ANDREAS LARSEN

Full time job with addicts

2009-12-30T20:12:00.005+02:00

Since November 16th I've been working 37 hours a week at a day offer "social cafe" for people with different addictions (mainly alcohol) who are feeling lonely and need a safe haven, a "family" and a timeout in an often hectic day of letdowns.

I love this work and feel very privileged being able to hangout here with so many different people, who has got so many stories from their life's. Will be working at this place (in Århus, Denmark) full time until June 1st.
"Blå Kors" (Blue Cross) is a Christian organization focusing mainly on helping folks with alcohol problems.

I believe that every human being need care

- for the body (physically),

- for the mind (mentally) and

- for the soul (spiritually).

This Christmas time is especially hard on our crowd who are coming at Blå Kors. A lot of bad memories from broken homes as kids, or broken homes that they as a mom or dad couldn't handle.

Let this be a time of caring for each other.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Nordic Fest 2009

2009-12-20T21:08:00.004+02:00

On the ferry to Oslo, Norway. 9 hours on the way up there...and 14 hours back because of a crazy storm. Safe and sound "asleep":

Going on stage about an hour after arrival :) ... If you look closely you can see Pastor Bobs tattooed arm on the picture:

Nordic Fest is such an awesome festival!! Definitely one of the best!

This was my 5th time at Nordic, and it was great as always!

- 2005: Enjoying!

- 2006: Playing with Barricades.

- 2007: Helping out Pastor Bob with band interviews and stuff.

- 2008: Doing one of the seminars in the Holy Riders Cave during the festival.

- 2009: Playing with Solace the Day

One of the most amazing things about these Christian metal festivals is the dedicated fellowship in Christ. So many people come year after year from all over the world for this (fairly small) festival!

The Nordic main brain, Pål, standing left in the picture:

During our concert the night before I (and everybody else) thought that I broke my hand. After watching the last couple of bands after us (Frosthardr and Becoming The Archetype) we went to the emergency room, where we hung out from 01:00 to 04:00 in the morning.

After tests and ex-rays this was what the doctors journal said:

"Damage at hand by directly trauma from a bass guitar at 9 PM"

=> THAT's A KEEPER!! :0)

Amanda and I on a castle sight seeing Friday together with 40 other folks from the festival.

Fun times...

Destruction Fest

2009-12-20T20:29:00.006+02:00

Solace The Day (and Amanda!) at Destruction Fest in London, England.

Picture: Take off with bus from Vejle...

Amanda and another queen at Billund Airport:

Destruction Fest was from Friday to Sunday. Friday and Sunday was all about fellowship, connecting, praying for each other, singing worship together and blessing one another.

Saturday we were 10 bands playing. A great privilege playing (and hanging out) with My Silent Wake, Antidemon, A Hill To Die Upon, More Than Dust (their very last show), Xphere, Back Pocket Prophet, Rising From Death, Conduit and Bloodwork.

Late night at the Catholic church where we were:

Time for having Chinese food (sorry I haven't got pictures of the whole crowd!) :

I also found the time for a walk in the park :-) A HUGE blessing having Amanda with me!!

She came to visit to 5 weeks!

This was my 2nd time at Destruction Fest in London. The first time was in 2004, where everything was fairly new for me and the Christian metal fellowship. Amazing looking back and seeing how many exciting things has happened since then. GOD IS GOOD!

A great weekend where we finished of sleeping at Stansted Airport. The nice familiar feeling of feeling happy, sore, blessed and extremely spent :0)

Grindhouse Construction

2009-12-20T20:06:00.004+02:00

In October we (Sanctuary Denmark) also did a one night metal event, as a little brother to the Green Light District Festival. It turned in to a truly blessed night, with a good amount of people, great positive fellowship, awesome concerts and a focus on Christ throughout the whole night!

The meaning behind the name "Grindhouse Construction":

- To "grind" people together in friendship, taking care of each other, have fun in the moshpit and dare to be honest and share life.

- To create a "house" where the Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may work, so that people may be touched and feel the love of God and the Christian fellowship.

- To have a time of "construction" and not destruction (which often is the theme in the metal subculture). In Jesus Christ there is freedom!

Great positive energy!

We had four bands playing: Antidemon from Brazil; Arms Ablaze; Servants Of The Immortal and us in Solace The Day, who put on the event.

And a fellowship both one stage, off stage, during concerts and the talks in between!

MAY GOD BE GLORIFIED

Intense Sanctuary disciple week

2009-12-20T19:21:00.007+02:00

In October, Pastor Bob and we in Sanctuary Denmark did a 5 days Christian living studies in Århus, Denmark. The Intense Sanctuary week was held in my church "Århus Valgmenighed". Pastor Bob did teaching from questions that we all wrote down beforehand.

An awesome week of teaching, which I've been longing for :-)

We were 15 folks for the whole thing and 45 dudes and girls for one day or more.

Our kitchen lady Lilian did an awesome job with the food, together with her husband Lars and my dad Børge. Above is a picture from one of the days menus.

Jonas and David transporting important stuff for the seminars!

A great week to remember!

Next Bible school is the 80 days INTERNATIONAL DISCIPLE CONFERENCE in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. September 17th - December 3rd 2010. Looking forward to that!!

In the States aGAIN

2009-09-19T20:08:00.003+02:00

I spend seven weeks in the States this Summer, which was a great and blessed time in any way. Then I went back to Denmark for our Band/Musicians Retreat + to move apartment + to start working full time (besides ministry) so I can effort more traveling and doing more projects.

There are many important things in life. And then there is love. Above them all, love.

So now I’m back in Illinois to spend some good time with Amanda, which feels like the only right thing to do at the moment :)

It’s wild how God has created us with such strong feelings and emotions. Many times I’ve felt love (being in love) as a disease! But love is also what keeps us going!! It’s what makes life worth living. AND the greatest and most everlasting knowledge I’ve got about love, is that God is love! The true core of love is seen in the eyes of Christ!

1 Corinthians 13 "The Excellence of Love"

8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

9For we know in part and we prophesy in part;

10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

(... Realized that we still haven't got a good picture of Amanda and I... This time you therefor you get a picture of her alpakkas, who are living in the backyard)

Band/Musicians Retreat

2009-09-19T19:52:00.003+02:00

August 7^th – 9^th we (Sanctuary Denmark) had our first Band/Musicians Retreat in Denmark and it was an amazing time!!

A weekend minded on all the Christian heavy metal musicians in Denmark. Pastor Bob Beeman flew to Denmark to teach these three days, and we REALLY appreciate that man! :-)

The weekend reminded me a lot about our Green Light District Festival with the best teaching (but more this time) and the best fellowship (but more this time). We had seminars on being a hard music band of Christians sharing the light of Christ.

When I started out in Barricades (2003), it took me a while before I realized my responsibility as a Christian musician. Especially when you’re in a band playing concerts, many will look at you to see if you “live what you preach”. Many look for their role models amongst musicians, which is a great thing to be aware of. Stay humble and stay focused. I once went to a seminar on how we as musicians are the preachers of the times. A lot of people don’t read book... but they listen to music.

The main goal of the weekend was to get together, get to know each other more as fellow musicians in our country, share stories with each other and be encouraged to keep the faith. Our goal is also to help musicians getting useful tools in how to be a great and outstanding band amongst thousand of other bands.

It was an awesome weekend of fellowship and teaching, hangout until 5 in the mornings and brunch at 12 noon. A very blessed time, where a couple said that they’ve never experienced such a strong fellowship at a camp before. All in all we were 40 people during this weekend.

Pastor Bob and I and planning on doing these band/musicians retreats in many different countries, where Sanctuary Denmark will do one every year.

Glory to God!

Hanging with the homeless in Nashville

2009-07-13T20:45:00.002+02:00

Pastor Bob started feeding homeless people in Nashville under Jefferson Street Bridge some time ago. I started helping out about 1,5 years ago, and now Bob and friends are feeding most days of the week. (This first picture is 1,5 years ago during the cold Nashville winter).

I've been longing to get back under the bridge again hanging out, and it's great being able to do that again while I'm here! (Picture taken a week ago).

Since the financial crisis A LOT of people have lost their homes. Right now there's about 3.000 people on the street just in the Nashville area. The picture below shows Pastor Bob praying before the meal. Most of these homeless are thankful Christians and the greatest people!

If you wanna check it out the homeless feeding ministry this is the place to go:

www.thebridgebunch.com

Picture above shows two of the Danish friends who are traveling with me in the States this time. Simone and Levi are also on the team behind Snactuary Denmark, the Green Light District Festival and the metal ministry in Denmark.

New ink

2009-07-12T06:42:00.007+02:00

At the exact same time as when Railyn was born I was sitting in the tattoo chair at Lone Wolf Tattoo.

I got some shadings done on my upper left arm + blue color around my 9-star. The 9-star was my very first tattoo which I got at BobFest 2005. All of my tattoos means a lot to me, but especially my debut tattoo of the 9-star, with praying hands and the nine fruit of the Spirit:

Galatians 5, 22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law!"
I'm still using this tattoo at night, going through the day and meditating on however my days actions has been defined by these things. Every day I get to the point that without the God of Trinity and prayers I can't achieve this at all!! By His Spirit and His grace I can slowly grow in character, becoming more like Christ.

... Pictures taken by Levi Wiwe Rauff (guitarist of Solace the Day) ...

Railyn McCavanagh

2009-07-12T05:33:00.004+02:00

One of the cool things about staying in Nashville is hanging out with the McCavanaghs.

I've been staying with this awesome little fam whenever I've been living in Nashville through the past two years :-)

And THEN only three days ago a new little McCanavagh arrived!!! His name is Railyn, and I'm really excited about seeing him grow up!

I couldn't be at the hospital because I've got the cold (after no sleep, bad food, flooded tent and too many shows at Cornerstone), but Jamie honored me (and the Danes) by wearing the Green Light District Festival 2009 t-shirt!! I'M HONORED :O)

Amanda

2009-07-12T01:35:00.003+02:00

And now it's time for a love story:

I've been back in the States for more than a month and a whole lot of exciting things has happened!! It really feels good being back, breath the well-known (and humid!) Tennessean air and catching up with projects and folks in Nashville..!

But one thing fills my mind more than anything else...!

I met the most beautiful girl in the world a couple of years ago, and for the last year we've been thinking of each other. Off course I've been too stupid to really believe in it before now, but lucky me, Amanda and her beautiful heart has been patient :O)

Within a couple of days I'll fly (back) to Illinois, USA, where she's living. She lives only a 1,5 hour drive from the Cornerstone Festival venue.

... So if I seem more weird and happy clappy than usual, that's probably why. (The picture shows Amanda, I and her nephew at Cornerstone).

Cornerstone Festival

2009-07-12T01:14:00.009+02:00

This was the 2^nd year I’ve been to Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. I love going to metal festivals and meet friends and well known faces from all over the world!

More than 50 stages and several hundred bands gathered for six days in the cornfields of Illinois. Last year I played 3 times with the Sanctuary Worship band, and this year I've been so blessed to be able to play with SOLACE THE DAY here!!

Within 6 days we played 6 Solace the Day concerts + that Levi and I played 3 times with Sanctuary Worship band! Besides that we had an awesome time hanging out and running to concerts with friends whenever we didn't have to play :0)
We played everything from a the big Sanctuary tent full of folks to a couple of shows right on the grass at the generator stages.
Our American friends from the great band A Hill To Die Upon helped us out a lot with borrowing gear. Respect! And tons of respect goes out to the guys behind the Sanctuary Stage/Tent. It was one more awesome year!!
This last picture is from one of our 3 concerts at the Sanctuary Stage. Rumors started running that our live show was pretty crazy and that I destroyed myself completely at every show (which I did)... I'm very thankful for the good support we got at all our shows.

A huge privilege to meet so many great people at Cornerstone, hang out, play music with awesome friends and worship God, my Father and Creator!

Back in the USA!

2009-06-25T23:36:00.003+02:00

I've been working with heavy metal ministry together with Pastor Bob Beeman since 2005, where I've been living in Nashville, Tennessee on and off. I'm still working full time with PB and metal, but it has now been almost a year since I've been in the States. Feels good being back!

I'm only gonna be here for 7 weeks this time. While I'm here I will be working on different ministry project with the Pastor + catch up with friends + hangout with the homeless in Nashville + have my Danish metal band Solace the Day over + play shows (and work) at Cornerstone Festival with both Solace the Day and Sanctuary Worship band.

I'll keep posting from "the other side" (depending on where you are sitting)...

Sweden survival weekend

2009-06-25T23:26:00.006+02:00

Five days after the marathon I had an awesome weekend in the wilderness of Sweden together with different leaders from my church in Århus + others. We were 4 teams of 4 people, where we were fighting our own physical and mentally limits to conquer different tasks and earn respect :0)

And this was totally a great vacation! My team were kano paddling about 30 km during the day, then we slept two hours under the open sky, got up at midnight, went paddling a little and then we walked about the distance of a marathon (42,195 km) through the night. Besides that there was different tasks that we had to do.

I really like pushing my own limits, and we certainly did that :-)

It was amazing paddling through the night, and then walk for 7-8 hours through the woods with animals jumping around and stuff. GOD'S NATURE IS AMAZING!!!

Copenhagen Marathon

2009-06-25T23:21:00.004+02:00

Wow, it's been looong since I've blogged!!

A month ago I ran the Copenhagen Marathon together with my dad and Jonas from Solace the Day. A really good experience once again. This was my 9th marathon. It's incredible how God has created us human beings. On one hand we, our mind and bodies are capable of conquering grand, grand things; and on the other hand we're so fragile!

In both situations I'm in need of God!

EASTER

2009-04-15T13:27:00.005+02:00

...Continued from the "On the Norway-Denmark ferry" post below...

I wouldn't recommend this guy to continue letting himself being hurt in such major ways, because I wanted the best for him. Sometimes we have to protect ourselves to survive, but Jesus chose to walk the whole way and lay down his life

for the humans, whom He loved dearly, though we're treating Him violently!

Christ lived a life in pain and suffering knowing what we were created to be. All along He knew that we were created for much more, living a life of pure love in a peaceful world in an uplifting relationship with our Heavenly Father; and I believe that that was what kept Him going! I also believe that it hurts like hell to see us humans choosing d

estructive ways of living and causing each other pain and death.

In Denmark the Friday where Christ gets crucified is called LONG FRIDAY, but to me the English name has a deeper meaning with the title GOOD FRIDAY! Looking back and seeing the bigger picture of why Christ went through so much physical and even more mentally pain.

He did it for the love of God! Nothing is more GOOD than the LOVE of GOD!!

May the GRACE, PEACE and LOVE of our LORD be with you!

On the Norway-Denmark ferry

2009-04-15T11:39:00.004+02:00

I travelled to Oslo by boat from Frederikshavn and back again, which can be pretty boring, when you're traveling alone..! On my way home I spend more than 12 hours on the ferry.

But fortunately I met a Norwegian hippie on my own age sitting by himself on the deck smoking hand rolled cigarettes :0) We sat on a table talking on the deck for a couple of hours until both of us were completely frozen. We had a lot in common though we were very different in some fundamental ways like God, relationships and sex.

This lonely dude had been homeless in periods and had been living in Asia for a while searching for love. At a time he went to jail in Thailand without knowing anything for a month. All he wanted was to lay down his life in anyway he could to be able to be with the woman he loved, though this woman treaded him violently both mentally and physically.

I haven't been through as much crap as he has, but I know how it is to be driven by love, which MANY times feels like a sickness! ...But you're convinced that it's worth everything!

Love is a powerful thing that keeps us going!!

...To be continued in the "EASTER" post above...

Norway, SubChurch

2009-04-15T11:15:00.003+02:00

A week ago I got back from spending a few days in Oslo, hanging out with Norwegian friends. I was asked to speak at SubChurch on the Sunday service, which was a big honour to me. This Church (the people) has inspired and encouraged me a lot in my ministry and life.

It's great to hang out with Brothers and Sisters from other countries and I sure enjoyed getting to know some of the people even more.

On Sunday I spoke about "A life in relationship with God and Family" where I focused on "Simplicity - Purity - Accountability". I think a lot of speakers talk about what they need to hear them selfs :-) at least I do, when I'm asked to share my heart.

Amsterdam - Leader Hangout Gathering

2009-03-08T17:57:00.017+02:00

Last weekend Jonas (drummer of Solace The Day) and I went on a 1834 kilometers road trip to a European conference near Amsterdam in The Netherlands at an old fort, pictured on the island underneath:

A fairly small group of leaders where 11 countries were represented.

Most of the participants where connected to Jesus Freaks ministries around Europe. Cool folks who started out almost 20 years ago, and got the name "Jesus Freaks" from punks who didn't like what they were doing.

One girl was from ChristianiaKirken in Copenhagen (ChristianiaKirken.dk), and it was really cool meeting her, connect and together pray for Denmark :-)

Two Norwegian friends from SubChurch in Oslo (Norway) where also at the conference, and I really love their hearts and how they are running fellowship and Church for the underground in Oslo. The last few years I've gone to Oslo many times to hang out at SubChurch and get inspired (www.SubChurch.no).

The main speaker was Victor John from India. After being a paster at an establish Church he wanted to take some time off and start sharing the gospel to folks around him; making disciples of Jesus Christ. A healthy way of making fellowship, like the first house Churches in the New Testament. This disciple-network grew and out of that "step of faith" we now see 3.000.000 Christians in India divided in 80.000 house Churches. Devoted people who pray 2-3 house a day, 14-21 hours a week. Something I can learn a lot from!!
Victor John shared a simple and very effective (and challenging) way of reading/studying the Bible:

1) What does the scripture say?

2) What do I learn from this?

3) What does it cost me to apply it?

4) Whom am I gonna share this with?

An uplifting weekend with some good teaching, that I've brought home with me to Denmark. ... And then I found out that I knew one of Victor Johns daughters from the small school I attended in the 90's in Kathmandu, Nepal :0)

AFTENSHOWET

2009-02-08T20:31:00.010+02:00

A few days after the GLDFestival I went to Copenhagen together with Pastor Bob and Jonas (from Solace The Day and the Core-group). We dropped off Pastor Bob by a church where he would be speaking for a crowd of x-prisoners; and then Jonas and I dropped by "Aftenshowet".

Here we had 6,5 minutes of chat + 1,5 video, talking about how it is to be a Christian metalhead in Denmark. This program is on the main TV-station and is one of the most viewed programs. We were blessed to be on at 19:00 (7pm) right after the TV-news, so it couldn't be better.

It was just so blessed all the way through. Finding a good parking space, being there before time, getting free coffee (heheh) and having some good time hanging out with some of the TV-folks. Everybody was extremely positive and very interested in chatting and hearing about what kinda dudes we were.

We had a really fun time respecting each other and joking around both before, during and after the 8 minutes on the air.

Two days before the show a cameraman came to Aarhus to do some video shots of Solace The Day practicing and our pastor Keld Dalhmann and us being at my church. Below is a still-shot from the Solace The Day practice.
We've got an awesome support from my church Aarhus Valgmenighed, which means a LOT. Here's a picture from the video where we're gathered talking around the alter. The cameraman got a lot of cool shots and it was mixed together in a good way to support our message.
It was a privileged to be able to share our faith this way. We were asked about sex, alcohol and experiences with prejudices towards our faith of love and our brutal music. Afterwards we got a lot of great response from excited people who felt that we delivered the testimony of Christ's love to everyone in a very real way. It really felt like God was there blessing our words and making it go smooth.

Though there's people who really dislike the way we're sharing the gospel, there's also many who can see through the cultural look and music genre, and hear the message; and that's what it's all about. I'm very thankful for all the encouraging words from folks; thanks!

The greatest response we got was getting a phone call in the middle of the night after the show, from a friend of my family, who told me, that her 30 year old neighbor decided to give his life to Christ after watching those 8 minutes. He had looked at the TV, pointed his finger and said: "If thát guy can be a Christian...So can I", and that was the opening for my friend to talk about the love of Christ with him!

THAT story is worth everything!! GLORY TO GOD!

The show will be online for a few more days at: www.dr.dk/DR1/Aftenshowet

If you've got Facebook you can watch it in a low picture quality her: www.Facebook.com

Green Light District Festival 2009

2009-02-07T22:31:00.008+02:00

January 23rd-25th has just been mind blowing!!!

God really wasn't kidding when He said that He is Almighty!!

"To Conquer The Cold North" was the slogan for this years winter edition; ...and we really did!

An amazing fellowship amongst the 250 people kept the cold outside. Bands from 6 different countries and participants from 9 countries where gathered in the woods at a little beach village in Denmark!

This years bands:

Sacrificium (Death metal, Germany)

Admonish (Black metal, Sweden)

Morgenroede (Black metal, Norway)

Conduit (Melodic hardcore, England)

Eleos (Metalcore/rock, Norway)

Solace The Day (Southern metal, Denmark)

Amplified (Melodic death, Denmark)

Magtesløs (Metalcore, Denmark)

Servants Of The Immortal (Deathcore, DK)

Amorém (Actioncore, Denmark)

Exuviae (Death metal, Denmark)

Forgiving Acolyte (Death, Denmark)

Selah (Metalcore/rock, Denmark)

Fallen Walls (Metal, Germany)

+ Sanctuary Worship Band (USA)

+ late night acoustic gigs

I know that we metalheads are looking different and I know that we are behaving weird in the eyes of many. We even have a VERY WEIRD way of dancing when we get excited about live music, heheh.

But when that is said, I also want to mention (once again) that this christian metal crowd in Denmark is probably the most loving crowd I've ever met! We want to care for each other like Christ cares for us! During the whole weekend there was a calm and gentle spirit; people were enjoying the bands, the fellowship, the teaching, the worship and the presence of God.

(Picture below: Pastor Bob, I, Olafur (the local pastor from the Danish folk church) and Jim LaVerde at the festivals church service on Sunday.)

And God really worked in mighty ways this weekend!! Quite a few gave their life to Christ and a whole lot got encouraged to follow God even more dearly! WOW!! Nothing can compare to that!!

So I must say: GLDFest has been a major success once more, and it's a big honer to be a part of this!

GLORY TO GOD! ! !

=> Tons of videos at youtube.com (search for "GLDF")

=> You can listen to the bands at www.myspace.com/GreenLightDistrictFestival

=> Or visit or new website at www.GLDF.dk

(A nice and blurry picture of the GLDFestivals Core-group)

We've got lots of plans ahead, so stay tune B-)

2009...

2009-02-05T03:05:00.003+02:00

Hail Brothers and Sister!

Brotherhood is rising up in the Scandinavian kingdom of Denmark; an ancient state of Vikings and wars. A cry out for unity will be heard all over the world; the roar for justice and faith! In the name of love!

The Green Light District Festival is a 3 days annual metal music festival celebrating the greatest war hero of them all: Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 6:12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

I am VERY excited for 2009 and since November '08 I've been convinced that awesome things will happen in Denmark in 2009!!

... To be continued! B-)

...2008

2009-02-04T01:47:00.006+02:00

I've been pretty busy the last few month + I've been lacking in blogging at the same time. So many awesome things has happened and so many great people I've met.

2008 was a cool year for me personally where I've been especially tested in stamina, perseverance, leadership and faith. It has been interesting working so much with ministry... It's like working 24/7 but at the same time having vacation all the time. I'm now working with ministry projects which I spend most of my free time at before, so that's a huge blessing!

I've had a little work once in a while to be able to pay for flight tickets and book bands for the GLDFestival; but besides that I've been living on the grace of God and the kindness of people, which is a really cool to experience! It kinda keeps you humble.

An amazing, and at times frustrating, year; which I wouldn't have been without!!

(Underneath: a random picture from a great Summer night 2008 (by where I live in Denmark) together with English and American friends.

James 1,2-5: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

Nordic Fest 2008

2008-11-21T03:20:00.008+02:00

Last weekend was my 4th time at this amazing annual festival in Oslo, Norway => always a lot of awesome bands and great surroundings! But the main reason I do these festivals is because of the fellowship. This year I counted people from more than 10 different countries who came to Norway just for this weekend! ... Check it out at NordicFest.no

This year we were 20 people from Denmark. Here you can see a few of the always cheerful great danes :-) ... And a couple of Green Light District Festival t-shirts ;-)
The Thursday-Friday-Saturday concerts + Church service was held at SubScene / SubChurch in the heart of Oslo, but the accommodation, breakfast and seminars was at Holy Riders Cave deep inside this mountain outside of Oslo city!
Pastor Bob and I did a seminar each and it was so great hanging out with PB again! He couldn't make it for Meltdown last week, so it had now been 4 month since a hug from the heavy metal pastor. ... It was an honer to be asked to do a seminar at Nordic Fest. This festival really means a lot to me, and together with Sub Church, Extol and other Oslo-bands and Nordic Mission, this festival has inspired and encouraged my metal ministry in Denmark a lot. It has been a great support having Brothers and Sisters in my neighbor country who has done it 5-10 years before us in Denmark.

Therefore I had to share some of the amazing things which are going on in Denmark and with the Green Light District Festival and thank my foreign Family for staying true and keep fighting the good fight. All glory to God!! Besides telling stories I also talked about Brotherhood here at Nordic Fest, like I did last week at Meltdown in England.
Below you see a picture of Slechtvalk from the Netherlands. I really like when Christian extreme metal bands are going to the extremes in stage performance as well, hehe. It kinda forces the audience to have an opinion about it.

Meltdown Festival 2008

2008-11-21T02:16:00.009+02:00

From November 6th-10th I went to England and Wales together with the guys from my band Solace The Day. There we played two shows, hung out with a lot of great people and attended the "hard music retreat" Meltdown. This was the 19th year of the Meltdown retreat Festival and the 3rd time I came to visit this great place! Meltdown is a weekend of fellowship, concerts, seminars and worship. A cool way and a cool place to celebrate your Christian faith!
Here's one more picture from the Solace The Day show at Meltdown. Somehow it always turns out to be a little bit crazy. But for us in a very nice way. If we don't have any bruises or scratches after playing a concert, we don't feel that we've delivered a good enough show B-)

On the picture below a little "circle-pit" is going on. We were also able to make a little "wall-of-death" at our show: The crowd divides into two and at a specific outstanding break-down in the music the two crowds run towards each other and become one. Isn't that beautiful? :)
The picture below is of the venue. Everything is inside this awesome castle. Inhere everybody eat, sleep, hang out in the café, play pool, attend the concerts, the worship and the seminars.

This year we had 3 seminars. My American friend Jim LaVerde and I did the two more Bible-oriented seminars. Jim's subject was worship; and I shared stories and scriptures about Brotherhood. We've been giving an AWESOME family with God as our loving heavenly Father and all fellow-Christians as Brothers and Sisters; how great is that!!
Sunday night we went to meet some other cool people and play with Solace The Day at "Bar SOUTH", which was a lot of fun as well. I don't know what it is with metalheads and posing on pictures... But here we are (+ a new friend who sneaked into the picture):

Running

2008-10-20T21:57:00.003+02:00

Suddenly I felt an urge to start running the marathon again. Very fortunate that I live in this little 700 inhabitant beach/forest-village the.

This "city-sign" says; "Welcome to Fjellerup => the city by forest and beach".

There's so many great places to go running, and every time I go for a run I feel so sorry for the people who don't find the time to appreciate Gods nature!

In a hectic everyday life I often forget to give God the glory and appreciation, but every single time I'm running, the nature around me just cries out how amazing the creator of heaven and earth is!!! When I go running in the nature, nothing can convince me about anything else than that God is real! My Lord and Savior reigns!!

Fruit of the Spirit tattoo

2008-10-16T18:58:00.003+02:00

This was my very first tattoo which I got at the christian metal festival BobFest in Sweden 2005. It's placed on my upper left shoulder.

I'm talking about the "fruit of the Spirit" in the loooong blog beneath about Gods unconditional love.

Gods unconditional love!

2008-10-13T22:37:00.003+02:00

I wrote these thoughts (and feelings) down after reading one of Pastor Bobs blogs:

- - - - - - -

It's so easy as humans not to put each other in "I-know-your-type"-boxes, when we meet, see or hear about someone. It's probably impossible..? It's hard for me not to try and categorize how bad a specific sin is. But God sees the full picture, and I can't thank Him enough that He is the one who'll judge us.

We would all be doomed if we as humans had the commandment to judge each other. Still it can be hard not to... ...Which we also see it the news worldwide everyday.

The AWESOME thing is that God knows us completely! And still He urges to have fellowship with us!! Even me.

I try to live by the fruit of the Spirit:

=> Gal.5,22-23: "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, mildness and self control ..."

Still it happens that I steal peoples joy without wanting to. Jesus said, that if I look at another mans wife with lust in my eyes/mind, I'm guilty in breaking the law.

The guy on the cross beside Jesus got saved ONLY by unconditional love. He believed in Christ and got saved! Without unconditional love NO-ONE of us would go to Heaven.

Not all who call themselves "christians" go to Heaven. It's not the label that saves. And I believe that people who seek God and lay their guilt, shame and pain at the cross of Christ will be saved though they won't label themselves "christians"... For many reasons:

=> Don't fell that they are "good enough" or simply because the word "christian" has extremely bad associations in the mind of many people.

We are all humans (in good and bad) in this world with human thoughts, actions and feelings. Personally, I can't follow a leader (but Christ!) if he tells me that he is perfect or if he tells me that he has got the absolute truth in every detail.

The first and second commandment:

=> Mark 12,30-31: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself."

I often fail at doing that!

We are all on our way in life, and for christians a life in relationship with God where we grow in the knowledge about Him and His love for us. If it wasn't for Gods unconditional love and His mercy and grace I would have had nothing! He is my everything.

In the Old Testament we see our holy and righteous God who can't endure sin. God is still the same and still just as holy today!

In the New Testament Christ broke the death, bought us free, buried our sins (if we accept Christ as our savior) and is winning people by His love.

=> Romans 10,4: "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

Man, Gods love IS unconditional! Otherwise NO-ONE will be saved. The dude on the cross beside Christ. And Christ forgiving sins and healing people on the spot, when all they could do was to believe in Him and receive. Then, AFTER receiving His unconditional love we can do good deeds with thanks.

=> 1 John 4,19: "We love because he first loved us."

- - - - - - -

Be sure to check out Pastor Bobs blogging at MySpace.com/PastorBobBeeman

"Andreas believes in God - and heavymetal"

2008-10-10T02:18:00.004+02:00

=> The title of the 1,5 minutes sound-picture profile-"article" mentioned in the "New Breed Festival" post beneath.

Here's the link if you wanna see the sound-picture-video:

http://medianet.djh.dk/mm/2008e/tro/min-tro/min-tro_forside

(It'll only be on the internet for a short while...)

New Breed Festival

2008-10-07T01:37:00.004+02:00

We (Solace The Day) did a gig in Herning on Saturday. A one day event with 8 promising upcoming bands (mainly metal). It was an awesome day/night and a very cool first gig for our new lead-vocalist, Magnus.

The very best thing about this night was all the talks, meeting folks and connecting with people, and that's what Solace The Day is all about (+ a lot more :-) !

The picture is taken by a journalist photographer who came to the show to meet Solace The Day and write about me => Living my life in relationship with a loving God, and loving extreme metal at the same time.

Traveling seminar

2008-10-01T23:03:00.006+02:00

This morning I did a 45 minutes seminar for 100 students at the boarding school here in the village Fjellerup. I talked about how important it is for young people to travel and experience other parts of the world.

I see a big tendency among people who never leave their country, that they get convinced that MY COUNTRY IS THE BELLY BUTTON OF THE WORLD..! In every single country you'll find people who're convinced that they're the center of the world.

I talked about cool, crazy and fascinating facts about Nepal, the people and culture + told crazy and awesome stories from when I, as a 17 year old kid, traveled Nepal and India for 4 month with my brother.

These pictures are taken from a 5 weeks trekking/expedition trip in the Himalayas where we also conquered the summit of Island Peak ( 6.189 meters / 20.305 foot ).

Good OLD neighbor

2008-09-16T20:58:00.002+02:00

These days I'm mostly sitting in front of my Mac working on the Green Light District Festival, Intense Extreme Radio, my band Solace The Day and other metal ministry projects.

Yesterday I needed to do some different kind of work, so I started trimming the bushes around my parents house. Before I knew it I was standing over at my neighbor trimming hers as well...you know how it goes :)

My old neighbor, Laura, always tells me twice a minute that I'm her boy.

Hmm... Not bad.

Who am I?

2008-09-04T14:51:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I did a 45 minutes bible study for 100-115 students in age 15-17 at the boarding school where my dad is a teacher.

It's a great bunch of folks and it was actually a lot of fun.

The main theme was: "Who am I?"

- According to myself...

- According to God, who created me and loves me unconditional. ...And knows me even better than myself!

=> If I try to be God there's all kind of reasons to be get depressed, because of my failures and flesh. I'm not even capable of making myself stay happy...

=> If I try to see myself as God views me there's all kind of reasons to get excited, thankful and filled with love to God, myself and people around me!

... I've been a student at this school myself, which I REALLY enjoyed. But I also remembered how hard it could be staying awake at the lessons of bible study.

Therefore I couldn't help it but play some gore grind metal from Vomitorial Corpulence in between two bible verses :O) Which kinda kept them well awake B-)

Grandma's gone

2008-08-20T01:06:00.003+02:00

So my grandmother just suddenly died from a blood clot.

Just one single week after a big family party that she was much in charge of (my grandfathers 80 year old birthday).

It has been some strange days.. The day before yesterday I drove across the (little) country to visit my grandfather and be with my mom in the situation. Today I went again (this time with my mom, dad and sister) to see my grandmother in the casket and be with my grandfather.

On Friday the funeral will be. She's a great loss and it came VERY unexpected for the whole family, but we're all talking a lot about it which is the right thing to do. The whole family on my mothers side (mothers 3 siblings, my grandfather, us 13 grandchildren + 2 great grandchildren) believe in God which is so awesome.

It's some strange days, but things are well considering the circumstances. It makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD (and beyond!) to have God as our loving Father carrying the family through the hard times. Not pass the hard times, but THROUGH it. This is where we learn about life. And love.

Solace the EP

2008-08-14T16:12:00.005+02:00

Solace The Day just spend 3 days and 3 nights in a great studio (BMmusic.dk) recording 6 tracks for our first release: "Solace the EP"

Above: The biggest dread head of us all, Jonas in his drum-cage.

Below: I, in the room where we did all guitars, vocals and violins.
Love this picture below. Pretty spent after working from 9 AM to 2-4 AM everyday, but it was a lot of fun! On the picture you see David (vocals) in front, drummer Jonas on left and bass Mads recording violin in the back. Guitar Levi behind the camera I guess.
Still need to do the mix and mastering - so it might take a while before the disc is out.

Living with my nephews

2008-08-14T15:57:00.003+02:00

My brother just became a doctor and has started working at a hospital a good distance from where they live.

My brother, his wife and two kids can't move into their new house the first month, so Amy and the kids Jonas (2,5 year old today) and Adam (1 month today) are living at my parents house, where I'm staying as well.

It's very cool being close to my nephews and today Jonas and I went on a two hour gummy bear adventure :-D

Intense Extreme iPod Radio

2008-08-01T20:47:00.004+02:00

We (Sanctuary International) just started a new thing called iPod Radio. Like before you can download all of the great PodCasts and teachings by Pastor Bob, but the new thing is that Intense Extreme Radio and the rock and melodic metal Intense Radio is doing PodCasts as well!

Every two weeks I'll fit together 45 minutes of extreme and awesome metal music for you to download for free! Commercial free as well!

Vol.1 contains music by Antestor, Extol, Crimson Moonlight, Frost Like Ashes, Underneath The Gun, Becoming The Archetype, A.W.A.S., Arvinger and Vardøger, where several of the songs start out with a song description and introduction by the artist.

Besides that, every PodCast has got a short devotion by Pastor Bob + lots of pictures, album covers and band info that will show up on your iPod while you play it.

To download and subscribe to the iPod Radio PodCast for free:

1) Download iTunes music player for free (if you don't have it)

2) Go to "iTunes Store" and search for "Intense Extreme Radio"

3) Hit "Subscribe" and it will download to Intense Extreme iPod Radio

...all the future coming episodes will now automatic download to your iTunes library!

HOW GREAT IS THAT!! :O) ... I like it.

Sommer Oase

2008-08-01T17:41:00.004+02:00

The main reason that I only spend 3 weeks in the States this time, was because of this Bible Music Summer Camp in Denmark called SommerOase. During the week long camp more than 4100 people participated.

And what a great week! It was definitely the right decision to be back in Denmark for this camp. Great seeing so many friends again and reestablish connections with other ministries and Danish leaders that I'm working with.

During the camp I did a seminar on "Integrity as a musician", where I showed pictures of my friends around the world. One of them was of 3 of my black metal friends:

Daniel (old growler in Barricades), Ravn (Frosthardr) and Ronni (Antestor), right after the Antestor concert at BobFest'04 in Sweden.

This picture was a bit shocking to many of the people who heard my seminar B-)

At the camp I also did some punk rock worship for the 10-14 year old kids, and maaan that was fun!! The more wild the songs were, the happier and more excited the kids became :-P

One night it all ended up in a massive celebration where the kids were jumping around all over and we were jumping around on stage trying to keep up with 'em :O)

Adam Mattias Larsen!!!

2008-07-27T02:34:00.005+02:00

YEAH BABY!!!

One of my new very best friends just got born on the 14th of July!

He's the coolest little none year old dude I know!!!

Here's my parents with Adam on his birthday. They are also very cool!
I just made it back to Denmark to catch the birthday, which means a lot to me!

Nephews are a blast!

Here's 2,5 year old Jonas showing his little brother one of his favorite cars: The Mustang. He is half American, you know B-)

...I did it again!!! Uncle times two!

SeeYouLater my McCavanaghs

2008-07-27T02:25:00.004+02:00

It felt weird to leave the States already after only being here 3 weeks this time. But 3 GREAT great weeks! Loved it all, and one of the best things was to hang out with my McCavanagh family again. These friends has been hosting me every time I've been living in Nashville.

Sad to say "SeeYouLater". I love you guys!

(And BTW sorry for posting this old picture of you :O)

GLDFestival tattoo

2008-07-27T01:49:00.005+02:00

It has been a year since my last tattoo and it has been itching for more ink :O)

The night before I left for Denmark I got this one. Of course I only want tattoos that means a lot to me, and at the same time I like using my body as a blog about great things happening in my life.

Work in progress. A re-design of the Green Light District logo that my friend Magnus made for the GLDF'08 T-shirt.

Old school with a lot of colors and symbolic.

- A life-breathing heart with

- A candle light in the main vain, aorta, life meeting life, (don't fight the dark => shine your light!)

- A crown of thorns rapped around the heart (because of Christ, I live)

- Skulls with the everlasting sign of the cross marked in their forehead (when we die as Christians, God will look at us - see Christ - and embrace us as His children, that we are! Christ died so that we can have life! Everlasting! Dead is the death for those who proclaim His name!)

- The Green Light District Festival banner (this festival exists because of Gods grace, the love of Christ, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and all the exited metal-kids in Denmark who stand together as family! => Church)

- Two big roses in bloom (life, life, life) and

- Cartoonish "KA-POW!" at the bottom (chew on that one, mister :O)

Cornerstone Festival concerts

2008-07-27T01:04:00.008+02:00

The Cornerstone concerts are running from Monday to Sunday morning, where about 300 bands are playing. Here's my friends from Scotland playing in the punk band Rodent Emporium. I met them in England/Wales half a year ago.
There's probably more than 50 stages at Cornerstone, and it's crazy with all that noise all day none stop. ...And I love it!
Above: Flatfoot 56 playing at the Underground stage.

Below: A couple of my friends from Nashville playing in the band Mankind at one of the MANY MANY "Generator Stages". A small piece of grass area and a generator. Then the bands just bring there own gear. The Sanctuary Stage was one of the bigger ones and in a crowded location.

One of the very cool things about Cornerstone is that there isn't a whole lot of back stage areas. Practically none, so the bands are forced to walk around, and that way I got to talk to all the folks I wanted to.

Just to name a few of my favorite concerts during the week:

Living Sacrifice, Frost Like Ashes (picture above), Flatfoot 56, Neocrecy, Impending Doom, Becoming The Archetype (again), The Chariot (again again), The Famine, Drottnar (as always), Sotahuuto (Finish friends), Bestir (my good friends), Alethian, Common Yet Forbidden, A Plea For Purging, The Burial, Showbread (again), A Hill To Die Upon, Voice Of The Mysterons, Sexual Confused, Demon Hunter and As I Lay Dying.

Cornerstone Festival fellowship

2008-07-27T00:28:00.008+02:00

Finally!!

I've been longing to go to Cornerstone Illinois since the first time I heard about it, yeeeears ago. Awesome being here and meeting a lot of cool people, getting new friends and meeting many, whom I've met in Europe at several Christian metal festivals.

Above: Phil and I. Brothers in metal-arms: True love!

The cool thing about Christian metal festivals is that people are so passionate about both the music AND the fellowship, that WE travel world wide to meet each other => the Family.
Above: Larry and Karen Schertz has had a Sanctuary camp at Cornerstone for 16 years now! Wow dude! And a sanctuary it truly is! A restful place, loving people and amazing food :-P
A few of all the great folks I hung out with. On the picture there's friends from Finland, England, Denmark and the US.

The picture above is taken inside the Sanctuary Stage Tent, and man it looked awesome! The ceiling was covered with thick BLACK plastic and fake burning torches hanging down several places. SO MANY people did amazing job working at the Sanctuary all week.
Jeremy made this cool info stand to put outside of the Sanctuary Stage. Pastor Bobs Pod Casts, different projects and the Intense Extreme Radio that I'm doing.

I played the heavy-guitar 3 times with Jim LaVerde and the Sanctuary Worship Band. It was an honor to play 3 times at this festival, that I've been longing to experience for so long. The worship went well and Pastor Bob shared his heart after the worship all 3 nights. Good times!

Ravn + Annie (and the Schertz)

2008-07-27T00:05:00.007+02:00

It was a great honor to stay at the Schertz family the days before Cornerstone + be at Ravn and Annies wedding!!

Above: Ravn, Annie, some girl and Mika (Annies great boy).
Ravns dad from Norway => and => Karen & Larry Schertz.

It really felt like family staying with them, and I can't wait to visit them again..! They know what it is to love on people! Thank you my Friends!
Annie and Amanda Schertz......My friend Jeremy (from heavy metal band Strangeland) did the photos.

A quick update from Tennessee / Illinois

2008-06-27T20:08:00.003+02:00

It's awesome being back in the States seeing friends and hanging out with the McCavanaghs + driving around Nashville with Pastor Bob again.

Birthday
The 25th was my birthday and Pastor Bob put up a surprise party for me at Abbie's house. About 30 people came and it was great seeing so many people again. I really appresiated it!

Wedding
PB and I had a 8-9 hour drive to Illinois yesterday. My friend Ravn (lead screamer of Norwegian black metal band Frosthardr) and Annie Schertz are being married by Pastor Bob this weekend. My Danish friend Stefan "Ghashul" Bruhn is here as well.

Cornerstone Festival
will be this upcoming week from Monday to Saturday. I will be playing 3 times with Jim LaVerde and the Sanctuary Worship Band on the Sanctuary Stage. Besides that I've scheduled 30 band interviews that I hope we'll get done. Usually there's about 30.000 people at this festival. Christian bands where most of them are playing hard core metal.

Nashville it is

2008-06-23T06:02:00.003+02:00

Goood being back, in spite of country music and bad traveling..!

... Actually the traveling wasn't as bad as it used to be :O) This time I only got my travel schedule changed twice, missed one flight and had an extra 12 hour layover in Chicago. But it felt like luxury this time! Because of all the mess at the airports I got a room at a nice hotel + a business class seat from Washington to Chicago. AND a food voucher, YEAH, hehe:

I usually post my food voucher food at this blog, so here you go B-)

The good thing about traveling by my self is that I don't have to worry. I've got no traveling partners to take care of, and I don't mind sleeping in the dirt. But it would have been funny to share the travel and the funny episodes with someone, like when I entered business class, sat down, and all the pretty business folk was convinced that I was in the wrong section of the plane, hehe :-P

But after a few seconds I started talking with the very wealthy business lady beside me, and we had a great chat for at least an hour.

Back to The States

2008-06-18T21:40:00.002+02:00

So, tomorrow early early early I'm heading back to Nashville, TN!

Looking VERY much forward to see everybody again, especially my little American family; The McCavanaghs!

I will only be here for 3 weeks though, due to a huge SummerCamp that I'm involved with in Denmark.

While being in the US I will go to Cornerstone Illinois to help at the Sanctuary Stage, do some band interviews and play there as well with Jim LaVerde and the Sanctuary Worship team.

Road trip to Sweden

2008-06-17T00:00:00.003+02:00

JUST got back after a very impulsive road trip from Friday to Monday. My old nanny and friend "Tante Gerd" has got a little cabin out in the woods in Sweden. No electricity, no running water and the toilet is a bucket out door: Awesome!

It's probably the 5th time I'm here => sweet place for vacations out in the wilderness! ...But this time we went to clean up after someone broke the door down. Fortunately nothing was stolen, but a dude had had at least one good nights sleep there.It turned out to be an GREAT time of quietness, retreat and fellowship. Tante Gerd, my friend Jered (from Nashville) and I went for it. Appreciated some quiet time in-between a whole lot of world-wide-traveling. God knows how to turn bad things into great things => what a blessing!

Hard Rock Halleluja, Germany

2008-06-12T13:01:00.009+02:00

Last weekend was a GREAT one as well!
We rented a van and went on a road trip down south to our German friends. Pastor Bob did seminars and Solace The Day brought the axes. Here's the line up for the metal event:

My friends from Arcane Legion, who are working with their church on putting these events up. This sweet stage is actually the church room:
Solace The Day in back stage warming up. With a little help from Martin from Corpse Under Construction:

It's always great to meet the Pantokrator guys, and it has been lots of fun sharing stage with 'em two weekends in a row. ...Here Panto-Jonas and I are having a serious talk down under in the catacombs of Eckernförde:

...or something like that.

After the show Arcane, Panto, Solace and more friends went to grab a beer sausage. Sweet time of fellowship and hang out (though a couple of these guys look a bit spent):

From left; my Nashville-friend Jered, I, Solace-drummer-Jonas, Solace-guitar-Levi.

A great time i Germany meeting friends and getting new ones! The Hard Rock Halleluja events happen once in a while. Please go check it out at myspace.com/hardrockhallelujah1 ! They are great people with a good ministry and a cool show!

Green Light District Festival 2008

2008-06-06T14:43:00.007+02:00

WOW!! WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!
400 excited people making fellowship, connecting and encouraging each other! EVERYBODY was extremely positive and loving on each other. JUST what I was dreaming of. ...And much more! B-)
14 bands from 5 different countries entered the stage during the weekend. We had all the brutal metal genres represented; Gore Grind and Chaotic Tech Black Metal included. Blindside (picture below) was the headliners and the softer band at the fest., but delivered an awesome show!!
Barricades (picture below) did a one-time reunion gig at the festival, which was lots of fun. I've been to festivals all over the world, but I must say; we REALLY have the best crowd at this festival! If you haven't been here, come be a part of it and see for yourself!
...And then Solace The Day (picture below) entered the GLDFestival stage as well. This festival is the birth place for many great bands! Keep an eye out for this band ;-P

We will play Hard Rock Halleluja in Germany tomorrow. Pastor Bob Beeman did seminars at the GLDFestival and will be speaking at HRH as well. It's gonna be good seeing my German friends down there and getting new ones!
It has been an extremely blessed festival with GREAT bands and AWESOME seminars, but the best thing about it all: IT HAS BEEN FAMILY! Come join the family next year! myspace.com/greenlightdistrictfestival

The reason why this festival is alive is because of all the excited people working away with me!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

GLORY TO GOD! ! !

...all photos by Stefan Bruhn - www.Ghashul.dk

Kinder Garden Story #3

2008-05-20T17:24:00.002+02:00

Okay, time for another one. Not because of the kids (but because of "the grown ups") I'm wearing a long sleeve to cover my tattoos:

"
Accidentally my spider web tat on the right albow was showing. "You've got a TAAATTOOOOOO", one of the girls yelled at me with a pointed finger. No one of the other grown ups were in the room so I gladly showed 'em my just-like-Spiderman-tattoo. After taking a good look at my albow the little girl said, with a girly-deep rusty voice; "I call that a blooood tattoo". "A blood tattoo", I asked; "why's that, you say?". "You don't know that?", the girl said, "it's because it's made with needles and there's blood and everything!".
...And at that time it got clear to me that my tattoos are fake! The real ones are the ones you get in chewing gum packages and you can use water to put them on.
"

Staying busy

2008-05-20T16:46:00.006+02:00

Life is pretty busy these days..!

Spending the week day-hours working at the kindergarden,
the evenings on GLDFestival and
the weekends on practicing with Solace The Day and Barricades and working on GLDF.

A whole lot of work, but at the same time a blessing!

We in Barricades are doing a one-time reunion gig at the Green Light District Festival this year, which will be in less than two weeks..!

Solace The Day is going great. We've found a bass player and we're looking very much forward to play at GLDF and Hard Rock Halleluja in Germany the week after.

It's such an awesome thing working with this metal music ministry and putting together this festival. ...And hard. There's no doubt about it; God isn't lieing when He tells us that by Him we find rest and peace! I really need Him! Everyday..! HE's good and faithfull!

Pastor Bob joins the family

2008-05-01T20:47:00.004+02:00

In 20minutes I'll drive to the airport to pick up my very good friend, Pastor Bob!
He will be staying here for something like 6 weeks. We've got a lot of projects, festivals and catching up to do! And maybe find the time to chill out as well :)

It's such a blessing knowing PB!
Please, if you haven't be listening to some of his 4 podcasts/radioprograms for a while, do it now; http://sanctuaryinternational.com/

IT WILL ENRICH YOU!

(This picture was taken here at my home in Fjellerup last time PB payed us a visit, August'07)

Elements Of Rock

2008-04-30T23:23:00.006+02:00

Awesome finally being at this metal festival in Switzerland! It's the 5th year they're doing this and the fellowship was great! Lot's of cool metal concerts, teachings by Pastor Bob and worship by Jim LaVerde..!

Picture above: Drottnar (phycotic black metal from Norway) who'll also be playing at the Green Light District Festival in a month!

There's was a very good crowd of black-clothed folks from all over the world! MANY people I've met before at other festivals and MANY new heads I got to know! Some of the most friendly people who'd meet (though a lot of people had a hard time understanding English here, and my German isn't too good..!).It would be hard to find a better fellowship than at these Christian Metal Festivals!

I totally enjoyed meeting so many new fellow metalheads/-Christians + getting to know a whole bunch of people from the bands.
The picture above is two new friends whom I hung out with at the festival; Manu and Miika from Deuteronomium (death metal from Finland).

It was an honor when they from the stage dedicated one of their songs "To Die And Gain" to me.

THANKS for an awesome weekend at Elements Of Rock!!

Kinder Garden Story #2

2008-04-09T22:50:00.002+02:00

"
"Are you a wizard?", a 4 year old boy asked. And all I was doing was walking into the childrens restroom to wipe a few butts. "Hmm..." I answered, and grabbed thoughtfull around my 10 cm long beard. "But ARE you a wizard?", one of the 5 year old boys asked. "You think I am?", I asked. "ARE you!!?" 4 boys yelled at me, and now they really wanted an answer!
"

How I love that crazy imagination!

Oldies but goodies

2008-04-06T01:05:00.004+02:00

18 years ago when I was 7 at age something pretty cool happened..!

In the early days my lovely parents dragged us kids around to all kinds of Christian rock concerts like Jerusalem, Newsboys, PFR and this well-aged Norwegian dude:

Hans Inge Fagervik is his name, and he's a pretty cool guy and a reason for many good things. When I was 7 years old I pointed at the man on the stage and told my mom that I wanted to be him. That was Mr.Fagervik. After the concert we walked up to him. He toke my little hand and walked me through the crowds to get a free poster for me, oh YEAH, that was the beginning..!

Next Christmas my parents bought me a little guitar, and today I'm playing a Kirk Hammett Signature with skull and bones printed in the guitar neck. Thank you Hans Inge. And GOD!

So yesterday it was my turn to take my parents hands and bring them to a concert. It was an in memory of LARRY NORMAN tour with something like 10 bands performing. Andraé Crouch did a great gig, and then H.I.Fagervik played as well. After the show my mom and I (like 18 years ago) went over to have a chat with him.

As a musician I can only respect passionated musicians, and wheather I like or dislike the genres and tunes I'm thankfull for what the oldies/goodies created with mind, heart and soul. A big respect to people like Larry Norman, Keith Green, Glenn Kaiser and Andraé Crouch!

Kinder Garden Story #1

2008-04-03T17:10:00.007+02:00

I'm now working 4 days a week in an idyllically little kinder garden with 30-40 kids in age 0-6.

For the next few month I'll be living here at my parents house, which is 3 minutes walk from the kinder garden.

Story of the day:

Kids are sometimes so weird and funny which always cheers me up. Sometimes they're also insainly loud, and that's what this tory is about.

"Once upon a time in a little country in Scandinavia a dread head got himself some work in a little kinder garden in a very little village. Let's call him "Dude". Dude liked hanging out with the little people, but he also liked insects and reptiles very much. Unfortunately there were no reptiles to be found in the garden of the kinder garden. But insects is something you can find in every garden; Dude knew that! Therefor he and some of his little people friends decided to go on an adventure, finding insects. They found a lot of obscure insects and they all enjoyed them very much. There were happiness and laughter all around. But then one of the 5 year old little people found another funny one:

Dude told him that it would role itself together like a hard ball, if it got scared. Everyone were very excited, which became the end of that idyllic day. ...And the beginning of little people screaming and making scary faces for hours, all for the sake of seeing the new insect becoming a hard ball."

...to be continued.

GLDFestival ticket sale and HEAVY METAL bus

2008-04-01T21:44:00.004+02:00

The ticket sale has now started, and maaan it's gonna be a GREAT festival!!
myspace.com/greenlightdistrictfestival
I'm REALLY excited about doing this 3 days festival again this year!
It's a whole lot of work, but it serves an amazing purpose which is ALL effort worth!
Because it's all about the metal fellowship and the fellowship we have in Christ, we've booked two HEAVY METAL BUSSES that's runs from Aarhus to GLDF Friday and back again on Sunday. It's a 65 minutes drive through small Danish villages, forest areas and open fields!

Keep it metal :-p

In His grip;

Andreas

Solace the Day

2008-03-19T22:33:00.003+02:00

My new band is now official! "Solace the Day"..."Solace The Day is a new energic band blasting out of the dark woods of Denmark and into the wide open fields of Southern Metal ready to chop your wood!
Former member of Barricades, Andreas Larsen, sat in country capital Nashville, Tennessee, with a vision and an urge to be a part of creating a positive and brutal southern metal band with a bunch of anti rockstars...
Only a few months later the band met in Denmark and wrote their first material!
Solace The Day holds members of Magtesløs, Amorém, Corps Under Construction, Annihilation Of The Fragiles, Day Of Disaster and Barricades."...
These 3 guys are also on the core team for organizing the Green Light Disrtict Festival with me which is a blessing!
http://www.myspace.com/solacetheday

"Solace the Day" is a tool for us to reach especially young people with the love of Christ. At the same time we're having a lot of fun writing music and dancing away! :)

One of the visions is to go touring with a main reason to encourage and inspire young folks with the love that God has shown us, and IS pouring down on us every day! Everywhere we go, we wanna give people a killer show, but also be humble to the crowd and be the last people to leave the clubs, just talking with whoever may need it.

Another new job

2008-03-11T22:37:00.003+02:00

I've found the perfect job to earn some money and have a good time as well, only 3 minutes walk from my parents home (where I live at the moment). It's a kinder garden for 0-6 year old kids and today they just offered me a 25 hour week and no weekends!That gives me a pay check and some time off to work on aaaaaaaall the projects.

I wish I didn't have to work besides the ministry, projects and festivals, but then again I simply couldn't get a better job than this!!
What a blessing!
...And one more thing: I just found out that one of the main things that they wanna teach the kids is to accept and respect that we are all different! 50 times a day I get questions about my
1) Piercings
2) Beard
3) Tattoos
4) Hair
5) Jeans hanging low
6) Festival wrist bands

...Maybe that's why the hired me?? , hehe :0)

BAND list for the GLDFestival

2008-03-04T03:21:00.003+02:00

myspace.com/greenlightdistrictfestival

Today we announced the last 4 bands for the Green Light District Festival in Denmark!

Here's a list of the bands (all of them are Christians):

- Blindside (Sweden) : Legendary hardcore/rock from this major band!

- Pantokrator (Sweden) : Death/thrash from a 12 year old great band!

- Drottnar (Norway) : Very technical and very psychotic black metal!

- Barricades (Denmark) : My old metalcore band. ONE TIME reunion concert!

- Back Pocket Prophet (England) : Old school rockin' trash metal!

- Magtesløs (Denmark) : Hardcore/metal with explosive live show!

- Servants of the Immortal (Denmark) : 13-16 year old boys playing brutal doomy death metal!

- Amplified (Denmark) : Melo-death when it's best!

- Threat Chest (Denmark) : Great thrash with technical brutalities!

- Amorém (Denmark) : Debut concert with this promising actioncore metal band!

- Solace the Day (Denmark) : My new band. Brutal southern metal rock!

- Corpes Under Construction (Denmark) : GrindGORE from the slaughterhouse!

- Silent Highway (Denmark) : Peaceful singer/songwriter!

- Sanctuary Worship (USA) : Nice!

And seminars by Pastor Bob Beeman!

Meeting w the CORE group

2008-02-28T17:28:00.002+02:00

Last week I had a weekend meeting with the core group of the Green Light District Festival and a great weekend is was!!
The core group consists of 5 people: 4 amazing young friends between 16 and 18 years old and I. I couldn't do it without them! 4 more GREAT bands will be announced within the next couple of weeks and the ticket sale will start very soon!

By the way: The pictures hasn't anything to do with anything. I just love the fact that Fainting Goats exist..! (Took the pictures a few month ago at a fair in Knoxville, Tennessee).

New work (for paycheck)

2008-02-21T02:37:00.003+02:00

Yesterday and today I applied for two jobs here in my parents 700 inhabitant beach village. Money doesn't grow on trees and flight tickets for festivals doesn't do either...

I applied as a substitute teacher at a boarding school for teenagers and as a substitute social worker at a home for disabled children...and got both jobs, which is a blessing. When I'm at work-work I'm there a 100% and when I'm doing ministry work it's the same.

I've got ministry projects for a full time work (and more!) and would love to do that as a living, but I guess God is about to teach me something more at the moment. I'm sure I'll learn a lot through these two jobs as well.

My new band: Solace The Day!

2008-02-17T20:14:00.003+02:00

During my first week i Denmark I spend 4 days with my brand new Southern Metalcore band!

We still need to get a couple of things done, so it's still (a bit) unofficial. But I'm excited!

Family and birthday!

2008-02-17T20:05:00.005+02:00

It was GREAT seeing my family again!!!

I can feel at home most places but still there's nothing like home...

And I made it home in time for my one and only nephews 2 years birthday, how awesome is that!! And as a true half-American boy... he is born on valentines day :)

My birthday present for him was VeggieTales cartoons.

Thanks for the inspiration, Bryndan! :)

The Order of Mission

2008-02-17T19:06:00.003+02:00

I made it home JUST in time for an important conference that I had been looking forward to!

It's a world wide order fellowship amongst Christian leaders and missionaries. Very loving, caring and visionary!

The Order of Mission has got three vows:

- Simplicity

- Purity

- Accountability

For the past few years I've been working on building my life (with Gods help) on these tree vows, so I got very excited half a year ago when the two pastors from my church (Århus Valgmenighed) asked me to join!

The-Order-of-Mission

Nashville => Fjellerup

2008-02-17T18:27:00.006+02:00

My trip turned out to be more than twice as long as scheduled... After 48 hours traveling I arrived to my birth home, and it felt goooood... Personal record!

It's a crazy story:

- Nashville flight 3,5 hour delayed.

- Missed direct and comfortable flight to Copenhagen, Denmark.

- I then had to wait 17 hours AT THE AIRPORT on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

- The Frankfurt flight was an hour delayed.

- When I came to Frankfurt I was out of time to catch the Copenhagen flight.

- Waited 5 hours.

- Copenhagen flight an hour delayed.

- When I got to Copenhagen the Airport didn't have people to deliver our luggage.

- Waited an hour.

- When all luggage got through my two suitcases were missing. DOH!

On the pictures you see what I could buy for my 3 food tickets.

1) Night-food in Chicago Airport

2) Lunch in Chicago Airport

3) Dinner in Frankfurt Airport :)

When I think of the trip everything that could go wrong did go wrong EXCEPT for the really important things like health issues and violent episodes. GOD is SO good and always looking after me! He has been faithful as always these 48 hours! Often He even protects me from harm though I mess things up. How GREAT is our God!!

What I've learned

2008-02-17T17:30:00.004+02:00

A few of the things I've learned (or have had confirmed) during the last 6 month working with Pastor Bob and traveling around at metal festivals:

=> ANYTHING is possible for God...NOTHING is impossible for God.

=> God is dreaming bigger than I am.

=> I've got a leader responsibility and God will give me the strength...when I lay it all over to Him.

=> I've got friends and contacts all over the world because of Gods guidance.

=> Christ is the foundation, and my character should reflect the "Fruit of the Spirit". Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law!"

=> Blessed to be a blessing. I'm receiving Gods love and grace for nothing, therefore I give.

=> Home is where I lay my head when God is by my side.

=> God would much rather have me than my work. His first priority is having a RELATIONSHIP with me!

=> First rest...THEN work. Rest is the foundation of healthy work.

Bye for now

2008-02-17T16:43:00.006+02:00

When the tornado storms cooled off in the morning I started packing :)

A bit tired, but life-giving as always when Bryndan woke up, ran to my room and with a big smile said "duuuuuude".

Above: On this picture we're watching the trailer for "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" (A VeggieTales movie). He NEVER gets tired of watching that 1,5 minute video!

Below: A memory picture of my home (while being in Nashville) since August 2007.

...And the Mercury '88 who was my dancing partner on the American freeway.

THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING TIME WITH YOU AT YOUR HOUSE, JAMIE AND TRISH!!!

See you in Nashville in June!

Tornados

2008-02-17T16:28:00.005+02:00

My very last night in the States was spend watching the news together with Trish...

16 tornados went through the Nashville area and did a whole lot of damage. It especially destroyed a lot of mobil homes. Twice we had to wake up Jamie and Bryndan and then the 4 of us crawled down under the staircase, which is the most safe place in the house if then roof would be ripped of.

I wasn't really afraid, maybe because I've never experienced tornados like that before. But another thing is, that I know God has big future plans with both me and my little American family, and our time has not come yet! If my death would draw more people to Christ than if I was alive, then let it be. Many times death doesn't make any sense. I pray that mine will.

LotR marathon

2008-02-17T16:19:00.005+02:00

For months Jamie, Pastor Bob and I have been longing to burn of a day watching the 3 extended versions of Lord of the Rings. My last Saturday in the States was the day it happened!

One great thing about Lord of the Rings is, that everybody think that Legolas looks exactly like my brother...which is true! And then off course; Viggo Mortensen is one of the great Danes...

In studio

2008-02-17T16:05:00.003+02:00

I met Devon and Becki Ryan (and their baby) in Denmark 4 month ago, when I spend 2 weeks in Denmark. They are touring with their worship songs and payed my Danish church a visit. As I did, they really liked this Church + the worship and decided to record a Danish song that my church wrote... And record it in Danish!

I payed them a visit in the studio and helped with pronouncing the words. For ONCE I was "on my own ground" language wise. Felt good :)

The song is "Lad din godhed komme over os".

Please listen to their worship at myspace.com/beckiryan

Hanging w Nashville metalheads

2008-02-17T13:35:00.005+02:00

Before I left the States there were a few things I had to do. One of the very important things was to hang out with some of the cool people over here, who has now become good friends of mine!

Above: A picture of my Metal Brothers => Dennis, Kevin and Jered. Awesome guys!

Below: While we were just chilling out in downtown Nashville, I thought I might just get something done :)

Retreat

2008-01-31T18:27:00.000+02:00

Just spend 4 days taking care of a very peaceful apartment + a hairball coughing cat... ...which was a great retreat. The place is outside Nashville and has got a lot of trees, nature, birds and squirrels out the window! The perfect place to rest, pray, don't see anyone but animals and reflect on my situation and what God has shown me during the last six month.

It was also cool to find some quiet time to prepare my thoughts on the next captor of my life, whatever that'll look like. Leaving for Denmark in less than a week which might become my home base again.

the MOSH pit

2008-01-23T23:07:00.000+02:00

Last night I went downtown Nashville to hang out with some friends and go to a GREAT metal night with Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan + more! It's always interesting to study the moshpit at these concerts + be a part of the moshing fellowship!
It was packed at the concert and it was a good crowd. We were helping each other crowd-surfing and pulling each other up from the floor whenever someone fell i the circle pit, the "wall of death" or where ever! It was fellowship.

If you don't understand what's going on, it will only look very violent! But if you're in it and people know the unwritten rules, you're suddenly a part of a very cool and unik fellowship where people are aware of each other + are aware of the risk of getting a bit sore :)

Here's a picture of Dillingers front-growler crawling on the ceiling above the us. It was taken just before he fell down on our loving arms :)
The American hard core moshpit is often very violent, especially if the "spirit" from the bands are destructive. This concert also had its pit with arms and legs flying everywhere, but around this pit, big bald guys fell lead to stand and protect people from being too violent.

I had a whole lot of great talks with folks there! One of the guys whom I talked with was probably the one who was the most aware of protecting and make sure the pit didn't become violent. He was a huge bald guy with a major skull tattooed on his back head.

I think a lot of Christian churches could learn a great deal about fellowship and caring for each other by understanding some of this subculture. On the other hand Christ is needed everywhere, also at these moshpits!

Running again

2008-01-19T09:12:00.002+02:00

I love long distance running. Makes me think better, feel better and open me eyes for appreciating a lot more things around me. Pastor Bob, his mom and I started going to this walking/running path a couple of weeks ago and was planning on going 3 times a week.
I've been in bed the last few days because of a cold, and I'm really looking forward for me and my running shoes to get out there in God nature again! When I was 16 I ran my first marathon (42,2km/26,2miles), and last year I did my 8th (an 50km/31miles ultra marathon). You kinda get addicted, tsk tsk...
This is a cool path they're building outside of Nashville, which is a great idea! One of the cool things, besides the nature, was these rundown houses :-P Would be very cool for band pictures!

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

2008-01-16T00:46:00.001+02:00

Bryndan loOOOoves VeggieTales and especially the new movie "The Pirates Who...". He got the VeggieTales pirate ship + some of the characters a couple of month ago and it's a daily routine playing with those toys!The little family, P.Bob and I went to the cinema the other day when it got out => what a great movie :)
In the middle of the movie Bryndan said; "I wanna watch Cars", which is one of his favorites at home. But when the movie ended he said; "again! I wanna watch it again".
VeggieTales is a great and weird way to tell bible stories, which is pretty cool..!

2008

2008-01-14T23:40:00.000+02:00

I've got BIG expectations to 2008 and what God is gonna do with and through the metal heads world wide. The Christian heavy metal crowd is just one of the most loving, gentle, radical (and extreme) crowds you will ever meet!! ...If you dare to meet them.

I know that amazing things are gonna happen this year!!
One of them through the Green Light District Festival in Denmark (May/June)!

Hope you're excited as well!

New Years at Times Square

2008-01-14T23:00:00.001+02:00

Larry Fish invited me to help him with a little work + help him spend his spare time in New Your City. He's putting up computer games at fairs (Tivoli), boat shows and places... The huge and very high class New York City Boat Show payed for his hotel room at 40th floor on Times Square. ...And I didn't mind sleeping on the floor to stay there for a week! :O)
Mary (Larry's wife) was there some of the days, and I had a great time with 'em!
Here's the view from our room looking down at Times Square and the New Years Stage where Lenny Kravitz and others played. I decided to go down in the streets to the 1.000.000 people and watch the ball drop, though. This year was the 100 years anniversary for the Ball Drop at Times Square.
It was funny to work at the boat show with all the million dollar boats and everybody else in shirts, ties and suits. ..And then me in my black clothes, dreads, black metal band t-shirt, tattoos and a big smile :) Looked like I probably enjoyed the work more than most of the business men. One of the business men came over to me to hear if I had some marihuana he could buy, hehe. Nope, I've still got nothing like that, though I keep getting the question.

Christmas in Indiana

2008-01-14T22:33:00.001+02:00

After a couple of busy (but good!) months I had an awesome and relaxed Christmas time in Indiana at Amy's (my sister-in-law) parents home in Noblesville, Indiana! Thomas (my brother), Amy and my cool nephew Jonas came over for Christmas from Denmark, and I had such a great time with them and Amy's family!! Thanks for coming over! :)
I haven't seen my nephew for two months, and man he has grown a lot; it was a lot of fun playing with him again!
Amy's family is the best and it was an honor to spend time with her parents and her brother+wife+newborn girl. Thank you!

Radio up and running!!

2007-12-31T09:43:00.001+02:00

You can now listen to the Intense Extreme Radio for free at www.live365.com/stations/intenseextreme !!

24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All great intense metal by Christian artists + short but awesome interviews by Christian black metal artists and devotion by Pastor Bob Beeman.

Intense Extreme Radio

2007-12-19T22:34:00.001+02:00

I've been pretty busy lately, but I sure enjoy my work!!

At the moment my biggest project is the Intense Extreme Radio..!
It's an internet radio station running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with only extreme metal done by Christian artists. The music genres are mainly black metal and death metal spiced with doom, grind, core, gore, thrash, speed, zyper, ambient and celtic folk black metal.

A lot of great brutal tunes done by loving musicians. Besides the music there's also testimonies and short interviews with the musicians who're telling about the meaning of their songs.

The vision is to create an intense and powerful station with an extreme message, honesty and a help for extreme people to see the love that Christ has for them.

Intense Extreme Radio will be up and running from the 1st of January 2008.
Website for the station: myspace.com/intenseextreme

Enjoy :0)

I'm so proud of myself!

2007-11-26T19:38:00.001+02:00

I'm gonna become an Uncle again!!! For the 2nd time, YEAH!
I knew I could do it.

Yesterday I got an email and this picture from my Nephew, Jonas:
"Jeg skal være storebror" = "I'm going to be a big brother"

Jamming

2007-11-26T19:16:00.000+02:00

Jamming in "my bedroom"; the studio upstairs .

A couple of metalheads came over the other night to jam some heavy tunes. I liked that. From left: Larry, Will (vocals in Wedding Party and I-Dragon-I), Jason (guitars in LoPhat) and Jamie in front. I didn't think it would be that hard on me not playing in a band and doing gigs, but it really is. When I think about it, I've been playing in bands and doing concerts since I was 15.

Four month ago we did our last concert with Barricades, officially, and I'm really longing to get out their and express myself on the stages through extreme music. I know I'll be back when the time is right.

Thanksgiving's

2007-11-26T18:44:00.000+02:00

Had my very first Thanksgiving Dinner last Thursday and it was greATE! That's definitely one of the better American traditions! :O)

Turkey leftovers:
Spend the day together with some cool friends outside of Nashville.

And THEN: Saturday I had the 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner in my life! Nice. I'm not complaining!
Hung out with Tricias sisters and families and Jamie made the turkey...droooool.

Man, there's a lot of things to be thankful for!!!

Back in Nashville

2007-11-16T03:50:00.000+02:00

I've had an awesome month traveling around in Europe (Denmark, England, Wales, Norway) and it actually feels very right to be back in the States. I've got a flight ticket back to Denmark the 6th of February, and then I'll stay in Europe until June where I'll be back for the Cornerstone (Illinois) Festival.
Bryndan is taking very good care of me => he's a great entertainer!
I've moved back in with the little family (Jamie, Tricia and Bryndan) and they are just the best. My little American family!
Aaaand we went to have Chinese food! My favorite restaurant in Nashville :)

Nordic Fest fellowship

2007-11-16T03:23:00.001+02:00

Jim (Once Dead, the Crucified + more), I and Devon (Once Dead, Fasedown + more)

And behind our bad as attitude, hehe:
I met tons of cool people at Nordic Fest as usually. It's so cool with all the fellowship at these festivals, and I believe we can have even more intense fellowship at the Christian metal fest's. That's one of the things that's on my heart these festivals. This fellowship is very special. I whole lot of these people is traveling around on the underground Christian metal festivals in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, England, USA and so on. ...Like I do :)
Above: Upper left corner is Adam from England, some great Danes and Daniel from BobFest, Sweden.
Below: Johan from Crimson Moonlight. Sick metalhead!...?...Or one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet!
...And Jokull/Ravn/Raven from Frosthardr playing with a new member of the nordic metal family.
An awesome weekend at Nordic Fest. Hanging out, enjoying the good spirit and fellowship, working as crew and making 20 interviews for the Intense Extreme Radio, which will be up at the 1st of January 2008! Positive, Extreme and Brutal Metal 24/7!!

Nordic Fest venues and seminars

2007-11-16T02:16:00.000+02:00

One of the cool things about Nordic Fest is the venues. The concerts are held at SubScene, owned by SubChurch. The SubScene room and stage is also where the SubChurch is.Merchandise and hangout was at the SubCafé in one of the other underground atmospheric rooms at SubChurch.
Accommodation is at the Holy Riders Cave. A huge metal gate into a stone mountain outside of Oslo City. The MC Club, Holy Riders, is now using the cave. But if a war breaks out the cave will be used as shelter for the citizens of Oslo. This is an awesome place.
Above: My Danish friend Martin Svinth...
Below: Robin from Admonish is doing one of the seminars in the cave.

He talked about walking in Gods call for your life. Here's my view about what he said.
1) Walk as an action. If God tells me to move to the States it requires that I DO IT if I wanna serve Him. Makes sense!
2) Be there with my mind. Not only walk physically. Be there with integrity, interactivity and a will to learn from the people I meet.
3) Be there with my spirit. If I feel God's calling me it's not just enough to walk in His call. If I don't invite God to walk with me it makes no sense, and this is where many Christians suddenly go wrong. To be a Christian (a Christ follower) requires a daily relationship with Christ my Savior, God my Father and the Holy Spirit who creates me every day.
Pastor Bob's seminars are always great and extremely useful for a daily relationship with God. Make sure to meet him at one of the festivals if you haven't or listen to his Broadcast at sanctuaryinternational.com

Nordic Fest

2007-11-16T00:48:00.000+02:00

Another GREAT year at Nordic Fest in Oslo, Norway!!
The 6th year of the festival, and the 3rd time that I'm attending.
Again there was a lot of awesome bands playing. One of them was Mortification from Australia. Steve Rowe (on the picture below) is a living legend and miracle. Doctors has proclaimed his death a couple of times (cancer + more) and he's still doing concerts! Steve Rowe has done an amazing job for extreme metal for more than 30 years. He did some cool testimonies from the stage and proclaimed that he wouldn't stop doing concerts before he fell dead on stage. Though he didn't move around and had a cup of tea beside him on a table all the time, it was awesome to meet him. I welcomed Mortification when they arrived and they are such cool guys.
My American friends from Once Dead played as well. I saw them at Cornerstone California two month ago, but here at Nordic Fest they really had the right crowd. Once Dead has got members from Vengeance/Vengeance Rising, The Crucified and Fasedown. Ooool sKuuuul thrash!
The bass player from Dalit => longest hair + longest beard at the festival! Very cool doom metal:
Pål Dæhlen (Frosthardr drummer) is the Nordic Fest main organizer and the man behind Nordic Mission. Nordic Mission metal distribution had its 10 years anniversary at Nordic Fest this year!

Friends in London

2007-11-16T00:16:00.000+02:00

We spend a few days in the London area where I had a good time with the Englishmen and the people from the Glorious Undead Church!
On the picture above I'm standing with Cameal and Melany, whom I had a great time with. I've met Cameal several times before at BobFest, NordicFest, DestructionFest and EndtimeFest. He's a cool guy and his parents opened their house for me to stay. They've got a very comfortable couch. Pastor Bob married Cameal and Melany about half a year ago and it's cool to see them together! Great finally to meet and hang out with Melany who's actually from the States. Her brother Jason is living in Nashville and I know him very well. Melany and Jason played in the American metalcore band LoPhat.
Some very cool people from the Glorious Undead Church .A cool couple from Czech.Great metalhead from Brazil.

Doom metal and devotions

2007-11-08T23:31:00.001+02:00

When the Meltdown Festival ended Sunday I moved in with these two cool folks for a couple of days. They are the parents of little Jasmines mom, and Ian from My Silent Wake/Ashen Mortality/Seventh Angel/Paramaecium/Century Sleeper.
I was honored to get the guest room where John PROUDLY showed me his train landscape that he's working on, which was half of the room :) . Very cool. This picture shows 1/4 of the landscape.
Margery and I had a good talk about death metal, black metal, doom metal and goth metal. I couldn't think of a better place to stay!

I really admire Margery and John and how they cling to Gods grace and everyday fellowship with Christ, which has made them who they are. In the evenings the 3 of us had some great
devotions. Shared God-experiences with each other, read a captor in the Bible, talked about it, then read in 4 devotion-books and prayed together.

I love it when Christians can share life like Christ wanted it to be. Like a family, brothers and sisters where we focus on the awesome things we've got in common instead of what we disagree about.

...It was cool hanging out with 'em, and we talked till after midnight every evening (I was always the first who went to bed).

2007-11-08T23:31:00.000+02:00

Babysitting with Jeff Scheetz

2007-11-08T23:17:00.000+02:00

I met a whole lot a cool folks at Meltdown. Two of the people that I spent a lot of time with was Jasmine (7month) and Jeff Scheetz.
Jasmines parents were on the Meltdown crew.
Jeff is one of the best guitar players worldwide when it comes to big 80'/90'metals guitars. If you don't know him but know Joe Satriani or Steve Wai, it's in the same category. Jeff did a cool "little" gimmick about six month ago, where he broke the Guinness Record of "Most guitar players playing together". He gathered almost 1900 guitar players and lead them in "Smoke on the water" :P

Meltdown Festival

2007-11-08T22:17:00.000+02:00

A cool little retreat metal/rock festival outside of Birmingham just across the boarder to Wales. Less than 100 people which makes it great for fellowship. Everything is within this cool castle. Lots of small corridors to get to the rooms. One room for eating together, one room for café and on room for rock worship and seminars by Pastor Bob and Jeff Scheetz.
Every time I've been to a festival or just meeting great people, I always wonder why I nearly didn't take any pictures of the folks I got to know. I met a whole lot of cool people at Meltdown. One of them is Doogle from Scotland:
The concert"hall" before we build the stage:
And in action:
My top 3 concerts of the weekend:
- Jeff Scheetz ( myspace.com/jeffscheetz )
- Ignited ( myspace.com/ignited )
- Back Pocket Prophet ( myspace.com/backpocketprophet )

Nashville folks in Denmark

2007-11-07T19:01:00.000+02:00

I had to fly from Nashville to Denmark to meet these two cool people:Decon and Becki Ryan travel around doing worship concerts with a deep vision of bringing the Church back to love. Here you can listen to their music: www.myspace.com/beckiryan

Next time, I'll meet them in Nashville. Looking forward to that!

The CORE group

2007-11-07T17:41:00.000+02:00

This is the four friends who'll be the core group together with me for putting up the Green Light District Festivals. I'm proud to be working together with these folks!
David, Jonas, Levi, SimoneWe're having the Metal Festival same place as last time, but in a different way. One change is, that we're moving the stage to this room, that you see above. It will change into a CRAZY scenery with a thick underground metal environment. It's gonna be an AWESOME festival with lots of fellowship, metal music and seminars by Pastor Bob!

Be there!! : May 30th to June 1st 2008.
www.myspace.com/greenlightdistrictfestival

Silent Highway album

2007-11-07T17:30:00.000+02:00

My best friend, Morten Storgaard just got done recording his solo album.
He's a great musician and I'm looking forward to get your album, dude!Early morning..?
Recording the last ideas before going to the studio a last time.
The album will be out December the 1st. www.myspace.com/silenthighway

A visit in MY church

2007-11-07T17:07:00.000+02:00

It was so cool to visit my church again. It really feels like home when I'm there in Århus Valgmenighed.
Great fellowship, great worship and great teaching. I reached two services and it was cool to be able to hang out with so many awesome people and friends again. We always eat together in the church building which is very cool. The building was a ware house before we bought it. When it was just purchased I helped putting up an underground music/art event called Silverspeak Ground. It was VERY underground, dark, cold and dusty. Metal music, electronica, post rock, spoken words and all kinds of art as paintings, photos, poems cartoons + more. This church really understands how to help people walking in the specific vision that God has giving them.

It was so good being back in my own church again, but while I was there I also felt a deep peace in WHERE I LAY MY HEAD, MY HOME WILL BE. God is good!

Chill out with Danish friends

2007-11-07T16:45:00.000+02:00

It has been great be see a lot of friends and family in Denmark. I spent a couple of weeks in Denmark and it was cool to be home for a bit. Very relaxing though a had a lot of appointments and meetings to do.

Here's 4 of my good friends:Morten/Mrtn (x-classmate from Social worker/deacon education) Brian/Bimmern (from Barricades)Lars/Gammellars (from Barricades)
Jonas/High Tower (my cool nephew)

Visit from Germany

2007-10-23T01:32:00.000+02:00

Mathias from Germany took a couple of days off to come to Denmark and visit me. It was my first meeting with him and he's a great guy!Mathias is working with Christian metal ministry in Germany, so we've got a few things in common. His main event is the "Hard Rock Halleluja" metal concerts in North Germany.

Check it out on myspace.com/hardrockhallelujah1
This year they're having 5 Christian metal events with bands, teaching and fellowship.