Date: 13 Nov 1999
To: MitchMailList
From: Danl Blackwood
Subject: [MitchMailList 046]: Nashua, NH 09/11 review

Hi Danl,

First, a brief background...

My husband and I got the chance to see and hear Mitch for the first time August 26th & 27th at Kingdom Bound, an annual Christian festival held

Mitch playing "Solid Rock" using his guitar as a percussion instrument.

near Buffalo, New York. (We saw him three times there!) We were touched by his music ministry, and after one of the concerts I told him that his music radiated the love of Jesus. When we returned home I played Mitch's CD for my adult daughter who was unable to attend the festival. She, too, was so blessed by his music that we looked on the internet to find out if he'd be playing nearby anytime soon. We discovered that he would be in Nashua, New Hampshire, approximately 5 1/2 hours away from where we live, and the Lord opened the doors for us to go!

The concert was great (of course!) and we felt so blessed to be able to be there. He was able to sing more songs that he did at Kingdom Bound (he only had an hour each night and this concert was a full two hours long.)

Song List:

1. Hope
   
2. Take Hold of Me
   
3. There You Are (featuring their 12-string guitars)
   
4. Heaven Is Waiting (with Brad on the hammer dulcimer)
   
5. When You Love (new song)*
   
6. Here and Now
   
7. Gospel Rain

   Brad playing his new hammered dulcimer.

Break

1. Freedom
   
2. Here With Me (new song)*
   
3. Solid Rock (with guitar backs as a percussion instruments!)
   
4. She Asked Me How
   
5. It Is Well (guitar instrumental with Brad)
   
6. My Deliverer
   
7. Song For Rich (with Brad on the hammer dulcimer -- how fitting!)
   
8. Lemonade Song
   
9. Inside Out and Upside Down (new song that describes "what Mitch is all about")*

* (new song titles...I hope I got them right).

Other highlights of the concert:

Brad wearing his armor.

1) After his singing of When You Love, Mitch commented that he was glad we never heard that song before, cause he really messed it up.

2) His "St. Peter" and "business men in Chicago" stories.

3) Mitch showed us just how talented he really was with his polar bear imitation!

4) His "crowd looks huge" and "good looks" comments.

Mitch wearing his helmet and mask. Cow puppet is on the chair beside him.

5) Before singing She Asked Me How, he told us the story behind that song. How before someone asked him how he could change the world, the best he could hope for was to be sure his hair looked OK and that there were no boogers hanging out of his nose before going out in public!

6) By far the funniest thing Mitch did that night happened after the break. He and Brad came out wearing a helmet, rubber mask, and a breastplate that must have been from a children's class studying about the armor of God!! After he and Brad posed in several He-Man poses for the shutterbugs in the crowd, Mitch took off the rubber mask and picked up a large cow puppet he'd carried out as well. We then heard his "cow joke." Mitch shared with us a brief discussion he'd had with Brad during the break offstage. It went something like this: Brad said, "You're not bringing that puppet out are you...we'll look stupid!" ...to which Mitch replied: "Like we don't look stupid already wearing this stuff!"

Mitch singing "Only Love Will" for my daughter and me (reviewer).

7) He told of a favorite story of his about five harried businessmen traveling in Chicago. When they accidentally knocked over a blind boy's table of apples, one stopped to help, and therefore missed his train home. The little boy mistook him for Jesus because he took the time to care. While telling that story at Kingdom Bound, Mitch got a little choked up. Well, now I know why. Mitch truly lives what he says, and I can tell by what he did after the concert.

photo just after ... notice all the smiling faces? :-)

I told him I'd seen him at Kingdom Bound and that my daughter and I enjoyed his music so much that we drove 5 1/2 hours to be there. I then told him that "Only Love Will" was our favorite song and we were hoping to hear him sing it live. He never gave it a second thought and told us, "Well, then, I want to play that for you!" So my daughter and I sat beside him as he and Brad sang that song for us. Even though he must have been tired, he took the time to care. And the really neat thing was, he seemed to get as much joy from giving as we did receiving! He was just glowing when he finished. Before he offered to play I was about to tell him that we would try to go to the concert in Pennsylvania in November and ask him if he could sing it then, but I never got the chance!

The message that runs throughout Mitch's songs really got into my heart. Love like Jesus would love. What a blessing it truly was!

"God is Good...All the time!"

Debbie

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