Home From Pittsburgh!

Hi, Girlfriends! I hope your weekend is full of joy and laughter and recreation and that God's shown up in the middle of it one way or another. I just got home a little while ago from Pittsburgh and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God. Yet again, He granted us the most fabulous group. I've had the joy and challenge of 25 years of speaking and 11 years of Living Proof Live and I'm going to tell you that God has given us some of our neatest groups this very year. I have loved every single one of them, starting with El Paso in January.

These 6000+ Pittsburgh sisters were like bird dogs on point from the very beginning. Totally focused and into it. They came for Jesus and I pray with all my heart that they got Him. I loved them like nobody's business. A ton of really young women. And, of course, plenty of sisters in their 70's and up. They always bless me so much, especially as I see them worship. There is something so dear about it that it makes me want to bawl. We had women from - get this - 28 States (mostly PA, Ohio, NY) and representing something like 378 different churches. Amazing.

We had something happen this time that is a total first at Living Proof Live: A PUBLIC PROPOSAL! Our drummer, Kevin Jones, who we're totally nuts about, got down on his knee right on the stage this morning and asked his gorgeous girlfriend, Ashley, to marry him. Opened the ring box and everything. Travis had set them up so, needless to say, he's beside himself. Taking all the credit. I'm so ticked that it wasn't me. You've got to understand that we have all (including Keith) been wondering when the woman of Kevin's dreams was going to show up. He's like the catch of the century and it was amazing that he'd made it to 30 as an eligible single, handsome, GODLY guy. This was a really big deal to all of us because every wonderful young woman we'd meet would raise our eyebrows on Kevin's behalf. Nope. Not the one.

Then Travis invited Ashley to a worship event where he and Kevin were serving and that was it. Get the tux. So, Trav called me this week to let me in on the secret that drummer man had gotten a ring, and that's when the conspiracy took shape. Because Kevin has been such a big part of our team for so long, it was only fitting for him to have that platform for his proposal if he wanted it. There was a big catch though. It also had to work out for Ashley to come all the way from Tennessee to the event. (You wouldn't believe how many things had to go exactly right for this to pull off. God loves them. That's all I'm saying.)

Lo and behold, because it was Kevin's birthday, Ashley just happened to come to "surprise" him. To really get this scenario, you need to keep in mind that she thought she was the tricky one and that he'd never expect her to show up. Kevin took the chance that she might hop on the plane and had leaked the word to both their parents that, with their blessing, he'd pop the question this weekend at the event if she did. Right on cue, both sets of moms and dads snuck into Pittsburgh last night and to the front row of the arena this morning to watch the whole thing first hand.

Here's how Travis set it up: we'd sung two praise songs this morning in our first session when he called three of us having birthdays to the platform. One of them was Kevin himself. The others were Tammy Jenson (one of our terrific singers) and yours truly. He led the whole arena in a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday to us and then staged the brilliant part: Travis had asked Ashley to come up on the platform and present each of us birthday folks with bouquets of flowers. After she'd put them in our hands, Trav gave all of us that "clear the platform!" look and we scurried off. When Ashley naturally tried to follow us, Kevin grabbed her hand and told her to stay and the rest is history. I wish you could have seen her face. Honestly, Siestas, it was so romantic you wouldn't have believed it. It made me want to march straight home and marry Keith Moore again.

It was so much fun. One of my favorite LPL memories of all. God loved it. I could feel it in my spirit. He got as big a kick out of it as we did.

Kevin & Ashley at Living Proof Live from Kris Seidenkranz on Vimeo.

Would you believe that the big proposal coincided with another LPL "first"? We had a young bride (22 years old) named Emily Venesky in attendance from the Pittsburgh area with her entire bridal party and get this: her wedding was TONIGHT. She would have walked down the aisle just 6 hours after she left the conference. When was the last time you heard of a bridal party opting for a Christian women's event over getting their hair and nails done on the big day? I was floored. They were absolutely adorable. I pray that God blows their minds with favor over what they prioritized on this pivotal weekend.

Well, that's all my news for now except for the fact that I got a brand new I-phone. And I am completely obsessed with it. I was a total power-texter on my Verizon Voyager. I knew it so well I didn't even have to look at the darn thing when I jotted a text. My new I-phone has a totally different keypad, though, so I'm really having to adjust to texting on it but you just wait. I'll be the reigning queen in five days flat. I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it! There's still a lot I have to figure out like how to answer it and stuff, which, of course, Travis knew. That explains why he grabbed it and took a picture of himself that looks sorta like he's picking his nose with both index fingers and put it on my wallpaper. So, for now, that's what I see every time somebody calls me. I'm getting Michelle to deal with it first thing Monday morning. In the meantime, I'll just laugh my head off. I love my team. It's like trying to work with a group of Godly 8 year-olds.

And, to our Siesta that very sweetly asked me if I was using a hands-free device while driving and talking to Melissa on my cell, yes, as a matter of fact I am. Blue Tooth. I'm so cool that I'm going to have to sleep in my sweats tonight.

Obviously, my team is working with a veritable 8 year-old, too, that looks suspiciously like she's about to turn...