Many of you have asked about the MIR Memory videos that were shown every night during the concerts. Well ask and you shall receive! Here are four of the videos, including the now infamous "John Mays Fights a Bear" story as colorfully retold by John himself. Enjoy!
WALTER GRANT, Volunteer & Friend
JOHN STYLL, GMA President & CEO
CAM FLORIA, Founder, Christian Artists Seminar & Estes Park Event
JOHN MAYS, A&R Centricity Music
August 14, 2008
August 8, 2008
Bob Bucy: Thoughts on My First MIR
Bob sent this wonderful summary of his week here... we are so grateful that people like Bob have been able to have experiences like this. It's what we're all about!
This is the last day of my first year at MIR. There is so much stuff that has happened and so much stuff bouncing around in my head that it is difficult to condense into a single message. As a little background, I am a 40-something church musician without a formal music education, and I came here with great encouragement from my wife but without a great deal of confidence. I did enter a music competition, but my performance on Monday kind of shook my confidence further.
But then a few things happened. The first is that people to me with words of encouragement, and that they liked the music that I had done and it had reached them in one way or another. Then I started putting the competition behind me and started focusing on the ministry of it. And sessions with Carmen D'Arcy, Vicky Beeching, and Travis Cottrell started opening my eyes to what I and the rest of our praise team, choir, and music staff could do back at my home church. Tom Jackson's sessions started showing me how we could better connect with our congregation in our music. And finally, feedback from fellow musicians and Scott Nauman helped me see personal ministry opportunities in my music.
All of these things have served to strengthen my confidence and show me that you don't have to be a "superstar" in order to use the musical talent that God has given to you in meaningful ministry. So I spent almost an hour on the phone today with our minister of music at my home church kind of "dumping" on him all of the stuff that I had experienced this week. The challenge now, for myself and for all of us, is to take this newfound knowledge and enthusiasm home with us so that we can hopefully get together next year inNashville and share some success stories.
Bob Bucy
Apex, NC
This is the last day of my first year at MIR. There is so much stuff that has happened and so much stuff bouncing around in my head that it is difficult to condense into a single message. As a little background, I am a 40-something church musician without a formal music education, and I came here with great encouragement from my wife but without a great deal of confidence. I did enter a music competition, but my performance on Monday kind of shook my confidence further.
But then a few things happened. The first is that people to me with words of encouragement, and that they liked the music that I had done and it had reached them in one way or another. Then I started putting the competition behind me and started focusing on the ministry of it. And sessions with Carmen D'Arcy, Vicky Beeching, and Travis Cottrell started opening my eyes to what I and the rest of our praise team, choir, and music staff could do back at my home church. Tom Jackson's sessions started showing me how we could better connect with our congregation in our music. And finally, feedback from fellow musicians and Scott Nauman helped me see personal ministry opportunities in my music.
All of these things have served to strengthen my confidence and show me that you don't have to be a "superstar" in order to use the musical talent that God has given to you in meaningful ministry. So I spent almost an hour on the phone today with our minister of music at my home church kind of "dumping" on him all of the stuff that I had experienced this week. The challenge now, for myself and for all of us, is to take this newfound knowledge and enthusiasm home with us so that we can hopefully get together next year inNashville and share some success stories.
Bob Bucy
Apex, NC
August 7, 2008
No Regrets
One of our registrants shared this story of their time here... thank you for sending!
So finally this year our church praise band went to MIR. Our first goal was to play and sing an original song the best we ever could to minister to whoever was listening (about 80 musicians from other bands and some judges) to draw them closer to God. And the competition was secondary, even though it was a little unnerving on the day of. It went so quickly, and when it was over, our leader had us leave the room with him for a minute. His words were, "No regrets. You guys played perfectly and it's just a matter of if they like our style now. I'm really happy, and I think we should just stop here and thank God for being so good to us." What a sweet time that followed. After the concert last night, the semi-finalists were announced, and...our name was not called. Our leader called me right away, and he sounded...great! He said our band was disappointed, not as much that we weren't chosen, as much as they wanted to play some more and share more new songs. I love it! The heart of worship is taking us over, and people like Rick Muchow and Jared Anderson and John Eldredge, Dan Keen and Brett Manning were so encouraging to stay tight with God and worship Him excellently. We each learned some things to take into our own private worship, as well. As our leader said, "How could I be discouraged when this has been the best week of my whole life?!" Meeting other musicians at Cafe Estes and hearing some great music at the CD critique, being exposed to a few who've broken into the industry, and for me, getting to tell Robbie Seay that God used "Hallelujah God is Near" to rescue my life; these were highlights I did not expect.
Beth Jayne
Basalt, CO
Juston & Eric with Dan Keen
Reader Pics
Kevin Miller sent in some cool pics - one from the Stellar Kart concert (impressive zoom!) and one of some tiny baby deer spotted on his way into town. Thank Kevin! Everyone, keep sending me your stuff! mir@gospelmusic.org
UPDATE: more cool pics from Kevin! He is ON it... ya'll better step up! He caught some more wildlife (this time an elk) plus one scary one from the mountain storm yesterday. Yikes!
August 6, 2008
Food for Thought
Something I forgot to mention earlier was how much I enjoyed Monday night's concert. Compassion International put together a songwriter night featuring Brandon Heath, Justin McRoberts, Robbie Seay, Alli Rogers, Bryan White, and Kendall Payne. It was such a cool change of pace from the loud excitement that the concerts usually bring! I was really impressed with Alli Rogers, who I'm ashamed to say I'd never really heard of before this. Her voice was so sweet and pure and her songs were thoughtful and lyrically challenging.
I was also really struck by some lyrics from one of Justin McRoberts' songs. I thought it was just so pertinant to everyone who is here for this week... well, for anyone, really! I might be quoting it a little bit off, but the phrase from the chorus went something like:
And are you blinded by your vision
Or deafened by the sound of your own voice
Wow, isn't that just a really convicting thought? That our visions and dreams for our lives may very well be blinding us to everything more that God has for us? More often than not, maybe we need to close our eyes and shut our mouths and stop trying to plan and just be.
A hard lesson for type-A people like me!
I was also really struck by some lyrics from one of Justin McRoberts' songs. I thought it was just so pertinant to everyone who is here for this week... well, for anyone, really! I might be quoting it a little bit off, but the phrase from the chorus went something like:
And are you blinded by your vision
Or deafened by the sound of your own voice
Wow, isn't that just a really convicting thought? That our visions and dreams for our lives may very well be blinding us to everything more that God has for us? More often than not, maybe we need to close our eyes and shut our mouths and stop trying to plan and just be.
A hard lesson for type-A people like me!
August 5, 2008
Bands and Brandon and Bears, Oh My!
Well, as always, I'm a little behind. There's so much to do and not enough time to write it all down. So I'm recapping my best experiences from Sunday night and Monday starting... now!
BANDS
Sunday night's main event was the worship concert with Jared Anderson and Israel & New Breed. And I want you to know, it was great. Jared was engaging and got the crowd energized. Which was a good thing, because Israel is so high-energy! He mellowed it out after a little bit with a really lovely and introspective set of songs, all flowing together to keep the worshipful mood afloat.
But what I REALLY want to brag about is the Nathan Arnold Band , who opened the night. The group was one of our HearItFirst winning bands and their prize, along with registrations and housing at MIR, was the chance to play two of their songs on the main stage. They did so good and I was so proud! Afterward I got to meet them and eat dinner with Ben & Tyler and just talk. I have to tell you all - we really do love to meet you and talk and get to know you and hear about what God is doing with you here. After months of back and forth over email and phone here you are and here we are together. And it is great, and it makes the long nights and the hard days worth it.
BANDS
Sunday night's main event was the worship concert with Jared Anderson and Israel & New Breed. And I want you to know, it was great. Jared was engaging and got the crowd energized. Which was a good thing, because Israel is so high-energy! He mellowed it out after a little bit with a really lovely and introspective set of songs, all flowing together to keep the worshipful mood afloat.
But what I REALLY want to brag about is the Nathan Arnold Band , who opened the night. The group was one of our HearItFirst winning bands and their prize, along with registrations and housing at MIR, was the chance to play two of their songs on the main stage. They did so good and I was so proud! Afterward I got to meet them and eat dinner with Ben & Tyler and just talk. I have to tell you all - we really do love to meet you and talk and get to know you and hear about what God is doing with you here. After months of back and forth over email and phone here you are and here we are together. And it is great, and it makes the long nights and the hard days worth it.
BRANDON
On Monday afternoon I had the privilege of going and sitting in Brandon Heath's teaching concert. If you're not familiar, the artist teaching concert is where an artist or group takes the stage and then performs a few songs while telling about their journey as an artist. Brandon was so incredibly candid and real about his struggles transitioning from a songwriter to an artist/songwriter. He talked about the different record and publishing deals he'd had, not just in vague terms but with helpful details. He gave advice, not pat answers that people might want to hear but earnest and honest thoughts about writing, creativity, working with A&R, what makes a great song, and more.
The sweetest moment was when someone asked who his song "I'm Not Who I Was" was about. And openly, and emotionally, he revealed the story behind that song. Because he asked everyone in the room not to, I won't say what he revealed. But the important thing was what he talked about as he brought the story to a close. In a choked voice, he talked about God using one of the darkest times of his life to glorify Himself through that song. It was a really special moment.
BEARS
Fast forward to this morning, and we've got possibly the best story of the week developing in the cabin of one John Mays, Academy Council member and long-time MIR teacher and friend. It's definitley better if he tells it, but in summary: a black bear invited him (or her?) self into his cabin by ripping off the window screen and surprising the unsuspecting Mrs. Mays as she was getting ready. SCA-RY! Thankfully said bear hopped right back out the window without harming anything or anyone, but what a way to start a morning! Kind of reminds you the wildlife around here isn't all cuddly little chipmunks and benign elk!
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