Family Camp Promo!

Here's the promo video we ran this morning for Family Camp. These guys did great and the church seemed to enjoy it.

Me after our first set.
Yikes.
That wasn't good at all.
Need to make some changes before I
get up there and do that again.

I'm back from my Facebook blog experiment. I'll keep throwing the toddvlog on there, because that seems to work, but the Note thing just wasn't happening.

Get ready for some of the most amazing, mesmerizing, fantastic blogging you've ever seen - right here on Todd Blog.

Greetings...for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try an experiment. Since twitter has significantly hurt blogging in general and everyone is anyone is on Facebook, I'm going to be posting over on my Facebook page.

I still love blogging, but wonder if writing stuff over on Facebook might be a better use.

If you're not my FB friend, go ahead and add me so you can stay up to date on all the very important things I'm writing.

todd vlog ep 104

Testing out a podcast player w/ our most recent upload to iTunes.

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Jesus Boy Diaries, Episode I

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my youth.

Maybe it's because almost half-way through 30 and realizing that with each passing year, my potential for cool steps farther and farther away.

Maybe it's because I have a son who is almost 7-years old and that scares the living daylights out of me.

Maybe youth culture is finally getting to me...making me wonder what the world is coming to.

Regardless, I've been thinking about my teenage years quite a bit.

And I hate how this is going to sound...but it's the truth, and it's the recurring theme of all my jogs down memory lane as of late.
I WAS A REALLY DEVOUT KID.

Seriously...from a very young age, I took my faith in Christ and the call to follow Him very seriously. I'm not sure why. I didn't have any more training/encouragement/prayer support than other Christian teenager. In fact, the only characteristic that might have help me in this regard might be the fact that I was a legalist. But that's not really the point...

As I've thought about my faith, I've been fondly remembering the role that music played in my walk with God. And that means...

I love Christian music.

So, I thought it might be fun to occasionally post pictures, thoughts, links about bands and/or CDs that I think made a huge impact on my faith. (I've been listening back to some of these records lately...many of them are horrible records, but they did something for me way back when.)

So, I'm calling this the Jesus Boy Diaries. Yipee!

THE PRAYER CHAIN

I found the Prayer Chain when I worked at KSWP 91.1 FM in Lufkin. Their "Whirlpool EP" was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I played their stuff on the Saturday night Christian rock show (PowerSupply!) and bought every record I could get my hands on.

I even got the chance to see them live. First at "AtlantaFest" on a youth group trip and then twice in one year when I was a senior in high school. (They played Woodlands FUMC twice in the same year!)

I could recount a bunch of background info, but the wiki page for this band is really pretty great.

There were a few things about the Prayer Chain that made them so important in my life.

They said important things.
Although each record developed and grew into new areas of songwriting, this band always said things about faith and God and being broken and healing that were true. Granted, some of their lyrics stretched in my view of God, but looking back, I'm so grateful for that.

They said them in a new way.
Up until the Prayer Chain, I had never really considered Christian music to be very artistic. I liked it...but words like "poetry" and "subtlety" never factored into my CCM experience. I liked that this band said their important things in a beautiful way - forcing me at times to dig deep into the lyrics, to think hard about what they were saying and, even as a kid, seeing if what they said measured up to scripture.

They stood on their own.
This was also one of the first Christian bands that I could pass to my "secular" friends without being ashamed. Their music was fanastic...in my opinion, more creative than almost any band at that time (Christian or otherwise...)

I miss the Prayer Chain. I miss knowing that they are out there - struggling with big questions and putting those questions (and answers) to music. But I'll always remain grateful for what those four guys taught me about faith and music.
__________
Some interesting convergences:

1. Tim Taber went on to do some pretty cool things in worship, which eventually filtered down to me. His work with Rita Springer and a great record called "Dry Bones Dance" ended up being some of my favorite worship projects. Tim is still involved in music as a promoter and artist rep for a few bands, including The Myriad.

2. Andrew Prickett, who remains my all time 2nd favorite electric guitar player in the world, is a well-respected producer/guitarist. An dig this...a long time ago, I started following Daley Hake, guitar player/photgrapher/friend of Carlos. About six months ago, I find out that Daley is pals with Andrew and they work together quite a bit.

3. Eric Campuzano and Wayne Everett went on to form a band called CUSH. Daley Hake's little brother sometimes sits in on drums for them.

4. And lastly...Jason Isham, acoustic guitar player here at Bethel, is from California. His brother was in a band years ago that opened for the Prayer Chain occasionally. Jason went to church with folks who were connected to Taber's worship projects.

SMALL WORLD!
So, anybody else ever dig The Prayer Chain? Please let me know!

ADS ARE A GOOD THING...right?

This happened while watching YouTube today. I found it very entertaining.

Survey...keepin' it real

Okay...I want the real truth. Nobody trying to be funny. (Alright - you can be funny if you want, but I'd really love the truth.)

How many of you curse?

I'm not talking about "joke cussing" or cursing-in-quotes.

I'm talking about actual, honest use of words that are NSFW.

And if so...how often?
Break it down - in a month, how many bad words do you average?

MEDIA OBSERVATIONS

I wonder what that first meeting was like when someone pitched the idea of Dog The Bounty Hunter. I image some executive saying, "Mmmm...giant blonde, poofy hair. Low-cut shirt exposing hulking, tan chest and beer belly. Cigarette smoking, sunglass wearing, friend-of-sinners bounty hunter?" I'm in.

"The Climb" by Miley Cyrus is a fantastic song. Great production, great concept, etc. But I still don't know why I need to see Miley groping herself in the rain during the last chorus.

You think Dove Award attendees are regretting the standing ovation they gave Carrie Prejean?

Related: Go check out Jon Stewart/Daily Show take on the whole Prejean "controversy." It's pretty awesome.

I watched the LOST finale. Dang, man...Sawyer cried. That hits the old heart-strings, right there.

Q and A with Craig Groeschel

(LIST)

• Never let anybody tell you that Macs don't crash. They do. They crash hard, baby.
  
  
• Outside of Dallas, a clerk at McDonald's accidentally dropped my bag to the floor just before handing it out the window to me. There was this awkward 2-second stare...as if she wanted to ask me if I wanted them to remake my stuff or not.
  
  
• At that same McDonald's (while waiting on my remade food,) I saw an employee pull in, park and get out with a large package of ground meat. My first thought was, "How messed up to have to buy meat at the store to make burgers." Then my second thought was, "Wow...they use real meat!"
  
  
• Jonah has decided he wants to start a band. He's 7. Time to go guitar shopping, gang.
  
  
• Kristen and I still haven't seen STAR TREK or WOLVERINE. It's like Jesus doesn't want us to see these movies or something.
  
  
• My pal Robert Conn graduated from seminary on Friday. Rob...I could not be more proud of you, my man. You've worked hard and maintained a healthy marriage and family at the same time. God's blessing on you and Shelly!
  
  
• Once the whole fix-my-computer thing is complete, I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini for my office. This would probably be my main "editing" computer so that my laptop wouldn't be the only location for stuff. The girl at Apple also had some cool ideas for "scratch disk" for video files. I'll definitely be taking her advice on that. That and the you-better-back-up-your-files-moron.
  
  
• The food show is coming...hopefully John Collier and I will shoot this week and hopefully go live by next week!
  
  
• Somewhere near the end of May, I'll be headed "in-studio" to track three new Todd Wright tunes. I'm very excited. I'll try to keep you posted on the process.
  
  
• Jason and Rachel Fullen have a baby. I can't think of two more qualified and gifted parents. Congrats, you guys! Get that little girl to Texas as soon as possible!!!
  
  
• Mineola gig was good. Romack, Adam, Arlie and Sarah did a fantastic job. My favorite was the slow jam version of "All Because Of Jesus." Know this, America...Todd Wright Band is the master of the slow jam.
  
  
• I really need to find a way to have the Romacks and Adam Fischer move to Tyler. They're too cool to live so far away from me.
  

Kids Are Awesome...

Two things my kids said today that make my life sound really weird.

___________________
Scene #1:
Finley walks into the living room, crying.

"What's wrong?" we asked.

"I need some pot."

Scene #2:
Taking Jonah to school this morning. He's staring out the window quietly.

"Whatcha' thinking about, buddy?" I say.

"Mushrooms."
____________________

Just another day in the life of the Wrights.

Don't have a ton of time today...

So why not just watch some Bill Mallonee?



Somebody get me a harmonica stat.

Oh, and a steel guitar.

Yesterday was our big "Mission Sunday" at Bethel. The idea was to take a "ministry-fair" and to bring it on stage. We interviewed missionaries, ran a couple of video interviews, even called Peter Conte, a pastor in Africa that Bethel supports.

Folks had a chance to sign up to offer prayer and support to each ministry. I'd love for you to check out our videos...I think they came off really well.

Check out Bethel Blog and watch our videos.

Benjamin Linus may the creepiest character we've had on TV in awhile. And let's face it - everybody loves a good bad guy, right?

Caught this over at www.dalebest.com and thought it was great.