Spring Update

Laurel and I took a Village Thrift team up to Wheaton, IL end of February. From there we took a trip up to Milwaukee, WI to spend some time with Jeremy and Hansi Bryan. We were also able to catch up with Dave Olson, one of our beat makers on the next Village Thrift recording. 2 weeks later, we packed our bags as a family for 3 weeks in Colorado spending some much needed time with David and Carol Shirk, Ben and Robin Pasley, and some of our friends out in Woodland Park and Boulder. The second weekend in April we were able to host Doug and RIta Roberts in our home. The last week of April Laurel took a trip out to Arizona while Todd got some great “Daddy Time” with the girls. Later that week, he was invited to help lead worship at a 4 day men’s event on Concord, NC.  Whew! all of that travel and all are doing well. Meanwhile, in the midst of all of this, Todd has continued to write and record new material for the upcoming highly collaborative Village Thrift worship recording. We appreciate your prayers in this season and appreciate your ongoing support. Thank you for being a part of our journey!

Podcast Interview: Todd Berger of Village Thrift

Todd is a full time musician who finds his inspiration in ancient poetry and through the modern gritty beats of urban America. Todd’s unique style is indicative of the traditional singer songwriter a la Billy Joel mixed with the modern high energy rock and electronica more typical of Cold Play or early Beck.

Todd has some great insight and wonderful stories to share. Don’t miss it!

GET THE PODCAST

Our Music is getting Radio Airplay on WVOF 88.5 FM Fairfield, CT

I just received an email from a radio DJ in Fairfield, CT giving airplay to some of the track from our last Village Thrift CD. If you’re in the area, tune in to “The Upper Room with Joe Kelley” WVOF 88.5 FM Fairfield, CT , Mondays 4-8 pm EST. They currently have “In This World” added to their rotation. [ more info ]

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Merry Christmas! Free MP3 downloads!

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

DEC 16th 6pm: Todd Berger & Kate Hurley EWC Christmas event in Cleveland

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Todd’s New Music In-Progress

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Village Thrift Update

9.02.2007

Project Update

Songwriting has commenced for the new Village Thrift recording. We should have plenty of material for you all to work with by the time we release the tracks to you for your creative genius. Between 3 writers, we have about 40 song ideas so far to sort through and choose which ones to develop further. My friend, DJ Doc (Harrill), and I are pretty excited about some of the collaborative alliances that are being made both here in Cleveland and abroad. We’re dreaming big dreams at this point, and I’d imagine the credits will be a lengthy list of friends by the release date of this latest Village Thrift installment.

Let me say this, that the Psalms have never seemed so relevant in light of the issues we are facing around the world and in our own back ally. I think I’m personally starting to understand David and his wildly creative collaboration between Psalmists who were about singing to God about the issues that surrounded them in that time. They didn’t wax elloquent in pouring out their hearts to the Lord, nor did they feel bashful about airing out their dirty laundry in the corporate setting. Another thing I’m remembering is that before we had what we now know as the Bible, God was speaking to and through mortals like David, who were simply responding to what they were hearing. They created a bunch of songs, that have been added to the Bible, and the rest is history. We who now have the Bible, refer to these now as the "Word of God". I wonder how David and the psalmists would have responded in the creative process had they known their music would be documented as the God’s word to future generations. I wonder how they would have fealt knowing that only the lyrics would endure and that future generations would only be familiar with these songs divorced from their original musical and cultural context. Pray for us, as we now excavate this ancient poetry from it’s cultural context and reassemble it using the musical context of today to preserve it’s truths for posterity.

Todd Berger

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Summer Travels Update

Laurel and I just got back to Cleveland this week after having travelled back from a spending several days with the Joe and Angie Steinke and their tribe from their discipleship community there in Madison and then continuing on to spend a week with Peter and Jessica Woehler at a ministry called Source in Minneapolis. I sincerely want to thank those of you who support us– especially those in leadership at our local fellowship, NewSong Church! Without the generosity and partnership of individuals like yourself, it would be impossible for us to do all that the Lord asks of us to reveal Christ to students and people in transition. Laurel and I want to take a moment to thank you for your faithfulness over these years.

Madison, WI

In the setting of a barn converted to a very magical concert space, we had the opportunity to share our hearts with about 70 students in the discipleship community of Mad-City Church. We heard some great reports from several that night, but one in particular I’d like to mention, is that of a woman who said she was a real mess the whole time. When I responded asking her if she was OK, she said, Oh yes… God was really working on her all night while we were ministering, “it was so anointed”. We joined with the worship team at Mad City Church on Sunday to co-lead worship for their 2 morning services. I was really blown away at how the messages in the songs and the message Elliot shared worked somehow in tandem– just one more way I’ve witnessed God weaving things together that may at first appear to be unrelated. Wow!

Minneapolis, MN

Laurel and I packed up the Van and took a 4 hour trip with our group from Cleveland to land in Minneapolis to be a part of the Artist Intensive at Source, a inner city ministry lead by Peter and Jessica Woehler. We were able to meet up with Tracy Howe, Ben and Robin Pasley, Karla and Gary Adolphe, Caleb Friesen, and Kate Hurley, all of whom are a part of our Blue Renaissance family of arts missionaries. During the week we lead worship, prayed over people, lead small group discussions, and taught in mini-seminars to equip artists. The theme of the entire week was about belonging to the family of God and how we operate as the Body of Christ. There was some very powerful worship during these sessions… powerful in that there was a strong sense of unity in the midst of our corporate worship. I remember leading a song that I’d written just a few days earlier that people were singing with me as I was singing it for the first time w/o words or any visual aids as to where we were going. We were going the journey together, into unfamiliar waters taking risks but feeling comfortable in doing so together. Let’s just say God’s kingdom WILL come and HIS will will BE DONE in a people who are willing to walk in that level of unity. We finished off the week with ArtFest, a public street festival that allows us to love on the people in the neighborhoods surrounding The Fallout and just a few block from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. This was the same festival Laurel and I got to participate in 2 years ago, so it was awesome to be back to witness all of the progress made in the last 2 years and to love and encourage Peter and Jessica, and the people they love and serve.

For the remainder of the Summer, things will calm down for us in out travels. In the Fall we would like to travel with our BRCG partners to Recife, Brazil to continue our work sowing into our relationships there. I’ll be telling you more very soon. Please pray and consider partnering with us! We will be helping Brazilians create original worship that will be culturally relevant to Brazilians. And ALSO, after writing a bunch of new material for the next Village Thrift recording, I am endeavoring to complete this recording by the end of 2007. Please pray for key partnerships for collaboration for this recording, our work in Brazil, and our ongoing missionary work here in the U.S.

–Todd

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Working on a new CD

Well I discovered a few days ago (after I’d slowed down long enough to count) that I have 14 new songs written for the next Village Thrift project. I’ll be writing several more before heading into the studio to lay down some tracks. I can say that after this weekend, after having performed several songs live that hadn’t ever made it out of the CD player, I’m quite excited for this next batch. My friend and fellow collaborator, Ryan Lott, we just packed and sent off with his wife Jen (an amazing dancer), to New York City. Needless to say he will not be able to be as heavily involved in this next project as he was in helping establish foundation for the Village Thrift series with the Circa 2005 release. This next recording will open up opportunities to have several new collaborators. More to follow…

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.

Darien, Connecticut

We left at 5am with our crew of 6 to lead an EWC Village Thrift worship event in Darien, CT. After 1 blown out tire and about a 9 hour drive we arrived at Noroton Presbyterian Church.

People filed into the auditorium in representing a diverse cross-cut from Darien and the surrounding areas. I’ve never really realized the missional aspect of the Village Thrift songs until tonight. As I shared a few stories between songs about the songs I’d written from the Psalms and what I was personally going through while writing them, connections came easy to offer them up as prayers during our set. The momentum was huge, as the now choir of people in the congregation roared out anthems of God’s deliverance that most I’m sure had never heard before tonight. There was an amazing synergy between Doc, April, Jonathan and myself and a keen sense that I was doing something that I was created to do. It was truly an awesome night. One gentleman said that this was his first Christian concert he’d been to since giving his life to the Lord and that it had been such and encouragement to him — in his own words, “it totally blew him away”. The crowd appeared to be pretty stirred up that night and we sung together our prayers as a diverse expression of the family of God.

The following morning we got to hang out with Ken & Lori Jenke’s gang practicing Sabbath together. Jonathan and I led a little bit of worship and encouraged our missional family in New Haven before heading back to Cleveland where we arrived at 4:30AM. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support to make this trip possible!

This couple has been developing prophetic music and art for sharing Christ with student culture for over 12 years. In 1997 they made a decision to focus on writing worship and dance that sponsored intimacy and intercession at the worship event. They enjoy creating “multi-arts” events where a fusion of visual art, dance, acoustic, and electronica come together for an intense time of meeting God. Though Todd and Laurel a passion for ministering to student groups and partnering with student ministries, they also have a heart for creating worship environments for a cross-generational gatherings.