Abolitionist Hymnal - Steps toward freedom
Friends, we had a great start this week to the Abolitionist Hymnal kickstarter. If you haven't visited the kickstart page, please do so here. Tonight I just wanted to give you a sense of the steps we've made toward making this benefit album for enslaved persons today:
8 Backers and 10% Funded - With some generous pledges in many of the reward categories, we've gotten a jump on the $3,000 goal to make this project happen. With each level of giving Backers receive a fun reward for their participation. We've now got supporters who will receive handmade abolitionist buttons by Anna Stroud Gladstone, supporters who will get advance copies of the bound Abolitionist Hymnal lead/chord sheets, and communities who've signed up at the "Church of God Waking" level who have secured their place on the debut Abolitionist Hymnal tour (for just $100!).
The Musicians are Rallying - As an artist I am most excited about the ways in which this process is engaging talented musicians in world-changing ways. Nick and Trista Dymond, friends of the 611 Community in Clarkston, MI, have been scheming to get studio time. Local church music leaders are signing on to receive this project. And, even Derek Webb of Caedmon's Call and solo career fame has offered a hand in advising us as we go forward! (You can always keep up on Derek and Sandra McCracken - coming out with her own revisited hymn project - on the twitterverse btw, @derekwebb and @sandramccracken)
55 Days Remain - Now there are 55 days left to engage our social networks in this process! Toward that end I invite all of you to jump on Facebook, invite your friends to visit the kickstarter page. Geeks and nerds, you're the ones who will be able to download widgets and help the Youtube video go viral! Remember, anything you can do to get the word out means a greater chance of this project bringing communities together to free some of the 27,000,000 vulnerable people held in modern slavery!
Looking forward to the next steps in singing freedom into reality for the child soldiers, bonded laborers, and sex workers in the world today,
Carl