Creating is bold. You start with an idea and guts, and wind up improving life somewhere. It’s kind of like being God on a much, much smaller scale. I was impressed with Kent, but when the project ended I didn’t get to see him for a year.
God came around more often. Our long term relationship includes several ideas I consider my life’s work, purpose, ministry and all that. Unfortunately, capital wasn’t planted along with them. I dreamed of these ventures and did Excel plans for them more times than is sane to admit, given a popular definition of being crazy.
I prayed a prayer about that short for working capital. I beat the Scriptural door regularly, but several varieties of trouble
wore
my knuckles out. Then, instead of granting a tired guy some relief, life demanded a hefty jerk on my doormat. I went down and, I feared, for the last time. Glazed over, I eventually determined to be like Job, dust off my
faith and die
disappointed if need be, and, I believed I would.
Then as such stories go, some money arrived and I called Kent. With that, my first Excel plan finally hit the road.
I visit churches and usually find one professional quality voice inside. My dream was to record these soloists in popular music by getting their favorite love songs and the back stories. Public curiosity about Sunday’s best would support a decent sales forecast. I would request a pastor’s certification, but there would be no genre, age or denomination restrictions. It was August, so CDs could be out by Valentine’s Day.
Problem: find the singers. After my press releases produced not a single audition, I wrote a letter to every church in the state. My mailbox filled but not until the deadline. Apparently God, my daughter and singers all wait until the last minute.
All the submissions were
songs dedicated to
family or
God, surprising as I’d anticipated some about patriotism, etc. Also unanticipated was that the stories about the songs were so rich. They entertained me. They made me think. They touched me. At some, I cried. WOW!
After contracts and licensing, recording got going for 37 artists over 50 recording sessions. A long flu season cramped us figuratively, and literally, but the CD would still be released by Valentine’s Day – yeah, next year’s.
In mixing sound tracks, vocals and instruments are added, revised, etc. The strategy included showcasing the singers by keeping their voices in front of the music, hard to do with great musicians. So please notice the vocalists carrying the songs, accented by musicians such as Luke Neff, Gavin Pharaoh, Matthew Cowell and Levi Dobrinski.
Everyone created. Such a business model is exhilarating, as an unsurpassable product unfolded transforming an economic journey into a spiritual road.
Love practiced unfettered like this for photography, guitar, voice, etc. is compleat –it both entertains and heals. We were finding love amid Oklahoma’s towns and with it creating internal rest stops for living.
I’ve driven this road for years and now take Sunday’s Best with me. What a drive! I smile, eyes on the road as Oklahoma
rolls by and
towns appear.
I cruise toward one, slow down and adjust the volume. There’s a place that could be turned into a unique entertainment facility. I turn off the key, get out and approach it. I knock on the door and notice my knuckles aren’t sore anymore. On to another dream.
