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Don Chaffer (from the band Waterdeep) shares new music and some musings on what’s happening in his life during an interview with Spencer Burke in March 2009. Don and Spencer’s first encounter was at a Soularize conference in the Bahamas a few years back, which happened shortly after the events of 9-11. The scheduled music group for the conference was delayed at the airport, so Don and Lori Chaffer stepped up to lead an impromptu worship session, complete with an overturned garbage can standing in for the drum set. Since then, Don has seen a lot of changes in his life, joyful and sad: both his mother and father died, and he had a son and daughter. With their new family, Don and Lori decided to stop touring and moved to a new home. Don describes these changes as “radical” and with them, came pain, but also a reawakening to his own personal internal life and spiritual needs.
He describes what he dubs “the Waterdeep peace talks”—a sort of dialogue with the band’s fans and supporters, exploring what it means to be musicians and Christians. Waterdeep came along at a time when the expectation was that if you were a musician and a Christian, you would play for the church, and become a worship band. It was a natural and expected pathway, but overlooked the personal growth and development of the musician in order to follow a linear path that may or may not be best for the person, or even best for the community.
That experience has led Don to his current desire to move away from linear thinking in his music, and bring himself and his listeners to a place of accessible mystery. He likens it to pressing on your closed eyelids and seeing colors— “compressing a mood” on the song and listener so that they feel a degree of mystery. One such project that has unfolded from this next phase is an album known as “The Khrusty Brothers” which will potentially inspire a musical down the road. The interview closes with Don playing the overture (“On a Shelf Down in the Basement”) from this project which is about family and was born out of his own personal life experiences.
Personal Reflections:
- What recent life events have been part of your learning and how have you/are you growing from them?
- What expectations do you or others place on you (about life and relationships, about work, about ministry, about spirituality), and how have these expectations helped or hindered you?
Small Group or Staff Questions:
- What do we really need to do ministry? What is our “turned over trash can?”
- Is “accessible mystery” important? If so, how do we create experiences of accessible mystery in our community?
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May 19th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Incredible! Thank you for being so authentic! Theooze.tv is really something special
June 26th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Wow…some great great thoughts to reflect on. I resonate with “It was a natural and expected pathway, but overlooked the personal growth and development of the musician in order to follow a linear path that may or may not be best for the person, or even best for the community.” The church often times starves the artist and limits their true potential. Great to see Don stepping out of the predictive path and following his heart.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Excellent. Thank you for being authentic and making the stuff of life grist for the Christian life. I encourage you to persevere in the message. You are a walking instrument of Christ. Thanks Spencer for “branching” out.
Blessings,
Judy Weerstra
September 6th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
[...] Get the full-length HD quality video & show notes here. [...]
January 9th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I relate to Dons insight about the artists pathway in the church. If God betsowed certian gifts on the artist, is it not so that Christ can be seen, heard, felt through their voices, paintings, acting and so forth? If artists were to follow Gods leading and the church were open to their creativity, we would be much richer in the way that God touches hearts.
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