I’m a big fan of Switchfoot. I love where they’ve come from, what they’re doing through their music and what Jon Foreman is doing too!
One of the things that Jon has been doing the last few years is getting back to the good old roots of what music is all about. He’s doing all the things that ‘new school’ rockstars don’t and it’s what makes him great. Most bands do a few P.R. events, do a meet and greet, play their show and get on their bus to head to the next city. Honestly, I don’t blame them. The road is a tough gig.
Jon Foreman has been cutting through the status quo by being a real person to his die-hard fans. After a Switchfoot show he’ll usually Twitter out a location for a short little ‘aftershow’ near the venue. He comes out with his acoustic and plays a 25-30 minute set of songs they didn’t play at their show that night, talks with fans and does his mellow thing.
They were in Tampa on August 15th, 2010 and he was peacefully doing his ‘after-show’ thing until Tampa Police, Officer Fisher, came and asserted his authority in one of the lamest demonstrations I’ve ever seen. He, eventually, forcefully removes Jon from the after-show. Watch Officer Fisher BARK orders in the most annoying yard duty kind of way. LAME!!! Where does the 1st Amendment play into this situation?
shortened version
extended version
Don’t you think there’s a line for authority to assert what is theirs to enforce? What was the offense? What was it hurting for him to allow the guy to do ONE MORE SONG?
Honestly, it’s guys like Officer Fisher that give Police a bad name. He was just bored on a Sunday Night with nothing else to do but assert his authority in a super lame way. I think Tampa PD needs to publicly reprimand Officer Fisher for his poor representation of the Department.
I’ve got some good friends who are cops and I know that how you handle a situation like that is up to the Officer’s discretion. As long as the situation was peaceful, even if it was in a place they maybe weren’t allowed to be (behind the venue?! on second thought…maybe not), they’d of let him do one more song and then shut it down.
What do you think? Where are my ‘authority’, ‘the law is the law’ people? Can you argue with this guy isn’t being a little over excited about his Sunday graveyard shift? Office Fisher needs a new gig!
*****Winners of the CD’s for the Blog giveaway are Ed Gould, David Lerner & Mitch Hopewell
*****Winner of the CD’s for the Twitter giveaway were @karlameachem & @jamiewyckoff
Giving stuff away is always fun. This time I get to giveaway a few brand new albums, Ragamuffin Soul, from my good friend Carlos Whittaker. Here’s the deal…It’s pretty simple. There’s a couple ways you can, potentially, win one of the 5 CD’s that Integrity Music gave me to give away to my readers. I say up your chances and enter both ways:
1. I’ll give 3 CD’s away on my blog by just leaving a comment with your City, State (so easy why wouldn’t you!?)
2. I’ll give 2 CD’s away on Twitter. You’ll get in the hat by Twittering the following: Win a Ragamuffin Soul CD by @loswhit. Check out the giveaway on @brianwurzell’s blog! http://is.gd/cgtLT RT if you wanna enter to win!
I’ll do all the giveaways on Friday so check back with me then to see if you’re a winner. Have some fun and get your name in the hat and most of all let’s keep getting the word out about this new record. If you leave a comment on the blog make sure you leave me your best email address as you fill out the comment piece so I can email you for your address, etc… Super easy, hope you win, ready…set…go….
Whether you win or not…go buy Carlos’ new record and support him as he launches out in this new adventure!CLICK HERE
Some of you are seeing my Twitter and Facebook updates about #CatWest or Catalyst. I’ve got the privilege of being a part of the ‘Catalyst Family’ and serving with their team at their conference here called Catalyst Westcoast.
My role with Catalyst over these next few days will be:
Hosting: Wednesday is Catalyst Labs and I’m hosting one of the rooms. I’m basically making sure it starts and stops on time, tying in with the Speakers, doing announcements and keeping the thing flowing. The speakers in my room today are Susan Isaacs (Author, Speaker), Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing) and Scott Belsky (CEO of Behance). Amazing people and I’m in for a really good day.
CatalystBackstage.com: Thursday morning the Conference starts and I’ll be teaming up with Carlos Whittaker and Anne Jackson to bring the conference ONLINE to those of you that aren’t able to make it here in person through Friday. We will be interviewing the Speakers, Bands, Leaders of notable organizations all day long. It’s gonna be a lot of fun and I think you should tune in, chat it up with us and engage in the conversations both near and afar. We go LIVE Thursday morning at 9am (PST) @ CatalystBackstage.com
Anyways, that’s what I’m doing and it’s going to be an awesome few days. If you don’t know much about Catalyst…well, get with the program. This organizations is a hub for pointing us to great happenings locally, nationally and globally. Here is the promo video for this week at Catalyst.
If you’re here at Catalyst this week…I WOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU!! Come introduce yourself.
The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but, to those who are being saved it is the POWER of GOD! 1 Corinithians 1:18
Today, once again, I am struck by the profound mystery of the cross. Why God in His kindness would allow mankind to have the ability to choose death or life, knowing we’d tinker with death (sin) and knowing it would then mean that He would have to give of Himself (through Christ’s life, death, resurrection and glorification) to put it all back together again…simply mystery. Profound, deep, no-words-kind of mystery.
How thankful I am for Jesus today. I’m thankful because of the hope I have to live for something bigger than myself. I’m thankful because in the suffering of the Cross, Jesus took on death for me, for you, for all of us!! What an AMAZING example for mankind and in Jesus obedience He displays the Fathers love for us. ‘6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Romans 5:6-8. This should wreck us. This historic mystery is the centerpiece for true peace in this life. This is what it means to know Christ, to know Him in His suffering.
So in this Holy Week…be reminded that God is so crazy about you that He would make a way for me and you (unholy people) to have relationship with Him (who alone is HOLY GOD).
Soak in the mystery today and celebrate the victory of Jesus conquering the grave this Easter Sunday. Don’t miss the opportunity to really basque in the cross though..stop, think about it, let your eyes well up with tears of grattitude, be thankful, get your life centered in Christ and let’s live a life full of this mystery!
Here’s a song and video that my brother, Ben, shared with me today.
This past weekend my wife (Promise Tangeman-Wurzell) and I had the chance to go be with the McRae Family. Many of you know of the McRae’s because of their 6 year old daughter Kate who is battling against an aggressive brain tumor. If you aren’t clued in on Kate’s situation check out her website at www.prayforkate.com. Kate’s parents, Aaron and Holly, have become good friends of ours as they moved to Arizona last year to be on staff with us here at Cornerstone. We quickly grew to love the McRae family and our hearts break with them as they plead with God for the total healing of their daughter, Kate.
We were able to hang with them most of the day Saturday for a photoshoot of their family and we had the most amazing time. I’m amazed when we get the chance to be with the McRae’s by the way they continue to process this together as a family. Saturday was a day full of laughter, fun, ice cream, photos, going on secret spy missions with the 3 kids (Olivia, Kate and Will), Will showing his awareness to his fashion on multiple occasions, etc… We finished the day with some Olive Garden at their house, an American Idol contest (where we all judged the performers and sent them to Hollywood) and some heavy talks about their sweet girl Kate. I have to say, personally, Saturday was a day of true Christ-filled community. It was the kind of day Promise and I needed really bad. This family truly is one of the best families we know and we’re so honored to be in their lives in the midst of all that’s in front of them.
Today, sweet Kate has just checked back in to the hospital for her 6th and most intense round of chemotherapy treatment. The treatment, as I understand it, is so intense that they’ll need to be in the hospital anywhere from 4-6 weeks. They’ll be taking her system down to a place where they can reintroduce good stem cells that they harvested months ago and the hope is to reset the body with positive, healthy, cancer free cells! It will be one of the longest stays in the hospital since her brain surgery last July and they will all need huge prayer and huge encouragement during this time.
I write this to remind us all not to forget about Kate and the McRae family. They desperately need our prayers. Kate desperately needs the miraculous healing that Jesus can bring to her body. I want to ask you to take these pictures from my blog and do something with them as they begin this treatment. These pictures were taken this past weekend and Kate looked AMAZING, she has a stunning beauty and joy about her young life. Their family is a great looking bunch too (not to mention that Patrick their GoldenDoodle is the coolest dog on planet earth).
Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do:
I want to rally another movement of prayer for Kate and the McRae Family. Would you consider taking these photos and doing one or all of the following:
*Blog: Take the pictures here on my blog and use them in a blog post asking your network of people to Pray for Kate and the McRae Family. Let people know they can follow along by sending them and linking stuff on your blog post to http://prayforkate.com :: In the post please ask people to post a blog/twitter/facebook with one of these pictures to invite their network of people to PRAY!
*Twitter: Send out a Twitter post to you networks telling people to pray for #katemcrae as she goes through intense treatment. Send your readers to http://prayforkate.com for updates and attach one of the photos in your Twitter update. Also, ask people to RT (retweet)!
*Facebook: Send out a Facebook update and post one of the photos in your update. Remind people to pray for this family and for Kate. Please tell them to share the photo and a link to http://prayforkate.com on through facebook and ask their networks to do the same
I am confident that this kind of viral blitz is an amazing way to use your online network, however big or small, as a tool to connect people for something worthy. I think people want to be invited in to pray for a girl like Kate and a family like the McRae’s. I think God loves it when we come to Him rallying for each other and trusting Him.
Thanks in advance for loving the McRae’s whether you know them personally or not. It means the world to them in this really tough season. Okay, it’s your turn to make this thing happen. Let’s light up the Social Network platforms moving people to pray, yet again, for Kate McRae!!
Today has been such a mix of emotions for those of us that know 5 yr. old Kate and the McRae Family. For Aaron and Holly (her parents) today has been quite hell like.
If you aren’t tied in to the story of Kate McRae in short this is how her parents tell it:
Monday June 29th, 2009 began like every other day, and ended like one we could have never imagined. Our daughter Kate was taken to the Dr. for tremors in her right hand. We proceeded to Phoenix Childrens Hospital for a stat CT of her head. At 5:30 I, Holly, Kate’s mom, was taken into a room alone and told Kate had a massive tumor on the basil ganglia portion of her brain. I called her dad and our journey has begun. It’s a journey we never would have chose to be a part of, but was chosen for us, and our sweet Kate. She is now in the Phoneix Childrens ICU awaiting tests to determine what it is and how far progressed. Please, our dear daughter needs your prayers, as do we, Aaron, Holly, Olivia and Will.
On Thursday, July 2nd, 2009, the day before Kates surgery, my wife (promise) and I had the chance to go be with Sweet Kate and The McRae Family. We ended up doing a little photo shoot with Kate and you can see some of those photos here:
Our time with them was so special and we got to run around the hospital and play with Kate. She was in the brightest spirits and you would have NEVER known the little girl had a brain tumor. That day truly was a gift with her. We then filmed a short little video that we called ‘Pray for Kate’ with Aaron and Holly. We really thought people would want to see their face and hear their desperate cry for the world to pray for their girl! They did such a stand up job in the midst of ALL the emotions sifting through their heads.
This video has taken off and in 24 hours it circled the world and rallied THOUSANDS of people to pray. In the first 24 hours the video had been seen over 5,000 times and posted via Twitter/Facebook/Blogs everywhere. It was so viral and so awesome. Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it:
People from all over the world began praying for Kate and it became quite a trending topic amongst communities everywhere. People have been grabbing this story from all walks of life and they even got a visit from John McCain in the hospital. Dr. Phil and his wife Robin are praying, Switchfoot, Natalie Grant, Candance Cameron Bure (DJ Tanner from Full House), the Women of Faith team/speakers, pastors, moms, dads, kids and many more have rallied thier support in prayer for Kate. One thing is true, God has heard the cry of his people for this little girl.
On Friday, July 3rd, 2009, Promise and I were driving home from a few errands and just heavy over the situation. I asked Promise what she thought about doing an online Global Night of Prayer for Kate McRae. Well, she quickly responded with YES and what do you need me to do. We began Twittering the idea and with 2 hours of promo at 8pm PST we had 250 people logged in for a directed time of prayer and worship. We know that 250 people were logged in, but, we’re finding out that families/spouses/friends/etc… gathered around to join in. We’re guessing that at the time of the live broadcast we had over 500 people worshiping, interacting, praying, singing and lifting Kate up. It was a time filled with the Spirit of God and people continue to go and interact in prayer via the REPLAY stream. We’re hoping to do another Global Night of Prayer this week. It should be another powerful time together.
It’s been so amazing to watch Kate’s life ALREADY routing people towards him. She has no idea that she has been revolutionary in some of our lives. She’s just a 5 yr. old girl who’s trying to fight an aggressive brain tumor. She’s got great parents, great family, great friends and a loving church community surrounding her and fighting this journey with her.
I’ve been so encouraged by the many people that have had their hearts gripped by her story and I call it a privilege to be walking alongside the McRae’s while God walks us towards his miracle in her. We really are putting all our eggs in the basket that He will heal her. Why not? Trusting and believing in Him for the healing is our best course of action and until He chooses something different, I choose to believe for her complete healing.
I shared with Aaron and Holly that I would rather pray in faith for her healing and be devestated by His will if He chooses to take her from this world right now. I’m anchored in the healing hand of Jesus for her healing. Let’s keep this faith for them and keep petitioning God for His mercy.
BRIAN WURZELL :: BLOG 