I remember the moment so clearly. Years ago I was sitting in a car with a buddy of mine from Canada. We had just come from lunch and he wanted to play me a song on his car CD player. It felt like I was in the Brady Bunch…just listening to the newest tunes on Greg Brady’s record player. My buddy said, “You’ve got to hear this band.” What proceeded out of the speaker system captured me. It was a song by an eclectic, self-named group: Dave Matthews Band. I had never heard of them before and certainly had never heard a rock band use violins and woodwinds. It was magical. I never forgot the moment. It was the start of my journey in the DMB tribe.
Years later, my wife and I and two other couples (some of our best friends on the planet) took a long road trip to The Gorge. The Gorge is a premiere concert venue in the middle of Washington State. Each Labor Day weekend thousands of DMB followers flock to The Gorge for a weekend of music and togetherness. It was surreal. Pure devotion unlike anything I’ve ever seen in any church service (and I’ve been in quite a few of them). They didn’t have FANS they had FOLLOWERS. They were a part of the DMB Tribe – perhaps recently or perhaps since the beginning…regardless, they were followers.
This morning I was sitting in my truck before grabbing some coffee and I began to read the notes on the inside artwork of a Dave Matthews Band greatest hits CD. In it Steve Morse, a reviewer with The Boston Globe, refers to himself as a “longtime DMB believer”. A believer. Hmmm. Believer. Not just a listener. Not just a fan. This guy is a follower. And so are many thousands of others. DMB has a Tribe of Followers.
How can the church learn from this? How can we have people become interested in the claims of Christ and in His agency on this earth: the church, but then see them move closer and closer to the things of Jesus and become His followers? How do leaders create an environment in which there are seekers and followers?
Any thoughts? Let me know.