Another blessing today...
Posted: October 22nd, 2007, 6:14 am
My blessing for today is my friend, Dennis Krause. He has been a friend for over ten years now. We first met at while I was the staff soundman at the New Earth Coffeehouse, here is Kansas City. Dennis was old friends with then guy who ran the place from their Jesus Movement days, and he was asked down to play a few times. But I got to know him mostly through his son, Danny. Danny and I were both living with the Christian community that put on the Coffeehouse every weekend. Both Dennis and I were old, semi-fossilized guitar guys, so we hit it off, and we talked quite a bit whenever he was around.
Dennis has been Christian musician since before if was called “Contemporary Christian Music”. Some of you may remember his group, The Hallelujah Joy Band. They were pioneers in “Jesus rock n roll”, and had a hit song in Christian circles called “Jesus Tamed the Wild Horse in My Heart”. He was in full-time music ministry a lot of years, first with the band and then by himself. Currently, Dennis works for the Muzak Company, for whom I believe he designs and installs sound systems. He and his wife Ann live about 4 blocks from my apartment. Their three children are pretty much “grow’d up and mov’d out”. Their youngest, Stephen, is a student at KU, and I think he comes home some weekends.
When I was looking for a church a few years ago, I visited the independent Charismatic church Dennis was at, which was then called Full Faith Church of Love. He was, and is, the church soundman. So, I sat with him up in the booth a couple of Sundays. I didn’t initially think I wanted to attend there; it was father away from where I was living than I wanted to drive, and I didn’t know if I wanted to attend a church that large. But, after about a year of fruitless church shopping, I went back to Dennis’ soundbooth, and ended up staying most because of him. I didn’t know anyone at any of the other places I tried, and I got tired of Sundays where I didn’t really talk to anyone, but I didn’t see anyone I thought I could connect with. I’ve been going there ever since.
Dennis was the one who pushed me toward the church worship team. For a lot of reasons, I hadn’t really decided I wanted to get involved in all that again. But, with his encouragement, I finally did, and it has been a great blessing to me. Thanks, Dennis.
We’ve done a lot of gear trading, he and I. We trade effects boxes, guitars, amplifiers and such. Whenever Dennis has something he wants he wants to trade or sell, he calls me. Sometimes, when he’s looking for a piece of gear, he’ll call and ask if I have it, and if so, do I want to trade? When either of us wants to go to one of a number of various music stores in the area, we’ll call and see if the other wants to go. We usually have a pretty good time doing that.
Dennis has been there to help me out me a lot. He towed my dead truck to a place about 60 miles south of KC, so I could trade it for a working car. He helped me move when I lost my house. He has driven long distances to pick me up when various cars of mine have died and left me stranded. I would have been in pretty bad shape a few times without him.
Dennis is a killer guitar player, in a couple of different styles. One time, I heard him do an acoustic fingerstyle medley of three tunes, one of which was America the Beautiful. I don’t remember the other two songs in the medley (hey, it was a long time ago!), but it totally blew me away. He also plays electric lead at least as well as me, probably better on some things. But being the church sound guy, he doesn’t get to do that as often as he might. Somebody’s got to be back there, flipping switches, pushing sliders, and taking guff from all the folks who think it’s too loud. I’ve done that job more than once, and I don’t want it again…
Last night, when my internet connection was dead, I called Dennis and asked him if I could come over and use his so I could check my email. He said “yeah, sure”. We ended up watching the Chief’s game together afterwards. He’s always been good company whenever I’ve been around him, and I’m grateful to God for him.
Dennis has been Christian musician since before if was called “Contemporary Christian Music”. Some of you may remember his group, The Hallelujah Joy Band. They were pioneers in “Jesus rock n roll”, and had a hit song in Christian circles called “Jesus Tamed the Wild Horse in My Heart”. He was in full-time music ministry a lot of years, first with the band and then by himself. Currently, Dennis works for the Muzak Company, for whom I believe he designs and installs sound systems. He and his wife Ann live about 4 blocks from my apartment. Their three children are pretty much “grow’d up and mov’d out”. Their youngest, Stephen, is a student at KU, and I think he comes home some weekends.
When I was looking for a church a few years ago, I visited the independent Charismatic church Dennis was at, which was then called Full Faith Church of Love. He was, and is, the church soundman. So, I sat with him up in the booth a couple of Sundays. I didn’t initially think I wanted to attend there; it was father away from where I was living than I wanted to drive, and I didn’t know if I wanted to attend a church that large. But, after about a year of fruitless church shopping, I went back to Dennis’ soundbooth, and ended up staying most because of him. I didn’t know anyone at any of the other places I tried, and I got tired of Sundays where I didn’t really talk to anyone, but I didn’t see anyone I thought I could connect with. I’ve been going there ever since.
Dennis was the one who pushed me toward the church worship team. For a lot of reasons, I hadn’t really decided I wanted to get involved in all that again. But, with his encouragement, I finally did, and it has been a great blessing to me. Thanks, Dennis.
We’ve done a lot of gear trading, he and I. We trade effects boxes, guitars, amplifiers and such. Whenever Dennis has something he wants he wants to trade or sell, he calls me. Sometimes, when he’s looking for a piece of gear, he’ll call and ask if I have it, and if so, do I want to trade? When either of us wants to go to one of a number of various music stores in the area, we’ll call and see if the other wants to go. We usually have a pretty good time doing that.
Dennis has been there to help me out me a lot. He towed my dead truck to a place about 60 miles south of KC, so I could trade it for a working car. He helped me move when I lost my house. He has driven long distances to pick me up when various cars of mine have died and left me stranded. I would have been in pretty bad shape a few times without him.
Dennis is a killer guitar player, in a couple of different styles. One time, I heard him do an acoustic fingerstyle medley of three tunes, one of which was America the Beautiful. I don’t remember the other two songs in the medley (hey, it was a long time ago!), but it totally blew me away. He also plays electric lead at least as well as me, probably better on some things. But being the church sound guy, he doesn’t get to do that as often as he might. Somebody’s got to be back there, flipping switches, pushing sliders, and taking guff from all the folks who think it’s too loud. I’ve done that job more than once, and I don’t want it again…
Last night, when my internet connection was dead, I called Dennis and asked him if I could come over and use his so I could check my email. He said “yeah, sure”. We ended up watching the Chief’s game together afterwards. He’s always been good company whenever I’ve been around him, and I’m grateful to God for him.