"Ministry"

Hi, if you are checking out the blog you may know that we play lots of different types of shows from Churches to pubs to universities to full concerts. The reason for having this blog is so that Rob and I can say what’s on our mind and connect with the people that are making our career happen.

This is a subject that has long been discussed by Rob and I on long road trips to and from our shows. I thought that it might make sense to type it out one day…

Ministry is one of those words that, believe it or not, can carry a bit of a negative weight to it these days. At its core the word ministry is how we should all be living our daily lives. It’s not our job, or our volunteer work, it’s our lives. But who wants to tag that word to our lives… the word that represents to some an ingrown out of touch way of “reaching out” to more churchgoers. And what kind of non-Christian can relate to church lingo and culture that they have never been exposed to before… and can be, frankly, a little strange? The very word ministry falls into the “church lingo and culture” category that the majority of our people can’t even understand.

So many people are searching for something spiritual, and so many Christians have no way of relating to the world and its people because they haven’t exposed themselves to anything but today’s modern church culture; a culture that is partly out of touch with its current surroundings. When I was growing up I was scared into believing that people were going to hate me for being a Christian, so I hid it a bit… only let it out when I thought that I was safe. It’s so easy to find that safe spot in the church… go to Christian Bible College get a job in the “ministry” never ever see the light of day and live our whole life in the comfort zone. People don’t hate Christians; they hate the symbol of Christianity that has evolved over the last couple of centuries because religion has been used as a seat of power for power hungry men.

What about just being who we are? That’s sort of “in” these days anyway! So many people are trying to be individuals in a world that feels like we may just be another spec on the pile. That’s what I mean about the word ministry… it’s our life on our sleeves. What I’m trying to say is that we should just be who we are as Christians… just be open and stop worrying about what other people are doing and thinking, touch the people around us with a genuine love and treat them as special, open the doors of communication and break down the walls that Christianity has managed to build so strongly in the name of religion. What are we afraid of? People respond positively to love and community.


deni

Man jumps from ferry, saves woman, loses favourite hat...

Ok, so we have lots of good stories from our tour in Turkey that I'm sure we'll continue to blog on, but one story really stands out from the rest. It has to do with Denis being a hero. Now, first off I should say that Denis would never tell this story unless he was asked about it, since it involves his heroics. So here's the story...

Our second last concert on tour was on the European side of Istanbul. After the show we were making our way back to the place where we were staying, but it involved taking a ferry from the European side to the Asian side of Istanbul. There are tonnes of these ferries and they run all day long. In any case, we took one at around 11:00pm and halfway through an older lady jumped off the boat. The ferry turned around to go find her in the big ship, jellyfish infested sea waters. We all heard her yelling for help and then as soon as Denis spotted her, he jumped fully clothed from the ferry, swam a 100 metre dash to get to her, and rescued her from drowning!



I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you that it was a little scary for a little while, but all worked out. And Denis eventually made it to the Asian side (which apparently was a little tricky as he didn't speak any Turkish). As for the lady, she was rushed off in an ambulance and that's the last that we've heard. Alls we know is that if Denis hadn't jumped in, or had've waited another 20 seconds to jump in, she would have drowned. I guess God had it all figured out. The only catch was that Denis lost his favourite hat...

Rob

We had a great time

Hey hey… glad your checking out the blog! If you got the latest newsletter you know a bit about what is happening in theBetween’s studio. We are busy… actually we have a deadline! We have lots of work to get through before we are ready to go to Nashville for the mixing, but I guess the deadline thing is good… it’ll get us in motion for completion.

I have a few photos that I’ll post in this blog from turkey. OK… I have to say, and this may intrigue you, most of the toilets aren’t like ours at all. Without getting into too much potty humor and other details I’ll say that they are different, not better or worse than ours. It’s like a hole in the ground really. That’s it. Ya, there are “regular” toilets for us westerners but for the most part they use these “squatters” instead. Don’t picture a literal hole in the dirt, they are porcelain and they flush… they are just a little different that’s all…

Anyway… the food was amazing. The biggest difference is that instead of butter they use olive oil. Instead of salad dressing, olive oil. If there is any reason it would seem to put anything on anything they tend to use olive oil. They even use olive oil for their oil lamps. Lot’s of the sauces that have cooked meat or veggies in them are tomato and you guessed it… olive oil. Now whenever I smell olive oil I can vividly picture so many of the great meals I ate over in Turkey.



The people are wonderful and treated us to many a cup of “Chai” (Turkish tea… really strong stuff served in a small handle-less cup… usually they water it down with water to taste).

hope you are well, keep checking for more photos!

deni