2024: By The Numbers
I remember when I was a child and summers lasted forever. The foggy Salinas mornings would eventually burn off, revealing blue skies, green grass, and balmy summer afternoons. I remember riding my Stingray bike (with the cushy banana seat) to Bardin Elementary School with its empty echoey hallways and deserted playgrounds, and feeling like this might last forever. Back then, days lasted for weeks, and weeks like months. But now—it seems like I blink and another year goes by.
The year 2024 was a blink. Three international trips and a number of trips domestically, gigs here, there, and everywhere, and a busy ministry season at my home church where my duties have expanded far beyond the title of Creative Arts Pastor. Add to that three larger-than-life grandsons and a few high-maintenance side hustles, and the year has gone “poof!”
So here’s a summary of this “blink” year. As always, I’m eternally grateful to many of you who’ve supported me in ministry—through your prayers, your friendship, and your financial support.
Number of Non-Profits: 1!
This year, I officially launched a non-profit ministry to formally provide an official “house” for all the speaking, performing, advocating, mentoring, and creating I do: Manuel Luz Ministry. Donations to this entity pay for my travel (locally as well as internationally), my administrative costs (like website, office and equipment costs, subscriptions, and meetings), and my time as an advocate for faith and the arts. This is especially important because of the necessity to grow this ministry more and more independent of my home church. I encourage you to please check out my non-profit page here. If you feel so led, you can give a one-time gift or sign up to be a monthly supporter. THANK YOU so much!
Number of International Trips: 3
One of the highlights of 2024 was a two-week missions tour of Lima, Peru, in June put on by Proclaim International. Playing keyboards in the Latin pop band, La Puerta Azul, I joined a dozen musicians to perform in city plazas, concert venues, churches, and outdoor school assemblies for two full weeks. And we shared about the love of Jesus. It was a blast. During this trip, the people of Proclaim invited me to lead worship at their week-long international conference which was coincidentally also in Peru. So in November, I was able to go back to Peru and take my wife, Deb, along too. You can read about both the Missions Tour and the Gathering using the links.
Number of Bands: 3+
Believe me, I say NO much more than I say YES. That being said, I find myself currently playing in three different bands: My on-going duo that plays casuals and wineries, Waiting For Sunday; My Trio that plays my original material, ML3; and a talented new band that I was invited to join called Groove Therapy, performing modern smooth jazz. The latter group has played a handful of gigs so far, and it’s been life-giving being in a band that musically challenges me. (Hmmm. I guess if you include La Puerta Azul, that would be four!). This past year has been a return to my first love, which is music, and suffice it to say, it’s been more than fun being a musician again!
Number of Jigsaw Puzzles: 30+
One of the simple joys that Deb and I enjoy is to spill a jigsaw puzzle on our dining table, sit down with a favorite beverage (coffee or tea in the mornings, or a nice red blend or single malt scotch in the evenings), and quietly work the pieces. She does the edges and I do the patterns. Deb knows that it’s one of the best ways to get me to slow down. Someone told me once that love is being able to sit together contentedly and not have to talk. Suffice it to say, we’ve done a lot of not talking this last year (in a good way!).
Miscellany
• I also had several miscellaneous Adventures in Faith and Art as well. I saw the release of a new album with The Immerse Collective, which I had the privilege of being a part of. I took a graduate summer class at Regent College in Vancouver with one of my theologian heroes, Dr. Jeremy Begbie. And I was invited to speak at a number of places domestically, including a memorable trip speaking to the music and worship students at Liberty University in Lynchburg. It was there that I discovered that they are using my book, Imagine That, as required reading for some of their professional music students.
• WalkaBout® Music had a few major setbacks this last year. We lost one of our partners and also had to relocate our “factory” from Nashville back to Sacramento. We’ve spent a good portion of 2024 resetting our assembly and fulfillment, and rethinking our product line. Look for a leaner version of the WalkaBout ecosystem next year. (If you are a worship leader, please contact me directly to get a special discount on a WalkaBout drum!)
• My home church, Oak Hills Church in Folsom, celebrated forty years of ministry in 2024. Oak Hills has been my primary home church pretty much since 1985, and I’ve been on staff since 1990. As such, it’s been my laboratory for many experiments in faith and the arts, my institution of learning how to grow in Christ, my platform for leading and being led in worship, and my community of faith for many years. Our FORTY ON! celebration was perhaps our best yet, and I look forward to growing old with this church family.
Looking Forward to 2025
I have a few speaking engagements on the calendar, so look for me to be speaking in the Northern California area and beyond. I’m also looking for more band gigs in 2025, so let me know if you need a duo, trio, or full band in the NorCal area. I’ve told my wife that I have no intentions of traveling internationally in 2025 thus far, so we’ll see if God changes that. I also keep threatening to put out a worship album of sorts, and I believe I just might do that in 2025. If anything, I need to catalog the dozens of worship songs I’ve written and led (which have never been published or released). Truly, I’ve forgotten more songs I’ve written than I remember. I’m also considering writing a new book over the next couple of years that I’m tentatively calling “The Artist-Friendly Church,” so let me know if this appeals to you.
Yesterday, Deb and I were musing about what our grandsons might one day remember about us. What would their childhood memories be about? Would they reminisce about long summer days playing in the park with Grandpa or snacking at the counter on Grandma’s special treats? Or maybe all they’ll remember is the feeling they had about those memories. As I reflect on the blink that was 2024, my feeling is one of gratitude and of not taking any moment for granted. May God bless your New Year!
[Photos: Photo 1: Sunset in Lima, Peru (November 2024). Photo 2: Forty On! Communion Service at my home church, Oak Hills (September 2024). Photo 3: Setting up for a street concert in Lima (June 2024). Photo 4: Album Release for Immerse Collective (August 2024). Photo 5: Prepping WalkaBout Odyssey Drums for final assembly.]
