Only in Louisianna

pocketknife
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

This kid Ryan (in huntin gear) wanted my to autograph his knife. That was a first. Now he can think of me every time he slaughters a creature in the wild.

Kelly Pease/ Righteous B Tour -Alexandria

Alexandria, LA
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

Day 2 - read below

Kelly Pease/ Righteous B Tour DAY 2

Well…Kelly Pease wasn’t quite as lazy as she was yesterday waking at 11AM. Aparently she considers that early. But I won’t hold it against her as today was the first day of our shows for the week. Tonight we played at St. Frances Cabrini Church in Alexandria. For a town with a population of 43 – we had a great turn out with a 1 or 2 hundred peeps. I started off the night rapping to a juiced up crowd (although their was a group of adults in the back who all looked slightly confused and slightly bothered) LA wouldn’t strike you as Hip Hop country but they had a couple kids that knew how to shake their tailfeather. Sal and Scotty were a dynamic duo. Dem Louisana kids got a bundle of energy – dancing with them is like eating a big ol Cajun energy bar. They really get me fired up. That being said – Kelly Pease was amazing tonight. She really is one of the coolest people I know. She’s a mega talented artist, but the thing does it for me is that she is so transparent and authentic. What that translates into is an engaging witness. SIDE NOTE – I want her to marry my brother Ben (pray for that) …We finished the night with a powerful time of worship with the crowd. It was really good. I could of marinated in that all night long. Tommorow we shove off…eight of us in a truck together. It’s a good thing I smell so good. I really miss my family.

Kelly Pease is Lazy

Kelly Pease and Righteous
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

Read on my friend...

Kelly Pease/ Righteous B Tour DAY 1

Today beginnith my first day touring the dirty dirty south with Kelly Pease. Today was a practice day. We start shows tommorow and will be zipping around Louisianna and Texas for the rest of the week. But today’s rest was well needed after a long (but awesome) weekend at Steuby South. Unfortunately Kelly Pease (whose house I’m staying at) refused to take me get my personal hygenics that I left at the conference until she dragged her body out of bed (12:00) and moaped around the house for 2 hours. The above picture is a disgruntled, smelly, Righteous B finally getting Kelly to get me my goods. What she doesn’t know is that I threw her toothbrush in the toilet. That made me feel better.

Steubenville South

Dirty South
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

Read more about my journey to the dirty south

Steubenville South

Picture 6000 cajun kids crammed in an arena who, despite a broken AC unit, are fired up about one thing: the Glory and the renown of our God. I new things were going to be good when I showed up on Friday for my sound check and saw 18 Subwoofers lined up on both sides of the stage. The sheer power of that system could make a grown man vomit. The lights, the band, the speaking team, the creole cooking was enough to make a good weekend for me. But what pushed it over the top was the passion in that arena as 6000 people begged God to show his Glory. The most moving part of my weekend was seeing 2500 kids give their lives to Christ on Saturday night. No matter how many times I witness those altar calls – I am still overwhelmed with the priveledge to witness salvation.

katie rose

katie rose
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

What is Righteous B listening to these days? Katie Rose...fantastically fresh. Beautiful. Check her out at www.Katie-Rose.com

Steubenville Youth Conference

Steubenville Youth Conference
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

June 17th-19th
Steuby, OH

Steubenville Youth Conference HSY 1

I’m sitting here trying to collect my thoughts on this past weekend and I’m little overwhelmed at the vision of 1000 teens worshipping God face to face in light of His Glory. It is a pretty amazing and humbling experience to stand on the stage and be able to see God walking through a crowd. It's got to be a little like heavens view of conversion. Just getting to witness that this past weekend is a testimony to the power and size of our God.

Catholic Radio Podcast Interview

If you hit up the link below you can here an interview with Righteous B from Catholic Cast Radio.

 

http://www.discipleswithmicrophones.org/item/?type=podcastseries&id=4

 

Interview on Teen Pop Culture

Here's the transcript on a lil interview I did for a Catholic Publication on Teen Popular Culture in case you might be interested. If this doesn't interest you in the least - check out the pictures of my pimp cane below.

First of all, with the understanding that you minister to both suburb kids and inner city ones (which I assume are pretty different types of ministry) what specific challenges do you think this (high school) generation faces that others (like ours) didn't?

Every generation, to some extent, is going to face the same problem …they need Jesus. However one of the things that makes that problem so difficult to solve for today’s teens is that they are inundated with choices. From value meal options, to cell phone plans, to soda flavors, to T.V. shows (there’s even multiple MTV channels) – this generation is the result of a society that each year seems to revolve more and more around self. In this kind of atmosphere Christianity becomes merely another option that, with the help of Pop culture relativism, stands on equal ground with any other lifestyle choice.
The other big challenge ministering to generation y is the lack of real communication in their day to day life. Any good youth minister will tell you that the backbone of successful ministry is being able to build relationships with teens. However – “hanging out” – the favorite past time of teens a generation ago – is now replaced with chatting online, instant messenger, and text messaging – all quick, non-substantial, and anonymous forms of communication. These forms of communication – give the facad of intimacy – but lack any real depth (Creating a huge problem when it comes to ministering to teens) Even when trying to use their modes of communication – it doesn’t quite fit. Asking a kid about his relationship with God on Instant Messanger is out of place in a world of communication through 3 letter words and smiley face symbols

What techniques have you found that work in reaching out to these kids?

The best technique is to use their culture – not to throw the whole thing out and hand them a catechism. I think today’s teens respond well to conversational catechesis – where we catechize through day to day relationships rather than through programming. This is not to say that structured teaching is obselete but in an attention defecit world where blurbs of conversation are the norm – I find kids responding better to stories, witness, and conversation.

What do you think these kids are really looking for out there?

Intimacy. Despite the issues teens have with real intimacy – they crave it. They are starving for experiences of it. This is a major reason why we see casual sexual partners or “friends with benefits” as such a huge trend. Teens lack experiences of intimacy – whether with friends or in their families as a result of divorce and dead beat parents. This is what I see teens running to the Eucharist for – intimacy.

They've been called at least a very spiritual generation, if not particularly religious. Do you think they're more receptive to the Gospel message than other generations or less?

Being a very “spiritual” generation is Oprah Winfrey crap. Today’s generation of teens are the product of a Pop-psychology, Pop-spirituality culture – which boils down to a mixture of Dr. Phil, fortune cookies, and some cheesy preacher telling us God wants us to smile more. The result is a bunch of people wearing some hip and trendy cross they bought at Urban Outfiters who think they’re living the Gospel yet wonder why their life isn’t like a page out of Chicken Soup for the Soul. I think they are still apt to receive the Gospel message in their hearts – however, the problem with this “pop-spirituality” is that it’s very superficial. Because of this we see teens living very superficial spiritualities. There are a multitude of teens who know how to be “spiritual” – how to go through the motions of youth group – they know the songs and the hand motions, they know the small group lingo, and they know their prayer – but it’s very shallow. On the outside – the “more spiritual” generation seems more connected .,, but often times the roots are shallow. The plus side to this generation is that spirituality is on the forefront – it’s not just a subculture anymore – it’s become mainstream in a lot of ways. Jesus is a rockstar right now …all over the hottest t-shirt lines and all over the airwaves from rap music to rock– so to be “into your faith” is OK today. And that’s a very good thing.

Maybe you could say a few words about JPII and his ministry to youth in light of your new recording.

JP 2 … he knew today’s teens very well. He spoke to them about intimacy, He spoke to them about sexuality. He spoke to them about relativsim and our culture of selfishness. But most of all he spoke to them about hope. …not in some flakey way- where we all light a candle and think good thoughts about the world. When he talked the young people of the world about hope – he told them THEY were the hope. In a world that writes off the youth as lost and hopeless – he spent the majority of his papacy proclaiming that they were the “morning watchmen” who would usher in the dawn of a new ecclesial spring time. And it was him who said over and over again that in these days the holy spirit would usher in a time of new evangelization… An evangelization that would be met with great fruit. To me – that’s vision! An 84 year old man who, seeing the darkness of youth culture, still calls them the light of the world.

My First Pimp Cane

I am up in Pittsburg doing a special send off show for Fr. Matt McClain of St. Alexis Parish. And out of no where my lil brother Andy gives me a pimp cane he got at the salvation army. And this is no ordinary pimp cane – it is hand carved with some kind of weird dragon dog head on the top of it and little wavey designs adorning the sides. Now if that wasn’t enough – the jon has got about four coats of poly-urethane on it – so I can see my reflection in it. And the icing on the cake – is that it’s got a marble in it’s mouth. So classic. So classy. Every rapper needs a pimp cane to strut with. Now all I need is an iced out grill and a jerry curl. Any ideas for naming the pimp cane would be greatly appreciated…

Pimp Cane Up Close and Personal

Pimp Cane Up Close and Personal
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

here's a close up

Pimp Cane

Pimp Cane
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

me and my cane. story below.

Young Adults Conference

Young Adults Conference
Originally uploaded by Righteousb.

Read on my friend

Young Adults Conference (June 3-5)

I just got done spending 3 days in Steubenville, OH for the first of Franciscan’s summer conferences. Young adults are a new cup of tea for me as I am used to speaking and interacting with high school age people. However the remarkable revelation came to me during the weekend that I am actually a “young adult” although I think I envision myself being about 16 years old and clueless. I was a little intimidated starting the conference thinking that the “young adults” were going to be a serious bunch of folks looking for a serious, professional looking sage to lead em for the weekend. But as I started to mingle with them I realized they were a lot like me…a normal crew of peeps with gifts and issues alike longing to bend their lives around God’s heart. And so we took the journey of the weekend together seeking to be “All for the Glory”. …What a meaty theme. God’s Glory is so infinite yet so intimate. And as he reveals his Glory (his face) we are left longing for more. The weekend was so passive in the sense that all weekend long God spilled out his Glory on us and we could do nothing other than stand there and receive it. That’s what His glory is about: His revelation and our awe. I think God wants me to receive more and strategize less.