Jennifer and I might not ever forget this weekend. No one died or got sick or went to jail, but it was so strange enough none-the-less that I think we’ll remember it for a long time.
A few months ago our booking agent sent me over a concert request for an event in Lufkin TX to be held this past Saturday. I skimmed over the details and felt like it was something we should accept so I sent back an approval. A few weeks later Jennifer got a Facebook message from Robbie Seay (of Robbie Seay Band) saying that we’d be playing together in Lufkin. We’d played an event with Robbie not long before and were looking forward to seeing him again. He told us to check out the event’s website. Turn’s out that the event in Lufkin was to be a three-day event with rides, tractors, concerts, and a truck pull on the final day. “Pulling For Jesus” was the event’s official name.
Jennifer and I we’re planning a visit to her family’s farm in St Louis in June so we decided to drive up there and leave Hutch and Sadie-Claire with her parents while we flew down to Lufkin. We almost always take our kids with us but something about this one made me feel like it would be harder on them than it needed to be. On Friday evening Jennifer and I arrived in Houston and on Saturday we drove the two hours up to Lufkin to meet the rest of the band and play the concert.
We could tell immediately when we arrived that things weren’t going well. There were maybe four cars in the Fair Grounds parking lot and there seemed to be nobody enjoying the festivities anywhere. The 5000 seat arena was empty. Only two or three people we’re milling around the display tractors. During our soundcheck the concert promoter introduced himself to me and I asked him how things we going. He admitted right away that the event had already been, in his words, a “flop”. The day before drew in only a handful of people and the bands played to no one. Today was not much different and his spirit was visibly crushed. We went to a restaurant for supper and got back about an hour before our show was to begin. During Robbie Seay’s performance we counted 119 people in the stands, and at least half of them left during the break between his set an ours. So at 9pm we took the stage to play to a completely empty 5000 seat arena. 30 people ended up coming down to the floor to be closer. It was one of the hardest and most confusing concerts we’ve ever played.
I’ve been on tour for most of my adult life. I’ve been involved in many shows that have gone south but never like this. I didn’t ask the promoter what did or didn’t happen during his preparation. It was more merciful to just be as little bother to him as we could. He was visibly confused and defeated and we all hoped as we left that Sunday would be much better for him, but reports came back that it was just the same.
Why on earth did God allow us to leave our kids, fly hundreds of miles, and drive five hours, just to play music to an empty arena? Why did He watch this promoter put His heart and soul (and bank account) into a city-wide event to promote the Gospel that He knew nobody was going to show up at? None of it makes any sense.
We all have strange and awful days at work, but you have to admit, this is extreme, especially for this poor promoter has to pick up the pieces and move on. I hurt for him. If you think of us this week can you say a prayer for P.T. in Lufkin? He could use it, to be sure.
Peace and rest,
See you on Facebook,
Jeromy
“where 2 or 3 are gathered together, there I am also…”
brother, it’s not up to us to question “why”…just continue making your wonderful music and it will touch 2 or 200,000!
the most beautiful part of your posting was requesting prayers for P.T. …that shows a tremendous amount of unselfish Christianity on your part…prayers going up for both P.T. and FFH…and the blessings will come down!!!
You say you had 30 people. Maybe THOSE 30 people really needed what you had to say. I’m thinking that out of all the people who live around there, only these people came because they were really NEEDING the encouragement and a touch from God. If you touched those people, and God changed their lives that day, then it was all worth it. Who knows how many lives those people have been able to touch and encourage because they were blessed by your music.
You could have played to a crowd of 5000 and only “made it through” to a dozen. It’s not about numbers. It’s about faithfulness.
I have to admit that was a bit down to say the least that this weekend did not go as I expected. Although thousands of dollars were spent on advertising, t-shirts, flyers, posters, CD give aways etc., and countless hours were spent on posting the event on different web-sites, this led me to question what could I have done differently. I gave away about 150 tickets to event, but there were only 119 in attendance? Why? I felt as though I let God down. I was blessed to have family and friends there for me because they knew how strongly that I felt to do His will. God led me to do this event. The Lord blessed me with a stock that grew over the past year to cover the funding for the event. No, I am not wealthy by any means. I have bills as high as many others. From the beginning when I was led to put together this event, my focus was that it was not to be about me. I wanted all of it to be about Him. I still feel this way. I definitely am praising Him in this storm. I was able to meet new friends. These new friends were what I consider “genuine” friends that you could count on in any time of need, and vise versa. Over the weekend there were at least 12 bands/artists that performed. All of these were top notch individuals that were very talented. These bands had others that were asking them to come to their church give a concert for their youth. Who knows what lives that they will touch. We have to realize that God is in control. It is not our master plan, but His. Who knows how many seeds were planted or will be planted in the future from this event. I am truly blessed to have a wife that supports me, even though I wiped out a large portion of our savings. As I told her it all belongs to Him anyway. I have peace about the event. I felt Him there. I am going to continue a similar event in the Fall 2011. Thanks for all of your kind words and support.
God Bless,
P.T.
i am in the middle of reading a book called how to live right when your life goes wrong by leslie vernick. reading your post made me think of some of the things i have been reading about recently in the book as well as in His Word. and i just wanted to recommend the book to you if you haven’t read it, beyond what she wrote about i actually did word searches in His Word on trials, troubles, suffering, trust, etc.. which has been amazing. I’ll def be praying for you guys and for P.T. in Lufkin. May you continue to rest in God and may He continue to work in and through you, to establish you and complete you, and may He bless you guys and your families. take care, in Him -your sister in Christ
Hi Jeromy….Maybe a better percussion set would have done the trick?(Ask Brian about that one:)). That had to be tough. My heart tells me how you felt. I know why you were there, and why you decided to go in the firstplace. Love you guys, and see huge things in your future. Huge for everyone and for many reasons! With the relationship with our King(the one and only requirement that transforms)we find through him we can get to God. That peace is unmeasured! Your music over the years has changed my heart and hundreds of thousands of others who listen to you all the time to be closer to the King. Peace, and Blessings!
GOD BLESS YOUR BAND,JESUS WHILE ON EARTH DID MIRACLES TO ONE AND TO CROWDS, HE FEED ONE AND CROWDS, HE WALKED WITH MANY BUT DIED ALONE IN THE CROSS, I GUESS WHEN IT COMES TO RECEIVING SALVATION, HE CAN GIVE TO ONE OR TO MANY, THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO BE HIS INSTRUMENT OF HIS WORKS AT THE TIME. ITS HIS WILL WE WORK FOR. WE IN PUERTO RICO SEND LOVE , JOSE CHEO AND FAMILY.
I had an struck on inspiration to reply when class started… so, I had to wait. But here I am!
:/ I feel bad. That really sucks, this coming from a girl whom hates crowds. But the poor event promoter. He’s in my prayers. As are you.
I was thinking about this… and even though probably in this profession, less attendance isn’t a good thing, it shouldn’t matter how many people showed up. Yeah, 5000 seats all filled would have looked… AMAZING!
(If I wasn’t on the West coast, I would have came.) But even just 30 people means something. You know this and I know this: God works in any way he can, through us. I’ve been steadily learning about what it means to hand him my heart as I grow up into a young adult and head for a career. You hope – you pray – and then you watch.
Someone in that small crowd gained something. No matter what it was.
I’ve spoken before 200 classmates for a student week of prayer, just this past January. I was terrified. I read and reread my notes and felt that no matter what I did, I wasn’t going to have a main topic. I felt useless. I didn’t know why I had even volunteered to speak. But as I spoke, I didn’t feel nervous. I realized that even if I made no sense at all – which I probably didn’t! – that someone was getting something out of it.
I remember once hearing that Bebo Norman felt he wasn’t making headway… that he was just saying the same thing over and over again. Psh. No way. No matter if you repeat something, you’re getting to someone, somewhere.
The same goes for this situation. It didn’t feel right, and it seemed useless. But God works in every way. Even though it felt like a drop-out, a “flop”, I bet something happened. It just wasn’t the shocking, big explosion everyone would hope for.
(And if I made no sense… I’m really sorry)
Wow, that’s really sad, on all parts. Being an artist myself I can totally relate. You just dread going on stage, and even 30 minutes before the show you just hope for a miracle. Sometimes people DO show up late after all…
I’ve played in 12-13 countries or so, on big stages to 15000 people in the crowd, but also to empty churches with nothing more than an old floor lamp to light up the band. I have never understood either why it happens (apart from bad promotion work). But what it does is, it keeps you humble. You really feel small and dependent on God when you’re in that kind of situation.
On another note I just bought and downloaded your new album, can’t wait to listen to the whole thing!
Greetings from Sweden,
Johan
Hi,
FFH, JB, and others. I’m sorry that the event was so difficult. I do sympathize. I know it must have been a blow. If anything, I hope you can strengthen your faith in the Savior through tough times. JB, I also live in Utah, close to Salt Lake City (Orem). I did want to mention to you that you are right about love needing to be shared, and how better than through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. I did however want to make a clarification for you though, because I would not want you to be misinformed. As a Mormon myself, I can tell you that we do not believe that we are saved by works alone, or that grace is to be earned (not freely given). Jesus did freely offer us his grace and mercy, and everything good that we can do is enabled through Christ’s grace. Because He loves us, and wants us to progress, he has set up the commandments to help us learn and grow through making correct choices. With this explaination, the doctrine our faith teaches is this: We ARE saved by grace, after all we can do. Meaning that we have to put forth our best efforts, such as keeping the commandments. For we cannot be saved in our sins, but from our sins. Thanks.
Shane
I just want to say that I had something happen recently that also made me question why things turned out the way they did. I had to tell myself that if one person came to Christ or even strengthened their relationship with Him, all is worth the effort. I became stronger for the effort that I put into it. It changed me. It is my job to follow what Christ wants me to do, not to second guess his reasons.
Thank you for being faithful to the calling even if the house isn’t packed. I love your music and would have loved hearing you!
I love how God uses the element of surprise sometimes. I can only tell you as someone who lives in an abundant mission field (Salt Lake City, Utah) where there is less than 3% of Biblical Christianity present in the population- that even *if* one of the bigger churches here could raise enough money to have a popular Christian band come, attendance would be modest compared to playing somewhere in the “Bible belt”. However, the fruit that would come out of ministering and inspiring worn out, godly laborers with a passion to live for the lost -would be nothing short of amazing. As Christians here we don’t expect those luxuries – only to spread the love and truth of the Gospel of Jesus – in a culture where grace is NOT considered a free gift, where salvation is works-based, and Jesus is not considered holy. I would sure love to see Christian artists come to the places (especially in the US) that need them the most, not just where concert promoters send them and every seat is full. Until then – here in Utah – we just have to be very thankful for iTunes