A Brush with … a Great Musician and a Better Person

Do you know who Mat Kearney is? He’s a great singer/songwriter, and I’ve been a fan of his music for years. Great voice, very soulful and insightful lyrics, very evocative. And even though he doesn’t represent himself as a “Christian artist,” if you listen to his songs you can tell where he’s coming from. They play some of them on K-Love and Sirius’ The Message. 

(If you don’t recognize his name or think you know any of his songs, check the links I’ve provided below – you may recognize some of them after all.*)

He was in concert in Ft. Lauderdale Monday night, May 12, so I jumped at the chance to hear him in person. A few weeks before the concert I reached out to a good friend of mine in Nashville, Brad O’Donnell. I’ve known Brad since he and his sweet wife Erin – a great singer herself; you should check out some of her songs on YouTube – since they were students at UM back in the early ‘90’s. Brad is now Co-President of Capitol Christian Music Group, and a heavy hitter in the music scene. They represent a lot of major Christian artists: Amy Grant; Chris Tomlin; Newsboys; Toby Mac; We the Kingdom; Tauren Wells; Riley Clemmons; Jeremy Camp, Anne Wilson; Cody Carnes et al.

Brad knows everybody. So I asked if he knows Mat Kearney, and, of course he does … so then I asked if he could arrange for me to meet him, say hello and thank him for his music. 

A few jumps down the checkerboard later, I’m at the Parker Playhouse in Ft. Lauderdale, arriving early for a meet-and-greet with the man himself. I go to the front door; usher asks if I’m a VIP; I say “Uh, yeah” – like I do this all the time. (I’ve never done this in my life.) They give me my VIP tag and lanyard and I wait for them to send me in to meet Mat Kearney.

That would be me.

Twenty minutes later I’m in the Wells Auditorium in Parker Playhouse where for the next 45 minutes I’m talking with Mat Kearney about his life and music … along with about 25 other close personal friends he’s never met before. He stands in front of them on the floor right below center stage; they all sit in the first three rows. I can’t fit into those rows, so I’m about 15 feet off to his left.

Mat Kearney is a terrifically nice guy. He talks with everyone very personally and informally, makes a six-year-old girl’s day by singing a song into which he inserts her name, and sings a couple more of his best-known songs. Just Mat and his guitar, playing just for us.  

All too quickly his manager comes out and signals the time’s up. Mat says, “Hey, let’s get a group photo,” and he shepherds everyone into the center of those three rows. To get there he walks right by me. He says, “Can you come over here with the rest of us?” I say, “No, but go ahead and get the pic with the others.” I literally do not, cannot fit in.

I am excluded, left out because I’m different, because of my disability.

You ever feel excluded, left out because you’re different? You have LD’s, social anxieties, physical, mental or emotional disabilities, you’re too weird, too young, too old, too small, too big, too dumb, too uncool, too conservative, too liberal, too canceled or whatever? I feel you, friend. I pretty much stand out / sit apart everywhere I go.

And if that’s where this story ended it would be a pretty lame excuse for a blog, no?

“I went to great efforts to meet someone, showed up, got left out, excluded. The end.”

But that’s not where the story ends. Everything I’ve told you so far is true, but I left out one key part. When Mat walked by where I was, I mean right in front of me, and asked if I could join the rest of them, I did say no, go ahead, get your group shot. But then, not one to miss an opportunity like that, I added: “But after you take that you can come take one with me.”

I’m the one on the left, in case you’re not sure.

As we shook hands, I said, “My buddy Brad O’Donnell sent me.” He responded, “Oh no kidding? I love that guy.”

Friends, I’m a little old to be a fan-boy – although if I ever get to meet Sir Paul I will undoubtedly be reduced to a blubbering, fawning blob of incoherence – but it was really rewarding to meet a talented artist like Mat Kearney, someone whose work I’ve long admired and appreciated, and find him to be a genuinely nice, down-to-earth human being. Even more importantly:

When my condition and circumstances made me an “outcast,” excluded from the others, he made the effort to include me, bring me in, make me feel wanted, like I mattered, I belonged. You know someone who feels excluded, left out, a misfit, an outcast? How about reaching out to her or him, today, making the effort to let that person know she’s / he’s wanted, accepted, and loved? I know I want that person here, with us, as part of our church, our family.

And most importantly of all: When our condition and circumstances made us “outcasts,” excluded from God’s family, he made the effort to include us, bring us in, make us feel wanted, like we matter, we belong – because we are, and we do. By God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice, we are wanted, we matter, we belong.

Ephesians 2:1-10: 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Meeting Mat Kearney was a nice moment, a cool event in my life, something to tell my friends about. And now I have.

Knowing Jesus as Lord is the most important thing in this life and for all eternity, something everybody needs to know about. And now you do.

Kent

*Check out these songs. I bet you’ll be a fan of his, too.

“Nothing Left to Lose”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7YP4k7rMuc (This is the song that first made me pay attention to his music)

“Breathe in Breathe out”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4G5TsUTxTk (This was featured on "Grey's Anatomy" and put him on the public’s radar)

“Ships In The Night”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCkfTCjF8SM (Incredible video, filmed in 165 different locations – check it out)

”Closer to Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMRXXBGotnw (I think this is his biggest “hit”)

“Air I Breathe”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZu9A-dTfA (This one got a lot of play on Christian stations, for obvious reasons)

“Palisades”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6An4nlPzyME (I just love this one)