Que Es Kristian Stanfill?

i know it’s been almost a million days since my last post, but i’m still trying to find the words to describe what happened last week in ruston louisiana.  it was so alive and fresh that it’s left me in a place of dissatisfaction.  im still working through my thoughts on this, but basically i feel this way…life is to short and God’s spirit is to good to waste my days in dead places.  more on that later.  for now you can check out a new song up on my myspace page called “i need you.”  i hope you enjoy.  we’re off to cali tomorrow for another camp.  catch you up asap.  love to all.

sunday was my second father’s day and i spent it just the way i wanted.  i hung out with my amazing family for lunch.  it’s pretty incredible to be sitting at the table with my grandfather, my father and my son.  WOW!!  4 generations of stanfill men at one table…to much to handle.  after that i went home and sat on the couch to watch tiger woods add serious drama to the u.s. open.  during commercial breaks i tried to teach my son isaac about patience (even when daddy and mommy say no to MORE cookies).  i love my son very much and i love being a father.  i never thought it was possible to have so much fun with a 19 month old little boy.  he’s taught me how to look at the world with wonder again and i’m loving every minute of it.

on monday morning we woke up and headed back to camp world.  we’re still hanging out at the gulf for one more bigstuf camp.  bigstuf kicked off camp 4 of 10 on monday night.  just 4 camps in it seems that everyone is a little fried.  the excitement of getting bigstuf 2008 out of the gates has faded and in it’s place, it seems, is a resolve just to get the job done.  i can’t blame anyone…it’s very hard work.  we’ll leave here on friday, but our prayers will be with the bigstuf team all summer.  keep it up guys!

jumping back to last week…lake pointe’s camp was such a good time.  we love those crazy texas folks.  bubba thurman, greg bradford and damon faulk made it such an amazing week for us.  bubba and greg trusted us completely with the direction of musical worship and it was amazing to watch the Holy Spirit come and do unexpected and powerful stuff all week.  leaving lake pointe’s camp, my desire for more than just playing songs has become even stronger.  my prayer has become…

God…
i want more.  i want as much of your presence and power as i can handle in my human frame.  turn our expectations upside down.  deliver us from what we think is a successful worship experience.  make us open and willing to follow You to uncharted places.  amen.

we did introduce a new song last week.  it’s a song i’ve been working on for about a year.  it’s called “I Need You.”  the song is about Jesus bearing the wrath of God for our sin, on our behalf.  i hope to have a live recording of it up on our myspace by the end of the week.  i’ll be sure and let you know when it’s up so you can go check it out.  in the meantime i’ve put the lyrics below.  we’re off to louisiana next.  look out ruston…here comes the rock!  love to all.

I Need You

i am frail, broken easily
without fail, my strength keeps failing me
all alone, i’m powerless
to lift myself, from the pit, that i am in

i need You Jesus
i need You Jesus

from Your throne, of righteousness
descended down, into our brokeness
to right the wrong, to make a way
to bear the load, that we deserve, to bear alone

i need You Jesus, i need You Jesus
i need clean hands, i can’t You can
i need You Jesus

on the cross, on our behalf
the son of God, bore the father’s wrath
by His blood, the scars and pain
the perfect son, took the fall, and took our place

i need You Jesus, i need You Jesus
i need clean hands, i can’t You can
i need You Jesus

in his grace, and unfailing love
the risen king, gave his hand to us
to lift us up, from the pit
and set our feet, upon a rock, that ever stands

i need You Jesus, i need You Jesus
i need clean hands, i can’t You can
i need You Jesus

some things you might not be aware of : the new Coldplay record came out yesterday.  you should do your soul a favor and go pick it up.  chris tomlin also has a new single on itunes called “Jesus Messiah.”  i would highly recommend downloading that as well.  it’s an incredible song.  lastly…those closest to me know that i’m fascinated with tiger woods.  i believe we’re watching the best athlete of all time when we watch him play golf.  well, tiger ended up winning the u.s. open i spoke of earlier.  if you haven’t heard about the drama that unfolded there… click here.  that makes 14 major tournament wins for the tiger.  five more and he stands alone as the best golfer ever.  that’ll have to wait till next season though.  knee surgery is ending the 08 season early for the golf phenom…bummer.  hey tiger, i hear you’re a pretty avid reader of the que es.  since you’ve got some down time…what’d you say to some red lobster and a milk shake?  my treat.  wait…you just crossed the $82 million mark in career earnings…i think i’ll be sliding the check your way.

seriously…it’s so stinkin hot down here.  my good friend tim gibson likes to say that walking around in panama city beach florida feels like walking around with a wet blanket on your back.  at any rate…we kicked off camp numero uno of the summer here on sunday night.  we’re at a camp called bigstuf.  i’ve been a worship leader at bigstuf since is was 19 years old and i always love being here.  it’s been a place of amazing community and a place for me to learn a lot about leading worship.  one of the things i love most about being here (and most everywhere else we go) is watching a group of students come in the first night of camp and try to figure out what’s acceptable behavior in this new worship environment.  it’s almost visible on all of their faces as they come in.  you can see everyone looking around as the opening song kicks off and the stage lights up and their thinking, “am i the only one that wants to go a little crazy right now.”  everyone is trying to figure out what’s going on and if they can trust bigstuf.  then, 4 days later on the last night of camp, the walls come down and we’re all having one big undignified party.  jumping around and getting sweaty and not caring because we’re with our God and that’s enough.  

it’s also amazing to watch something unique and fresh unfold at every camp we do.  you might think that we do the same thing everywhere we go, but the truth is that every camp experience is different.  i think that’s true because we’re all coming from different places and circumstances in life.  there are common threads that run through an entire summer, but what i’ve found is that if i truly let the Holy Spirit lead me through each camp then i see God meet each group of students where they are.  i definitely couldn’t do that so it’s in everyone’s best interest that i step aside.

so that’s what’s happening here.  you can be praying for a fresh fire to be on us as we get deep into the summer.  love to all!

every year around this time worship leaders all across the country start gearing up for the craziest season of the year…summer.  for middle and high school students summertime means 8 weeks of no school and no worries.  for worship leaders summertime means we put on our war paint and do our stretches and get ready for church camps and crazy, radical teens.  i love the buzz of the summer months…traveling and meeting new people, eating at cool local restaurants (a spiritual gift in our band) and watching the Holy Spirit do unexpected, fresh stuff that turns our world upside down.  our journey this summer starts with three camps in panama city beach florida, then it’s to louisiana, california, oklahoma, chicago, manila (philippines) and finally oregon.  every summer i have an expectation of what i think our experience is going to be like and every summer i’m reminded of how low i set the bar.

although the summer is a big part of our year, so is the spring and the fall.  spring 08 has been packed full of amazing moments.  we started out in january in boone north carolina at a ski retreat and ended in chicago on may 12 at a college bible study called  6:31.    im constantly learning things i didn’t know about leading worship and how to follow the Holy Spirit before i say or do anything.  this spring has taught me a lot about that.  it’s been an incredible spring season.

so moving into the summer i want to encourage all the worship leaders and speakers and actors and lighting directors and event producers and interns and production assistants and sound engineers and stage managers and rec leaders out there to join me in pursuing still and quiet hearts in the midst of a crazy and loud season.  just think what could happen if there were a whole lot of us out there this summer listening intently to the spirit of God before we led anything.  that would make for some pretty amazing “heaven-meets-earth” moments.  

i’ll keep updates about what’s going on throughout the summer here on the blog.  i’d love to hear about your adventures too…kristianstanfillmusic@gmail.com.  for now…check out pictures from my wife and i’s adventures in florida below.

this guy washed up next to me one morning on the beach.  i told him i didn’t want to hurt him but that i would if it came to that.  let’s just say the jellyfish community won’t mess with me again.

kerri and i actually ate here…it was really good, but i didn’t see bono.  that’s me doing my best bono impression.

i have no words

hello from partly cloudy florida!  just a quick note to let you know about some cool new music that came out today.  those of you who tune in consistently to christian radio already know about  Tenth Avenue North and their smash hit “love is here,” if you haven’t heard these guys yet you should go check out the new record “over and underneath.”   def check out the songs “by your side,” “hold my heart,” and “times.”  i haven’t heard hooks like this in christian music since dc Talk’s Nu Thang.  enjoy.

i spent all day today leading at my church browns bridge community church.  i started the day at 6:30 am with big church rehearsal and services at 9:00 and 11:00 am.  it was a great and long morning.  the set list was Happy Day (Tim Hughes), Faithful (Alex Nifong), Lord of All (a song i wrote) and Son of God (Starfield).  it was very cool to have a good chunk of time to lead.  

one of the coolest things of the day was watching my 18 year old brother Brett lead our middle school ministry called extreme.  he did a great job!  he’s a great leader with an amazing heart for God.  i’m so proud of my bro.

after big church i headed over to our student ministry called insideout.  we set up and sound checked around 3:30 and we’re hangin out in the green room right now waiting to get started.  it’s been a long day, but really cool to be able to be plugged in at our church.

as soon as we wrap up here kerri and i are jumpin in the car and headed out for a much needed vacation.  we’ll be down in florida for the next week chillin on the beach and reading francis chan’s new book “crazy love”.  

you guys have a great week.  i’ll blog at you when we get back.  peace.

so i was in the fellowship hall at my blog eating chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese and i met luke and micah.  they had some questions.  i had some answers. 

Luke asks:
how do you pick out your set-lists?  obviously you are lead by the spirit, but what are dynamics between 722 where you are every week and the community knows vs. picking for a camp or event where the group may not know your songs?

great question luke!  when i put together a set list there’s a few things that i think about.  one…usually there’s some type of theme to the event that we’re leading.  i try to think about what would fit well with that theme and what the speaker is planning to talk about.  two…flow.  flow and transitions are so important.  i like to think through how i’ll get in and out of the songs in the set and see if it flows well.  three…if this is a place we’ve led consistently i think about what we’ve played in recent weeks, what songs are “working”, that sort of thing.  if it’s somewhere we haven’t been before then i usually ask whoever does lead consistently a few questions about what’s been going.  i pick from a list of songs that is about 50% our own stuff and 50% other artists stuff.  once we have picked the songs and thought through the transitions we hold our ideas out before God and say, “this is what we’ve planned God, but whatever You want is what we want.”  it’s amazing what happens when the Holy Spirit does something unexpected and unplanned and i pray that i am always willing to toss my plan out the window.  i never want to do anything spontaneous for the sake of being spontaneous.  i ALWAYS have a set planned, but try to remain quiet enough on stage so i can follow when the Holy Spirit leads.

Micah asks:
are you working on any new songs? any new stuff coming out soon? 

micah…thanks for asking broseph.  i LOVE writing songs and am constantly working hard at it.  i’ve got a large handful of songs that im trying to finish up right now.  we’ve also been writing as a band and have a few songs that we are all really excited about.  we are hoping to get in the studio in november to start recording our first full length record.  

Passion Conferences kicked off it’s world tour tonight in Kyiv, Ukraine.  Kyiv is the first of 16 nations that will be visited by the passion team over the next 6 months.  the goal of these tour stops is to call students all over the world to the glory and majesty and wonder of God.  from what i’ve heard already about Kyiv, God was huge there.  check out the world tour web site  for info about where we’ll be heading and other details.  a tour like this takes some serious hard work and serious dollars.  as of may 1st…we’re still in need of $3.5 million.  if you’d like to help out the by donating some cash to the world tour you can visit 268generation.com  and click on the big red GIVE button.  also…they’ll be pictures and details about all the different stops up on 268blog.com.  check it out…stay connected…pray.

if you look to your right you’ll see fish number four that i caught this past weekend at the lake. it turns out that i’m a natural. actually you can be to…pull the rod when the line gets tight. the fam and i escaped the fast paced life of the city on friday and saturday and headed up to lake burton. lake burton is tucked away about 3 hours north of atlanta in tiger georgia in the valley of the north georgia mountains. in my opinion…there is no place so beautiful. i’ve grown up vacationing on this lake. my grandparents own a house on the lake. i’ve had some of my fondest memories in life on lake burton. i learned how to ski, how to eat watermelon, how to watch wimbledon, how to tan, how to drive a boat and how to spot true beauty. seriously…this place is beautiful…check it out…

places like this really do exist. where a day feels like three and quality time doesn’t include returning emails or twittering. i love lake burton for this reason. as long as my family and i have been vacationing here all we’ve ever done is be with one another. we never needed any form of entertainment or distraction to fill our time…we just needed to be. how incredible! i think about how i fill my time with such useless stuff sometimes and it makes me sad to think that i trade moments with my wife and son for text messaging or…blogging. when im at lake burton i can’t escape the purity of my surroundings. it’s the essence of the beauty of God’s creation. for the most part it remains untainted by the craziness of the world that lies 3 hours south. they’ve stopped all new construction on the lake. meaning that there will never be more lots/houses on the lake than there are right now. it doesn’t have a starbucks. there is no lakeside target. no matter how many times you circle the lake you won’t find any wireless internet. basically…the industrial revolution showed up at lake burton’s front door and lake burton shot it with a be-be gun. not literally but i think you get my point. now don’t get me wrong, i LOVE the city…the constant buzz of activity, life happening all around you, new faces everywhere and most def starbucks. i also know that a lot of what we find in the city is necessary for life to happen…like businesses, government and hospitals. i guess what i feel, and maybe you’re with me on this, is that my life has become really LOUD and somewhere along the way i’ve forgotten how to create empty space to hear from and encounter God. it seems that now more than ever before there is a constant barrage of pop culture and responsibility.

what im learning is that there is great value in being still. there is great value in being silent and listening. alot of times we think of solitude or privacy as just being alone to “recharge our batteries.” it’s something we do to escape, but what if stillness and solitude were actions? what if being still was actually the action of moving toward God? what if being alone was actually the action of pursuing a relationship with God? what if being quiet meant you were actually actively listening to and for God’s voice? i think we would experience an encounter with God like we’ve never experienced before. don’t you think so? i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again…i believe that we’re on the edge of something huge. it seems to to me that we’re about to see something new and fresh break. i don’t know what it is. i don’t know what it sounds or looks like, but i know the God who’s gonna do it and take us there if we’re willing. i believe that in His perfect timing He’ll drop revelation on those who are listening. i don’t want my life to be so loud that i miss that kind of revelation.

so i don’t know how this all hits you. maybe you’re with me or maybe you feel like i’ve got issues, but i’m willing to bet there are alot of you that are amening at work or at home or at starbucks with me. so if i could be so bold, i’d like to lay down a challenge to you and to me. let’s commit to purposefully quieting our lives for the sole purpose of encountering God. everyday for the next week, whoever is willing, let’s find somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour to be still and seek God. let’s open our lives up to the working of God’s Holy Spirit. i think we’ll begin to love and live more like Jesus did…connected to the father.

let’s quiet our lives so we can listen. let’s stop moving so we can be moved into action and God’s will. let’s get alone so we can be with God.

book rec : if you are totally with me on this then i recommend reading a book called “the way of the heart” by a guy named henri nouwen…wow!

musical rec : the new death cab for cutie record came out today. it’s called “narrow stairs” and it really is something great. enjoy indie-rock at its best.