Hi all,

Haven’t posted an update lately, but I thought y’all would be interested to read up on some interesting trivia about the making of We Are The World, which turns 30 this year!

Click here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/01/27/we-are-the-world-30th-anniversary/22395455/

peace,

John

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, but I found this article to be both encouraging and yet a sobering call that there is still much work to be done in ending domestic violence. While the number of cases in MN is at an all-time low (18 in 2012) any number is still a call to action. Click here for the full story in this week’s Star Tribune.

It’s been a month since our release party, so I thought I’d update you all on our fundraising. In June we raised another $550 in CD sales, plus $200 toward production costs. When I sat down to write out a check for the Almaraz family and the Building Bridges tutoring all the reasons we set out to do this came rushing back to me. It was a powerful moment that YOU helped create! Later, after contacting the school counselor at Skyview Middle School, I heard that a social worker is helping the family make sure the funds will be used for the kids. Now is the time to keep the ball rolling and share the CD with others. If you would like a few copies for your friends, just let me know. You may also direct them to the digital download on bandcamp right HERE. Thanks again for a wonderful experience which I hope will continue to grow and become an even greater blessing for the days to come!

O Lord, thank you. Thank you for this day and for all the blessings of the release party! To see friends from days gone by: Lyndy & Diane, Phil & Meredith, Paul & Terry, Meg Corrigan – not to mention a whole bunch of new friends through the Progressive Baptist Church choir and the Head Start families!

What a night! Thanks to the great staff at Dunn Brothers for hosting our event and for your top notch service (even though we went a tad past closing!). Your understanding and hospitality is much appreciated!

Thanks to my brothers, Rod & Dale, and for Robbie Seagraves & Kendall Johnson for pulling together the band on short notice to back us up for the night! How cool is it to get the Stiles boys up there making music together? You’d better believe Mom & Dad were smiling down on us – right there with every beat. For my wife, Sandy, and her whole side of the family showing up! Bless you everyone of yous!

For Glenn Berg Moberg, Sam Butler, Pat Rygg, Anna Fehring, and Jorie Mallinger jumping in for a couple songs along the way. That’s the power of this project: the many talented and dedicated people who said ‘yes’ to being a part of it!

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better – when I was about to wrap things up with one more song – in walks Pippi Ardennia (whose GPS left her in a mess getting there). “I think we got time for a couple more songs,” I said. (ya think?)

As always, this has been an effort to help families in need. The bonus is that we get to do something we love doing in the process – singing uplifting music for the soul. Along with sales last Sunday in church, we raised over a thousand dollars ($1020) through CD sales to be donated to families in need and the Building Bridges tutoring program. Plus, $140 was raised to defray the production costs of the project. Thanks to Lynea Geinert for staffing the CD table and to Jim Denham who took pictures. (By the way, if you have any photos you’d like to share, email them to me at johnstiles@holycrosslc.org.) Below are some pics Jim Ostrander sent. Thanks Jim!

Again, THANK YOU, for being a part of the project and for helping to make a difference. And thank God for the gift of music that inspires us to fuller living. Now take that hope and go tell the world!

Blessings,
John

Photos: courtesy Jim Ostrander

I first met Anne’s dad, Wayne Cernohous, in 2005 when I became the pastor at Holy Cross in Oakdale. “Mr. C” teaches piano (including my own son) at our church – he has for over 30 years! (You know you’ve got a legacy going when you’re teaching the kids of former students!) Anyway, as we got to know each other, Wayne shared the story of his daughter’s courageous battle with cancer in her 30’s. Before she passed away, Anne was determined to record an album of songs with her dad accompanying her on piano. The result is a touching tribute to her spirit that lives on in these songs. So… when Wayne heard we were putting together an album, and looking for local musicians to collaborate, he handed me a copy of Anne’s CD and said we could use whatever we wanted. The song I found myself listening to more than any other was: “I Saw Two Clouds At Morning.” This was originally a poem, written by John Gardiner Calkins in the 1820’s. Calkins was a journalist and poet who also met an untimely death in his mid-30s due to complications with tuberculosis. Being an outdoorsy kind of guy, I really connected with the images of clouds and flowing eddies.  And yet, more than that, I felt this was a fitting way to end the record, penned from the hearts of those whose craft was born out of hardship and death – yet full of promise and peace:

Such be your gentle motion
Till life’s last pulse shall beat
Like summer’s beam and summer’s stream
Float on in joy to meet a calmer sea
A purer sky where all is peace
Where all is peace

That is my wish for the families we are trying to help here.

Click on an artist below to find out more about these great musicians who have contributed to the We Are The Children Project:

Jon Anderson

Jon Anderson (center) with family from his church’s website

Pippi Ardennia
Glenn Berg-Moberg
Sam Butler & Dan Neale
Anne Cernohous Borchardt
Anna Fehring & Pat Rygg
Taylor Hamilton
Head Start preschool kids
Kendall Johnson
Jorie Mallinger & Peyton Sorensen
Progressive Baptist Church choir
Lauren Redpath

Pic from facebook

Jonathan Rundman
David (Agape) Scherer
Robbie Seagraves
Rod Stiles
Dale Stiles
We All Have Hooks For Hands

Photo: Eleven Magazine

Photo credits: Jim Denham Photography

My wife’s, cousin’s, son (Tory) is in a band with a way cool name! (Read more here about how they got their name) When we first started out on this venture I contacted ‘the hooks’ and asked about including the song “27.” “Sure thing!” came the reply. Band member, Isaac Show was really great about working with us.  These guys have played all over the Midwest and done benefits for Habitat for Humanity. Hailing from Sioux Falls, SD, Hooks for Hands have an edge and sound like no other band I’ve ever heard. Plus, this song is just durn fun! (here’s the video, complete with riding skateboards under semis!) Word is, they are splitting up this summer, so don’t miss their “LAST SHOW EVERER” on July 20th (click here for info). Thanks, guys, for being a part of the project!

Photo: Eleven Magazine

Oh, man. I haven’t seen Jon Anderson since we attended seminary together in the early 90’s. From the start, Jon was writing music for worship and praise. Like Lauren Redpath, Jon has also recorded with the Faith Inkubators’ Music Guild. I still have a cassette of his album Zoe: This Side Of Life (1993). I Believe In You was a song off that record. You know how some songs just stay with a person over the years? Yeah, that’s the story on this one. So, the cool thing about I Believe In You is – not only does it call me back to the faith through the Apostle’s Creed (a core teaching of the faith) but it has a distinct riff and a melody that sticks like Velcro. This song ought to call us all back to the One who “gave up all he deserved, so what I deserved wouldn’t be.” Thanks, Jon, for sharing this song with us. All the best in your new call as pastor of City On A Hill in Torrance, CA!

Jon Anderson (center) with family from his church’s website

I first heard Lauren sing in confirmation. Really. Every year we get a CD with our confirmation curriculum from Faith Inkubators. I’ve always valued how they have done their best to put the Bible in tune with today’s music. They have an artists’ guild that has contributed to music in a variety of styles to make learning about faith more engaging for teens and their families.

One of those songs, The Grass Withers, written by Craig T. Olsen stayed with me. Maybe it was because Isaiah 40 was a memory verse from my childhood – but when I heard Lauren sing it I was immediately captivated. There’s such majesty and conviction in this piece. And yet, Lauren’s voice fills this song with a blessed assurance that all will be well when the Lord gathers the lambs in his arms. Though her schedule didn’t allow time to record with us (new album and baby this spring!) she and the folks at FaithInk were kind enough to donate the track for our album! Lucky us and lucky you!

I hope you’ll check out her website where music is “all in the family” with Lauren and her sisters. Find our more here: http://www.redpathonline.com

Pic from facebook

Hey all you WATCH-ers! The CD is available digitally over at bandcamp for digital download. There are a TON of extras not included in the CD itself (photos, full lyrics, album artwork, plus 2 complete songs!).  The best part: it’s FREE through Sunday (or you can name your price if you like what you hear!).  So… head on over and give the songs a listen. I hope you’ll agree that there’s a lot of joy in the mix – and hope to carry on!  Spread the love!
John