Tim Keel's Blog: Released! "Even the Darkness"

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It hardly seems possible. It seemed like it took forever. But now that it's here...

Mike Crawford is the worship pastor at Jacob's Well. He came on staff here as an extreme act of faith seven years ago. Part of the deal was that we would raise money and build a recording studio. We did that. It took five years. It was finished less than a year ago with 90% of the design and labor led by Mike and built by a handful of men from our congregation on Monday nights. Here's an old blog post just a little ways into the process: Under Construction.

All throughout that time Mike was making the transition from rock guy to worship pastor. He started by singing most of the worship music that I, erstwhile worship leader to that point, had picked out. Over time though, he began to write music, music that was being shaped by his life in our community and the way in which our community indwelled the Scriptures week in, week out.

Once the studio was completed, Mike began the process of recording a CD of the music created at Jacob's Well over his time leading us. However, by the time the studio was finished and he was finally free to record, he had more music than would fit on one CD. It was at that point that Mike made the first of several great decisions: he decided to record it all and make it a double CD - 14 songs.

Listening to it draws me back to each of the passages of Scripture that animated the writing of it. It also reminds me of the life that has happened over the same time, a kind of soundtrack for our church. I heard one particular song today that transported me to a funeral that was heartbreaking and hopeful, then to a different one, and finally a third. I was overwhelmed in that moment with gratitude and the opportunity that we have to share life and bring into beauty and meaning...

The whole thing is an amazing product of our community. In the same way that the illustration on Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor, and Chaos was created by a member of our community, (sweet Jeremy Collins) the art of this record was produced by people that have been or are a part of the Jacob's Well family. Based on concepts from Mike, Sam Lewis did an extraordinary illustration. Nate Lewis designed it. Jannele Mastin art directed it. Jim Langford did all the hand-lettering. What about the music? 25 different musicians from our worship team played on the record. When I listen to it I find myself scrambling to see who is playing or singing some tasty musical morsel.

So, I hope you'll take the opportunity to buy this record and consume it whole. You can buy it online, but if you do that you miss out on the amazing visual art that has been generated. [Update: I was wrong. If you purchase the CD online, they ship a physical CD. Eventually electronic version will be available on iTunes] Here's the link:

Mike Crawford and his Secret Siblings present Songs from Jacob's Well Volumes I & II: "Even the Darkness Will Not Be Dark to You"

It costs $15. You can stop by the building at pick one up during normal office hours, or like we did with my book, we'll be selling it at our worship gatherings for awhile. For those coming to the Reclaiming Paul conference, it will be available there, too.

Cheers, Mike. Well done.

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Comments

Woohoo! This is fun.

Posted by: Adam | October 14, 2008 at 06:01 PM

oh my. listening to "words" as i read your entry just about blew my brain. i love dreams and getting to watch their growth and glory in our community, in friends' lives - what could be more wondrous? the LORD is good.

Posted by: beth | October 14, 2008 at 07:58 PM