Hookers and Robbers -Charlie Hall Music Video

So, I told myself (when I started 'blogging'), that I would never blog when angry, and for the first time in nearly a year, I've been tested. The other day I heard something that angered me greatly. I've thought about it for nearly a week now, calmed down, and now feel the release to write about this.

For anyone that knows my dad, knows that he could quite possibly be one of the most passionate people walking the earth. Whether in regard to his family or motorcycles, he is 'all out', he's either in 5th gear or neutral and there isn't a lot of middle ground. But when it comes to Jesus, nothing compares to his passion, I've seen him give up his life in order to gain life. A few things probably come to mind when you think of Steve ... Jesus, motorcycles, tattoos. Ordained in the "Church of God", he now primarily does ministry from the rumble of a Harley Davidson. And let me tell you, I've never seen him so effective in ministry as I have the past few years. People come in this store that would never step foot in here, they feel loved, they search for love, but ultimately they are searching for Jesus... and many have found Him right here.

But, as I said, something I heard last week really hacked me off. Here's the short of it: a man that dad goes to church came in and they began to talk. He told a story of an encounter he had with a lady from a local church. In this conversation she asked him, "have you seen Steve Odom lately?", to which he responded, "yes, we go to church together". She then began to question dad's 'looks', i.e. tattoos, beard (and we aren't talking about normal, just curious questions ... but the judgmental kind). The man said, "Steve has given up his body in order to reach people that you or I will never reach".... to which she responded with the standard pharisee attitude, "I don't believe that one bit". I kknnooowwwwww, hacked me off as well.

Then this scripture hit me right in the face.

All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22

So when I read this text, two things come to mind.... 1. the world will hate us when we promote Jesus, 2. the 'established church' will hate us when we promote the true Jesus. Follow me here for a second, I don't have to explain the whole 'world hates us thing', but, the 'church' hating us????

When I read the gospels, I see a constant theme: the established church (pharisees/sadducees) absolutely hated Jesus, He threatened everything they stood for, everything they thought was important, everything they thought was holy. He spent time with sinners, loved them, embraced them. They hated him for it... who is this man that he would spend time with these notorious sinners and even eat with them (Luke 15: 1-2). All of this leads me to the conclusion that when we truly mirror who Christ was, and when we truly go to the places he went, loved the people He loved, embraced the people he embraced, it will threaten everything with the established church -- the pharisees and sadducees in our midst -- We will threaten everything they stand for, everything they think is important, everything they think is holy (i.e the church building, the life center, the hymnal, the KJV, the fact that 'we still have church on Sunday night').

To further illustrate the type of 'church' person I'm referring to, here is another story. I was listening to sports talk radio one morning around the time that Anna Nicole Smith died. One of their normal callers (a 'pastor' from Tuscaloosa) called in and made this statement, "I would never let a woman like her in my church" ... key word, MY, church ... this is the kind of people I'm talking about.

If we are going to truly be like Jesus, we better get used to a few things:

1. we may be called drunkards when we spend time with alcoholics

2. we will be scoffed at when we embrace the homosexual who is battling aids

3. and your spiritual stature WILL be called into question if you do anything outside the lines of modern day, institutionalized church

I've included a video of a song that has really spoken to me today ... one line stands out to me more than anything.

"I'll even welcome the arrogant man"

It's easy for me to reach out and love the lost... the hopeless... the helpless. But it's hard for me to reach out to the arrogant pharisee, and that is something that God doesn't give me an option of. God is Love ... therefore I must love.

I hope this has been of some help today... it's just a few thoughts I've been wrestling with.

Updates... headed into June

India is right around the corner and I'm getting more and more ready. At this point I really need people to commit to prayer! Fund raising is going well, but we still have a long way to go.... check out this video for more info... oh, and before you ask, NO I don't know what I'm looking at!! I'm new to 'video blog' :)

Home Stretch... Updates...

In about 20 days, we will be leaving for India! This whole process has flown by, the cd project was kind of a 'hurry up and wait' deal. But now that it's finally here, I feel like I can settle in to the mission at hand. Although I still have a few more things to take care of, I can now fully concentrate on fund raising.

Thank you SO much to all the generosity I've seen so far!! I'm overwhelmed by the love felt from so many of you, whether monetary or just sincere words of encouragement. But, I still have a long way to go! So, please continue to help me spread the word!!

Tomorrow, I'm heading over to Birmingham to meet with NeverThirst. I'm meeting with Spencer, to share with him my vision. I know God has put our paths together, as well as, put a burning in my heart to help get people the clean water they need to sustain healthy life. I don't have to go into all the spiritual implications of clean water and how it can open hearts and minds to the gospel. Excited!!

The model I'm trying to build for free/missional music is something I believe very strongly in and I know it can work. My limited experience with the 'Christian music industry' and my 10 years experience in 'Christian' retail has taught me a lot about what we do right, but more importantly, what we do wrong. Capitalism is great, but we've missed the boat on how to use it. As believers, we should NOT be focused solely on our stock portfolios and retirement plans. I understand that this kind of statement can be found offensive and I'm sorry if there are those who don't like to think about the fact that their focus might be misplaced. But, if one will read the new testament, they will find that earthly pursuit leads to nothing but emptiness. (insert.. "yeh, but Jim" here)

When I get to heaven and stand before a Holy and Almighty God and He asks me what I did with my time here on earth. God help me if all I have to show him is a successful business model and my accomplishment of early retirement. I pray that at that moment, I can turn around and standing behind me are the thousands of lives saved (clean drinking water) and souls won for the kingdom. If one child can grow up and not die at the age of 7 because they had access to clean water, I'll feel as if I was put on this planet for a purpose.

I'm encouraged greatly by the remnant of people I see coming around to the idea of taking the new testament for what it says and acting on it. I want to see Jesus come back, desperately!! But, we've got a lot of work to do before then!!

Matthew 24:14 (New International Version)

14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

"All nations" here doesn't mean, nations, as in political/geographical boundaries ... it literally means, "all people groups" ....

Here are some statistics via: http://www.joshuaproject.net

Total People Groups:

# People Groups 16,402
# Unreached People Groups 6,693
% of Unreached People Groups 40.8

~~other sources' numbers may vary ... but the %'s are all about the same~~

I'm excited to enter this world and bring the name of Jesus fame!

Love you all deeply!! Let me know if you need anything.... and COME GET A CD!!

Get the EP!

Well, it's finally finished!! The tracks turned out better than expected... being a lower budget project, I was afraid that it would sound like a "home demo", but it's a fuzz better than that :) ... maybe! It's now available for purchase online and I am taking pre-orders for the cd's (be here around May 17).

To hear the tracks: www.purevolume.com/jimodom

To download: www.jimodom1.bandcamp.com

To pre-order: email me at jimodom78@gmail.com, or, shoot me a facebook message with your mailing info. I will give you the details on how to donate for the cd.

~~for the cd there will be a $2.50 shipping fee... if i see the cd's cost less to ship, i'll drop that price down~~

Thanks to everyone who have been SOOO encouraging through this process!! It's been an adventure so far... and I haven't even made it to India yet!!

Grace and Peace

Yes Sir! ... They Get It

So for the past several years, I've been a fan of this band, Mae. I love their stuff... incredible music, great melodies, great songwriting. The last record of theirs I bought was nearly two years ago, "Singularity". Loved this record!!! You should check them out ... thank me later.

So anyway, the other night I was driving down the road late, I picked up my iPod and tried to find something to listen to. Sometimes, searching the music library gives me that "57 channels and nothings on" kind of feeling. I reached the "M's" and saw, Mae. Pulled up the first track on the "Singularity" album and let it play, I was quickly reminded why I enjoyed this band so much.

Yesterday morning, I pulled up ye ole iTunes music store to see what they had new. I ran across two separate ep's they released, one entitled "{m}orning" and the other "{a}fternoon". I purchased {m}orning for $6.99 on iTunes ... it's not bad. This morning, as I sipped my morning energy juice, I decided to go to their website (www.whatismae.com) and see what was happening in their world. That's when I saw it ... and just about spilled my coffee all over myself.

I'll quickly explain what they are doing and I will also post a link to their mission statement on the website. Starting in January '09, without the aid of a record label, the band released one track at the beginning of each month for download. For a $1 donation you could have the track. What really excited me was that all the profits from these albums would go directly into humanitarian groups.

I knew it!!! I knew I wasn't crazy!!! If Mae can do it ... why can't I. Since January 1, 2009, Mae has raised nearly $65,000.00. This excites me greatly ... I love the idea that capitalism is being used to help the helpless instead of feeding our own (in many cases, not all) greed.

Although the project I am working on will not be a high budget, big sound, production ... I am encouraged greatly by what I've seen today.

Here is the link to the full story ... please take a minute to read:

www.whatismae.com/index.php/introduction

~~update~~

I'll be in the studio again tonight, feverishly trying to finish tracking. I hoping to have everything finished and mixed by the 18th of this month. As soon as everything is mixed it will be ready for download, available at www.jimodomonline.com. If you would like to wait on the cd, I hope to have it back by the first or second week of May.

God Bless.... Jim

June creeps up on me...

Hello my friends!! Hope everything is going well for everybody. It's been a while since my last post (apologies), it's been crazy lately. I feel like I've been going all over the place. It's all good!

Just wanted to give you guys some updates on the 'goings on' in my world. India gets closer by the day now and I feel as if the trip is going to sneak up on me. So needless to say, I'm feeling the crunch with fund-raising and such. The good news, I have all my Visa stuff taken care of, woohoo! So now all I need is money!

The cd is coming along, very slowly, but I think it will turn out ok. Half way through the recording, I've decided to scale the whole project back considerably. Instead of using the tracks we've done with the full band, I "think" I am just going to do 4 of 5 live cuts with just me and the acoustic (might not even record to a click track.. so it will have a very 'live' feel). Not only will this get things finished much quicker, but it will allow me to go back later this summer and really take my time and do the tracks right, then take them to either Memphis or Nashville to mix them.

This whole project has really opened my eyes and taught me some stuff about myself. I won't bore you with all the details, but one thing I've learned is that when it comes to my songwriting, there is a fine line between 'brilliance' and 'total crap'... hehe, that's actually painfully true! I've also had MAJOR revelations about songwriting in general, finding how to thrive in my giftings and not force anything.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that one reason we have a lot of Christian music that isn't creative... and to be honest... sounds pretty lame, is the fact that we as artist (who are Christians) feel this need to force songs. Force?? Follow me here, for a long time when I would sit down to write, I felt this pressure to write a song that was blatantly about Jesus and/or a worship song. For several years now I can't tell you the number of times I've sat down with my guitar and after an hour just put the stupid thing down because I was sooo frustrated that I couldn't get anything out. Then, a couple of months ago, it hit me ... I felt God, only for a moment, but that moment was all it took to change me. God spoke to me, this is all he said, "Jim, I gifted you with music, I want you to be you". I quickly responded... thank you, heck yes, I can handle that. Since that moment, songs are flowing out of me.

Mostly, these songs deal with everything from faith to relationships. I've even began to wonder if this will be a "Christian" album (whatever that means). The fact is, I'm a believer, Jesus is everything to me... to the point of obsession. So, that aspect of my life can't help but come out in my music. Having said that, my true heart's desire is to write music that encourages people, both believer and non-believer.

A non-believer might not understand words as, "faith comes alive in the asking", but they will understand, "take your time walking out that door". And who knows, some random person might hear one of these songs and check out my blog or come by this store to say hello, or meet me playing in a coffee shop or club somewhere .... and no doubt they will hear about Jesus. And what if... what if, that random person comes to Jesus. Man, it will all be worth it. I figure if God can use a donkey to speak, he can use a song about a 'break-up'. And if it offends you that I'm not writing a worship album and/or a "just as i am" record.... sorry ... you'll make it just fine. Pleasing folks like you doesn't interest me any longer... living in the gifting God has given me and seeking out the lost with love is what interests me. I think about it all day/everyday. And, if any of that sounds harsh .... I apologize (sort of, hehe).

So anyway, that's the skinny on Jim right now. Please shoot me a message on facebook or an email if you have any questions.

Also, if you would like to help support me with my trip to India or the cd, that would be amazing. Words can't describe how awesome that is and how much it helps.

Thanks.... God Bless...

Jim

trpt8@aol.com

www.facebook.com/jimodom78 ... twitter: @JimOdium

address: 1703 Sandra Lee Dr. Jasper, AL 35504