#lutherancreatives

My main goal in this post is to inspire as many readers of this blog as humanly possible to start using the hashtag #lutherancreatives to share the story of creative Lutherans they know, and potentially buy the music, books, and other art they are creating in order to support the Lutheran tribe.

This week it was my great joy to bop around Minneapolis, MN, Monday evening with the great Lutheran rocker, Jonathan Rundman. Jonathan is a good friend, and I am inspired by his innovation and creativity. I've enjoyed his music for over a decade; I've been using his Heartland Liturgy as a setting for contemporary worship for about six years now. You can find it on his Protestant Rock Ethic album.

We stopped in at Cheapo Discs before a late supper, in order to see if they had put up a display for his new side projects' latest album, Arto Järvelä & Kaivama. They had. His side project is now in fact his main project in some ways. Finnish folk seems to be the rage in some places, so he is touring frequently with the release of this new album.

Jonathan, like many indie rock musicians, is trying to figure out what it looks like to make a living as a musician in the era of mp3s and Spotify. He recently released a new song I really like, Flying On a Plane, which you can download as a digital single. 

On the way back to the airport, I had the honor of a ride and conversation with the amazing David Scherer, otherwise known as Agapé. David is pretty much the only Lutheran rapper out there. He's incredible. He sang his song Rise Up for us while at the LWR President's Advisory Council I was attending, and again, we spent a lot of the drive talking about what it looks like to promote the creative work of each other in our circles and beyond.

Finally, when I arrived back in Arkansas, in my stack of mail was the new album from Tay Wilson. Tay crowd-funded his most recent album, Stay the Course, via Kickstarter. This is one way creative Lutherans are finding a way to make and distribute new music. One thing I love about Tay's new album is I find it even more authentically "him" and "Lutheran" than his first album, Brand New People. The first album also has a lot of great Christian rock and worship music on it, don't get me wrong. But this new one seems simply more, well, Tay-ish.

There are a lot of other projects out there to support, like Humble Walk's Artist Compilation Kickstarter project. But by this point I think you get the idea. So post away. Tell the story of #lutherancreatives. Post their stuff in your networks, tag the posts, and let's get the word out. Then sit back and enjoy the show.