It's flat.
Just kidding, well no it is flat, but what do you expect from the mid-west. (which I asked someone about. How is Indiana "mid-west" when its more on the east side of the country? I don't know if anyone really knows, but he suggested maybe it's by population.) But since it's so flat here the sunsets last for hours. Back home, the sun would duck behind a mountain and the sky would be dark fast. Here, it won't get dark until 10 or 10:30 sometimes, which is kinda cool, but I wouldn't trade it for those West Virginia hills. (you know they're pretty majestic and grand.) The temperature here is probably in the 80's, so it's not too bad. Oh, here is at the apartments, which is very nice, and the apartments are in Fishers, Indiana. The office and studio we work in is Westfield, IN. (Both of which are suburbs of Indianapolis). The apartments we're living in are really nice, they're in an apartment-complex called SunLake. (All of which I think are cool, we are in Fishers, Indiana. Fishers = Fishers of Men, and we're staying at a place named after the Sun/Son) But anyways, there is a lot of corn here. I didn't expect there to be so much, I feel like I'm in Iowa (which I've never been to, but if I had I figured it would be like this).
WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING.
Last week was kind of an orientation type of time and ministry training. We had classes in the morning and afternoons on things about the ministry. Like today, we the sessions talked about using Illustrations (how to, the importance of, examples), and the other one was about speaking in Context. A lot of the classes focus on communicating and connecting. How to best say what you want to say and have the other person understand it. But its not just lecture like a class at school, (no there aren't tests either), but often we'll split up in groups to talk about a point or come up with an example by doing little exercises. Actually, we have "comm. drills" which means we have to get up infront of our team (bands, media, film) and tell a story. They have different exercises we try to do to better connect with the audience. Yesterday, each audience member had hold up their hand and the speaker had to make eye contact with them for 5 seconds without looking away before they could put their hand down, and we had to do that til everyone's hand was down. They suggested saying a sentence or a thought to one person, and thinking of it that way, then conveying another sentence or thought to another person. I joked "dang, that means I'm going to have to have a thought that lasts 5 seconds," turns out either I talk fast, or my thoughts really don't last 5 seconds. We were also suppose to work on our facial expressions to convey the message. It's not to make us look fake, but to help us be more authentic and have them experience what we do. Plus, many people are just so nervous they get up there and get frozen face syndrome. The worst or best part of it is that you're video-taped and after your presentation, you go to the back and watch it. It's not my favorite part, but I learn a lot about how I do things, and things I need to improve.
Thats one of the biggest things I've been dealing with, is that there's alot of things, I'd just rather not do (like watch myself public speak after I've just done it) but they give you that little encouragement of, yes you have to do it, so in the long run it will help make me a better arrow.
A lot of these tips they are giving for the bands to help them communicate on stage and be larger than life because they are on stage, but the tips and hints and ways are the same and help communicate if you were in a one-on-one conversation in a coffee shop. But thats not all we've been doing.
We (as a media team) have been going through training in the office, like getting our computers hooked up to the network and printer and going through training on some of the office equipment. Friday, we received our first assignments. Leah (graphics girl from Montana) was working on the Level 3:16 logo (one of the IMPACT bands). Lauren (graphics girl from Penn State) was working on the Soul Seed logo (one of the other IMPACT bands). Thew (video dude from Wisconsin - his real name is MatTHEW, but his ultimate frisbee team needed a quick name and there was already a Matt on the team so they called him Thew and it stuck - thought you'd enjoy). Thew is working on the promo video for next years summer project, by brainstorming, doing some research, and is starting to get video clips. Glory (graphics girl from Florida) was working on the Ritmo D logo (Spanish for "Rhythm D" - D for Destino). Another side note: Glory asked for time off from her job to come to Keynote and they wouldn't let her, so she quit her job (full time, she graduated last spring) to come to Keynote cause she felt God was calling her here, so if you got some extra prayer time on your hands, I think asking God to hook her up with somethings sweet afterwards would be cool. But Cait (photographer from Oregon) started scouting out locations and positions for the bands for the photo-shoots which start tomorrow. And I was working on the Swerve (pop rock band) poster. It was a little difficult because I didn't have the photo to base the poster off of, so it was kind of tricky but I think I've got some good things. We turned them into today and had a review and collaboration time which I think went well. We also got our next assignment which is to design t-shirts for the Keynote Summer Project.
FYI. Keynote, the organization, is not just happening during the summer. Keynote does what college students do in the summer, year round with professional musicians. They usually don't tour in the summer because they put so much time and effort into this summer project, but I think they're one band heading to Europe tomorrow and maybe one more going out later this summer. A lot of the full time people also use this time to help raise their support for next summer. Like me, and the other 70 people who are here, they have to raise their support to live on all year long. They are also working on booking shows for their full-time bands for the next season. But most of their effort seems to be on us, the summer project, they're treating us like their full time bands. Each band has their own sound tech, tour manager, director, and all that other stuff. The good news is I'm learning a lot about bands and live music and the terminology that goes with it.
GUYS RETREAT
Forgot to mention this weekend the guys had a retreat. Well, the girls did too, just not with the guys. The guys went to Squirrel Lodge, IN. It was about an hour and half. I sent a text out on the way that said, "I'm on a coach bus with 30 some other guys, no windows, broken air conditioner in 90 degree weather, traveling and hour and half away but we're stuck in traffic. . . yeah, we love Jesus." It was kinda funny but it was true, we do all love Jesus. haha. The ride wasn't too bad, we stopped at Pizza Hut and filled up. After getting back on the hot bus with all these guys and no ventilation, I just thanked God we decided not to stop at Taco Bell. WHEW!
The guys retreat was very good though. I felt as if it was a good time for guys just to be guys. Yes, burping and farting and all that fun jazz, but it was a good time just to let down. I felt like there was this unspoken competition (like there usually is), between guys, especially when girls are around. But with no girls, we all could just be more open and honest. In fact, the first night we talked about being a man of God and what stops us from that, and it was good for us to be able to open up to each other and relate to each other. The theme was "living a deliberate lifestyle." But the first night really opened up things for the rest of the weekend. We had another few sessions throughout the weekend and went canoeing at one point. But the retreat brought about a lot of introspection and thought, which had already been using up most of my time since I got here, but it was good. God has been showing me a lot about me and who I am and things I do, some of which I don't need to do, some of which I could work more on. But all in all I felt like the retreat was a very good weekend and opened up everyone to each other and things have been a lot . . . i guess less rigid or maybe less uncomfortable around each other since. But I know I'm surrounded by a good group of guys, it was nice to sit around in a circle, and one hear a bunch of men singing praises to God, (cause as you may know, our cru doesn't have alot of guys) but also to hear multiple people say, "well, I was reading in 1 Peter" or "in 2 Corinthians, God showed me blah blah blah, and thats helped me with blah blah blah." It was just pretty neat to hear so many people looking to the right book for the answers. There was no weird looks or sighs of "oh boy, here he goes again" but attention and yearning to find answers and truth.
Wow, I realized I just wrote alot. So, I think I'll leave it at that for tonight. I'm gonna go grab some "Me & G" time. If you have some time, I have a few friends who are going through a rough patch, so if you want to pray for strength and motivation, and wisdom in situations, and patience that would be awesome. Thank ya. This has been Abram Goff live from Fishers, Indiana. Goodnight and God bless.
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