Ryan, Mark, and Pastor Michael (our children's pastor) went downtown Chicago to hit a
P.O.D. concert last night. It was a very small, intimate show, held @ the Hard Rock Cafe, and only about a couple hundred fans packed the place out!
As Ryan was picking up his tix at the will-call booth, he noticed that there were no other kids there...only adults. Oops! He was afraid this might have been a 21+ show. But, the ticket person assured him that, no, Mark was able to enter. So they went inside and found their way to a spot right along the side of the stage.
As the music was playing...some familiar and some new songs...they found the band ripping out "Youth of a Nation" (which we performed a human video to, years ago, in the NXT youth group). When this song began, Ryan and Michael told Mark that this would be a fun song for him to stand right up by the stage. So Mark was right there! When the lead singer,
Sonny Sandoval, came to the edge of the stage, Mark reached his hand out and gave Sonny a high-five. At that moment, Sonny stopped, looked at Mark.......and then reached down and lifted Mark onto the stage!!! He then proceeded to hand Mark the mic and Mark sang the last few lines of the chorus...on stage...with the band jamming behind him,
"We are, we are...the youth of the nation!" Holy Smokes! It was just like in a Disney movie...stuff like this just DOESN'T happen!!! Ryan said that everyone in the audience was cheering and singing along. When the song ended, Sonny lifted Mark back down off the stage. Then, as they were leaving at the close of the concert, I guess lots of people gave little Mark high-fives and said "Great job!"
The guys returned home super late, but this morning when I asked Mark about it, he was so pumped. He said, "They are my new favorite band." As a mother...I just hope they stay true to their Christian roots. After such a dreamlike experience, I would hate for my kid to be disappointed in his "new favorite band."
Thankfully, we have some camera-phone snapshots of the whole experience. No video tho. Ryan said lots of people had camcorders there....so if anyone reads this who had their camcorder playing at that moment...please humor a mother and send me a copy! I'm gonna tag this post in hopes that some fan will come across it. You never kno! Apparently, stuff like this DOES happen!!! xoxo
Here are some still shots from when the Kid's Connection band shot a music video earlier this summer, for the song SOLUTION by Hillsong United. We filmed it at various locations, downtown Chicago. It was such a blast! The final video has been shown several times in Kid's Connection, but I'm still waiting to get my hands on a copy so that I can post it online. Till then, here are just a few of the many, many pics that were so artistically taken by Kyle Dern:
My brother, Brandon, sang lead and I did backup vocals. In fact we sang like this for all the Kid's Connection services this summer, as well as for KCU, a Wednesday adult service, and an NXT service. What an experience for me, to sing with someone so talented. I love my brother so much! And, yes, college-aged ladies...not ony is he talented...he's also available! LOL.
