Keynote’s Vision Dinner is going to be an awesome time to hear about what God is doing around the world and what is going on at Keynote.

You can watch it online for free on Saturday at 7:30pm at Keynote Connection.  I”ll be producing the webcast, and I’d love to have you see it!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for my trip to Turkey for MinistryNet last week – it was great!

It was inspiring to gather with 166 people from 37 countries on 5 continents to talk about how the Internet can be used to spread the gospel.  I enjoyed conversations with new friends from India, Singapore, Poland, Germany, the UK, Norway, France, and more.

Roman ruins at Perge (photo by Mick Haupt)

I especially appreciated the emphasis on integrating Internet-based tools with traditional ministry.  It’s not about the new replacing the old.  One leader said that our focus needs to be on “reaching real people in the real world who have real needs using virtual, online methods”.

Our CTO Keith Seabourn says, “This conference was a special time for me.  God reminded me that when I was asked to step into the Chief Technology Officer role in 2001, I asked God what he would have me work towards.  I wrote down 4 things.  One was ‘Identifying emerging leaders with a pioneering/ entrepreneurial spirit who are willing to claim a part of the Internet world for Christ.’  This conference was part of God’s gift to me to see it happening.”

Next comes Keynote’s annual Vision Dinner on Saturday, November 7.  We wish you all could be here!  Last year’s was amazing.  Please consider watching it online beginning at 7:30pm at www.keynoteconnection.org (click on “Vision Dinner 2009”).  It will be an exciting time of hearing about what God is doing through Keynote!

Armageddon Experience record

A few weeks ago one of our staff members got to hear how God used one of our bands from back in the 70’s, Armageddon, to change her life. We thought you’d be encouraged to read her story in her own words!

It was July 7, 1970 at Downey High School (in California) and a couple of friends had invited me to hear a heavy rock band. (I don’t remember the name of the [Campus Crusade] band, it might have been “Armageddon”.  All I remember is that I liked them or I wouldn’t have stayed around.)  The music was good, but really loud so I went outside to sit on a table in the quad. Even out there I could hear the music and speaker, but at least I was alone and could think.  Crowds were too much for me at the time. I’d done quite a bit of drugs and was a little paranoid.

While I was sitting there a guy with long hair came up to me and said, “You want love don’t you?”  I wasn’t a virgin, and he was really good looking.  I thought he was trying to pick me up, so I said “YES!”  He asked me, “Did you know Jesus loves you?”  I remember my heart came alive, and I started to cry. I said, “Yes, I know Jesus loves me, but I’m too far gone, too dirty.”  He just spoke what I had heard at church for years, but this time it went so deep and all the hurt and self disgust came pouring out.  He gave me a tract with an address on the back, told me there was a Bible study the next night, and asked me to come.

I left and went home after that, but when I did, I sat on my bed and told God that if He was real, I needed Him and asked Him to make me clean. I asked Jesus to love me and let me feel love, promising Him everything, because I had done such a lousy job with my life so far. I was 14 at the time and although I was extremely intelligent, my brain and body had been abused and used since I was five. Then I said, “If you’re not real, I need to paint my walls.  Amen.”

I got up went into my mother’s room, where she and my older sister were talking and told them I had just accepted Jesus into my heart. They started to cry and told me my sister had done the same thing a couple hours earlier in a different location. My older brother came in a short time later and said he had just done the same thing. God rescued all three of us on the same day!! …-Bev

Isn’t that a beautiful story?  As you partner with us to serve Keynote, we trust that God continues to allow us reach out to even more people like Bev every day. We may not always know the “rest of the story” but we know God is at work. Thanks for being a part of Keynote’s ministry around the world.

Speaking of ministering around the world, we have a lot going on overseas in October!  One team will be going to Panama to do communication and team training.  Blue Sky Nine will be heading to South Korea and Mongolia for 3 weeks to serve the ministries there.  And last but not least, Karl, Chris Zaugg (Director of Keynote), and a coworker are heading to Turkey for an Internet ministry conference from October 18-23! So there’s plenty going on to pray for, from health and safe travels to God directing every word and every note of these times and making them into “more than we can imagine”.  Thanks for praying!

Many people (even friends of mine) think that social networking is a waste of time.  The bottom line for me is that people are connecting and sharing what is important with them.  There are more than 250 million active facebook users!  If we can figure out how to use these tools to connect people with Jesus, we will be “making the most of every opportunity.” (Col. 4:5)

That’s why it’s so exciting that God brought us to Keynote at this time.  Campus Crusade’s leadership has asked Keynote to help coordinate the use of social networking in ministry.  We’re still trying to figure out how to do that, but it’s an exciting time to be here!  People are calling the Internet the “8^th continent”, and we want to find ways to reach the people that spend so much of their time there.

This doesn’t mean that Keynote will stop ministering via music.  We are organizing ourselves into three outreach efforts:  bands and artists, creative communications and training, and virtual (Internet) ministry.

If you want a better explanation of social networking, check out Social Networking in Plain English.

p.s.   We have a great opportunity for you!  Every November Keynote invites anyone who is part of our ministry or interested in it to join us for our Vision Dinner, a time of sharing what God has done through Keynote.  We have found this type of event, just like our Christmas Conferences for students and our Staff Conference in Colorado, to be an amazing time for encouraging us and increasing our vision for how God is moving.  If you can possibly be in Westfield, Indiana on November 7, please let us know, because we don’t want you to miss it!  This year’s theme is Igniting Life Change v2.0: Reaching the 8th Continent.

The summer started out with the Keynote Summer Project.  Forty-two students participated.  God’s classroom for each of them involved faith risk to stand before their peers and tell their story as part of their communication training.  Some of those stories became part of the concerts and helped set the stage for the gospel message.

Not only did our students take life-altering steps of faith, but more than 8,000 people heard the gospel through the four Keynote bands and two Impact bands during their outreach tours.  812 people responded to the gospel and gave their lives to Christ!  We were especially excited to hear that some of the staff and students led a door-to-door salesman to Christ in our house this summer while we were away in Colorado!

At Campus Crusade’s US Staff Conference in Colorado, the theme was “Connect”.  The main messages focused on connecting with God, connecting ourselves and others with the Gospel, and connecting with partners to fulfill the Great Commission.

The picture to the left shows Moby Gym on the campus of Colorado State University in the midst of being transformed into our meeting place.  Screens will cover the scoreboards, a stage will be built, more screens will be hung over the stage, and dozens of lights will be hung.

And here it is, full of Campus Crusade staff worshiping God.  My favorite part of the conference was getting to hear from Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.  His first message reminded us of the wonder of the Gospel – we haven’t just been forgiven of our sins; justification means that we have the righteousness of Christ!

Pastor Keller also spoke about what it means to be a messenger of the Gospel, and about ministering to the poor.  There was enough in those messages to keep me busy thinking for a long time, and that was only a small part of the conference.

Thank you so much for the part you play in our ministry.  You had a hand this summer in encouraging most of the US staff of Campus Crusade for Christ.  Many of them will serve more effectively and enthusiastically because of the training they received this summer.

Thanks for all of your prayers.  Organizing the New Staff Training worship teams had a lot of details that I’d never worked on before and many others that were just out of my control (like hoping the sound system would be there and that a sound tech would be there to run it, for example ), and yet God brought it all together.  We even picked up a couple of extra instrumentalists at the last minute (the piano player we had turned down for lack of having a keyboard, but then found a piano at the meeting site and called him to come!)

For me the biggest blessing of all is getting to know these people.  It’s a special time to hear their stories as they begin in full time ministry.  Many of them have done internships on campuses around the country, some working with different people groups (like internationals with our ministry Bridges,  Asian students with Epic, or African American students with the Impact Movement).    I feel privileged to have met them and worked with them.

You can pray for them to continue to be able to manage their full schedule for New Staff Training with the addition of extra practice hours for leading worship.  And of course, pray that their service would help all the new staff worship in the midst of such a daunting schedule.

Another neat thing is that, through Facebook, they have formed a community for communicating important info, like practice times, but they’ve also used it to build themselves into a community and are building friendships as a group .  God is so good!

And an update from Karl:

These ladies are helping people get checked in as they arrive for four weeks of training.  This was our biggest registration to date, with about 600 people coming through.  We make sure they’re set up with housing, meal plans, and childcare for their kids.

Because people can choose between class rosters that last from one to four weeks, we have a registration period almost every weekend.  My team sets up the computers and then steps back and makes sure that any problems get solved quickly.

We’re already preparing for the big US Staff Conference, when 4500 people will be here for connection, encouragement, and training.  We’ll be setting up computers all over the place, and helping broadcast the conference over the web to people who can’t be here.  Thank you for your prayers!

Karl and the rest of the guys are already unloading trucks and working hard to set up the office facilities for the rest of the Staff Conference Team.  They show up in a few more days and then the various trainings start just a week later.  So, you could pray for the computer stuff to work the way it should the first time and for good health (hauling boxes isn’t always the best work for some of us) so that everyone else can hit the ground running once they arrive.

You can also pray that we would reflect Jesus to the people here in Fort Collins (especially as we deal with college students living in the apartments – we tend to have to deal with some “college” behaviors, but always want God to be glorified more than just to get problems to stop).

I am also going to be organizing the worship teams for the New Staff Training this year, so please pray that God would organize the teams for me so they work well together and can lead the rest of the new staff in focusing on God while having so much new information thrown at them.

Now for some cool praises from the Keynote summer project! The students and staff had an outreach day.  In addition to surveys and “Knowing God Personally” booklets, some students used the new “Soularium” tool and others used their laptops to show “Wreck” (produced by last year’s film track) and two other short films.

• One team forgot most of their materials at the office, but saw God bring just the right verses to their minds as they shared the gospel with people.
• Silja, our student from Germany, was in a mall when she heard two girls speaking German behind her! She shared with them and they were very interested in the booklet and in coming to the dress rehearsals. (Silja stayed with us for a week between serving this spring at Purdue and starting the summer project.  It’s been great to hear how God keeps bringing Germans across her path in Indiana, one who received Christ with her in May!)
• A Carmel High School student named Tyler trusted Christ with Ryan, who was sharing his faith for the first time!

I love being able to serve with this ministry (both Keynote and Campus Crusade for Christ).  Whether it’s unpacking boxes or helping a student to share his faith for the first time, it is such a privilege to be a part of how God is growing His kingdom!  Thank you all for being our “behind the scenes” ministers!  We pray that you would reflect Christ and see God greatly this summer where you are.

We are in the stage of complete exhaustion and desperation. All we could ask is God’s mercy. Please plead God with us that He will bind the stronghold of cachexia (kakeksia) in his body. It is the body’s wasting away. Please pray that the supplements will work to melt all the cancer in his body.

It is our desire that if God will take Chris home, that He will bless his last days with a quality of life (even without the tube!). Right now, the pain is stealing his joy and hope. Pray for our children that beyond confusion,their hearts will be open to receive God’s love and goodness. Lastly pray for me, this is the hardest thing I ever faced in my life – for extraordinary strength, peace and to enjoy every moment with Chris. Above all, amidst all pain and suffering, pray that God ’s glory will shine.

We’re not the only ones who’ve been busy.  We’ve had our bands out touring.  Blue Sky Nine was “in prison”.  Keynote likes to serve other ministries when possible, so this was a great opportunity.  Band leader Scott Naylor said, “The ‘Weekend of Champions’ effort put ministry teams at 9 different facilities throughout Central Kansas, and for the weekend, over 600 inmates indicated a first-time commitment to trusting and following Jesus, and over 400 indicated a re-dedication. We’re thrilled to have been part of that.”

Meanwhile our other band, Giants of Silence, headed to Europe.  They’ve performed in 3 countries to locals and to our servicemen at some of the bases and seen God at work (even down to keeping the lead singer able to sing despite being sick most of the trip). After one particularly unusual concert in Germany with mostly non believers, Ethan Ehrstine said,  “At the end of the night 2 people indicated decisions to receive Christ, any 16 purchased CDs (which all contain the gospel) and many, many more took our little mini-posters (which also have the gospel printed on them).  It was a great night!!”  I’ve got to tell you, for that to happen in Germany is wonderful!

The Boyds took time out of touring to speak at another Family Life marriage conference in Seattle.  354 people attended and 46 of them received Christ that weekend.  Comment cards shared of marriages that were “over” now being willing to change and grow together again.  God is so good!

Our solo artists have been touring as well, but I’m running out of room since I want to let you know what’s coming and what needs prayer.  For Keynote, the biggest things happening are the Golf Challenge and the Summer Project.  The Golf challenge is where golfers get sponsors for their playing 100 holes of golf in a day.  Please pray for all the details of these events (one in California and one in Indiana in May) to go well and for God to provide for the financial needs of Keynote despite the economy.

The summer project is where college kids come for the summer and learn how to do ministry Keynote style.  We have 4 different bands forming this year (plus two Impact Movement bands for the African American community) and one film team.  It is such a great way to minister, but to be honest, the biggest work is in the lives of the students themselves.  This is one of those places God works to set their course for Him and so I would ask for prayer for the students to fall madly in love with their Father and for Him to grow them in great and lasting ways.

Lastly, we will be heading to Colorado to work with the Conference Team again this summer! I can’t believe we’ll be heading out in a month.  Conference team does all the behind the scenes work that makes it possible for all kinds of trainings (New staff, Leadership, Bible classes, etc.) to take place in one location, culminating with our biannual all Staff Conference.  Karl, of course, works with the tech guys.  I’ve been asked to organize the New staff Training worship team.  We’d love your prayers for us to be healthy and serve well this summer.  Thanks so much for being our “behind the scenes” team.  You make our ministry a reality!

Happy Birthday to Karl!!! Today he turned 40 and so the fun has already begun (including the 40 balloons at his desk, thanks Mom). Thought you might like to see.

Now, back to our normally scheduled newsletter   We love being a part of Keynote. Last week we heard one of our solo artists, Jimmy Fauntleroy, do his thing and it was great. If you want to check out his music (most of which he writes himself) go to www.littlelordmusic.com.

We have had some questions about what exactly our bands/musicians do.  Unlike some Christian artists, they do not play all Christian music.  The goal of our bands is to use good secular music to paint a picture throughout the concert of real heart needs.  They do this through the music and by telling their own stories in between songs in a way that makes sense to the audience.

The goal is that the audience would relate to the story. Then when they hear how God loves them and wants to give them a different future than the path they’re on now, just like He did with the band member telling his story, they will want a relationship with God, too.

This is also why we have such a wide variety of bands.  Each plays different music and so can reach a different group of people.  From rap to acoustic, we want to “be all things to all men so that by all possible means (we) might save some.” I Cor. 9:22.  Our bands excel in quality, but what matters the most is their hearts.  They share real stories about how God has changed their lives and they pray and trust God to do the work in peoples’ hearts.

We hope hearing this give you a better picture of the way our people minister so you can pray for them.  They face a lot of obstacles, from tiring travel to spiritual battle, both before and during concerts.  And thanks to God, people’s lives are changed because our artists are willing to go to them.  God bless you!

Blessed Be Your Name In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out  I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s “all as it should be” Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out  I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

This song, for me, sums it up.  This is what life is about.  Learning to trust our God enough to bless His name in all circumstances.  Two years ago, we were in probably the darkest time of our lives thus far.  I couldn’t even sing it, but I could choose to believe it.  Had I written this letter yesterday I would have said how the sun is shining down on us and we can still praise our God.  Indeed, Karl and I are in a place where it is easy to thank God, He has given us such blessings.  Today, though, I’m reminded of the sacrifice of praise God sometimes calls us to.  A fellow CCC staff member has stage 4 cancer (and a wife and two small children).  We would love it if you would pray for Chris and Jo and the kids.

But in all these places (and because we’ve been there) we can truly say that our God loved us through them.  Sometimes He did it personally and other times He used the love and care of other believers. We wanted to share this song with you because if you and I were sitting down with coffee having a heart to heart discussion, you would have your joys and trials to share.  Some of you feel blessed and some of you undoubtedly are hurting badly right now.  Where ever you are, please know that you are LOVED.  God is there and won’t let go.  And we are here, too.  If there’s any way we can share your burdens (or joys) we want to.  Just let us know.
Praising God,

Holly Reconnects with Student from Fall Concert in Iowa

Holly sings in our band blue sky nine and was working at one of our College Christmas conferences when this happened…

I knew I’d see some old friends at the conference in Minneapolis, but I didn’t expect to see her…I first met Dania at a concert we played on her campus in September.  She came up to talk with me after our show and had lots of questions about God. We had a great conversation— I told her my story and told her how she could know Jesus, too.  She didn’t pray with me to receive Christ that night, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever see her again or if she’d ever become a believer.  Then I found myself standing next to her in a hotel elevator in Minneapolis.  She asked me if I had time to talk again.  We found some empty chairs in the lobby and chatted like old friends.

“What you told me that night really made a difference in my life.  When you said that God knows every hair on my head, that made me think that God must really love me.  I went home and prayed that night [to receive Christ].   I thought there would be a miracle and everything would suddenly become easy, but actually in some ways life got harder…

I try to talk to some of my friends about God, but now they think I am weird or something.  But then I think about the cross and how Jesus suffered for us, and then I think it’s not so bad…I started studying the Bible with other girls on my campus, and I really want to help reach out to my campus and tell my friends and family about God.”

Isn’t that a great story?  And while we’re on the subject of conferences, here’s another story that we love especially because of how technology was used directly by God to change someone’s heart…

Mike Rebholz – Though receiving lyrics for the projector system only three hours prior to a concert was stressful, God allowed Mike to see how his role mattered at the Impact Conference (ministering to African Americans).   Later Tia (one of the MC’s) came up to Mike and asked, “Did Aaron tell you that one of the kids brought a friend of his who said as he was reading the lyrics on screen he realized he needed to receive Christ?”

Mike is free to do work like this because Karl came to Keynote (as a skilled tech, Mike was called on to help out with computer troubles regularly, which took a lot of time away from his assigned ministry).  And Karl loves doing it.  He’s been doing a lot of creative upgrading – making things better on as little money as possible.  Meanwhile, I have been plugging in to the Human Resources department, which I’m pleased to be able to do, mostly serving by caring for staff needs (personal or helping with events).  Thank YOU for being our team!  Just as Karl serves Mike, you serve us through your prayers and support and we are blessed and thankful!

religion vs. relationship…
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 9:01am
(published by a friend, used with permission)

One of my favorite things is when one of my daughters will come and sit on my lap and just hang out. We don’t have to really do anything. Just sit there and be together, and watch Hannah Montana for the 17th time, or talk about their day, or whatever.

I love them like crazy – and I hope they know that.

Please understand that it is important to me that they are grateful for what I provide for them. It’s important that they show respect for me. And it’s very important that they learn to listen to my voice and obey me. But, those things – obedience, gratitude, respect – they are the products of our relationship. Those things are based on my daughters’ trust of who I am and how much I love them. The relationship itself is what transforms them and causes those attributes to develop.

So they can come up and sit on my lap whenever they want. Which, to be honest, doesn’t happen as much as I would like.

So here’s the deal. I don’t REQUIRE them to go through this little litany of telling me how great I am, telling me how sorry they are for not obeying me, and telling me how grateful they are BEFORE they can just sit on my lap and hang out. I don’t REQUIRE that because if I did, I believe something terrible would happen.

They would begin to believe that their relationship with me was based NOT on who I am and my love for them, but on whether or not they had ‘properly’ done those things. Just as soon as they began to perceive that our relationship was based on ‘doing those things’ instead of who I am and how much I love them, they would have done what I believe people have done with God.

They would have lost a relationship and settled for religion – and religion itself does not transform us.

In the grand sense, there is more to it than that, and those things are worth talking about. But that little shift in understanding, from ‘religion’ to ‘relationship’, has made all the difference in my spiritual life. That in turn has made all the difference in my day-to-day life.

Truth be told, that is why my wife and I walked away from our former careers (Social Work and Information Technology) and went into vocational missions work – because helping people make that little shift in understanding is the most important, most enduring thing we could do in this world.

That was written on Facebook by one of our Keynote staff.  He now shares his stories about real relationship with God on tour with blue sky nine.  Reading this so blessed me that I couldn’t think of anything I would want to pass on to you more as we head into this blessed, but hectic season.  Our prayer is that you would KNOW how much your Daddy in heaven loves YOU… special you.  I want this to sink in deeper in my own heart and mind as well.  We truly have so much to be thankful for.  God bless you!

Hey y’all!  We’ve had so much neat stuff happening I didn’t know where to start.  Over the last month, Keynote artists have been traveling to various parts of the U.S. with stops at military installations, juvenile detention centers, college campuses, high school settings as well as a few community events. More than 1300 people indicated a decision to begin a relationship with Jesus as a result of the 38 events during the month of September alone!  Here’s an abbreviated “news feed” of what Keynote has seen God do in October so far:

10/1/08:  “One of our most memorable concerts was at a substance abuse center called Teen Challenge in Maryland.  During the show something amazing happened.  When Robert shared his testimony, a lady started screaming at the top of her lungs. “John!  John!” We could hear the desperation in her voice and everyone started looking around trying to see what was wrong.  Seconds later a few men took off running toward the street.  The lady was screaming because her little boy lost control of himself while running downhill toward oncoming traffic, and she was too far away to catch him.  But for some reason, the boy suddenly stopped a few feet away from the road.  We believe it was God who kept that child from his certain death.  This concert was an on-time reminder of God’s ultimate sacrifice for us.  How, like the child, we are running towards our certain death but our loving and gracious God stepped in to save us.  We praise God upon every remembrance of this powerful, real-world illustration of His love for us.”  Impact Band

10/8/08:  “The neat thing about partnering with this small campus was that their administration actually came to the Cru group and asked them to plan some events for homecoming!  In our experience as students involved and staff with the campus ministry, this was completely astonishing and totally worth us driving all the way.  As a cool side note, the student leader of Cru got elected as Homecoming King!” Blue Sky Nine

10/26/08:  “We wanted you to know the [Family Life Marriage] conference ended up going INCREDIBLY well!  Not only did my voice completely come back, but we heard from the conference team that 47 people out of the 500 who attended indicated a decision to receive Christ! “ The Boyds (family band with Keynote and speakers at CCC marriage conferences)

Pretty great, huh?!  And there’s more.  Not only do we see God at work here in the U.S., but many of our partner ministries are seeing amazing things happen in their spheres of influence. We have the unique opportunity to gather some of these leaders for the first International Directors’ Summit at our facility in Westfield, Indiana. On November 1st, over 25 leaders from 12 countries (such as Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Australia among others) will join together for this historic event. This four day summit will allow us to explore how we can work together to use training and creative outreaches to help build impassioned spiritual movements in many countries around the world.

Karl and I are excited to be hosting a couple from South Africa while they attend the Summit.  We will also be diving into Keynote’s new staff training for most of the month of November, so you can pray for good health and energy to stay high as we add a lot to our schedules for the next few weeks.  Please pray for the Summit, as well, since so many people will be traveling to get here and will need to function in their second language and be healthy to get the most out of this time.  Pray that God would work “beyond our imagining” in what flows out of this time.  God bless you!

Now that Anja’s in school, I can go into the office (I’ll be getting trained in applicant evaluation this week!  Pray for me and hear first hand when our bands come back and share what God’s doing through Keynote.  Since you aren’t able to come in with me, here’s a letter our Director of Development, Rich Dundore, wrote recently that was full of reminders of God at work:

As I reflected yesterday on the events of September 11, 2001, I was reminded about the special place in my heart for our military personnel and their families as they operate in this ever-changing world.  As a ministry, Keynote also has a strong desire to reach out to these men and women who serve our country so selflessly.

While pondering this historic anniversary in our nation’s history, I received an email from Rahlo, Keynote’s hip-hop artist with the blackSoil project.  He shared with me that he had performed at a military base a few weeks ago.   Approximately 2,200 soldiers filled the auditorium for the two outreach concerts that day.  The chaplain provided the following results from the comment cards that were turned in:

123 individuals asked to speak with someone about spiritual things
119 expressed interest in studying the Bible with someone
56 indicated that they gave their lives to Christ that day!

The chaplain’s office also mentioned that the number of lives impacted was much larger than they normally see in outreaches there.  And they added, ‘We can only hope and pray that the ground is fertile and they will blossom fully into beautiful trees.’  Let’s all join them in that prayer!

Keynote’s aggressive rock band, Giants of Silence, also visited there just last week.  In their two outreaches at this post of 23,000 soldiers, they were able to connect with another 2,000 men and women who responded very well to their music and message.  While the band was not able to utilize comment cards this time, the responsiveness of the soldiers was evident.  Lindsay, the band’s drummer, made the following observations:

After presenting the gospel, we always play ‘All Around Me’ by Flyleaf.  Soldiers were holding up their hands, singing along and yes… worshipping God all over the place.  Here are some of the lyrics from that song:
‘My hands are searching for you, my arms outstretched towards you,
I feel you on my fingertips… this fire rising through my being, burning… I’m not used to seeing you
I’m alive, I’m alive.
I can feel you all around me, thickening the air I’m breathing,
Holding on to what I’m feeling, savoring this heart that’s healing…’

God is at work in our military!  Thanks so much for your support and prayers that allow Keynote to share God’s love with these spiritually hungry soldiers.  If you would like to learn more about these two Keynote groups as well as all of our other artists, please visit www.keynotefuel.com.

God is so good!  No matter what we hear on the news about the war or the economy, God is in control.  We can trust Him, with our fears and our realities.  These soldiers understand fears and realities well, and so we pray for them, and for ourselves to grow in our ability to cling to God through everything.

As for us, we have been enjoying watching Anja with her new big girl Bible.  She can read now, so we got it for her birthday and have been amazed at how often we’ll find her looking up a scripture reference to read it for herself.  We pray she will continue to grow in her faith, and that we’ll parent by example.  God bless you!

When I’m sitting at my computer, I often need to remind myself that I’m reaching people with the gospel, for God’s glory.  That’s where we find our motivation, and where we try to focus in these newsletters, also.  But this time I’d like to tell you about two stones that I’ve laid since coming to Keynote…

When I arrived, I found that the main computers had battery backup (UPS), but that the battery backup systems were not adequate for what was plugged into them.  There were a lot of lightning storms this spring and summer, and one computer had rebooted over 20 times due to power problems.  One of my first projects was to install a bigger battery backup unit and program the systems to shut down automatically when the building power has been out for a while.  This is a huge safety net for our important information.

Keynote was backing up most our important files each night in case the main computers crashed, but there were several crucial files that were not being backed up.  Also, the backups were not being stored offsite, which is an important step in case the main office suffers fire or storm damage.  We’re now backing up everything and keeping a copy offsite.

My next big task is to come up with a strategic plan for technology at Keynote, and to propose a budget.  Please pray that God would grant me wisdom—I need it!

Thank you so much for your prayers during this time of transition.  We are really enjoying life in Indiana and our new friends and church.  Anja is enjoying school, and just had a fun birthday weekend with my family visiting.  Please continue to pray that we would organize our lives well as we get involved in small groups and more activities for Anja.

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Final Keynote Summer Project report:

• 8 teams — 7 bands and 1 short film team.
• We traveled 23,407 miles.
• We had 93 concerts.
• We saw 13,090 men, women, and children hear about Christ.
• The angels rejoiced over the 349 new decisions for Christ.