Hot in the kitchen!

On Monday of this week, November 5, I spent the afternoon in Culver City, CA. Now this is one bizarre story.

A few months ago, I got an email via myspace.com/waynewatsonmusic from a guy named Keith. It was very nice and he said he had been following my music for a while. Said he actually ran sound for me back in 1991. Honestly, I don’t remember. The way he told it, he was running the monitor board right off the stage, I asked him to make a change, he made it and I said “beautiful” or something like that. He remembered feeling good about being able to make it sound like I wanted it to sound. What a memory!

Anyway, Keith said in his email that he was the head audio engineer for a television show on the Fox Television Network called “Hell’s Kitchen”. He said something to this effect “I don’t know if you watch stuff like this or not…” Well, it’s like this – Yes, I have seen the show and actually find it pretty entertaining. I told him the “beeping” of words that are still, thank the Lord, are inappropriate for primetime television is pretty annoying but I realize they are trying to protect our delicate sensibilities. I appreciate the effort though it’s pretty hard to not know what they’re beeping. I mean, come on. Right?

So Keith and I email a few times and he says if I’m ever in southern California, give him a heads up and let him know. He invited me to come by and watch a taping of the show.

So seeing that I was in Dana Point, CA for the Luis Palau conference, I planned to stay over an extra day and check this thing out.

They were starting to shoot the 5th season on Monday. I found my way to the address Keith had given me – hoping this was real. We talked on the phone as I walked up to the building and there was Keith. He greeted me and we went into the soundstage. Once inside, I signed in and put my signature on a short document that basically stated that I would not divulge anything about the show and so on. So, I won’t be doing that!

I was given a visitors pass and went into the audio room (one of several). There, Keith and I had lunch and talked. I was immediately comfortable with him and his friendly staff.

You can’t imagine how many people it takes to pull off a show of this magnitude. Mind-boggling. Keith has a staff of 18 under him doing everything you could imagine (and more than a few things most of us would never think of) to record everything for the show. I won’t go “techy” on you, but I’ll just say there were lots of things going on. Mics and cameras everywhere.

And by the way, Keith loves Jesus. God overwhelms me with his imaginative use of His children. Here is this guy in a very unusual (or really maybe not that unusual at all from a real world sense) environment. People from all kinds of backgrounds working together to produce a modern day reality show for a major television network. And here is a real missionary right in the middle of it in a very important respected position. I could tell, just being there for a few hours, that he had the admiration of all around him. And besides that, he knows what the heck he’s doing! He’s not pretending or posing – he’s a real pro! Keith has worked on feature films and numerous other television series. Still, his first devotion is to the Lord.

Someone wrote, “We work the field of souls together you and I.” This story is exactly what I had in mind in writing that song. All of us, doing exactly what God put us here to do – some behind the scenes, some in front, some in conventional ministry, others “in the world” but not “of it”.

I’m thankful for how God uses you and me. Do what you’re here to do. Go!