10 Years Ago

Today, 10 years ago, I joined my heart and life to a beautiful, sincere, honest and compassionate woman - my precious Krissy.  250 family and friends from Germany, New Jersey, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Indiana and Nashville came to celebrate our day with us.  I'm so grateful for each of them being there.  I'm grateful for our parents helping to make this day so special for us.  It's hard to believe that was already ten years ago.  To be cliche, it seems like only yesterday.  I remember being emotionally moved looking out over the crowd and seeing 27 years of my life coming together for those few hours. 

It was a beautiful, sunny, late spring day.  I remember it being a bit hot and humid by the time everyone crowded into the little reformed church at 11am.  This was the church Krissy grew up in and it was a special day for her to be with all of her family and friends.  We were blessed that our pastor, Dale Evrist (New Song Christian Fellowship), could fly up for the weekend and marry us.

So much has happened since that day 10 years ago.  We have grown into a family of four and have so many precious memories of our time together - too many to list in one post. 

Tonight, I will be renewing my vows (which we personally wrote to each other) again to my bride.  As I read them, I realize how naive I was about marriage.  I wrote those vows as though I was a knight in shining armor - perfect and strong.  I'm ashamed to say, I haven't always lived up to them.  Over the years, I've fallen short.  I've been selfish.  I've been and said many things that were stupid and weak.  However, through it all, my wife has granted me a beautiful gift of grace.  We've learned God's place in our marriage ("...a threefold cord is not quickly broken..." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).  He has been and always will be our strength.  He alone has been our shield.  Because of His grace, we've been able to grow and flourish together.   

I sit here amazed at how much I've grown deeper in love with the woman I married since that day in May.  Right now, I'm just thankful that God knew what I needed.  He gave me a best friend, lover and companion 10 years ago.  I pray I get thousands more days to love her. 

Happy Anniversary Krissy!  I love you.

'Post-American' World?

Fareed Zakaria, author of Post-American World, in Newsweek just a few weeks ago, posted an enriching opinion article on the rise of the West beginning in the 15th Century, the rise of America, beginning in the 19th Century and we are watching before us, as we write in the 21st Century, the 'rise of the rest'.  The 'rest' are countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil.  These countries are fast becoming super powers, financially speaking, in our exploding global economy.  Anybody own International mutual funds?  Have you seen the growth?!

I highly encourage you to read the Newsweek article entitled The Rise of the Rest.  Zakaria goes into detail about globalization and how America has been one of the leading proponents of globalization.  Ironically, we don't seem to want to change with the rest of the world too quickly, however.  Small, but important, example: there are only 3 countries in the world that don't use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States!  I don't see the other two countries as up to date, do you?!

Despite what I thought I might feel before reading the article, I surprisingly felt encouraged and challenged when I finished it.  Zakaria challenges Americans and American culture and business to continue to globalize and change with the rise of the rest of the world.  In this, a very important political year, we have some key leadership decisions to make, as voting citizens.  Will we choose to rise with the coming international tide or risk losing our competitive advantages?

I agree with Zakaria, we have a strong competitive advantage that is unique to us as Americans.  By our historical acceptance of immigrants and by our system of prosperity and freedom that inspires so many poor immigrants to come to this country and aspire to make more of themselves, we have become prosperous.  We need to not limit this advantage.  It creates in us as a culture so much joy, enthusiasm and hope to know that we can do anything we want here in America.  We can be anything we set our minds and hearts to do.  We can have anything we desire.  We can worship freely here.  'What freedoms we have here compared to the rest of the world!!', we say.  Meanwhile, China, India, Russia and Brazil have seen this prosperity and learned from us (my opinion) and now we're seeing those countries quickly rise too. 

While here in the US, over the last 10 years, recent polls (mentioned in the Newsweek article) have shown that we are increasingly more negative about our own country that ever before. Let's not let this continue!  Wouldn't you rather want God-given freedoms than more government setting more and more boundaries and rules for you?  We have as big a potential as we've ever had to lead once again in all industry or, atleast, be competitive.  It will take leadership and inspiration for our country to feel and experience again what the 'rest' of the world seems to be experiencing today. 

A wise man recently told me "Rising Tides Lift All Ships".  We must share in the overall rise of the tide of the rest of the world. We played a large role in the rising of that tide.  There are tremendous economic opportunities for our country in the coming decades - however, we must be willing to adapt to the natural globalization that is occuring amongst us.  Our world is getting smaller - let's embrace it and not fight it or hide from it. 

This brings me to my final point.  As Christians, how are we going to let globalization affect us?  Are we to hide in our American bubble or be open to what God is doing around the world?  As Christians, are we going to embrace different cultures in our own communities?  For years, we've been sending missionaries outside the United States and brought our culture to their world.  Now, God is giving us a gift back - we see more and more missionaries coming to America from other countries.  And, they are bringing their unique culture to our country.  Are we going to accept this gift as freely as we've expected others to accept ours? 

More specifically, what are we going to do with Christian music and worship music?  How much longer will we primarily export our 'brand' of music to the world?  What about other cultures?  What would happen if we went to church on Sunday and your worship leader began teaching you a new powerful translated song originally written in another tongue?  What if it was arranged with unique instrumentation or a different genre like tribal dance or even dance/trance/electronic music?  It would be kinda cool for a weekend.  But, what if this continued Sunday after Sunday for weeks?  Would that rock your comfort zone?  How would we respond?  What are we afraid of?  I say, let's embrace the new emerging genres and music that God is giving to musicians, artists and churches around the world.  Let the American church receive it!  Let's enjoy the rising tides to come!  Embrace the global culture and watch your ship be lifted higher than you would have ever imagined in your American bubble!

Click on this link to view Fareed Zakaria's four reasons why America will stay competitive in a changing world: 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1511792808/bclid1540999423/bctid1541038678

For more interesting posts like this one every week, head over the Watercooler Wednesdays at the Randy Elrod - Ethos Blog!

Narnia II - Prince Caspian

On a rainy Memorial Day yesterday, my family and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  I had minimal expectations because I didn't LOVE the first one.  But, about an hour into, I was really enjoying this movie.  AND, it just got better and better from there.  It's a solid story, redeeming message, good acting, plot and action - lots and lots of action.  It was a great movie to see with the family.  The only scene the boys (6 & 8) had to cover their eyes was the part where they were tempted by the White Witch.  The rest was excellent.  I found myself still playing out scenes in the movie a few hours later as I tried to fall asleep.  I know it's good when that happens.  Go see Prince Caspian with your family - it was very good.  Better yet, read the book with your kids first.  That's what we did.  They were really into it.

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

I'm looking forward to the new Coldplay album.  Sounds like there are some great spiritual overtones to the album.  I'm looking forward to digging into it.  These guys remind me of U2.

Check out this exclusive review I just read:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1202492.ece

Just watched the first video from the album:

Performance Digital Royalties Top Mechanicals in the UK

By Susan Butler, N.Y.

The collecting arm for U.K. mechanical and performance rights societies MCPS and PRS today (May 22)reports that combined revenue from broadcasting and digital uses for the first time have out-performed revenue from recorded physical product.

In announcing record-breaking collections of more than over £562 million ($1.1 billion) in 2007, the MCPS-PRS Alliance noted that online royalties of £10 million ($20 million), which grew by 54% since the prior year, are still a small portion of overall revenue.

A 20% increase in royalties from live pop concerts and improved licensing activity among leisure and industrial premises drove the increase in overall public performance revenue.

The 11% decrease in royalties from the worldwide downturn in physical unit sales to £151.8 million ($303.9 million) was mitigated in the United Kingdom, in part, by improvements in licensing other new formats such as pre-loaded USB sticks and musical novelties.

"Much is written about the state of the music industry, but these results show a healthy story about the increased use of music in almost all areas of our business," says Alliance chief executive Steve Porter.

While the number of transasctions processed by the Alliance increased by 40% since the prior year, the cost of collecting and distributing royalties was just over 10% of total revenues.

Overseas territories that generated the highest revenues in the U.K. were the United States, Germany and France.

The Alliance collects performance and mechanical royalties from broadcasters, online service providers, record companies and other businesses that perform music.

To Read The Full Article, go to Billboard.biz - Global

Friday New Music Review - Norway's Lester

This week I discovered a gem out of the stack of CDs I took home from GMA Week.  A band out of Norway called Lester.  Their CD This Village (available on iTunes) has been in my player since Monday.  I was first struck by the cool artwork of the project.  Then, I popped it in the player and WOW - the music and artwork were perfect. 

My favorite cuts on the album are the first 7.  You can hear 3 tunes on the Lester myspace.  You Make Me Wonder is a fantastic opening cut, This Village has an incredible hook, Love makes you want to slow dance with your sweetheart and it just gets better and better from there. 

To sum it up: great 70's grooves, fun summer top-down-in-your-car chillin' music and vocals like Maroon 5.  Very current, very good!  Maybe we can get them to the US!  I'm in contact with Mudi Distribution now...we'll see.

Patrons of Change

I'm a subscriber to a podcast called Patrons of Change.  Every month I'm updated with content, information and news I can use to build my businesses and flush out my business ideas.  If you're a founder of a business anywhere, you'll find this website, podcast and the meetings to be valuable entrepreneurial resources and encouragement.

Every month I try to make their Entrepreneurial Meetup at the Sportsman’s Lodge in Brentwood/Cool Springs.  Patrons of Change was founded by Lucas Parry and Marc Krejci.  They are also friends of mine.  I distribute Lucas Parry music product at Go Global Entertainment.   

In this month's episode of the Patrons of Change podcast Marc Krecji sat down with Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall who is the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. One of the great ways to change the world is through business, and understanding the dynamics of how to start and run your own business can be overwhelming.  Dr. Cornwall discusses what makes an entrepreneur, what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the current business climate and dispels some popular myths about entrepreneurship.