Yes…I honestly think that if I was to have a youth rally and get a bunch of youth from around the diocese excited about it….I would want to name it “Going Banana’s for Jesus” as well!
I had an opportunity to serve 650 Catholic youth from around the Diocese of Grand Island, NE this past weekend. It was quite an amazing event. My responsibility was to do a workshop and a keynote. Once for the Jr. High then once again for teh Sr. High. Then at the end of Saturday night, do what I do and bring the Catholic Dance to the entire 600 plus in attendance!
I was amazed at how the day flew by and how things just kept building to a huge explosion of praise, dance and fun. Some of my highlights were…
1. Working with Jesse Manibusen – he is my friend and mentor in this industry. I am honored to have worked with him and now we are both suffering from “Post Banana Potassium Deficiency” now!
2. Watching the youth be the stars of the show. I had asked for 5 boys to come up on stage (and ironically had 8) and played a classic N’Sync song “Bye, Bye, Bye”. I said that they should be the next awesome boy band…well one guy walked to the front of the stage and lip synced the whole song. It was fun…I think he was channeling Justin Timberlake a little. Lots of fun!
3. Watching the Bishop do “If Your Happy And You Know It” and then “The Catholic Dance” – nuff said!
I was honored to have an opportunity to share with everyone about my stillborn son William Christopher. Anytime I get a chance to talk about him it makes it helps me remember him a little more than before. Even after 9 years I miss him terribly and look forward to seeing him in heaven!
I am so excited that Jesus was praised and people across Nebraska are now doing the Catholic Dance. Amen!
Feel free to comment and post your favorite memory of GBFJ XV!
So today I am happy to share with you that I have been married for 9 wonderful years. The sacrament of marriage is an interesting one and I have to admit I am still learning as I walk with my beautiful wife through this world.
I remember like it was yesterday. With Heather in her beautiful white dress, not being able to stop smiling ear to ear. She truly was and still is a vision. Her heart is pure and her love is constant. I can honestly say I am a lucky man to be blessed with her love.
Not every year over the past 9 years has been all wonderful and dreamy…we have had our share of disagreements and times when we do not see anywhere close to eye to eye but through it all, she has remained my best friend, the one who supports me with all my crazy thoughts and ideas and the one who has always loved me.
Next year will be year 10 and maybe I will finally give her that honeymoon I have always promised her but this is year 9 and I hope and pray she enjoys the flowers, the dinner with me away from our beautiful kids and that she just knows that above all I love her completely and unconditionally!
Please pray for the sacrament of marriage. May all marriages stay strong and last through all the struggle that may arise. What God has joined may no one separate!
OK…so I have decided to have a contest. I have NO IDEA what to expect, I have NO IDEA what is going to happen, I have NO IDEA if anyone will even care…but…I am still going to do it.
Since video websites are EXTREMELY POPULAR I am going to have a Catholic Dance Video Contest. I want you to take your video camera, record yourself, your family, your priest, your youth group, your mom, your school, your anyone doing the Catholic Dance. Post it on YouTube and email me the link. I will post all of the videos on my site and we will have a contest.
I am thinking about giving away an iPod nano as a prize. (peaked your interest yet?)
So…I guess there should be rules….here they are.
1. One entry per person/youth group/church/event.
2. The winner of the iPod will be the person who POSTED the video.
3. The contest will go until Dec. 31, 2007. My guess is that most of the videos will come in after I announce the contest to thousands at NCYC on November 8-10, 2007 in Columbus, OH.
4. In January we will vote on the videos submitted and have a winner.
5. Have fun. Share the Catholic Dance with everyone and take pride in your faith, your religion and your God!
So…sound like fun. If you don’t know what the dance is…I am going to make my video in the next couple weeks and you will know. If you want a sneak peek…look at “The Catholic Dance?” page for the Sweet Moves!
More info as it comes out but I think 2007 is going to be the year of “The Catholic Dance”!
GO TO THIS SITE AND LISTEN TO MY FIRST EVER PODCAST!
Here is some cool things about it…
QUOTE TO NOTE: At any type of event when we gather youth together, the goal is to have them bring something with them (home) from it. To have that pride of what they are and who they are. And to really spread the word. OBSCURE FACTOID: The Catholic Dance was a part of the celebration at the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in Las Vegas in December. This YouTube link should never be shown to our young people- – – Yes, we do dance and party in our seats at the adult conferences. Bill is leading the way, even Jesse Manibusen danced, and video was contribute by our tech-friendly Canadian friendClay Imoo.
Go now…hear my thoughts on the Ministry of the Catholic Dance!!
So what is YOUR initial reaction to that statement? I am guessing it would be something like “Yes! I agree 100%!” or something more like “No way! All you need is God!” or maybe more like “What is an inflatable obstacle course?”
Whatever your reaction is this was a statement made by a member of a Diocesan Youth Council member from the Diocese of Rochester, NY who was accustomed to always having one at their junior high youth rally during the entertainment and activity time.
Now, I enjoy the inflatable stuff as much as the other guy but this rally decided to instead of place money into this type of entertainment, they would invest in something new, different and exciting! Yep. They invested in DJ Bill.
Change can be tough. Change can be difficult. However, trying something new can have AMAZING RESULTS!!
The nice thing about investing in my show was that I was able to be a part of the whole day not just the entertainment and activity time. I was able to start up the youth rally with spontaneous fun and games while people were entering the room. I even had made a rule that for the first 30 minutes no one could sit down. As people came in, they saw that everyone was standing and no one was sitting down so they stood too! Right before the MC’s took the stage I taught everyone the Catholic Dance and challenged them to share their faith by teaching it to their friends at the schools and churches. This was happening before the day was scheduled to begin.
Later that day before the official entertainment time I had everyone play a large group game that luckily no one broke any bones and everyone had a great time!
When the official time came for entertainment, no one even missed the obstacle course and enjoyed the music and fun that was provided.
After gathering again for dinner and Mass, once again I was called on to engage the group while releasing them for dinner. Slowly releasing groups for dinner while having the rest work up a healthy appetite!
At the end of the day we all celebrated Mass and left on a high note praising God for his goodness and his call to “Walk His Way!”
I don’t think anyone missed the inflatable obstacle course but I promise you they all had fun!
Finally..I found a video of the Catholic Dance on YouTube! I did a search for my friend Jesse Manibusan and found 2 videos. Once was him in Las Vegas during a “Dance Off” and the other one was some people who were in attendance of the show who filmed Jesse dancing to the Catholic Dance! It is me up on stage and my crazy voice over the main speakers. Crazy!! The thing is that this video shows a large group of people doing the Catholic Dance. Check it out…
I am still going to do a video of the Catholic Dance at some point but until then this is a small taste of what the Catholic Dance is. It is silly, it is fun, it is something that a group of people can do to celebrate their joy and love for Christ! It is all about Full, Active, Conscious Participation in your Catholic Faith!
Yes…it is true. Go to Google, Yahoo or MSN and do a search for Catholic Dance and we are the number 1 and number 2 results!Â
I am glad to see that for those keywords my site comes up first. Not sure how many people in the world are searching right now for the words Catholic Dance but it is nice to know that if they are…they will find my little site.
Hopefully after National Catholic Youth Conference 2007 in Ohio we will make this site very popular for all the youth across the USA! It is good to have a goal!!
Has DJ Bill fallen off the face of the earth? Well….NO! I have been working on way too much lately. Between DJing, family, websites and working hard on new promotional material I have had no time at all. I cannot believe Lent and Easter are all ready behind us…
During Easter I kept hearing a Steven Curtis Chapman song in my head. “All Things New”! Great tune and definitely my prayer for this time of my life. I am trying hard to minimize all the things that I seem to focus on that keep me from spending time with my Family or my passion of DJing and entertaining.
During this time, my beautiful wife helped me make a new promotional item. I would LOVE to share it with you all and see what you think. It is located here! http://www.catholicdance.com/promo1.pdf. I would love to hear your feedback and your thoughts. I am still working on growing my regional ministry to be a National ministry and I have yet to really start promoting myself. This will be the first thing I use…
I am praying for all of you and will keep you in my Easter prayers. Please also pray for me. Pray that God continues to show His plan for the Catholic Dance and to give me the drive to do what needs to be done.
DJ Bill is a Mobile Disc Jockey and also a Master of Ceremonies. However, in a few weeks, DJ Bill Lage will be a…..ROCKSTAR!!
Yes it is true. I am giving my first ever CONCERT! A hybrid of my all ready interactive dance. To suit the needs of a Junior High event I am doing in the Diocese of Fargo, I will be not having a dance but I will be performing a concert. How does that differ from what you usually do?
Honestly it does not…most of my dances I am on a stage and the crowd is facing me and following me in my interactive dances. This is a GREAT way to have a dance without worrying about the normal dance issues. Giving the kids step by step things to do will allow them to all participate and be involved.
So…I am excited to have my first OFFICIAL concert. I hope I am a rockstar when all is done!Â
