The intruder, Michael Markley happens to be a great fiddler.  Just Google his name and his website will appear with a link to this video.  Fantastic.  And for your viewing pleasure, I am adding his rendition of the classic hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

Love it.  Absolutely love it.

Great job Michael.

Jesus is my friend.

Even though I sin daily.

Because I do sin.

A lot.

I don't want to, though.  I want to be sinless.  I am striving for holiness.  I'm just not there yet.

Not even close.

But what a friend I have in Jesus.

See this on Youtube here.

(Look out for the cheeky grin from the lady trying to get to her car)

(08/01/08 update)

DISCLAIMER: Regarding Michael's behaviour in this video and the subsequesnt comments by multiple users of this blog we (XXXchurch) would like to appologise. A lot of the time people who call themselves Christians behave in ways that do not reflect the love of Jesus Christ. We aren't going to sweep these comments away like they never happened, we only ask that you please be forgiving, no one is perfect. ;-)

It was a great Cornerstone Music Festival this year. Of course it was hot, sweaty, dusty and crazy. Highlights include a Q+A session at the press tent, catching up with friends, seeing loads of people repping X3 gear and Rex ripping it on the dance floor and stage.

Thanks to the Shevlot's for hosting us and the brave interns who roughed it all week!

Check out all the pics on Flickr and highlight video below. Bonus: Summer Wrestling Video

Alive was a smaller festival than Ichthus. Strange things happened here though... People are so funny. Lauren decided that she was going to hand out flyers and really promote the message of The Love Alliance… the problem was that every other person would decline the FREE flyer!

I had a similar thing. When asking a woman (who was looking through our T-Shirt bin) if she wanted to know what XXXChurch was: she said, "No" and walked off!

I threw a kazoo at her back… but she didn’t notice.

On the final day of Alive there was a storm. This was fun because we heard lots of things about tornadoes touching down in the area etc. I say fun because it is always fun to tease fate and tread the edge of good conditions for growing humans. The best part of the storm was that we, being inside the tent, suddenly got hit by wind that shook the sides and made the roof swell and shake like the end of the world. Then I stepped outside…

It felt like a gentle breeze…

Funny how things look totally different when you step outside of them.

After some ‘discussion’ we said we had to go and I went to shake his hand but he refused saying, “I DON’T shake hands with sinners!”

WOW!

We videoed the whole thing, watch this space…!

P.S. About a week later we found a hatemail on the Myspace account which we posted here. It is the one that begins "I saw these reprobates at a Wal-Mart in Massillon Ohio..."

Priceless!

(08/01/08 update)

DISCLAIMER: Regarding Michael's behaviour and the subsequesnt comments by multiple users of this blog we (XXXchurch) would like to appologise. A lot of the time people who call themselves Christians behave in ways that do not reflect the love of Jesus Christ. We aren't going to sweep these comments away like they never happened, we only ask that you please be forgiving, no one is perfect. ;-)

X3 was at Big Ticket Festival this past weekend. Even though I'm from Kentucky where Ichthus is hosted, I have never been to a Christian festival before. Big Ticket was my first experience with loud rock music and selling merch at the X3 booth. To be honest, I'm more of an electronica guy, but the loud pulsating music from the stage behind our booth was so full of energy, you couldn't help yourself from moving to the beat.

I met a lot of cool people at the festival and really enjoyed getting to talk to with people about their experiences with pornography and how X3 has been a help in their struggle with it. There were a lot of people who would walk by the booths and give a confused look - the word "porn" at a Christian festival? That was my cue to ask, "Have you heard of XXXChurch before?" A sigh of relief would transition on their faces when I explained it to them. "We're here to help people not look at porn."

Some people who would see us from a distance would give us a covert thumbs up or a wink.

The X3 booth was so disorganized under the table where we stored our plethora of uncategorized t-shirts. If someone asked for a particular size of a t-shirt, I would find myself searching for several minutes, sometimes in vain for the shirt. Krissee Danger was running the HeartSupport booth like a machine. All her shirts were nicely rolled up and in bins according to size. I will certainly do some more merch-preparation for the next event at Cornerstone. If you will be at Cornerstone this year, stop by and see us at the X3 booth. I hear Rex might be making an appearance.

[In the photo, Brandon, X3 Fan, SammyK]

It’s Wednesday 11th and we rocked up to Ichthus at around ten in the morning after driving through the night from Chicago and arriving at around 8am! Turns out that the main merch tent that we were staying in was knocked over by the wind so we had to come back and check in at 4pm. We went and passed out at the house we were staying at.

After setting up the XXXChurch booth a girl from Gotee Records who was running something backstage with the Gotee show came by and asked if we wanted to MC for the night. Steve did not but I thought it would be a fun challenge. I even got to talk for about ten minutes about XXXChurch and throw out some free XXXChurch stuff.

Day 2 - The Love Alliance

Today was the first day of the main festival. We sold some merch, talked to some people. It was fun.

I got to know David and Lauren much better. David and Lauren are a couple who are sharing their booth space with us. They are both really cool with such a sense of what’s important and just pursuing that. (Also one of the first married couples I know who are capable of hanging out with single people! If you are reading this and you are married, no offence, but you suck at this.)  Anyway, after experiencing some very frustrating times working for a popular non-profit they quit and out of that frustration was birthed The Love Alliance. The Love Alliance is their non-profit that aims to get people connected to various social action projects. It is awesome and worth supporting.

Day 3 - "Blame it on this southern wether..."

Today things went pretty well with sales etc. I forgot to mention that Steve and me had backstage passes and we really loved getting free food that tasted awesome!

The real highlight was around 5pm when the storm knocked down one of the tent poles signaling screams and panic. Steve and I went to the car to wait it out leaving our things in the tent thinking we would be returning soon: may I take this opportunity to say that if you are ever in an emergency situation always take your belongings. We never went back that day and they closed off the “compound”.

We had some fun trying to record the first Love Alliance podcast. It didn’t work because the laptop died before we saved it. Good times though… getting a little wet and all.

Day 4 - Heart Support

Today was a fun day at the festival. I figured out that I could get food back stage to take away and so I was able to get David and Lauren lunch and dinner to supplement their beef jerky diet.

The most fun was shooting some interviews for HeartSupport. We interviewed Dr. J first who is a Nutty-Professor-Creationist and a very nice and smart man who seems good at what he does: engaging with Atheists.

Next we interviewed David from The Showdown about his experiences with the openness he has with the band.

The last interview we did was, however, ridiculous. We talked to Xanadu, the Dance Guru/Choreographer of Family Force 5. We started out sitting outside the backstage porta-potty. We then moved the interview into the porta-potty because David Crowder had just gone onstage and it was really loud. After invading some guys’ privacy we decided it would be funny to get on stage behind David Crowder and do the interview there! We finished up in front of the Family Force 5 drum machine! Totally bonkers!

We wrapped it up around 2am and finally slept in the next morning…

- jon

if you want to know more about our escapades then check out Jon's personal blog here. Enjoy!

So Jon and I have hit the road for a quick little festival tour. 

We made a pre-festival tour stop in Chicago for a baseball game between the Braves and Cubs at Wrigley.  Now I might despise the Cubs, but you cannot deny the atmostphere at Wrigley.  It is like nothing I have ever seen.  What a great baseball city.  Opting to drive through the night after the game, we headed to Kentucky right after the game. Wilmore, KY was calling our name for Ichthus. 

It was a great time as we got to speak with a lot of people about the ministry and see some great shows (David from The Showdown singing with MxPx was a highlight).  

Anyways we are now in Ohio for Alive Festival.  Should be a great time.  If you will be at Alive or at Creation (heading there next) please do stop by and say hello in the Merchandise Tent.  We always love meeting folks on the road.

By the way, to the right is our good friend Xanadu from Family Force 5 rocking the new XXXchurch shrit designed by El Clinto. 

Check for more updates in the days to come!