We're Gonna Rip Your Face Off!

Who said it?

A. Martin Luther, before he and the fresh from the local bar worship band, Reformation, cranked out A Mighty Fortress is Our God (Sunday Morning after Ninety-Five Thesis was nailed to the door).

B. George Beverly Shea, early Graham Crusade, when a choir and GBS were preparing to do the first public performance of I'd Rather Have Jesus, in New York City.

C. Hulk Hogan, before beating the Iron Sheik (and feared camel clutch), Madison Square Garden, January 1984. Hulkamania was officially birthed after this fight.

D. Korey Cooper, Band Leader, Skillet, Winter Jam http://www.jamtour.com/ in Columbia, February 22, 2008, as he and his worship head bangers were preparing to lead 15,000 people to worship.

Maybe I really am that guy after all, but if guessed D, you are correct! Thus, I am feeling a bit conflicted (I know that is a metrosexual word, sorry) about my Winter Jam experience.

I don't know if it was the incessant talking of Eddie Carswell (Newsong) and Tony Nolan, that included two long pleas for money, or not. Maybe it was the flames and explosions behind Skillet . . . or their deafening volume, that my children complained about BTW. Maybe it was the way too over the top expectations of an overflow crowd of teens, who were being Shhhhst every 30 seconds, like they were at a school assembly. Orphans and how much this cost Eddie/Newsong did not seem to peak their interest They came to get their face ripped off, for crying out loud.

Okay, I am an old guy, out of place who walked away impressed by:

• Youth leaders from all over the state that either took days off, or left after a hard week of work to transport thousands and thousands of youth to an event that speaks their language.


• Newsong's music and passion.


• Skillet's creativity.


• Mandissa's courage.


• And because of these things some kids in the midst of the chaos, were found by Jesus, for the first time.

South Carolina Tour began yesterday at Pee Dee Community Fellowship http://www.pdcf.org/ in Florence. Bryan Chapman is the most creative church planter I have ever met. Solid, solid new church in Florence that has witnessed numerous changed lives over the past three years. First Brazilian Baptist Church in the evening led by planter Pete Hasse. FBBC is compromised of young single men and young married couples. The church will always look like an airport terminal. Sounds strangely biblical, huh?