A Mike by any other name...

My brother Dan is an event producer by profession. He got his start working for Bill Gaither and went on to build his own company that does event logistics, production, and design. A few years ago, we were hanging out together at an event he was responsible for and I had the opportunity to meet several of the speakers and singers. I met politicians, musicians, songwriters – people from Elizabeth Dole and Charles Stanley, to John Tesh and Amy Grant. While I was there, my brother put me to work helping manage a sound check for a performance. As each artist showed up, I was to walk through the performance set list, coordinate the technical requirements, and sit with the sound techs while they set levels and worked on transitions. To most of the artists that evening, it was clear that I was to understand my appropriate place in the artistic food-chain. They were the featured performers. I – well – I wasn’t! As all this was going on, I had a man step up beside me near the sound booth and simply wait. As I finished going over some notes with a sound tech, the man stuck out his hand and said, “Hi. My name is Mike. Just wanted to meet you and say thanks for helping us sound so good.” His voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him. As he lifted his head a bit and I saw his face beneath the baseball cap, I recognized that it was Mike – Michael Card, that is. This was a few years ago, but at that time there were few artists that were more followed among Christian singer-songwriters. “Mike” had written numerous songs that had reached #1 on the Christian charts (current total is 19), written or coauthored more than a dozen books (current total is 23), and was hosting his own nationally syndicated radio program. With all of those reasons to feel a bit “set apart”, he took the time to walk to a sound booth in the back of a huge venue just to say “thanks.” I have been a fan ever since. So when I heard that “Mike” was going to be one of our featured presenters at this year’s ENGAGE CONFERENCE, I was very pleased. Not only will we get to hear a presentation and concert by a truly great Christian artist, but we will get to meet a man who lives what he sings with a generous kindness and a deep humility. And that combination is hard to find.