Late last year, Shannon and Orin had the privilege of “doing what we do” as Oddwalk Ministries on the MainStage of NCYC (the National Catholic Youth Conference). We had a chance to share (with the like 25,000 folks in Lucas Oil Stadium) a bit of humor as we introduced the new “Music and Message Stage” (which we then also emceed) and led a bit of prayer and song as a blessing over the NCYC Youth Ambassadors.
Hopefully, as you watch this video (below), you’ll appreciate some slightly embarrassing pictures of Orin’s youth, and not be able to tell at all just how desperately hard he had to work and concentrate just to say “Wabash West” correctly two times in a row. Enjoy!
We’re sure all of you will be excited to learn that our website is nearing the 60,000 visitor threshold. We’ll wait for you to stop shouting for joy…
…seriously, you’re embarrassing yourself…
…better? Good.
To celebrate this milestone, we are planning to write a song about the 60,000th visitor. We will then post a video of that song for the world to see. In writing the song, we’ll take a few facts about the visitor-in-question and then make up the rest. If you need this in your life, be sure to pay attention to the stat counter towards the bottom of the left-hand column on our website, http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog
It looks like this:
Once we determine the winner, we will try and contact that person about their…um…prize.
Some of our more observant friends may have noticed an important change happening in the world of Oddwalk lately. In addition to putting the finishing touches on our forthcoming CD, “Mercy at Work“, we are also changing our logo. For the past almost eleven years (and a few years before that with Shannon’s solo ministry), that goofy face with the crazy hair, big ears, and bucked teeth, has been a familiar sight to those who have followed us. As this ministry has continued to develop, though, it has become increasingly important to us that our logo and marketing materials truly reflect who we are and what we are about. Those who know us know that it isn’t likely we’ll ever lose our joking, fun-loving side. We believe it to be our “foot in the door” as we give presentations, especially when we present for young people. That being said, Oddwalk has become much more than a couple of guys who do fun stuff and can make people laugh. We believe strongly that when we as people of faith surround ourselves with a strong Christian community, participate actively in the life of the Church, and make the mission of Jesus OUR mission, we will no doubt develop a close relationship with Jesus, an ongoing sense of justice for the world around us, and a life filled with joy. We further believe that we, as Oddwalkers, are called to invite young and old alike into such a life, into such a relationship with Jesus and His Church. This is our aim at every retreat, concert, or keynote we give. Everything we are and everything we do is meant to achieve that goal. We believe that this new logo does a better job of reflecting that mission, particularly where the arrow is concerned. In the Gospel of Luke, in the story of the disciples’ walk to Emmaus (a founding scripture passage for us), it was their encounter with Jesus that ultimately compelled them to turn around 180 degrees, back towards Jerusalem (note the blurry road as the backdrop to the logo) and to be witnesses to the Risen Christ. This reality is reflected in the curved arrow, a symbol which will be a central part of how we present ourselves from here on out.
“With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Luke 24:31-35
Hello NPM 2021! Thanks for visiting. We had a great time at this year’s convention, and hope you did too, whether in person or virtually. Below is the webpage we set up when we debuted “Songs We Should Never Record” at NCCYM in 2014. Enjoy watching the video of that below!
Hello everybody! Boy, did we have a blast at NCCYM in San Antonio this past weekend – we hope you did too. We’re happy to make available to our visitors, absolutely free, our small piece of the Friday Night Youth Ministry Extravaganza, “Songs We Should Never Record.”
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We also want to add a special word of thanks to our friend Mike Kivett, who penned the words to “There They Go, Lord.” Mike is a great live audio technician, he helped us with our first couple self-produced CDs, and most importantly is an all around good egg. When he heard some our silly stuff we were asking him to record, he shared with us his little creation, and we’re certainly glad he did. Thanks, Mike!
And thanks as well to the NFCYM for a great conference as always, and great NCYCs the other years. See you next fall in Indy!
PS – A couple people have asked us about the lyrics to the “Stand By Your Man” parody we sang as part of the finale of the night. Those words were written by Bob Rice, here they are:
Sometimes its hard to be a pastor,
Caring for all those ministries.
Absolving all those sins, the roof is caving in,
And the youth room needs a 55 inch flat screen high definition TV.
Stand by your man,
Give him an ear to listen.
It’s hard, he’s always giving,
And you are kind of needy.
Stand by your man,
And even if he’s awkward,
Make him look as cool as you can,
Baby! Stand by your man.
Hello All. If you are seeing this post, good news, we’ve come out on the other side okay. To tell you the whole story, involving over two weeks of downtime, over 12 hours on hold and on the phone, a few more hours of restoring and re-updating… well, would take far too long. But, we’re back now, and it seems all is well. If you do notice any errors on the site that seem to be missing/incorrect links, absent photos or sound clips, etc., would you please let us know? Thanks for your patience, everyone.
This afternoon, Orin was a panelist on a webinar put on by http://www.rebuildmychurch.org on the topic of summer youth ministry – ideas, camps, programs, etc. It was a good discussion, with lots of great ideas and insights. Here’s the video of the webinar if you want to see what you missed live:
With some helpful sleuthing from the winner himself, we are please to announce that Matthew Robaszkiewicz from the NFCYM offices is our big winner! Congratulations Matthew, and let us know what you’d like as your prize, and how to get them to you! (You know how to find us.)
Hooray! And thanks again to all who helped us reach this milestone.