Joe Condit did a wonderful job producing the Fr. Corapi Event at Cintas Center (Xavier University) on Saturday (7/17/2010). There were more than 7,000 people there – coming from all kinds of different places (Chicago, Cleveland, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Lexington, Louisville, Iowa, Nebraska) and of course, from East and West Side of Cincinnati. From what I know, it is not a joke to produce an event of such magnitude – responsibilities and risks are proportional with the number of seats in the room and the popularity of the main headliner.
Joe is a young man who runs CMG Booking with the professionalism of a successful businessman and the passion of a missionary. He greeted me backstage when I arrived and personally walked me to my dressing room. He wore a well tailored suit but kept his stubble (the look that says: “We can be successful, respectful, do good things and be cool at the same time”). Very inspiring and – in my opinion – in line with Fr. Corapi’s point about each of us working hard and demanding excellence. Joe also surrounded himself with a great team: Michael Walsh, (YoMichael.com) and Jim Lawson (who runs CatholicsUnited.net) – both young guys with vision, tremendous energy and commitment to their faith.
My job was to provide a music soundtrack to the event (kind of like what an orchestra does at a big award ceremony – it’s there to engage the audience and create anticipation of the message delivered). I found myself really enjoying seeing the crowd (at concerts, I only hear the crowd – almost never see the people from the stage lights) and inviting them to sing with me… There is nothing more powerful than a thousands of people singing together.
So, it’s not a surprise that my favorite moment of the day was when, at the very end we all stood up and sang: “God Bless America”. Very inspiring and empowering, I thought, after a day of talks on social issues.