WHO WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT?
As you may (or may not) have noticed, Shaunda and I have been off the grid for the last few weeks. Since leaving Family Fellowship in March of 2016, we have traveled nearly year round for four years covering more 100,000 miles (not counting flights), released 3 books (and a second edition of the first one) along with 3 recording projects all while telling Matt’s story nearly 200 times. Add to that the Christmas concerts and a couple new Live Worship Events and well, it has been a whirlwind to say the least! WHO WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT?
Last fall I shared with you through a blog that I could sense that something fundamental was changing in the way we were approaching this ministry, and that I wasn’t really sure what that meant. Well, I’m still not totally sure, but a few weeks off beginning right after Christmas has given some amazing clarity to those changes.
Whatever may come, our mission plan remains the same: to tell Matt’s story anytime, anywhere with no mention of finances. I can’t imagine that ever changing. Shaunda and I both continue to enjoy our “mobile lifestyle” in our “427 square feet of marital bliss”, and to be sure, that takes a huge dent out of the cost of living equation. I do however sense a need to slow down, if just a bit. So our approach looks markedly different in 2020… a sort of “2020 vision” if you will.
Want to know more details? Well I want you to, but you’ll have to wade through this newsletter and get to the last article to get it all. Instead, for now, let’s talk about what’s just ahead! Last year we accepted a gracious invitation to speak and sing at a “Sweetheart Luncheon” in Temecula CA in February of 2020. As time progressed, this fit right into our little “break time” perfectly. We’ll take a few days to get there, we decided, and a few days to get back… a “working vacation” if you will. Well, that gracious invitation has morphed into 3 banquet concerts over 3 days in Southern California! These are with our great Umbrella ministry friends. What a blessing. We couldn’t be happier. And again, WHO WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT?
So what else does 2020 hold now with our renewed “2020 vision”? How about another brand new LIVE WORSHIP EVENT and also a brand new Thanksgiving LIVE WORSHIP EVENT! We are scheduled for several more conferences this year as well, five on the calendar already, and it’s just the first of February. I am currently working to varying degrees with a half dozen churches through MISSIONvideo. In order to stay around here a bit more I’d like to add a couple more.
So here we are… the beginning of Year 5 with a brand new “2020 vision”. WHO WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT? Please let me take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who through your prayers and support have turned this crazy dream of ours into an unbelievably powerful ministry. As for me? I have always been doing this thing “one step at a time”. You remember, just enough light on the pathway to know where to put my foot down next. And I have learned to love the Journey even more. I find myself constantly amazed. So WHO WOULD HAVE EVER BELIEVED IT? Why so many of you of course! How can I ever say “thank you” for that?
Want to know more? Read on!
MESSAGES OF HOPE Live Worship Event
Did you ever just wish God would lean down and whisper a personal message of hope in your ear? Well, He does regularly through His Word! MESSAGES OF HOPE is a brand new LIVE WORSHIP EVENT full of new music, scripture, stories… and hope! Watch for updates as a live video/audio of this project may even be available later this year. While through the week and select Sunday Night dates are open, there are only nine remaining Sunday mornings available for the entirety of 2020 where we can offer this or any other of our Live Worship Events. If you are at all interested, please contact us now… knightsongministries.com
2020 HOLIDAY LIVE WORSHIP EVENTS
This year we are also offering the “THANKSLIVING” Live Worship Event (nope, that’s not a typo). This is another brand new worship experience for the Thanksgiving Season. This is the perfect presentation for special Thanksgiving Worship services and banquets. While several through the week and select Sunday Night dates are open, there is only ONE SUNDAY MORNING LEFT… November 8. Christmas concerts are on our radar as well, but the same is true for through the week and select Sunday Nights. We have only TWO SUNDAY MORNINGS, Nov 29 and December 6, available.
THE UPS AND DOWNS
I must admit that the release of the second edition of TEARS IN A BOTTLE was quite a learning experience, and a bit of a disappointment as well. I discovered quite a bit about Amazon’s business plan with regard to book reviews, and despite all the kindness and generosity of so many, we fell well short of our desired number of reviews. After a short season of “licking my wounds” and wondering where I went wrong, we are back on track to the second phase of our three phase release of the second edition of TEARS IN A BOTTLE. Watch for details as we release the digital version on our new website knightsongministries.com. It will be available there for an offering of any amount, and you don’t even have to leave a review. The third phase is a release of the paperback at our events on March 14 and March 15. All of my books are available on Amazon, but there you have to pay a specific amount. Same goes for the two latest recording projects. They are available on iTunes and the Android play store, but for a set fee. Soon all our product will be available on our website for a donation of any amount. It is here also that you can support this ministry. Much more to come soon!
MISSIONvideo
God has graciously gifted me with a unique skill set for music and media, and then gave me a wonderful thirty five years in ministry to learn how to apply it specifically to the local church. Through MISSIONvideo I have the privilege of working hands on on a regular basis with a half dozen churches across several states. This includes worship planning, custom video and media creation, technical support and several other areas. Much of this work is done through the week and has contributed greatly to the financial stability of KSM. All projects are completed in return for monthly support of KNIGHTsong Ministries. And with our plans to curtail travel a bit in 2020, I am seeking up couple more churches. Interested? Check out MISSIONvideo and give me a call. I can put you in touch with other Pastors and worship leaders to explore how this ministry benefits their church. In addition, we will soon make available the first 20 traks available for use in your worship. They are complete with video and audio and will soon be available for download on the donation model as well. I can even be customize them for your specific need by deleting any instrumentation you don’t need. missionvideo.us
THE ROAD AHEAD – A Special Partnership with a Special People
I hesitate to go into too much detail for fear of getting in God’s way, but maybe you can get an idea of what’s happening from the following. I wrote in ON THE VIRGE of an amazing church we encountered in a little town in downstate Indiana. It was a town that boasted a population number in the teens. On a bend of a county road sat a picturesque church that looked like it might have been more comfortable 70 years earlier. I noted two really unique things here however. First, the worshippers filled the room wall to wall, and second, they were constructing a brand new 600 seat Sanctuary in corn field behind their existing building. There were ten times as many worshippers that morning as there were in their entire community.
As we continued to travel and write, I shared other unique ministries that I discovered through my blogs. These were stories about other places that God seemed to be moving in a special way. It seems that without a doubt just such a place has arisen only a few miles south of Greenville Texas. This church too sits in the middle of a field. The unimposing structure also appears also to be a throwback to several decades earlier. This place even has its own cemetery. But don’t linger too long staring at the old wooden pews. If you do you might not find one to sit in. Prairie Valley was one of our first supporting churches. A group of less than two dozen worshippers… people who seemed unwilling to lock the doors and allow their little church to become only a distant memory like so many others.
Less than a year ago they called a great new Pastor. They are now baptizing new believers nearly every week. As a matter of fact, in the last few months they have added 50 new members, 40 of those being by salvation. You may want to read that line again and let it sink in. This is an amazing statistic.
While back in Texas during this break time I found myself sitting in of those wooden pews. Only a few rows ahead sat several folks that I used to chase around our County while wearing my “other hat”. These are people that have recently received Christ and experienced seemingly genuine life-change. Crowding into this small room and sitting shoulder to shoulder there are now plans to reimagine an old gymnasium that also sits behind this church in a field… and use it as a temporary worship center. A worship center that needs a new sound system. Looks like this time I might be able to help just a bit. This time, it seems that through this special partnership I will be able to share some of their incredible journey with them. I will lead their worship team, work with their musicians, lead worship, help with their technical needs and serve in any way that I can.
For us, that means more time at home this year, something I really think is what Shaunda and I need to do. And it represents an unbelievably unselfish body of believers who are also willing to let us continue our ministry on many Sundays this year, while serving on their church staff many more. We have only planned one lengthy tour (7-8 weeks in the Fall to the East), and several shorter (2-3 week) jaunts. It likely means a few more more plane rides as well. But it also means more Sundays for us in this very special place, and many more weeks at home.
For KSM, this will likely mean less yearly income, but also less yearly expense. We are scheduled for several conferences as well as telling Matt’s story as many places as we can, and therefore several more plane rides. We will soon be seeking opportunities within driving distance in churches that still have Sunday evening services, and others willing to host special events on Fridays and Saturdays. We will also be seeking to fill those few remaining weekend opportunities this year telling Matt’s story or sharing through one of our Live Worship Events.
Remember the MISSIONvideo story from above? We’re praying that if it is in God’s will, some new churches will help bridge the financial gap that this year with its less touring may bring about. Sure would appreciate your prayers here, as well as for God to open up some of those Sunday night or other opportunities as well.
Telling Matt’s story has been something that, well, something that feels like maybe what God has been preparing me for all my life.
We’re not ready to give up this crazy dream just yet, and it seems we have found an entire church willing to help make that possible. Please stay with us as we learn together what is just around the next corner on the road ahead; made possible by a special partnership with a special people.