Tonight, I took some of the youth to Winter Jam 2008 at Freedom Hall in Johnson City. It was the kickoff of the tour. I must say this one was pretty good. I have been to about 7 or 8 Jams in my time. Sometimes I have gone on "official radio business," but I usually go with my kids. If you are over the age of 25, just being honest here, the Jam Tour can be a pain. There are a few things you need to know about the tour to understand.
The focus of the tour is purely and simply evangelistic- which is awesome. That is why one can see the likes of MercyMe, NewSong, Skillet- or in past years- TobyMac, Steven Curtis Chapman, et al- for the low, low price of $10. Of course that means every red-blooded student minister worth his or her salt rallies the troops, loads the vans and descends upon the arenas by the thousands. It is a logistical nightmare regardless of whether you are putting on the show or merely attending. Bathrooms and concession stands have lines 30 and 40 people deep. It is shoulder to shoulder traffic everywhere one turns. If there are 5000 people at Freedom Hall for this concert, 4000 of them are 17 or younger.
Parking is crazy and unless you go 3 hours early, you end up parking several hundred of yards away- which, by the way, is wonderful when it is raining buckets like it did tonight. On top of all that, it is usually extremely loud, too loud for the quality to be any good- usually. Tonight, however, it was tolerable.
As we were walking from from the van, one of my youth asked, in reference to my ties with the radio station, "Can't you get in and go backstage and stuff to meet the artists."
I responded, "Yes, and I have done that many times, but I would rather watch and enjoy it with you guys." I said it without giving it a second thought- and it was absolutely the truth! I could have chosen to say, "Well, its a school night and we can't stay out all night, so we may catch the next one." I almost did that. I had several students who were working or who had some major school stuff coming due so they had to back out. I ended up with only 11 students. I was kind of bummed out as it was one of the final opportunities I was going to have to hang out with my Calvary kids and I wanted all the gang together.
Two of the eleven students happened to be guests of one of my students. I had never met the two before. Praise God I did not listen to my selfish flesh and just go schmooze backstage by myself because I would have missed seeing those two precious guests make the decision to ask Jesus Christ into their heart!
God is good- all the time.
Click here if you would like to see the Winter Jam 2008 schedule. If it comes near you, go. I give it two Tiger Paws straight up! Take some special guests with you.
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