My Season With Kirk Franklin & His New Single “I Smile”

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My Season With Kirk Franklin & His New Single “I Smile”

January 29, 2011 in Music, My Story with 11 Comments

One part of my story that I don’t really talk much about but was undoubtedly a strong formative season for me is when I was given the opportunity to work with Kirk Franklin.

In 2004 I was working for EMI Music in Nashville when I received a call from Kirk in August of that year. It took me by surprise and I remember calling him “sir” and “Mr. Franklin”. My friend and colleague of 6 years, Carla, had gone to work with him and had told him about me. We spoke for awhile and told me he was starting his new company, Fo Yo Soul Entertainment, and said he would be honored if I would consider moving to Dallas to work with (never “for”, always “with”) him.

I was in shock.

I had been a long-time fan of Gospel music, and certainly of Kirk’s music. After reading about him in Billboard Magazine in 1993, I remember having to special order his first album, Kirk Franklin & The Family, at my local Musicland store in Joplin, Missouri because they didn’t carry it. I had absolutely no idea that one day I would have the opportunity to work with him.

So, back to 2004. I did pray about it, and think a lot about it, but there was no doubt in my mind that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had to accept his offer and take this leap. Though I had just settled in my heart that Nashville is where I wanted to be and call “home”, I accepted the job, stepped out of my fresh comfort zone and embraced change as I packed up all my stuff and moved to Dallas 3 days before Christmas in 2004.

I spent the next 3 years working closely with Kirk, serving in a wide variety of roles. I’m very thankful for every single moment and experience I had there. I have many incredible memories from that season of my life and someday I may write more about some of the great things I got to be a part of while working with him.

There are probably 2 things that will forever stand out to me about that season: 1) Kirk’s character and 2) the songs.

Toward the end of last year, after having walked through the most difficult year of my life, I called Kirk to thank him for his example of Godly character and to let him know that I didn’t even realize how much of an impact the way he lived his life had on me until this year. Sure, it was a killer job, but I didn’t realize the depth of the spiritual deposit or character development that was taking place during that season until just recently. It shaped me in more ways than I realized. Kirk is the real deal. He is a man of God and I am honored to be able to call him my friend.

And then there’s the songs… Good Lord, the songs!

His 2005 album Hero is one of my favorites and I feel a very close personal connection to that particular body of work, having watched it being birthed via much prayer and honesty, melody concepts and lyric ideas all the way to seeing hundreds of thousands of people connect with the songs literally all over the world.

I’ll never forget the first time Kirk shared his idea for “Imagine Me” with us, just sitting at a piano at his house. I literally cried. The following year I stood on the side of the stage, under an open sky as Kirk performed in the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Nigeria and watched over 100,000 Nigerians sing “gone, gone, all gone!” at the top of their lungs at 4am. It still gives me chills when I think about it.

Speaking of songs, Kirk has a brand new single out, called “I Smile”, and I absolutely love it! It’s from his forthcoming album, “Hello, Fear”, which is a concept album about facing your fears with hope and courage. Having seen first-hand the way Kirk wrestles with God over songs, in prayer and faith… I know the new album will be nothing short of amazing and will impact many people all over the world for the glory of God.

Listen to “I Smile”
01 I Smile.mp3

I smile, even though I hurt

See, I smile

I know God is workin’, so I smile

Even though I’ve been here for awhile, I smile

Smile, It’s so hard to look up when you’ve been down

Sure would hate to see you give up now

You look so much better when you so smile

So, smile

Reminds me of this…

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

Listening to “I Smile” brings back a lot of great memories for me, encourages me and yeah, it makes me… smile. You can buy the “I Smile” single now, and “Hello, Fear” will be released March 22.

What do you think about Kirk’s new song “I Smile”? What song makes you smile?

He Teaches My Heart To Recover

April 15, 2010 in Faith, Fitness, Health, My Story, Uncategorized with 27 Comments

In 2007 I lived in Dallas, had a really great (and great-paying) job and for the first time in my life got a personal trainer. It was a great experience and over the course of about 7 months of rigorous, targeted training and focused nutrition, I dropped about 55 lbs and felt incredible. (more on all that in a future post) I don’t think I had ever been more focused or dedicated on achieving something in my life. I worked my butt off (literally) and learned a valuable spiritual lesson in the process.

When I first started working out with Sean (my trainer), there were quite a few pretty difficult, turbulent and down-right “what the @#&% are you doing to me!?!” moments. I had a gym membership that I used every so often, but didn’t really have any focus, direction or general clue how to go about targeting my efforts to achieve specific results. Sean helped me change all that.

Early on in our sessions, he would have me doing some CRAZY cardio exercises that made me want to thrash him with a resistance band. It wasn’t just cardio. It was cardio on crack. He would have me do some crazy aggressive exercise, getting my heart rate up in thirty second to one minute increments, then stop, rest for 30 seconds to one minute, then do it again, and again and again and again. I remember the first time we did this, my body was rebelling and I asked him what this was supposed to accomplish. Actually, I’m sure it didn’t sound nearly that eloquent. It was probably more like, “WHAT… *GASP GASP GASP*… ARE… *GASP WHEEZE GASP WHEEZE*… YOU… *WHEEZE WHEEZE*… DOING… *GASP GASP DRY HEAVE*… TO ME?!?!?”

I will never forget what he told me next.

“I’m teaching your heart to recover,” he said.

He explained this would “shock” my heart: spike my heart rate and stop just as my heart rate peaked, allow it to return to a good resting zone, then return to the violent cardio aggression. The purpose of this was to allow my heart to build up an endurance to the cardio assault, enable it to recover quicker and empower it to operate more efficiently and get ready for the next round. Sean knew my body weight, the limits of where he could push my heart rate and when to stop me to recover and repeat the process again.

Early on, it took a long time for my heart rate to recover to a good resting zone. However, as the weeks and months went by, the cardio segments got longer and the rest periods got shorter as my heart gradually began to recover quicker and quicker.

I have never forgotten that.

Looking back over the past several years of my life, and particularly the past year, I can see a distinct pattern. I’ve experienced cycles of the “spiking” heart rate of uncertainty and transition followed by resting periods of peace and stability. My life has been marked by the hand of God, the”great trainer”, who has always known exactly when to stop the action just before my heart peaked, and allowed me just enough time to recover, only to start again. From where I stand at this very moment of my life, I have absolutely no idea what is next or even what the next 24 hours will hold for me. However, the last few weeks and months have shown me that with each season that my heart has been “shocked”, I find myself bouncing back and recovering quicker than before. On several levels, my heart should be pounding right now, but it’s not.

I had one such instance a couple days ago when my heart was tested, and my reaction taught me a lot about what this journey I’ve been on. The more my heart learns to anchor its hope and identity exclusively in the cross, the quicker it recovers and keeps moving, ready for the next spike. The more I have learned to trust the trainer to teach my heart to recover, the more I see the results in how my heart responds to the spikes.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall notwant. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

In Psalm 23, David said of the Lord, “He restores my soul.” The Message translation says “you let me catch my breath.”

I know what he means.

It’s not Psalm 23, but scribbled somewhere on the pages of my life are the words:

“I will bless the Lord, my trainer. He teaches my heart to recover.”

What practical life lessons have you learned that you’ve been able to apply to your faith life?

I’m Getting My $7 Worth

March 30, 2010 in Culture, Food, Friends, Life with 11 Comments

Genghis Grill is one of my favorite places to eat. In December 2004, I was preparing to leave Nashville and move to Dallas for a new job I had just been hired for. One particular evening I joined several friends at Genghis Grill for one of what I remember being several going-away parties (which actually became quite the running joke). I had been working on my bowl-building technique for some time and this was the perfect opportunity to do a Genghis Grill tutorial video.

And now, dusted off from the myspace video wasteland, here’s the masterpiece in all its glory…

A few things I’d like to point out as you watch…

As you may notice, I have hair. This was a little over 5 years ago and it’s not that it’s shocking or anything, but it certainly is weird seeing it. I don’t miss it.
My friend Stan’s commentary is hilarious. “Man, you got a lot of shrimp.”
By 1:15, the bowl appears to be full. Really full, actually. But don’t let your eyes deceive you! Where there’s a thin, flat vegetable, there’s a way!
I’m not sure my video is the cause for it, but it is worth noting that Genghis Grill no longer has the long snow peas. Instead, the long pods are cut in half before being placed on the food bar, making my Jericho Wall of Snow Peas pretty much impossible to construct now. I would actually love to be able to claim responsibility for this.
You’ll notice at about 1:25, when I begin building said Jericho Wall of Snow Peas, that I apparently have no shame and am doing so right in front of a Genghis Grill employee.
I love the part at about 1:58 where you can hear the lady behind us tell her child that he can go around me.
I believe I already mentioned the hair. Yes… yes, I did.
It’s probably not worth mentioning, but all 4 of my friends seen, or heard, in this video (Stan, Chris, Anthony and Sam) are now married, but I am not. I am, however, apparently the proud owner of what appears to be 12 pounds of chicken, shrimp and pineapple!
My favorite line: “And you’ll notice, because I built the wall with the snow peas, I can get so much more in the bowl. More than you could normally get.” LOL!! Food Network, here I come!
I should tell you that while I still really enjoy Genghis Grill, I build a very different bowl these days.

This video still cracks me up every time I watch it!!!