June 2008 - Posts

• Art Intensive/Urban Art Festival!

  There are many more photos from last years Art Intensive and Artfest in Minneapolis here: www.sourcemn.org. But I am writing to remind everyone that you can still register for this year's Art Intensive and Artfest, July 14-20. The Art Intensive is for everyone from film makers to musicians to leaders who just love art and want to see different possibilities of how it might be a fruit and catalyst for restoration and community. $150 covers food and housing for the week and if you do happen to be an artist or performer, you will also get a slot at Artfest on Saturday. Source, the host community has links to the Northumbria monastary in England as well as the 24-7 international network. Their mission is simply to be a friend and voice for at risk youth and urban subcultures in the city. I will be speaking, leading worship and performing through out the week as well as teaching a songwriting track. I will be joined by my good friend Linnea Spransy, who graduated from Yale with a masters in paint. Her work can be found in galleries around the world and she is part of the 24-7 boiler room in Kansas City. More information can be found at sourcemn.org and here are some QUICKLINKS for you: ART INTENSIVE INFO AND SCHEDULE DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION Posted Jun 27 2008, 04:22 PM by Restoration Village Updates

• Singable Songs

  Hey friends. I read a blog post recently commenting on the singability of Restoration Project songs. I was flattered to be the topic of conversation, and thought I would respond a bit here. Historically no, I have not been concerned about writing "singable" songs in the sense that people could just know the melody and words and sing them together at will. I love singable songs...but I have always been more concerned with authenticity and unique perspective, and...I am a live performing artist and I weave songs in and out of stories and poetry. So, being a worship songwriter is actually a little newer to me. It was actually groups like COTA in Seattle that first started using my songs in their own gatherings. Lacey Brown, the then worship leader at COTA would send me an email every couple of months asking for the chord charts to a certain song. COTA was actually using songs from "Sobering" (2004) which, as an album, lands way outside the radar of industry standards. I was flattered and encouraged that the songs I shared so passionately were indeed resonating with communities, and also impressed that the group would take the time to learn some more complex songs. In 2006 I release "Worship," which actually is not that much different lyrically and structurally then my other work. It is still very people focused and poetry driven. The difference was my perspective while writing. I had been through a pretty intense restoration process of my own, and some of the unexpected fruit was coming into a much deeper understanding and theology of worship. I did create that project wanting it to be a resource and offering to the communities I worked with, but knew it would be challenging lyrically. I mentioned recently at Princeton that though many worship industry standards are based in scripture, which is awesome. However, I have observed that some scripture seems to be a little more marketable than others. And just as the Psalms speak always of specific events and people groups and historical happenings, I think at least SOME of the music we sing should include those things. So I put the words "AIDS" into a couple of songs as it is a pressing crises of our day and I also based most of the songs in scripture as well. Songs like "Run to the Mountan" and "The Kingdom" were also shared at the 2006 MSA gathering and I have since learned that songs from that project have been sung by small groups around the country and even translated and sung in parts of Africa and South America. Song For a Revolution of Hope, however, was a collaboration with Brian McLaren. Brian actually wrote most of the lyrics. I co-wrote and co-produced and did a lot of arranging. While we were recording the project, it was primary in Brian's heart that the songs be singable. He wanted to resource the Church with new kinds of songs. So, we did work extra hard, despite some pretty complex lyrics, to make it singable. Our success is debatable, however I have since led every single song on the album in the context of live worship, and even songs like "Atheist" have worked really well in the right situations. The two spoken word pieces, "Let's Confess" and "11-57" still have incredibly singable choruses and work really well in a liturgical call and response method. My latest electronica EP...well...maybe not that singable if you download them and try to learn them...I describe it as contemplative electronica. But, I am a story teller and a journey facilitator in worship. So if you invited me to lead the songs in your living room, and I told you the stories of Rwanda that led to me writing "Come Out," you might find yourself singing along in the chorus anyway. So, here's an unverified list of the most singable songs by album if you're interested. Chord Charts are posted in the download section. Sobering: -Arise -Work it Out Worship: -Bring Me Some Peace -Run to the Mountain -All the Way -I Am in Love -The Kingdom And all songs from "Songs For a Revolution of Hope." Posted Jun 20 2008, 12:10 PM by Restoration Village Updates

• An Essay Response

  You might not be able to make me out in the picture, but I'm the one right between John Perkins and Jim Wallis. Yeah. Fun times. Anyway, after the Envision gathering ended, a group of Theologians stayed at Princeton to work through all of the dialogue and panels and make a declaration. I said Amen to it. It was actually a very diverse group of speakers and leaders. If you want to see it, here is the LINK. You sign it by posting a comment. As I alluded to in the previous post, I did write an essay, a loose response on the panel about post-colonialism. I call it "Post-Colonialism and Songwriting." I'm actually starting to contribute to "The Other Journal," a publication of Mars Hill Graduate School. I'm considering submitting a better version of this, so you could help me out by giving me some feedback...mainly, did you reap anything from it at all? Thanks friends! Here's the essay: It is good to be a songwriter. I just returned from Envision, a gathering at Princeton University where theologians, activists and leaders of all kinds gathered and dialogued with the goal of uniting the church and moving more deeply into the public square. Some of my own living heroes were in attendance like John Perkins, and some friends I have not been able to connect with in quite sometime like Shane Claiborne. There were also a slew of people who had influenced me greatly through their own journeys and books, people like Ruth Padilla DeBorst and Ron Sider. I, along with about 500 others, listened to them speak. We listened to panel discussions and response panels to speakers, and I got to share songs. I play a lot of house concerts...DOWNLOAD THE REST Posted Jun 19 2008, 07:26 PM by Restoration Village Updates

• Envision Reports

  Hey all,  I just returned to Colorado after about a week in Princeton preparing for and participating in the gathering, "Envision 08."  I am in the midst of a deeper response to the panel on post-colonialism and will post it in the next couple of days, but here's a little video someone put together of the first afternoon.  More to come! Posted Jun 12 2008, 08:39 AM by Restoration Village Updates

• Real Blogging

  Look at me doing real time blogging... Today I packed up my car and dog and drove up to Boulder where I got a hair cut and checked out a cool new coffee shop on Pearl Street. I fixed some broken links in the online store and did some last minute correspondence, then went to my chiropractor, Dr. Zach, who I miss now that I live two hours south of Boulder. Then I had a great house concert with my friends Chris and Esther Cummings...super fun. Esther made chocolate covered strawberries, hummus, and spice cake among other yummy things. People from the neighborhood made up the majority of the group. I left Neve (my great dane) with the Cummings, and am crashing at my dad's house. Tomorrow morning I fly out of Denver and will spend the day getting to Princeton where I'll work with some other artist before the start of Envision! Life is good...for those of you who knew I was having some health problems a month ago, I am doing really well. I did a yoga intensive/nutrition program post-tour, and learned a ton. Now I just have to figure out how to maintain everything while I travel. I did learn I have quite a few food allergies. Oh well...step by step...and I found really yummy gluten-free cookies at Whole Foods that I am packing on this trip. Posted Jun 05 2008, 09:47 PM by Restoration Village Updates

• Store Updated!

  Good news friends! We have redesigned the store...or rather, we have received some incredible help from a friend. So, the store now utilizes a shopping cart, allowing you to combine multiple CD's, or digital AND physical in a single purchase. AND, you can use Google, Paypal, or credit cards to pay! I hope this makes it easier for everyone to purchase here (we do get a much larger percentage when you buy at restorationvillage.com) and please refer your friends! Posted Jun 01 2008, 08:03 PM by Restoration Village Updates

• Reflections on the "Everythign Must Change" Tour

  When I started the tour, I had big plans to stay balanced, journal regularly, do my little yoga routine every day in the hotels, not over eat, and email on the planes. It wasn’t a complete loss…I did manage to go on walks regularly, and I kept up with a few friends, and I made a lot of new friends. But things never quite work out the way you plan. It’s not just that the schedule gets twisted into the unexpected…like when you have to stay overnight at the Dallas airport because of a snow storm…in March. Or, when communication goes haywire with the local musicians and they show up ten minutes before the whole things starts. No, it wasn’t just the schedule that twisted into the unexpected, it was also the marvelous finding of friendship, and the deepening of mysterious things; Jesus. The single biggest thing I notice…my heart seems to have grown in its capacity to love people. This is not to be confused with the capacity to do more things and visit more people in the course of a year…but my heart has expanded in its capacity to love. That is, I believe I love people more deeply. I care about people more than I did before. I’m interested in an individual’s story more than I was before. And it wasn’t any one thing…it was a transformation that transpired over a journey, with people that included joy and hard work, hearing really hard stories, and being inspired by really hopeful things, and Jesus. I’m especially grateful for Pam and Roger and Thai food in Florida…and Jay and Rick and Salmon in San Diego, Greg, the Aussie who walked around Green Lake with me in Seattle while it rained, and Vince, the dirty gospel piano player who added kindness and soul to the gathering in the Bronx. When you’re heart expands for other people, frustration in your own life seems to dwindle. And you realize you’re not that great…well, it’s both-and. It’s still the “you’re super special and unique” that hopefully we were told at some point in time during our childhood, combined with a mature reality, that everyone is really special and important. I have a great life, a wonderful life. But I have more dreams that have yet to begin. Different parts of my heart, that have laid dormant for a season, were re-ignited. The wonderful thing is that the flame added a different kind of passion to the work I have felt called to all along…I see there is more, it goes deeper, I am called to greater sacrifice, and the hope is more powerful than I believed. And songs…there are new songs flowing out of my life, and songs that have yet to form. And I feel more encouraged than ever to be a songwriter…I am a songwriter. And I am interested in the music of peace movements and the music that flows out of and catalyzes transformation. I am interested in the songs other people write. I am excited to be a songwriter. Each gathering was broken into five sessions. The over arching question was, “what does the message of Jesus have to do with global crises?” The Saturday morning session started us off by considering “which Jesus” we believe in. Brian gave a wonderful teaching about Jesus taking the disciples to Cesarea Philipi and then asking them “Who do you say I am?” He dug into the reality of the disciples to help us understand more fully what they might have meant when they used the words they did. He exegeted different passages and compared them to commonly known Roman inscriptions of the day. It was wonderful. We started on one list…and nearly everyone could identify with one or several of the following: The Cute Baby Jesus The Warrior Jesus The Private, Personal Jesus The Prosperity Jesus The Fire Escape Jesus The Second-Coming Killer Jesus The Institutionalized Jesus And as he spoke and shared, we moved towards one single answer for who Jesus is: The liberating king who healed the sick, released people from the oppression of evil spirits, gave sight to the blind, gave hearing to the deaf, fed people for free, brought peace and calm to a turbulent storm, gave life to the dead, healed a paralyzed hand, empowered the lame to walk, included the excluded, confronted the hypocrites, turned the tables, died on Caesar’s cross, rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit. It was the kind of message and Truth that continues to grow…so that even on the tenth time I heard the story…I was brought to tears. And I knew things were changing in me, or deepening. So, for those of you, my friends, who try to keep up, I just say thank you. It was a grat many different things that led me to this last season and I am so grateful. And, thanks to the team…Brian, Linnea and Eric, and so many other volunteers that I met along the way. Thank you to you, my friends. Shalom. -Tracy Here is a link to Brian's Reflections Here are some links to people who blogged during the events in different cities: Eli Renner blogged in Charlotte Jeremy Del Rio in The Bronx Posted Jun 01 2008, 06:57 PM by Restoration Village Updates