try not to blink.
If you haven’t taken the plunge to buy Heaven Meets Earth over the last year, I’ve put it up on Noisetrade for free. In return, you can help promote the album through your social networks, chose to give me a “tip,” or both. Whatever it means to you.
Man, I’m giving away all sorts of stuff!
You’re welcome. Merry Christmas! ch:
Not unlike being at either New Life or The Father’s House – CHB’s home churches – we had a 6am wake-up call and a 7am sound check at Church of the Living God. My voice definitely didn’t work right for the 8am version of “Rain Down” in D, but we managed. Our set for all 3 services included “Nothing Is Impossible,” “You Alone,” Nate Cronk’s “Jesus You Are,” “Revelation Song,” and a 2001 resurrection of “I Believe” which we’ve added back into our rotation.
As a group, CHB has never sounded so good. I continue to be so proud of my team, their hearts for Jesus and others, their dedication to the craft of fine music-making, and their hunger to affect society through committing their lives to service within the Kingdom. I count serving with them among my life’s greatest privileges.
One of the weekend’s fun surprises was finding out Pastor Josh Finley from Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY was the guest speaker. It was a NY invasion of Connecticut! He brought a powerful message on the significance of the individual within the Kingdom. I was really blessed, and took notes all 3 times I heard it.
We headed to Ted’s Montana Grill for a post-church lunch of bison burgers, then said our goodbyes as the band headed back to NY. Because our individual ministry lives are so busy, our music trips are often the only times we get to see some of our very best friends; hard goodbyes are the marks of those who live life selflessly.
[Michelle "Merch Queen" Cronk and Jenny pose for a picture].
[Becca and Jenny part ways].
Jenny and I grabbed a nap, then I worked on my notes for Merge Ahead – CLG’s amazing youth ministry service every Sunday night. My message “Living as Lions” was drawn from Paul’s conversation with the church leaders of Ephesus in Acts 20:17-28 in which he charges them to walk in wisdom, generosity, and boldness. “We are lions!” #ROAR
[Photo by: Randall Martins | @randymartins]
[Bottom photo by: Randall Martins | @randymartins]
Pastor Eric Peoples and his wife Melissa took us out for dinner at a great Mexican place, and then we crashed back at Mike & Iris Kim’s house (where Jenny and Iris did some sort of facial mask that made them look like the girls friends of Jigsaw and Hannibal Lechter. Pretty weird).
Today we drive home to tribe (and relieve the babysitters).
Thanks to all those who came out on Friday and Sunday to worship with us; you made it one of our most memorable weekends ever. ch:
Saturday started with a great bromance convo with Mike Kim in his music room, covering ministry, friendship, and the future as we know it. Then we headed to Starbucks to catch up with Pastor Eric “The Coco Dragon” Peoples, where more talking on life ensued.
At high noon the band headed for Minado in Natick, Mass where we gorged ourselves on raw fish and various other asian-cuisine-substances. Needless to say, since I was the one to introduce Denis to sushi years ago, I felt it necessary for him to experience the all-you-can-eat context; he was in his glory!
We also met up with some of our fabulous fam, Joel & Hilary Furrow from Boston. Incredible people!
After another Starbucks run, we drove the hour back to our host church and reset the stage at CLG for today’s 3 morning services. Strings were changed, drums tuned, and yet more coffee was purchased for us, this time by rock guitarist Quinton B. (Wow, I’m going to need detox).
Then I ate probably some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. Cooked in a 15′-deep coal oven, PePe’s is apparently quite famous, and I can see why. Manager Louis cut our 4th pie for us:
Afterward, the guys gathered back home in the music room to review 4 new tunes Nate and Mike composed earlier this week, while the girls chatted in the living room and looked through photo albums.
It was foody-coffeey-friendy-musicy kind of day. ch:
We’re starting a conversation.
About God-encounters.
About the amazing intersections of heaven and earth.
And we want to know yours.
#heavenmeetsearth
ch:
My phone was charging on stage and I totally forgot to grab it, so I didn’t get nearly as many pics last night as I wanted. Maybe someone can post a couple, or send me a few.
We played to a packed house at Church of the Living God in Manchester, CT and what a night it was! My band has never sounded better, and I’m not exaggerating. So proud of their dedication to their music craft.
The flow we had in the Holy Spirit was indescribable; at one point, everyone stopped singing and Denis played the keys for about five minutes. No one moved. It was truly a #heavenmeetsearth moment as God visited us in that room.
If you were there, what was God speaking to you? What was your favorite moment? (Use #heavenmeetsearth on Twitter & Facebook).
We had lots of great conversations after the concert, and “Michelle the Merch Queen” was selling the new Bald V-Neck t-shirts and #heavenmeetsearth wristbands faster than we could stock them! Yes, the infamous t-shirt design we toyed with a while back is a reality, as pictured by Mike Kim, who’s responsible for designing that crazy bald head icon. (We’ll make them available in our store shortly).
The fellowship that followed was nothing short of chaos. We crashed at my favorite Jewish deli out here, and I snapped a picture. Of course, not thinking, I had everyone say “Yahtzee!”
…which to the rest of the restaurant sounded like we screamed “Nazi!”
Perfect. ch:
After almost a month off from traveling, Jennifer and I are headed to Connecticut for a full weekend of ministry with CHB at Church of the Living God in Manchester.
Follow @find_ch & @find_chb on Twitter for moment-by-moment updates, and lock in here for recaps & pics. I promise that whenever I’m around Mike Kim, and the rest of my band, things are guaranteed to get nuts.
Thanks for riding along. ch:
Just a quick reminder to ask you all to tell any of your friends, family, of foreigners (it rhymed…what?), or even the band Foreigner, to come out to our free CD release concert at The Father’s House tomorrow night at 7pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. It’s going to be epic, I promise that. Especially if Foreigner shows up. ch:
Order or download your copy of the new CD here.
Please join us at The Father’s House in Rochester, NY this Friday night for our official release concert! Click “attend” for details.
If you’re of age, you could be voting. Or you could be listening to our new CD, “Heaven Meets Earth.” Here are a few reasons why you should listen to it especially if you’ve voted:
1.) You’re really excited about how you think the elections are going to turn out and need some anthem music to dance to (which you’ll find lots of on “Heaven Meets Earth”).
2.) You’re depressed about how you think the elections are going to turn out and need some encouragement (which you’ll find on “Heaven Meets Earth”).
3.) You’ve actually become afraid of your mailbox for dishing out an exceedingly high amount of political advertising cards at you and need some calming tunes to help you with your nervous breakdown (which you’ll find some very quiet music on “Heaven Meets Earth”).
4.) You’re sick of the muzak that was playing over the loudspeakers in your town’s firehall while you were standing in line to vote. (*Note: there is no muzak on “Heaven Meets Earth”).
5.) You’re still confused about the difference between Tea Partiers and The Boston Tea Party, and have frequently refereed to the Boston Tea Party Massacre March on The Mall thinking it was a new HBO Documentary made in August. (There’s really no help for you in this case. The CD may only confuse you more. Buy it anyway).
Thanks again to the myriad of people that made this new disc possible, especially my wife, Jennifer Lee, for enduring my creative fits, my father, Peter K. Hopper, my dear friend and graphic designer, Jason J. Clement, and my band, who still thinks playing with me is better than playing with Elvis Costello. We’re thrilled to release it today, Tuesday, November 2nd, and believe that while voting effects culture, worship as fruit of a Christ-believing life does so infinitely more. May you call heaven and earth together in our surroundings. ch:
The “Heaven Meets Earth” Worship CD will be debuting at The Father’s House in Rochester, NY on Friday, November 5th at 7pm. Admission is free with general seating only (so come early!). RSVP on FaceBook here. It’s going to be one incredible night! Let me know if you’re coming in the comments section below. Thanks! ch:
For a guy who doesn’t like being surrounded by big crowds of people, and loathes the sticky feeling of cotton candy and soda on the bottom of his sandals, this sure has been the summer of festivals.
The CHB received yet another momentous invitation to lead worship at Kingdom Bound 2010 last week in Darien Lake, NY. After a wonderful (and much needed) rehearsal the night before in Rochester, we took the stage under the immense Integrity Music Worship Tent and turned up the volume. Teaspoon had to stay in Orlando last minute, so veteran and long-time-friend Robbie Tyler sat in; solid!
Like all venues, there are pros and cons with a festival setting.
The major con is that people tend to be very transient; they migrate from one stage to another like a swarm of light-bulb driven house flies with ADD. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m in that crowd, too. I’m just saying. But I think it’s legit. There’s simply so much to see that people tend to be over stimulated and lose interest easily unless something’s really good. And as such, it’s sometimes hard to read an audience, and likewise have a building (or even consistent) momentum with a festival crowd in worship.
The major pro is that–unlike church gigs where the general rule is to play 80% of material people know (the kinds most worship bands dread ever playing “one more time”) and 20% original–in a festival the audience kind of expects the “artist” to play his or her own stuff. So that percentage was flipped. And my band loved it. It gave us a chance to play a ton of the material off our new record (Editor’s Note: Coming out shortly; approving the final master and art work this week! Thanks for your patience!). And I think people really dug it. (And a big shout out to my ASL interpreter, Anne Marie Sureau, for doing a stand-up job!).
I not only got to make memories with my band, but with my little tribe, too. Eva, Luik and Judah loved the rides, the sugar, and the sites and sounds. Needless to say I think they were “out cold” within the first 30 seconds of the car ride back to the hotel. We also got to reconnect with some of our dearest friends from yester-year, including two of Kingdom Bound’s head honchos, Wendy Menter (pictured above with Jenny), and Danielle [Pelletier] Rose (not pictured because the one shot I got she’d kill me if I posted. You’re welcome, Danielle). (Big love to Steve, Jacqui, Payton and Amber Lee Grabowski).
My last appearance in the public eye was on the Park Stage just after Fireflight and just before Superchick. (How such pretty ladies got picked to sing for such hard bands I’ll never know; but I was definitely a thorn between two roses [@superchicktrish, Dawn Michele]). I preached on Luke 15 about the 3 ways people get “lost” in life, and how the Lord loves looking for and rescuing hurting people. While it was too crowded to get any sense if anyone benefited from the message, I’ve been getting emails, phone calls, and posts ever since of how the Lord changed peoples’ lives. Without Pastor Samme Palermo believing in me enough to “get on his stage,” I wouldn’t have spoken. Thanks Poppa Samme.
I’m honored to have been asked to contribute to such a rich event in which Jesus was truly lifted up, and I rejoice that He is preached in every possible way with every possible motive. ch: