How Cool Is That?

So, as most of you know, John is part of the leadership team of the CBNW's Men's Round-Up (Conservative Baptist Northwest). That is a retreat that occurs the weekend after Labor Day for men - to inspire, bond, teach, etc.... Kind of like a mini Promise Keepers event. It's always been an important renewal time for John, and, apparently others noticed so he was asked to be part of leadership. The team works with a "successive ranking of leadership" so, during the year of 2008, John will be the president. He'll be given the opportunity to determine the speaker and guest musician (with, of course, input and approval of the rest of the team). He's already started planning and anticipating - it will be very exciting.

However, this year has brought its own excitement. John was asked to pick-up the guest musician from the airport and taxi him to the camp. After spending time together in the car, the musician asked John to extend his hospitality to "host" him throughout the weekend. Now, if you are not into Christian music, this won't mean much, however, for those who listen frequently to KLOV, the name should be familiar - Mark Schultz. Most of his singles (if not all) reach the top ten of the Christian music chart - and many of them settle in to number one for weeks at a time. His more familiar songs include: BROKEN AND BEAUTIFUL, I AM, REMEMBER ME, HE'S MY SON, I AM THE WAY. I've known that this guy would be the musician for over a year, and have tried, in that time, to contrive a plan to sneak away to be able to listen to him lead worship - but, I figured my husband would spot me, and my kids would notice my absense - and I'm not exactly an "A" cup to pull off the male physique..... This is too bad, because, if there is one guy I would really want to see in concert - it's him. I know my Christian artists and I have a lot of favorites, and truthfully, this guy tops the list. He was a middle school pastor when his first song hit the radio and it just gave me chills how an "everyday joe" with kids who adore him was suddenly becoming famous.

So, that leaves me back to present day - after already getting the heads up yesterday that Mark and John had really hit it off, I was expecting a great phone call today from my hubby. He did call, but when Michele answered and the phone was passed to me, it wasn't John's voice on the line - it was Mark Schultz. Michele can testify that I handled the five minute conversation as if I was talking to an old friend, he's that kind of guy. But, the giddy grin on my face after I hung up the phone wouldn't leave for over 30 minutes. TOO COOL!!! As it turns out, he played volleyball on a threesome team with our buddy Sheldon, and Michele's hubby, Michael - and they won the tournament. He's also been spending a lot of time just hanging with the guys in Michael and Michele's trailer drinking Starbucks from the machine John brought. It sounds as though they are all feeling truly blessed with each other's company - (at least that's the impression I got from Mark =) ).

I am not the "adoring fan" sort of person. I have a bigtime bias against that sort of thing- especially with celebrities whose character's are less than deserving. But, I can say, that with people who are incredibly talented providing music that has led me to tears and encouraged me to "press on" on more occasions than I can count- I can cut myself a little slack for being slightly "star struck". It sounds to me, that this guy's character deserves the attention. How cool is that.....