In June of 94, I flew to Atlanta GA. One of the senior agents at Vanguard Entertainment Agency had encouraged me to come and check out the possibility of becoming an agent. They were booking Carman back when he was still cool, The Newsboys before and while they were cool along with other Al Denson kind of CCM acts.
I had never booked a show for a band in my entire life so I was a perfectly long shot candidate for this gig. I was 23 and too stupid to know that, so I went with an enormous amount of optimism. I was going to get this job. Ignorance truly is bliss.
I was dating someone at the time, and we were dramatically mismatched. She was into Oscar Parties and French Cuisine. I was into Country Music and burgers. Besides, she was taller than me. We had broken up once before but it didn’t take. This felt like a perfectly good way to break it off. I would get the gig, play the “I don’t do long distance card” and presto.
Right before leaving for Atlanta and a day after breaking off the other relationship I had, quite by surprise, run into Shannon Anderson at the Mall where she was assistant managing a shoe store. I hadn’t seen her in a long time. She’s really fun to look at so I was very pleased to see her again. We had dated for a few months a while back but hadn’t seen or talked to each other in almost 2 years. She had played the “it’s not you it’s me card.” It worked the first try.
It was a perfectly innocent encounter. As I recall her washing machine was broken, so I offered her to do laundry at my place while I was out of town. I had no ulterior motives. I wasn’t doing the ol’ “you can do laundry at my house” move.
I came home from Atlanta a week later completely down trodden. The gig didn’t materialize like I naively thought it would. It looked like I would continue down the road of professional waiter/ rock star wannabe. I still had my white Washburn guitar, my crappy peavey sound system, and a dream. I felt like I would be stuck doing that forever. Khaki pants, green apron and bow tie on the weekdays, matching denim jeans/ jacket on the weekends.
And then it happened. Something hit me quite by surprise that summer that was completely not in my plans. I had completely unexpectedly borderline accidentally fallen in love with Shannon. We had a relationship forming that was not scripted, it was out of the blue, it was God.
I was smitten with Shannon Anderson the first time I laid eyes on her. She had just moved to Tulsa, OK in a Chevy Impala that was the envy of senior citizens everywhere and probably would’ve qualified her for the seniors discount on coffee at McDonald’s. I was impressed with her spunk in that at 19 she drove the 1,000 miles from Park River, ND to Tulsa, OK all alone. As I got to know her, I found out she was so much more than a pretty face. She loved (still does) God so much. She is one of the most caring and compassionate people I’ve ever known. She loves to give, to serve, to love.
In the summer of 94 We were both on the same page. If we were going to be in another relationship this one was for keeps. I proposed to her on one knee in a fountain in a restaurant in Tulsa that has long since gone out of business. Looking back on it, I was the exact kind of guy that if one of my daughters brings home someone like that I’m going to have a heart attack. I had based my entire life strategy on the premise that something neat would happen.
We had started dating in July, were engaged by August and married by December. It was a whirlwind of young love and God’s sovereignty wrapped into one six month period. I didn’t find God’s will that summer; God’s will found me. If I had gotten that gig in Atlanta there would be no Shannon Tyler. There would be no Madilyn, Ashleigh, Lauryn and Ethan.
In November, right before the wedding I got another call from Vanguard Entertainment. The job was materializing after all. Chuck Tilley, who I am grateful for to this day for giving me my start in the music industry, hired me to be an agent in his company.
Shannon and I got married as planned in December and very soon after were loaded up in a Uhaul for Atlanta, Georgia. The first bands he gave me to work with were Ian Eskelin and a little no rent acoustic guitar rock band in a mini van called Jars of Clay. Next up was Third Day (they had an excellent conversion van) and we were off to the races. This was the start of my 15 years of working in Christian Music, but more importantly the start of my 15 years and counting with Shannon. We have lived a lot of life together. I can honestly say that I know what Paul was talking about when he wrote of a God that was able to do more than I could ask or think. (Eph 3:20)
I’m remembering that tonight as God is leading my family on a new journey. We certainly haven’t sought this. God pulled it out of His hat. I remember those months in the summer of 94. I was restless, wondering what I was supposed to do with my life, wondering if I was going to be doing the same thing until I died, wondering if God really did have a plan for my life. This time the feeling wasn’t dire, I mean, seriously, I have a great gig. If this is what God called me to grow old doing then no problem. There was a definite unsettling. There was a realization that there was something coming. There were lots of unanswered questions.
Moses’ brother Aaron is being groomed to be the High Priest in Exodus 28 and 29. This was a guy who was sitting around minding his own business in the desert, and God picked Him. Aaron didn’t have to find God’s will for His life. God’s will found him. There wasn’t even any such thing as High Priest before. There is no way Aaron could’ve dreamed that would be his gig some day. I wonder if Aaron felt the same kind of restlessness, the same kind of tension, wondering if he was going to be forever in the same fields, working the same sheep, if this was all that God had for him.
And then out of nowhere, in just a few months, He was the guy that Hebrews would tell us is the picture of Jesus Christ, the High Priest.
We’re going to talk a little about that tomorrow night. If you’re in an unsettled place, a place of wondering what’s next, a place of wondering if God has something more for you, tomorrow would be a great time to join us.
We’ll meet at 730pm at Journey Church. Building 8 in the Factory in Franklin, TN.
Blessings,
Darren Tyler
www.conduitmission.org if you have $15, you can feed a kid for a month in Haiti. If you’ve got a $32 a month, you can sponsor one of our little ones there.
IMPORTANT: WE HAVE A DONOR WHO HAS AGREED TO MATCH DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR UP TO $5,000 ANY MONEY THAT WE RAISE TOWARDS FINISHING OUR HOUSE IN HAITI. IF THE LORD LEADS YOU, EVERY THING YOU GIVE DOUBLES TOWARDS THE HOUSE. WE'RE SO CLOSE ON GETTING THIS FINISHED.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Conduit Nov 16- God's Dream
I started Platform Management in 2001. October 2001 to be clear. If you’re astute you might realize that it was not a great time in history to be starting a new endeavor. One month after the attacks on 9/11 I was putting out a shingle for a new management company in the Christian Music Industry. It wasn’t that I was especially spiritual and intuited the Lord calling me to launch Platform. To the contrary, the company that I launched a couple years earlier with some friends was flaming out in the most spectacular of forms.
In the late 90’s someone in the high tech space with an idea and even a half-baked resume could score multiple millions of dollars from VC companies. So you now had an idea, a dude, and a lot of cash. Their first obstacle as a newly funded company was building out a leadership team of people with very specific technical skill sets and abilities. The money was flowing in the Bay Area and we had this idea that a head hunting firm focused specifically on that area, and the high salaries that were being handed out, could be very successful. We were almost right.
Along with 3 friends we started just such a company called Shikare. “Shikari” is a Hindi word for big game hunter. In the spirit of cleverness and in celebration of the “new ecommerce economy” we added an e at the end. We were headhunters that focused specifically on wireless application and other software companies in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area. Our business model was to approach the abundance of recently funded high tech companies and offer to help them build out their leadership teams.
It was our job to find the well guarded, highly valued, uniquely skilled folks in companies like Cisco and Price Waterhouse Coopers and talk them into taking a gig with our client. It is one of the only industries where my skills as a talent agent in the music industry would come in handy. I was trying to sell the talents of a person who thought they were worth more than they were to someone who thought they were worth less than they were.
We had received an interesting amount of cash up front in the form of seed funding as well as 100,000 pre IPO shares in the company that funded us. Our compensation would be somewhere between 20-30% of their first year salaries. We took this in a combination that was usually half cash and half stock options. These were Pre IPO options with no vesting period. We had a very reasonable intention and realistic expectation of becoming wealthy.
I don’t know that I ever articulated it, but part of my motivation, which seemed so noble at the time, was that when I became wealthy, then I could retire and pursue ministry full time; never having to worry about money. I could just imagine what it would be like to be financially secure, and then have the ability to serve God without a care. It’s embarrassing when I look back on it to see how full of crap the idea was. I mean seriously, not a single disciple or early church guy set out with that idea. It’s a perfectly American idea, but not remotely Biblical.
The problem was we were a little late to the party. March of 2000 was when we received our funding. It was also, coincidentally the peak of the Nasdaq run. The air in the dot-com bubble had started to leak. As it is with many bubbles, the majority of us were blissfully unaware of the problems that loomed ahead. A domino effect had begun.
Investors had finally come to their senses. Companies like “Excite@Home” or “Flooz” or “Pets.com” had to be able to make money in order to make money. This “new economy” was not new at all. The companies started folding by the minute. The stupid sock puppet from the pets.com commercial was in hiding.
The hard to find talent for our clients were suddenly in great abundance. The folks that were almost impossible to find, were suddenly looking for jobs. The CEO of a company that we worked with told me, “Darren, I like you, so I’m gonna shoot you straight. It would be a better use of my money to stand on the roof and throw it down to poor people than to retain you guys. I’ve got piles of resumes on my desk.”
And then, 9/11 happened. The preponderance of our customers and clients were of a Middle East descent. In the climate that followed 9/11 the country had changed and with a majority of our business being done with folks who were considered suspect by default, it was the final bloody nail in our coffin.
Those coveted pre IPO stock options were completely worthless. They would have been just as valuable had I used them to paper the walls in my bathroom. We split what money was left and went home.
It was during this time that I realized my only option was going back to the Christian Music business that I had left. So on a wing and a prayer I launched Platform Artist Management. I remember saying at the time. “you know it’s always been pretty easy to know in the past when it was time to move on from a company I started, we were out of money. Watch God let this company be successful and see if I’ll walk away from it then”. Those are words that are ringing in my ears as God is unpacking this vision for Conduit; Church.
Platform Artist Management happens to be successful. In the middle of a down economy, and the music industry as a whole being crushed, our little management firm is doing well. And of course, it’s now that God would ask me to walk away.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking for pity nor am I looking for props. This is no sacrifice. Not that I won’t miss it, not that I won’t miss the financial security. But when I consider all that Jesus has done for me, and when I consider what awaits me and my family in eternity, this isn’t a sacrifice; it’s just obedience. It’s just putting my money where my heart is.
In Ecclesiastes 1 we see the word vanity, which is also translated as vapor in relation to the work and toil done by humans. I learned that money is indeed like vapor. I could see it, I could experience it, but it was ultimately impossible to hold on to, to grasp, it was vapor.
The truth is I still get to pursue ministry full time, and not worry about money. Not because my plan worked and I have an abundance of money, but because I have an abundance of God. I can choose to worry, or I can choose to trust God. I assume I’ll dance with both of those from time to time. Maybe my American dream won’t come true, but dreams aren’t real anyway. They’re ultimately, well, they’re vapor.
Tomorrow night we’re going to dig into Exodus 27. I’m excited to get back to our study of finding Jesus over and over again in this amazing book. We’ll be back at Journey Church at 730pm.
Darren Tyler
CONDUIT MISSION: thanks to everyone for keeping up with our child sponsorships in Haiti. If God is moving in your heart, please consider signing up at www.conduitmission.org to sponsor one of our kids in Haiti. It’s $32 a month and we can feed, clothe, educate and spiritually mentor a child. And if you want to meet them? Come with me to Haiti in April.
In the late 90’s someone in the high tech space with an idea and even a half-baked resume could score multiple millions of dollars from VC companies. So you now had an idea, a dude, and a lot of cash. Their first obstacle as a newly funded company was building out a leadership team of people with very specific technical skill sets and abilities. The money was flowing in the Bay Area and we had this idea that a head hunting firm focused specifically on that area, and the high salaries that were being handed out, could be very successful. We were almost right.
Along with 3 friends we started just such a company called Shikare. “Shikari” is a Hindi word for big game hunter. In the spirit of cleverness and in celebration of the “new ecommerce economy” we added an e at the end. We were headhunters that focused specifically on wireless application and other software companies in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area. Our business model was to approach the abundance of recently funded high tech companies and offer to help them build out their leadership teams.
It was our job to find the well guarded, highly valued, uniquely skilled folks in companies like Cisco and Price Waterhouse Coopers and talk them into taking a gig with our client. It is one of the only industries where my skills as a talent agent in the music industry would come in handy. I was trying to sell the talents of a person who thought they were worth more than they were to someone who thought they were worth less than they were.
We had received an interesting amount of cash up front in the form of seed funding as well as 100,000 pre IPO shares in the company that funded us. Our compensation would be somewhere between 20-30% of their first year salaries. We took this in a combination that was usually half cash and half stock options. These were Pre IPO options with no vesting period. We had a very reasonable intention and realistic expectation of becoming wealthy.
I don’t know that I ever articulated it, but part of my motivation, which seemed so noble at the time, was that when I became wealthy, then I could retire and pursue ministry full time; never having to worry about money. I could just imagine what it would be like to be financially secure, and then have the ability to serve God without a care. It’s embarrassing when I look back on it to see how full of crap the idea was. I mean seriously, not a single disciple or early church guy set out with that idea. It’s a perfectly American idea, but not remotely Biblical.
The problem was we were a little late to the party. March of 2000 was when we received our funding. It was also, coincidentally the peak of the Nasdaq run. The air in the dot-com bubble had started to leak. As it is with many bubbles, the majority of us were blissfully unaware of the problems that loomed ahead. A domino effect had begun.
Investors had finally come to their senses. Companies like “Excite@Home” or “Flooz” or “Pets.com” had to be able to make money in order to make money. This “new economy” was not new at all. The companies started folding by the minute. The stupid sock puppet from the pets.com commercial was in hiding.
The hard to find talent for our clients were suddenly in great abundance. The folks that were almost impossible to find, were suddenly looking for jobs. The CEO of a company that we worked with told me, “Darren, I like you, so I’m gonna shoot you straight. It would be a better use of my money to stand on the roof and throw it down to poor people than to retain you guys. I’ve got piles of resumes on my desk.”
And then, 9/11 happened. The preponderance of our customers and clients were of a Middle East descent. In the climate that followed 9/11 the country had changed and with a majority of our business being done with folks who were considered suspect by default, it was the final bloody nail in our coffin.
Those coveted pre IPO stock options were completely worthless. They would have been just as valuable had I used them to paper the walls in my bathroom. We split what money was left and went home.
It was during this time that I realized my only option was going back to the Christian Music business that I had left. So on a wing and a prayer I launched Platform Artist Management. I remember saying at the time. “you know it’s always been pretty easy to know in the past when it was time to move on from a company I started, we were out of money. Watch God let this company be successful and see if I’ll walk away from it then”. Those are words that are ringing in my ears as God is unpacking this vision for Conduit; Church.
Platform Artist Management happens to be successful. In the middle of a down economy, and the music industry as a whole being crushed, our little management firm is doing well. And of course, it’s now that God would ask me to walk away.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking for pity nor am I looking for props. This is no sacrifice. Not that I won’t miss it, not that I won’t miss the financial security. But when I consider all that Jesus has done for me, and when I consider what awaits me and my family in eternity, this isn’t a sacrifice; it’s just obedience. It’s just putting my money where my heart is.
In Ecclesiastes 1 we see the word vanity, which is also translated as vapor in relation to the work and toil done by humans. I learned that money is indeed like vapor. I could see it, I could experience it, but it was ultimately impossible to hold on to, to grasp, it was vapor.
The truth is I still get to pursue ministry full time, and not worry about money. Not because my plan worked and I have an abundance of money, but because I have an abundance of God. I can choose to worry, or I can choose to trust God. I assume I’ll dance with both of those from time to time. Maybe my American dream won’t come true, but dreams aren’t real anyway. They’re ultimately, well, they’re vapor.
Tomorrow night we’re going to dig into Exodus 27. I’m excited to get back to our study of finding Jesus over and over again in this amazing book. We’ll be back at Journey Church at 730pm.
Darren Tyler
CONDUIT MISSION: thanks to everyone for keeping up with our child sponsorships in Haiti. If God is moving in your heart, please consider signing up at www.conduitmission.org to sponsor one of our kids in Haiti. It’s $32 a month and we can feed, clothe, educate and spiritually mentor a child. And if you want to meet them? Come with me to Haiti in April.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Conduit Nov 1- Lessons From Larry
If you want to go to Charrit Creek Lodge, I wish you the most sincere of luck in getting there. Tucked firmly inside the Big South Fork National Park, it is accessible only on foot or horseback.
Myself, Drew Cline, Kortland Fuqua, and Jamie George found ourselves on the latter as we made our way to an elder's retreat for my home church, Journey. The plan was to ride the horses to the lodge 12 miles and then keep the horses there at the stables for rides into the surrounding forests and mountains.
Ask 5 random people and they'll tell you they haven't heard of this massive sprawling 125,000 acre Nat'l park covered with forests, gorges, bluffs, mountains and rivers straddling the TN/ KY border. It's located only 2 1/2 hours from Nashville on the Cumberland Plateau. When you hear the weather people say "it's going to snow up on the plateau", this is where they're talking about.
Upon arrival at the lodge you'll find a structure built somewhere in the mid 1800's with some additional structures built more recently. Say around 1920. There is no electricity. The ceilings in the bunkhouse were all short, very closed in. The website describes this as the cozy accommodations. They were so cozy that at one point Jamie hit his head so squarely on the top of the surprisingly short door jam that it knocked him down. People in the 1800's were clearly much shorter than we are 150 years later.
There are family style meals served by a full time inn keeper like dude who lives in a smaller cabin. He's been here for 8 years living with no electricity in a cabin in the woods. My first impression would be that someone who lives here full time on purpose might have some issues. I had envisioned a dark well inside the staff quarters. If you were to eavesdrop you might hear the words "it wants to put the lotion on". (my apologies for the obscure reference from Silence of the Lambs. just calling them as I see them) The guy actually turned out to be quite normal. His name is Brian. He's a marathon runner, and quite the cook I might add.
And then there's Larry.
Larry has been on this mountain for 30 years. He runs Southeast Pack trips and is equal parts mountain man/ ladies man. He's got plenty of TN accent, but not the deep drawling kind as much as it is lively and entertaining. His catch phrases were "heavy duty" and "rock and roll". As we pulled up to his barn, Quiet Riot "Bang Your Head" was blaring.
He seems to live life with his finger on the trigger, with 21 horses, a dog named Winchester, and a cool duster. No question if you needed a posse that Larry was your guy. Larry figured out that what he calls regular life, people like you and I call adventure. He has figured out that people would pay an interesting amount of money to live his life for a few days.
Every time I couldn't get the horse to do what I wanted, Larry would shout, "operator error". Larry told me later that day, "they're pretty much stupid. They could buck us off at any minute and run away. They don't. How stupid is that. " This caused a philosophical shift in my approach to Spur. I had been thinking of it more like a carnival ride than a partnership between myself and Spur.
One night after dinner, Larry offered us a moonlight ride. This sounds way more romantic than it is. To be clear it's riding your horse through the pitch black in the woods. You begin to understand exactly what happened to the headless horseman. Larry had been into the vodka a little bit that afternoon and there was definitely a question about the laws of drinking and driving applying to the horse. Ultimately I decided that since the horse hadn't been drinking we should be just fine.
Larry said; "boys, you gotta trust your animal". I asked Larry about his comments a couple days earlier that the horses were pretty much stupid, and he said ah, forget about that. He said they could see better in the dark. I asked him what about getting my head knocked off by branches. Larry said, the "problem with being tough, is that it's tough".
He took us on a trail a couple miles through the dark woods to the top of an overlook that was stunning by day and breathtaking by night. This dangerous ride turned out to be the highlight of our retreat. Learning that life with a guide is so much easier, so less scary. As long as I knew Larry was leading the way, I had a sort of calm. He had been this way before. After 30 years of this, he knew where he was. There were scary moments, but overall it felt peaceful. I was bolstered because I was with a band of brothers whom I trusted. I had Spur, whom I was forced to trust, and who proved himself trustworthy.
I learned that with the right folks around me, the right guide in front of me, the right horse beneath me, that I could go places and experience things I would've never dare think of by myself. We stood there on the edge of a cliff while Drew sang How Great Thou Art accapella and God was there.
There is so much that we've accomplished at Conduit because we've done it together. We've gone places that we wouldn't have gone because we did it together. We have an amazing guide in the Holy Spirit and Jesus who carries us. He is indeed trustworthy. We're not an institution. We're a band of people saying yes to the adventure, the danger, the beauty of a relationship with God. How is it possible that the idea of "church" became so boring, so domestic over the centuries?
What I realized Larry meant wasn't that Horses were stupid, it was that they were servants. They have the power to kill me, or at the very least throw me a few feet in the air and choose not to. They're not stupid, they're servants. They're trustworthy. They're not tame; they're just kind.
Tomorrow night Conduit is back at the Tyler house. It's chili night! A couple of you have already responded with what you're bringing. Please check out the list below and email Shannon at spaigetyler@yahoo.com with what you can bring.
We'll be kicking off at around 630 with the food and 730 with the worship and teaching time.
Darren Tyler
THE LIST:
If you can bring one or more of the below, please email Shannon at spaigetyler@yahoo.com
2 people to bring Chili
1 bag Tostitos
1 fruit
1 veggies
2 Desserts
5 two liter bottles
1 crackers
2 side dishes
Myself, Drew Cline, Kortland Fuqua, and Jamie George found ourselves on the latter as we made our way to an elder's retreat for my home church, Journey. The plan was to ride the horses to the lodge 12 miles and then keep the horses there at the stables for rides into the surrounding forests and mountains.
Ask 5 random people and they'll tell you they haven't heard of this massive sprawling 125,000 acre Nat'l park covered with forests, gorges, bluffs, mountains and rivers straddling the TN/ KY border. It's located only 2 1/2 hours from Nashville on the Cumberland Plateau. When you hear the weather people say "it's going to snow up on the plateau", this is where they're talking about.
Upon arrival at the lodge you'll find a structure built somewhere in the mid 1800's with some additional structures built more recently. Say around 1920. There is no electricity. The ceilings in the bunkhouse were all short, very closed in. The website describes this as the cozy accommodations. They were so cozy that at one point Jamie hit his head so squarely on the top of the surprisingly short door jam that it knocked him down. People in the 1800's were clearly much shorter than we are 150 years later.
There are family style meals served by a full time inn keeper like dude who lives in a smaller cabin. He's been here for 8 years living with no electricity in a cabin in the woods. My first impression would be that someone who lives here full time on purpose might have some issues. I had envisioned a dark well inside the staff quarters. If you were to eavesdrop you might hear the words "it wants to put the lotion on". (my apologies for the obscure reference from Silence of the Lambs. just calling them as I see them) The guy actually turned out to be quite normal. His name is Brian. He's a marathon runner, and quite the cook I might add.
And then there's Larry.
Larry has been on this mountain for 30 years. He runs Southeast Pack trips and is equal parts mountain man/ ladies man. He's got plenty of TN accent, but not the deep drawling kind as much as it is lively and entertaining. His catch phrases were "heavy duty" and "rock and roll". As we pulled up to his barn, Quiet Riot "Bang Your Head" was blaring.
He seems to live life with his finger on the trigger, with 21 horses, a dog named Winchester, and a cool duster. No question if you needed a posse that Larry was your guy. Larry figured out that what he calls regular life, people like you and I call adventure. He has figured out that people would pay an interesting amount of money to live his life for a few days.
Every time I couldn't get the horse to do what I wanted, Larry would shout, "operator error". Larry told me later that day, "they're pretty much stupid. They could buck us off at any minute and run away. They don't. How stupid is that. " This caused a philosophical shift in my approach to Spur. I had been thinking of it more like a carnival ride than a partnership between myself and Spur.
One night after dinner, Larry offered us a moonlight ride. This sounds way more romantic than it is. To be clear it's riding your horse through the pitch black in the woods. You begin to understand exactly what happened to the headless horseman. Larry had been into the vodka a little bit that afternoon and there was definitely a question about the laws of drinking and driving applying to the horse. Ultimately I decided that since the horse hadn't been drinking we should be just fine.
Larry said; "boys, you gotta trust your animal". I asked Larry about his comments a couple days earlier that the horses were pretty much stupid, and he said ah, forget about that. He said they could see better in the dark. I asked him what about getting my head knocked off by branches. Larry said, the "problem with being tough, is that it's tough".
He took us on a trail a couple miles through the dark woods to the top of an overlook that was stunning by day and breathtaking by night. This dangerous ride turned out to be the highlight of our retreat. Learning that life with a guide is so much easier, so less scary. As long as I knew Larry was leading the way, I had a sort of calm. He had been this way before. After 30 years of this, he knew where he was. There were scary moments, but overall it felt peaceful. I was bolstered because I was with a band of brothers whom I trusted. I had Spur, whom I was forced to trust, and who proved himself trustworthy.
I learned that with the right folks around me, the right guide in front of me, the right horse beneath me, that I could go places and experience things I would've never dare think of by myself. We stood there on the edge of a cliff while Drew sang How Great Thou Art accapella and God was there.
There is so much that we've accomplished at Conduit because we've done it together. We've gone places that we wouldn't have gone because we did it together. We have an amazing guide in the Holy Spirit and Jesus who carries us. He is indeed trustworthy. We're not an institution. We're a band of people saying yes to the adventure, the danger, the beauty of a relationship with God. How is it possible that the idea of "church" became so boring, so domestic over the centuries?
What I realized Larry meant wasn't that Horses were stupid, it was that they were servants. They have the power to kill me, or at the very least throw me a few feet in the air and choose not to. They're not stupid, they're servants. They're trustworthy. They're not tame; they're just kind.
Tomorrow night Conduit is back at the Tyler house. It's chili night! A couple of you have already responded with what you're bringing. Please check out the list below and email Shannon at spaigetyler@yahoo.com with what you can bring.
We'll be kicking off at around 630 with the food and 730 with the worship and teaching time.
Darren Tyler
THE LIST:
If you can bring one or more of the below, please email Shannon at spaigetyler@yahoo.com
2 people to bring Chili
1 bag Tostitos
1 fruit
1 veggies
2 Desserts
5 two liter bottles
1 crackers
2 side dishes
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