Room Only for sure, in fact some were not able to get in). It was truly a phenomenon. I found myself watching the crowd as much as the stage, and enjoying their spontaneous delight at this new CCM family member. For those used to attending Steve Taylor events and his passaround gimmicks, after mentioning how bad he felt for the bartenders (since during GMA week, alcohol sales are typically miserable) he decided the thing he would pass around was a hat to take up a collection. It was greeted with much laughter, but also lots of cash.