Can I Get a Witness?

This is a continuation of my post from yesterday.

           Once, when I was touring the country with a traveling stage show, I was backstage talking with the custodian at a school where we were performing.  He was telling me about some of the various entertainers who had performed there in the past and about some of their behavior.   According to this custodian's words, the worst groups that came to play in this auditorium had been the southern gospel groups.  He said that they behaved awfully and left all sorts of trash including many beer cans behind.

        I can't vouch for the veracity of this man's story and his motives for telling it.  This is just what he related to me.  He didn't say how many of these groups came in and did this or if it had only been just one.  The point I'd like to make is all of us are judged by others, especially in our professional lives.  If this story was true, then the people on whom the story was being told are responsible for having set a very bad example before this one man who probably told this story over and over.  I'm sure I'm not the only one to whom the story had been told.

        When I signed the contracts with the agency that represented Greg X. Volz and Mark Farner, I was doing so on good faith.  Their music was very good--I knew this because I had followed both artists and owned many recordings from each of them.  But I had no inkling of what they were like as people.  I was very pleased with the relationship that I had with the agency so far and because the bands were close by and had open dates, I was given what I thought was a very reasonable price for the bands. I had every reason to expect a high degree of professionalism.

         Greg X. Volz is a vocalist with an incredible range.  As front man for the group Petra he helped the group develop a strong fan base and achieve a high degree of popularity.  In the few years since he had left Petra he had released two acclaimed albums.

          Mark Farner was a rock and roll legend having been the singer-guitarist for the mega-group Grand Funk Railroad.  This group had sold millions of albums and had performed in huge concert venues. Even in his career as a solo Christian artist he could be considered a star.   I had been a big fan back in the early 70s and was now somewhat awestruck that he was going to be headlining a concert that I was producing and I would be meeting him in person.

           The night before the concert I was to meet Mark Farner and his band at the Holiday Inn at the World's Fair Site in Knoxville. Providing hotel accommodations was my responsibility.  Due to my limited budget, this was the best I could afford and though certainly not the best place in town, it was not too bad. Near dusk I was waiting in the parking lot of the hotel and as scheduled a fancy tour bus rolled up.  I got out of my van and went to the door of the bus.  A man stepped out and identified himself as Mark Farner's manager.   He said he would introduce me to Mark.

         The man who stepped out of the bus was exactly the way I might have pictured Mark Farner nearly twenty years after his famed Grand Funk days.  He had a quiet, peaceful demeanor.  His smooth, straight sandy hair cascaded below his shoulders and he was wearing a fringed leather jacket.  He graciously introduced himself and then told me he had not been feeling well and could I take him to a drug store.  After giving the road manager hotel keys so that they could get situated in their rooms, I drove over to a drug store on Cumberland Avenue near the University of Tennessee.  I waited in the parking lot with the van while Mark went inside the store.  During the short errand we made small talk.  He mostly asked me questions about what I did and about my life.  When we returned to the hotel, after checking to see if there was anything else that they needed, he excused himself and told me he would see me the following day at the civic auditorium.

        Then the day arrived--October 10, 1988.  I was first on the scene to make sure the facility was ready. Then time began to pass in a blur as a flurry of preparations took place.  The lighting and sound companies arrived and set up the equipment.  The catering company arrived to set up serving tables for the preconcert meal.  Equipment was unloaded and the stage began to take shape for the evening's performance.  I basically just watched with the awareness that I had done a good job at making the preconcert arrangements.  Now everything was in the hands of the professionals I had hired.

       Greg X Volz came in from Nashville the same day of the concert.  He and his band arrived like clockwork and set up their equipment.  Greg and Mark and their bands ran sound checks and with plenty of time to spare the concert set-up was finished.  The caterers had the food ready and everyone got their suppers.  I found myself alone at a table in one of the backstage rooms with Mark and a young man that I had gotten to help with set up.  Mark led us in a prayer and then the three of us ate.

        During the meal, we chatted and at one point I asked Mark how he could be a Christian and yet much of his tour schedule consisted of playing at rowdy bars.  Mark made reference to the Gospel passages that tell how Jesus went to be among the publicans and the sinners.  He said that he wanted to minister to the people that really needed it and not so much to play in churches.  His mission was to save lost souls.  He knew that he still had a large fan base from the Grand Funk days and many of those fans frequented bars.  If he was there with them, he might have the opportunity to minister to them.  This sounded like a good answer to me.

          The concert itself was fantastic.   Very few tickets were sold at the door--I was losing my shirt on this concert.  But the few hundred in attendance for the most part really enjoyed the evening.  One church group of about twenty did get up in the middle of Volz's opening set because he performed a mesmerizing version of Aerosmith's "Dream On"--they were offended because he had performed a secular song.  Greg's set would have been a great concert in itself.  It was slick and professional.  Then when Mark took the stage he commanded the rest of the evening with the talent that had made Grand Funk such a popular band.  In one way I was wishing that it wasn't my concert and I could just be sitting there enjoying it.  Then on the other hand, I was proud that I had been responsible for putting together such an amazing event.

        Then it was all over.  The audience was gone.  The crews scurried to pack everything away.  I was busy paying people and helping to breakdown the equipment.  In the dim light of one side of the stage I could see Mark Farner gathered with a small group of people.  They were audience members who had accepted Mark's invitation at the end of his set to come up afterward if they wanted to know more about Jesus Christ.  As I worked I would periodically glance over at the small group.  One was a burly guy who looked like a biker who had a hard looking biker chick with him and then there were three more rock and roller long hair types.  Eventually I could see them all on their knees praying.

          Later, I thanked Greg and his band--I had barely had any opportunity to talk to any of them--and they were on their way back to Nashville.  Mark came to me to thank me for everything I had done and I told him what a great concert it had been.  I never gave any indication how much I was hurting inside because of my failure in successfully promoting the concert and because I had lost what to me at the time was a lot of money. We shook hands and he quietly told me that tonight five people had come to Christ.  At that moment I looked in his eyes and saw not a figure from rock and roll history, or an artist I had hired to perform a concert, but a brother in Christ.  Standing before me was an extremely humble and gentle soul who had come to Knoxville to do a job and it was a job well done.

           A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from Mark's agency thanking me and letting me know that they would like to work with me in the future.  Enclosed was a check for a thousand dollars from Mark Farner.  He had been impressed by my attitude.  I had not paid Mark and his band and crew too much more than that to come to Knoxville.  Mark had probably lost money on the venture as well.  But of course there were the five people who came to Christ that night.

        
I am going to have to apologize for this and hope you will indulge me.  I had not expected this story to run as long as it has and I would like to postpone my piece that was scheduled for tomorrow and finish this story I've been telling.  I hope you will stay with me on this.  It's a good thing I didn't get into detail!  There is so much more I could have told.

Are you a fan of Grand Funk Railroad and Mark Farner?  Have you even heard of them?   What about the Christian rock group Petra?   Greg X Volz?   What was your favorite line-up of Petra--with Volz or a version that came later?  Should entertainers who are Christians perform in places like bars?  What are some of the Christian oriented concerts that you have attended and how did you feel about them?