My Congregation

Why?

That question may never get answered.

But that’s not what I am thinking about this morning…

It’s been roughly 48 hours since I heard the news about the mass shooting at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas.

I am thinking and praying for the people who are gone, for the people who are injured, for their family members and for the people who weren’t shot or trampled but have to live with this memory.

I am thinking and praying for my country music industry family & friends, who miraculously made it through this without losing a single life. But they will also have to live with this memory, and go out this week, and stand on that stage, and drive that bus, and do that meet and greet like we always do. It will be different, it won’t be the same…

I wasn’t there. No one I know directly was even injured. So why has this affected me so? Why can I feel it in my bones? Like a weight just hanging on me? It’s like the world is a shade of gray…

This is why…

 

The fans, I have spent time with these people…

I have stood shoulder to shoulder with them, sang till my voice gave out, 5/12/15/18/35 thousand strong.

They have bought the albums, paid for the concert tickets and t-shirts!

I have been lucky enough to escort backstage winners and make life long dreams come true as these people got to meet one of their heroes. I have been there when they tell one of my artists how a song changed their life, became “their song” or got them through a dark time in their past. Laughter and tears, and sometimes both.

I have had thousands of conversations, talking about life, about music and about our kids. We have talked about that night, that concert being the one night in a whole year they just forget about their problems and let the music take them somewhere else for 2-3 hours.

My house, the things I have, the life I enjoy, they play a huge part in making that happen, just by being Country Music fans.

The “Industry” (artists, road crews, management, record labels, radio stations, venue staffs, concert promoters), I have spent time with these people as well.

We are a bunch of misfits, trying to make musician’s dreams come true. I believe that with all my heart! I have never met a “normal” person in my business. We march to a different drum, we have a different calling, and I love it! We compete with each other and cheer for each other in the same breath. This is my other family! We are not perfect, but we have each others backs!

Keith said it best… They are family… They are people in our congregation, in our church. I may not know them but we all go to the same church.

At this moment when one of us hurts, we all hurt!

Brothers Osborne played a new song that really hits home… When a horrific event like this happens, we stop/pause and evaluate what’s truly important in our lives. This song sums that up pretty well…

Say a prayer, say many prayers…

The congregation needs them right now…

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