So my friend Ashley told me about this great online concert/chat tomorrow night. Check out the Live Online Mocha Club Event for only $1.50 to support clean water for Africa. More details below, or visit Brandon’s website at www.brandonheath.net for an awesome promo video including Brandon’s new beard. Ewww!!!

Who: Brandon Heath, Matt Wertz, and Dave Barnes
What: Mocha Club Live Online Event where Brandon, Matt, and Dave will each be playing some songs, interviewing one another, and answering your questions LIVE submitted through Twitter (@mochaclub)
Where: MochaClub.org
When: Tuesday, January 26th at 9pm ET/8pm CT
Why: Benefitting Mocha Club’s Clean Water projects in Africa, helping to build water wells in Sudan
How: Register NOW at http://live.MochaClub.org. Admission is $1.50

Tags: Brandon Heath

I LOVE going to concerts. Especially when I love the groups performing. Enter Revive, Brandon Heath, and Third Day!

So last Thursday my mom and I took off for Phoenix to see these guys perform at the Celebrity Theater, one of the coolest venues ever. The stage is in the middle of the room and the seats go all the way around. And the stage spins. Check it out in this clip.

So as if the venue isn’t cool enough, we were sitting in the 3rd row. Literally 10 feet from the groups as they performed. The theater tauts itself as the most intimate theater experience in the valley (Phoenix), and it totally is! I got some great pictures and loved being so close even when we were looking at the “back” of the stage.

So I have to tell you a funny story … my mom isn’t what you’d call a big concert goer. She’s more of a praise and worship kind of gal than a rockin’ Christian music chica. But she agreed to go to the concert with me so we could get some quality bonding time together. When I first bought the tickets, she was talking to a younger guy in her Bible study and said we were going to see Three Days in concert. At first he didn’t understand, then he made the connection. We were going to see Third Day, and he was totally jealous. That made my mom smile.

I warned mom that she might want to get some ear plugs. But she didn’t bring any. The show was LOUD, but amazingly wonderful. Here’s a snippet from the actual show that we were at.

And of course, my main reason for going was actually Brandon Heath. Nothing surprising there. Except that he was more wonderful than I even hoped he’d be! And I know Amy is going to ask about Joe. He was fantastic too! Here’s a clip from the show of Brandon.

Brandon closed out his set with a song called Soldier. I’d never heard it before, and it was really great! Here’s a clip of him singing it several years back. I’m pretty sure it was on one of his first independent albums. I’m hoping I can find it on iTunes or something because I need it on my iPod.

So I really love concerts. I love the noise and the excitement in the air. The freedom to dance like a crazy woman and have no one think any the less of me. The fun of hooting and hollering after my favorite songs and at my favorite performers. But most of all, I love how God always unexpectedly gets a hold of me.

Take for example this show. There a was a young man with Down’s syndrome just a few seats over from me who quite verbally expressed his disinterest in Brandon. He was there to see Third Day and just wanted them to perform. I on the other hand really wanted to see and enjoy Brandon. I found myself getting irked that he was stealing a bit of my enjoyment of the show and irked at his dad who was with him for not quieting him. And then Brandon began “Give Me Your Eyes” and my heart squeezed. I’d been doing a terrible job of seeing this young man through God’s eyes. I needed to have love and concern for my neighbors. My heart softened and I found myself enjoying the show even more.

I love it when God does stuff like that.

Anyway, here are a few more pics that I took at the meet and greet and during the show. Hope you enjoy.

My mom and me in line to meet Third Day

I'm quite possibly the worst photographer ever!

Brandon being amazing!

Still hoping to meet Brandon until next time. -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath, Friday Favorite, Third Day

Do you tweet? As you’ve likely noticed in the far right column, I tweet pretty regularly.

Don’t know what tweeting is? Haven’t heard of twitter?

It’s a social networking site–of sorts. It allows you to, in no more than 140 characters, answer the question: What are you doing? It’s a snippet of insight into daily life on potentially a minute by minute basis. While it’s been accused of being a rather self-centered invention, I love it, not because I get to talk about myself, but because I get to follow some of my favorites. It’s amazing what you can learn about people just by the way that they twitter.

For example, I follow Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, and an author that I had the privilege of working with on his last book Wild Goose Chase. So what have I learned about Mark in 140 character incriments? The man is a twitter maniac. He tweets more than anyone else I follow. He loves good food, and oh, he has some amazing spiritual insights.

I also follow Jess Barnes and Rachel, who are both quite funny. I love hearing a bit more about their day to day lives, not to mention whatever new fandom they’ve discovered. They are wonderful to follow!

Then there’s Nathan Fillion (of last week’s favorite: Castle). I just started following him, and I’m learning all sorts of cool things about him. Like how he supports the Kids Need To Read campaign (I’m a fan of kids reading), and how he was at a book launch party in Oceanside, CA last week. Wish I’d been in Oceanside last week. (Yes, twitter could be a first step to stalking someone–but I like to think of it as legal stalking.)

Speaking of legal stalking, I absolutely follow Brandon Heath. How could I not? He’s not s super-regular tweeter, but it cracks me up everytime he says something about being somewhere cool or meeting cool people like Bob Barker then says “Is this my life?” Yes, Brandon, in 140 characters this is your life.

Now I love tweeting, and I love following new and old friends. But I really love seeing who ends up following me. For example, after I tweeted about watching Brandon Heath on CBN’s 700 Club, the CBNProducers started following me. Then I tweeted about the lost library book saga, and who started following me? The PPLD (Pikes Peak Library District)! They even congratulated me on finding my lost book when I returned it. It kind of cracks me up!

If you’re not tweeting, then maybe you should be. When you start, give me a shout out, and I’ll follow you too!

Tweeting like a mad woman until next time. -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath, Friday Favorite, twitter

So I heard that Brandon was interviewed last week for CBS Evening News, and I was looking forward to watching the segment. But when I watched it, it was so not what I was expecting. The segment is on how Americans are losing their religion. A pastor of a “non-demoninational” church is interviewed almost as if attendees of a non-denom don’t consider themselves traditional Christians.

Anyway, as a whole, it just made me sad. I could go on and on, but I’ll just let you watch the video and offer your thoughts if you like.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Tags: Brandon Heath

It was 11:40p.m. on Monday night of this week. I had turned off my light, closed my book, and pulled my quilt up to my chin just ten minutes earlier. My eyes were closed, and I was in that wonderful state between sleep and wake.

And then my cell phone let out a horridly pathetic beep, telling me that it was dying and desperately needed a charge. I knew it would keep going all night if I didn’t get up and plug it in, but I still grumbled to myself as I turned my light back on and scavanged for my glasses. I had barely jammed them on my face , when my phone beeped again. But this one was stronger. An alert to the text message I had just received.

Who was sending me a text message at 11:40 at night?

My sister-in-law Beth. That’s who. I was irked for second, then I thought maybe it was a cute picture of my niece or nephew. It was not. But then I remembered that Arizona does’nt observe daylight savings time, so she probably forgot that Colorado is now an hour a head of them. No problem. I’d get back to her in the morning, but I decided to check the messages to make sure it wasn’t really important. But the moment I opened it up the instense organ strains of The Pantom of the Opera pelted out of my little pink phone.

A Phantom ring tone, just for me! Is my family cool, or what?

The next day came more funny ring tones, and I had to call Beth, at which point, she told me that she’s set her phone so that when I call, it plays Phantom. Awesome! Then she told me about this very cool website where you can create and text ring tones from any song. Feel free to check out here. And the cool thing, is it’s all free. (Don’t be fooled by the ads on the site that ask you pay.) For example:

Create free ringtones at Phonezoo

As for me, I’m just stoked with Phantom. I’m sure there’ll need to be a Brandon Heath ring tone soon. Probably even a Third Day and Chris Tomlin too. But it’s all thanks to my coolest sister-in-law, who is he only girl in the world I’d want to share a name with! A big shout out to Beth (and Micah too, just by proximity). Miss you guys! See you in April.

Now, if only someone would call me. -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath, Friday Favorite

You’re thinking … not another post about Brandon Heath! When will this girl ever stop with the BH posts?

And I’m thinking … maybe I should have dedicated this blog to all things BH. I seem to have at least a post a week about the guy.

But alas … I’m not going to stop posting about BH any time soon. And I’m also not going to dedicate the entire blog to him … although … that does have possibilities. But then I wouldn’t be able to write about my other favorite things and my writing and my book and my short stories. So all-in-all, you’re pretty much stuck with BH, while I’m stuck on BH.

So this is just a quick note to let you know he was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards this last weekend. While he didn’t win in either category, the New York Times sure thinks he’s worth watching. Click on the pic below to read the NYT article about the nominees to watch.

I can’t help myself … he’s just too adorable! Until next time … -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath

So I decided to take the plunge, spend some Christmas money and make the trip back to AZ for the Third Day and Brandon Heath Revelation tour. Tickets are purchased (Mom and I are sitting in the third row!) and I’m stoked to get to hang with the family for an entire week. I should be to AZ just in time to miss having to help move Micah and Beth and Hannah and John into their new homes! Perfect timing!

So my mom agreed to go to the show with me not because she’s big into concerts or especially loves either Brandon or Third Day, but rather because she loves me and wants to hang out with me. Very cool. But being a seasoned concert veteran, I know that a show is always better when you know the songs, so I put together 2 cds for her and mailed them off this week. They are labeled:
Operation: Get Ready for the Concert - Part 1: Brandon Heath
Operation: Get Ready for the Concert - Part 2: Third Day

Here’s hoping Mom actually listens to them so she’s ready for the show!

In honor of Third Day’s new album Revelation (which I’ve been rocking out to in my car, on my ipod at work, and at the gym), a video that I think sums it up better than I ever could. 

Until we’re rocking out live at the concert. -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath, Third Day

So I’ve come to a quandry. As we all know by now, Brandon Heath is one of my favorites. And Third Day is also near the top of my list. (Hmmm … I should nominate them for a Friday Favorite slot.) I’ve had the opportunity to see both Brandon and Third Day in concert on seperate occassions this past year. Both were delightful shows.

Imagine my delight when I learned that they’re going on tour together this spring for the Revelation Tour. What could be better? I scurried to see the tour schedule to see when they’d be arriving in Colorado. But with each date in the list, my heart sank a little lower. Each date a disappointment. The east coast. The Midwest. Texas. California. Canada.

No Colorado. Not even a date in New Mexico.

But there … off in the distance … a glimmer of hope. The tour is coming to Phoenix, Arizona, a mere 15 hour drive. To the little Celebrity Theater with the spinning stage. The site of my first post-college concert–Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio.

Okay, so I wouldn’t really drive it, but I have been seriously thinking about flying down for a long weekend and spending a couple days with my family, who live only about a 3 hour drive away. But is it worth it? To plop down $175 for a plane ticket and another $35ish for a concert ticket?

My mom laughed at me when I suggested it. But I haven’t written off the idea yet.

Want to weigh in on if I should make the plunge and go see the show? Leave me a comment. -LJ

Tags: Brandon Heath, concert, Third Day

I have lots of favorite things: movies, music, BOOKS, friends, memories. You name it, I’ve probably got multiple favorites–which I’m completely aware makes them not a “favorite.” But I’ve decided to ignore that for the moment and will share my current favorites with you every Friday. Hence … Friday Favorites!

I debated with myself over what my very first favorite would be. My nieces and nephew? They’re so far above favorites, I don’t think they qualify for the category. (Cutest kids ever to grace my family!) The West Wing? I do love the TV show, and will definitely offer it a Friday Favorite slot, but the first? Hmm …

Well, I finally landed on grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Brandon Heath. If you haven’t heard Brandon, then you’re missing out–big time! I got hooked on him in the summer of 2008, when I stumbled on his first cd at the Family Christian Store (remarkably, the one that’s right next to the dollar theater mentioned in this week’s Monday Movie).

You might know his song Give Me Your Eyes from his second album What If We. It’s gotten a lot of play on Christian radio, and has an awesome message of seeing those around us through God’s eyes. He’s a way-talented guy. Amy and I went to see him in concert in Denver in early December at free concert hosted by KLOVE at a church on the north side of town. We had a great time, and Brandon sounded as wonderful live as he does on his cds.

I just discovered that he’s also on tour this spring with Third Day, who I saw live in Denver earlier this last fall. It’s bound to be a fantastic show.

If you haven’t discovered Brandon Heath yet, do it! You won’t regret it.

Tags: Brandon Heath