So I managed to see Coldplay in Atlanta on Wednesday night. Normally, I wouldn't dare drop that much cash on anything entertainment related, but a really cool friend helped me out. Anyway if you have never been, Coldplay puts on a better, more creative production than anyone in the concert business today. You literally leave stunned by what you have seen and experienced (because it is not just visual and auditory).
Before the concert started, though, the Stone Creek worship pastor Will "The Thrill" Doggett noticed that about 15 feet away from us (and we were several hundred feet from the stage) there was a little mini-stage set up with some acoustic guitars nearby. Sure enough about 3/4 of the way through the set Coldplay hops off the stage and runs through the crowd, up the stairs, and jumps on the stage to play a quick set 15 feet away from Will and I. It was awesome.
When we were on the way home from Atlanta after we had processed the concert in the quiet of the car I had this thought: The production was incredible. We will always try to do what we do at Next Level with excellence including production. And while we would like to be entertaining that is not our primary goal. We try to hold people's attention so that we can deliver a life-changing message, so that we can challenge the body of Christ, so that people can take their next step in their relationship with God. And when it comes right down to it, we don't know Chris Martin at all. And it may be true that some of us don't really know the people on stage at NLC that well, but we do know our Life Group leaders, and the middle schoolers know their Connection Group leaders, and the kids know their Kid City leaders. And we know the people we serve God side-by-side with every week. And we know the people who were in our Getting Started and our Volunteer Orientation classes. And you know what. That's who I'd rather know anyway.
**As an aside. Mark Gillming touched Chris Martin as he ran through the crowd and Mark spent the whole rest of the night talking about how he came to Atlanta to see his "friend" Chris Martin from Coldplay!
