12 Witnesses

This isn’t just a story of a concert. Mostly, it is, but there are few Missional observations as well. Just in case you are wondering if it is worth it to read the whole thing…

I survived the David Crowder Band concert at Cain’s Ballroom last night. I say “survived” because “historic Cain’s Ballroom” is a young person’s game. It is loaded with history, and Crowder even referred to it last night. Not only is it the original home of the Texas Playboys and western swing, but the Sex Pistols played there on their American tour, right before they became famous. Click on the history link on the home page, and you will find an amazing story there. The cutting edge up and coming punk rock band paved the way for a whole slew of other rock bands on their way up as well. Included in that list are heavy hitters like the Ramones, Van Halen, Nirvana, and the Police. Also included are pop bands like INXS, Pat Benatar, Huey Lewis and the News, the Talking Heads and more.

It is also still set up as a ballroom, in which there might be dancing, though it is almost exclusively used for concerts now.

Do you get it, yet?

One small room, wide open/spring loaded wood dance floor - no chairs. Just a crowd, albeit a fairly diverse and respectful one. More on that a little later, but back to the no chairs thing. Ouch!. My feet and back were killing me after four hours, and now, having slept for about four hours, my feet and back have quit hurting but my knees and hips are aching.

As I said, it’s a young person’s game to go to a concert at Cain’s.

That’s not exclusively true, though. Last night there were kids and folks in their 50’s, or even older all hanging out together to enjoy the hilarity and musical mechanizations that is the David Crowder Band. Teenagers with knit hats, thumb rings and other piercings in places I had not previously considered options for jewelery stood alongside dads with young kids on their shoulders and professionals with nice shoes, sports coats and hair that was very intentionally and immovably messy.

He brought up an 11 year old who was having a birthday and led the crowd in singing to him.

At one point, Crowder brought out a Guitar Hero game controller that had been reprogrammed by the drummer and played a song with it. That’s not to mention the constant wit and charisma with which he entertains and motivates the crowd.

During the obligatory “pump up the crowd” portion of the concert, Crowder would ask us to sing after him and, predictably, it was not a full throated roar. To this he responded, “That was… that was… very… POLITE… Tulsa, that was very polite. Polite is not what we’re going for here, though. Rowdy. Rowdy is what we need here. Pitch has nothing to do with this. We’re not looking for pitch, we’re looking for noise. This is a night for loud and souding good has nothing to do with this. For those of us who can’t sing, this night is for us, ok?” Of course, the crowd went nuts.

We took our kids to the concert because they love DCB. Being new to Tulsa, we didn’t know the set up before, or we might not have gone. We stood for a looooong time and the show started late. The warm up acts were good, I suppose, but I had not heard of them and didn’t know their music. In light of my quickly tiring body, I was not yet “in the moment.”

Bonnie went to the bathroom, and to do that, she had to go through a side room on the Cain’s - the bar. Now the bar was not doing a brisk business last night, due to the make up of the crowd, but there were a few in there who were resting from, well frankly from being old or young. My kids were a little overwhelmed by the crowd and the noise so we made our way to the bar. Not long after we were there, we noticed a few people smoking - it was allowed there, but not in the main room. Also, there were a few drinks being consumed. We had asked if our kids were allowed there, and they said they were, so we shrugged and watched the show on the enormous projection screen. This is pre-Crowder, still.

Looking over at a few people who were drinking and smoking, my wife and I exchanged eye contact and she leaned over and said, “This is where church OUGHT to be.” I nodded. I thought about the statement made not long ago in a sermon where I had said, “I am the church. You are the church. The church is not here, it is where we are. We have to quit doing church and start being the church outside these walls.” Apparently, Crowder has begun to speak to many people outside of “church.” Bonnie told me of a conversation with a co-worker who is not a believer, but who knew of DCB. It may have been that some of these showed up to a concert attended by the otherwise very wholesome and sanctified crowd. I thought to myself that my wife had never read a book about being “Missional,” but I am pretty sure she “gets it.”

When DCB came out, we went down the hall to a side door that deposited us just to the side of the stage. We had a great view and everyone was re-energized.

After a while, the security guard saw my kids and invited them to sit just inside the security rail in front of the stage. They had a bench for kids all the way across the front so that they could see. Bonnie led my kids in. When I saw where they were sitting, I asked if I could go sit by my family. The security guard said that adults weren’t supposed to be there, only kids, but he thought my daughter wouldn’t go without someone. My wife kept waving me over, and I finally was able to explain to her that he had said, “no.” I was able to put my hand on the security guard’s shoulder and tell him not to worry that he had not broken any directives. My wife is the biggest kid you’ll ever meet.

When it comes to concerts, my wife will race, push, shove, stand and wiggle to get to the front, if she can. So here is my last camera pic of the night. It is my wife and 40 other kids sitting just inside the barrier with the best seats in the house.

That’s her in the middle of the shot - closer to center than my daughter and son. They are wearing ear plugs, by the way. That is, my children are wearing ear plugs. My wife is just soaking it all in.

One of the final things that I will mention is that DCB has called for folks attending the concert to bring socks and towels to every show. They are taking them to the local homeless shelter. The up front statement was that we didn’t want to just all get together and have a warm, fuzzy feeling as the end result. “We want to actually DO something,” they said.

Crowder told the story of the Houston concert where they had this enormous pile of towels and socks. The shelter came to pick them up and brought a couple of men who were living there to help. When they saw the stuff donated to the mission, they began to cry. Crowder spoke of being touched to the core at seeing the impact of ministering to people in the name of Jesus.

He said that when the people of God gathered in a place, there ought to be something that impacted the people among whom we live come out of us getting together, no matter where or when. That’s good stuff.

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