Hey worship lovers!
Got video production skills? Are you a YouTube junkie?

Pick your favorite song off one of the 3 Fike and Dana CDs, or from the 7 recordings (Baton Rouge Live)...and make a You Tube video inspired by the music! Try to stick to the themes of the songs, as you are creating your masterpiece.

Please title to video: Fike & Dane-Song Name, or Fike & Dana-Song Name-Live from Baton Rouge.

We will judge the videos December 1, and the winner will receive 2 ROUND TRIP TICKETS from/to any major city iin the continental US where
Southwest offers service! (Travel dates will need to be between 6 and 12 weeks from winning date).

Good luck, and have fun getting creative! Feel free to respond with any questions!

Thanks!
-Fike & Dana

Last night, I watched a documentary on Maurice Sednak, acclaimed writer/illustrator of the beloved book, ‘Where the Wild Things are’.

The film was enchanting to me.


You may not know this, but “Murray” Sednak is now 83 years old. He wrote & illustrated ‘wild things’ when he was a sprite 32

year-old man, having drawn and doodled his whole life, mostly as a hobby, but for some years prior to that breakout hit, he was

contracted to illustrate other writers’ work. He had done this so many times, and yet, he was waiting for his moment to be discovered.


“Where the Wild Things Are” is my favorite children’s book of all time. I remember feeling feelings I’d never felt when my Mom first

read it to me. The trailers for the Spike Jonze movie bring tears to my eyes, and I don’t know why. I cried again in watching a ‘making

of’ piece about the movie when Mr. Jonze said, “I set out not to make a children’s movie, but to make a movie about childhood.” Wow.




But, as I was watching this documentary on Mr. Sednak, I couldn’t help but think about the parallel occurrences of this year. (This blog

will serve as the announcement many of my friends and family have been waiting for…) For a VERY long time now, I have faithfully

cultivated the gift the Lord gave me to communicate through music. Great friends of mine like Sean Mulholland, Ben Kennedy, Robbie

Seay, and Jon Shirley have cheered me on along the way. Dana Fike has known since she met me (as she would say it) that some day,

my songs would reach far beyond my ability to sell them. She has always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. Much of

what I have written will never see the light of day. But, every word , and every relationship, and every chord has contributed to the

success we have experienced in this season of life.


Just this morning, I signed the contract between Integrity Publishing and myself to become a published writer with their illustrious

company. The songs from our ‘Fike & Dana’ albums will now be given a broader audience. And, the songs the Lord births in me for the

next 4 years will be granted higher scrutiny. I will be given the opportunity to co-write with some of my heroes in the field of songwriting.

The Integrity stable of writers and leaders is unmatched. You don’t believe me, check out their roster…


The thing that was so evident to me in watching that documentary, though, was how terribly unsatisfied Mr. Sednak is and continues to

be with the work he’s done. No accolade has gratified his hunger for success. No praise has been enough.


And, I find him to be a sad and lonely man.


Oh, that our hunger for accomplishment would never exceed our brokenness.


I am humbled and honored that God would use me to further His Kingdom. Let’s keep it real… that’s what life’s supposed to be about!

And, I’m THRILLED at what has happened… the dream that’s kept me up nights has materialized into something real. This is nothing

short of miraculous!!!


We just sang what I think is the finest worship song written in the last 10 years at vanguard on Sunday… Matt Redman’s ‘Blessed be

your name’, and I hope I can live its ideals:


“EVERY BLESSING YOU POUR OUT, I’LL TURN BACK TO PRAISE”


Amen.


Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and prayers. You have fanned into the flame the gifts the Lord deposited into my heart.


Mr. Sednak, if you should happen to google your name and find this blog posting, thank you for your work. Please know that the impact

you’ve made on millions of lives is real, and that ain’t nothing. I pray that you would discover the very REAL love of our Savior, Jesus

Christ, and that you would open your heart to what He has to say to you…


So, this marks day one as an Integrity writer… LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN!!!


Fike

I’m writing this blog from the dining room table of our miraculous and fabulous RV somewhere between Austin and Dallas Texas. It’s raining outside. We just drove by a pretty major traffic accident. There was a truck upside down and facing the wrong way on the side of the road. Not good. Lord, be with those people.

We’ve had a really great time on this tour. Jonathan Madrid, Sean Mulholland, Chris Fowler, Matt Vincent and Dana’s Dad and step-mom, Gerald & Carol Cotton, are all with us on this trip, and it’s been incredible. We had rented a 15 passy van in New Orleans the first night, and while we were in Baton Rouge, Gerald told us he was off this week, and had nothing to do, so why not let him drive us around Texas in his RV… and we couldn’t think of any reasons to shut him down, plus, I mean, it’s an RV! It’s been incredible, but I need to back up a bit to tell you about the last 4 shows…

Our first gig was at Chapel on the Campus in BR, LA… my home church, and the place where I first gave my heart to the Lord. It’s always a pleasure to spend some time with the good people of the Chapel, and we’ll end the tour there next Sunday at their College service, “Refuge”. My Mom & Dad were there, and it was cool to see them worship together. Kevin McKee, my high school & college pastor, and a continuing influence on my life, preached, and it just was a great day together.

We hurriedly packed up the van to drive out to Livingston, LA. After exiting the interstate, having driven through what can only be described as a monsoon, we passed 3 little country churches before we arrived at ‘Freedom Church’, a little oasis of spiritual life in a very quiet corner of the country. Great church. Great stage. Great people. Great worship. This is the church that Dana gave her heart to the Lord at. It was her first time to sing there as a part of ‘fike & dana’, and I think it was a landmark moment for her life to see so many familiar faces from her past right there, locked into the worship of our Lord. So far, on this trip, that was the best gig for sure. Our band was tight. The Spirit was there. ‘Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles’… and the level of expectation was very high that night. Our good friends Ben & Lori Kennedy were there to see us, and Chiceaux just happened to be in town at the same time, so he kindly helped us out with lyric presentation. It was a great night.

We loaded up the RV the next morning and drove to New Braunfels, TX. We would have likely gotten there by 5 or 6 pm if we had driven the van, but the RV was reason enough to add some hours to our day. We stopped at Freebirds on the way. If you don’t know about freebirds, it’s possible you’ve never eaten a real burrito. Wow.

Mike & Tabitha Clinton had blessed us with a sweet Timeshare in NB, and it was such a beautiful blessing to all of us. Thanks to you two! I can’t tell you how much you blessed us!

Tuesday night, we played at Bandera Road Community Church in San Antonio. Great church. One of their worship pastors is named George Fike… turns out we’re related, but we don’t really know how. I have a distant cousin of a relative named Al Fike who is a Christian comedian. You can google him playing the ‘saw’, and making clean jokes. Ham runs in the family. Anyway, BRCC was a great experience. We felt like we really connected. It’s a really interesting thing to go to a place that has no real connection to you and feeling like you made an impact. Most gigs we tend to get are derivative of relationships we have with either the leader of the church or organization… and there was no real connection like that last night, yet, it felt like the set really worked, and the songs really connected. God is really blessing us on this trip, and we are overwhelmed by his favor.

I’ll stop rambling. Thanks for your prayers. Thanks for your support. We love you all, and are so blessed by your friendship. If you haven’t already, go become ‘facebook friends’ with either Dana Fike or Richie Fike. Dana just opened up her account this week.

Grace. Love. Peace.

Fike & Dana