Fruit of our Labor

Another tour is in the can. This year I did something different than normal for me. I took a position as monitor engineer. This allowed me to step back from the big responsibilities of tour manager or production manager. Refreshing barely describes this tour. It is very easy on the road to get caught up in the daily routine of road life and grow numb to the life happening all around. Some times it is easy to forget why we put ourselves through the rigorous schedules, dirty showers, bad catering, and time away from friends and loved ones.




One of my favorite and easiest things to spot on tour is the new community that is developed. As the tour moves along community turns to family. It is always good to meet new people and develop life long friends, this tour was no different when it came to that.



One thing that is very important on tour is to enjoy the people you work with. With the exception of a few knuckleheads who don't know bus etiquette I had a great time working with some great guys. We had a lot of fun on this tour. I think I laughed every day.




We did have some great times and some tough times. This year there were more snow storms than the last 10 years. More than once we were stuck on the interstate trying to get to the next event. Through all the good times and the bad as I look back we were able to accomplish some pretty great things.




With just over 100 people on the road everyday there is always someone to talk to. It was actually a challenge to find a quiet spot. We had 3 semi trucks of sound, lights, video, and backline. Parking 10 buses everyday always made for a maze of confusion.




We traveled over 16,000 miles during the course of the three months.




Over 400,000 people were in attendance. I some times forget the impact of touching almost a half a million people can have on a country.




We exceeded our goal of sponsoring over 10,000 children for Holt International. Day in and day out it feels like we hear the same appeal every night and it gets old, but to really step back and think about the magnitude of that many children being helped is a huge accomplishment.




Last but certainly not least we had over 60,000 people respond to the website telling us they made a decision for Christ. That means all the setting up of equipment, taking cold showers, and eating food that was neither nutritious or delicious was not in vain. These are things that need to be remembered and valued as we look back at the fruit of our labor and look forward to the next tour an opportunity to do something significant with our lives.




Thanks NewSong and Premier Productions for putting on a great tour. I look forward to WinterJam 2011.