Awaken Humanity
Update On The Awaken Humanity Music Festival
On May 13,2007, Mosaic and Awaken sponsored the Awaken Humanity Music Festival at the Mayan Club in Los Angeles.
This concert was promoted as a fundraiser "in support of both children and mothers in need."
The actual text from the online promotion of this event at http://awakenhumanityfestival.org/thecause states that proceeds from the concert will go towards:
Awaken Africa
*Healthcare initiatives
*A women's conference
*Developing a children's village (Breath of Heaven Children's Village)
Awaken Los Angeles
*Nightlight
*Homeless Service (specifically mentions Union Rescue Mission and L.A. Mission)
*Neo-Underground Railroad
Almost 4 months later there has been no update from either Mosaic, Awaken, or Awaken Humanity (a new, non-profit corporation created on April 20, 2007.)
As I pointed out in part three of this series, Mosaic has posted an interesting breakdown of how the monies raised for Awaken Humanity's "$100,000 goal" fundraising campaign was distributed.
An accounting for the money raised from concert goers to the Awaken Humanity Music Festival was conspicuously absent from that breakdown.
I have the following questions for Awaken Humanity (or Mosaic or Awaken):
1. Exactly how much money did the Awaken Humanity Music Festival take in? (Gross and net)
2. What percentage of that money was used for charitable purposes and what percentage went towards operating costs, etc?
3. Of the money that was available for charitable purposes, how was this money divided among the various causes?
4. Please define "healthcare initiatives?" Where those initiatives in the USA or Africa?
5. What was the name of the "women's conference." Who sponsored this conference and what was it's purpose?
6. Since the name, L.A. Mission, was not included in the Mosaic newsletter, did it still receive a portion of the proceeds from the concert?
7. Since the name, Union Rescue Mission, is now included in a separate section of the Mosaic newsletter apart from Awaken Humanity, did it still receive a portion of the proceeds from the concert?
In my previous post, Answering A Critic, I gave my response to NameCritic regarding his criticism of my questions regarding the distinction between "all proceeds" and "extra proceeds." I would like to add to that response by pointing out the following bit of information from the Awaken Humanity Music Festival MySpace webpage: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=182148849
100% of all donations go to the following causes . . .
So now the guestion is: Which of these is correct, "all", "extra" or "100%" ?
I would also like to point out that the internal links (found in the blue box under the heading: Awaken Humanity Festival-Los Angeles-Mother's Day Interests) have now been disabled.
I commented on these links in my previous post on the Awaken Humanity Music Festival, http://solidfoods.blogspot.com/2007/05/awaken-humanity-music-festival.html [Scroll down to "A Brief Follow Up."]
These are the same links that Matt Thomas defended in his comment on the same page:
Wow you really have done some research haven't you. I'm impressed that your so detailed. I see how you were trying to prove a point, but that whole section on myspace is a tad far fetched. I added all those people, and to be honest I was totally cool with people showing up with different values(and they did). That was actually one of the key points to the event. So good job, lol. Anyway, good luck with your search for drama.
Matt Thomas
Mr. Thomas,
If you were so "totally cool" with those links, then why did you remove them?
This interesting blog by Serena Leslie, a concert participant, can be found at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=149523643&blogID=262753232
May 9, 2007 - Wednesday
AWAKEN HUMANITY MUSIC FESTIVAL Awaken Humanity Music festival to be hled this Sunday May 13th at The Mayan Theater. Many different tpes of music, and if that's not ebough to convence you, I am going to be singing a lil som'in som'in around 6pm. Suggested Donation of $10, and it starts at 4pm and goes on till the morning! Come out and Support a good cause. PLus I myself am trying to raise money to go to West Africa through Awaken Humanty and don't know yet if we will be fundrasing there or not, but there are many ways to help my team out, including donating money.
Here is an interesting "eye-witness" account of the Awaken Humanity Music Festival from a another member of one of the participating bands: http://aaronivey.wordpress.com/tag/ministry/ (Scroll down to "Ministry in the South")
Excerpts from: Aaron Ivey, May 15, 2007
. . . the Awaken Humanity Festival was hosted by Mosaic Church, but it was very non-religious. (and i use that term in a good way). we were really the only “Christian music” at the festival. alot of bands that probably weren’t believers were on the bill. thousands of people our age from all sorts of careers, lifestyles, backgrounds, religions attended the festival.
no gospel tracts passed out. no one “shared the gospel” from a stage. no one was asked to recite a prayer. there was no evangelist given the 9:30pm time slot. i didnt see any “Jesus Got ‘Er Done” shirts. no one sold any JESUS JUNK at product tables. and in the end, i wonder if simply letting God do HIS THING in and through the conversations, the music, the company, the art… well, i wonder if that is more effective in the end?
it definitely resonates more with my thoughts on what Jesus would have done if he would have physically been downtown at the Mayan Sunday night."
So what kind of concert was the Awaken Humanity Music Festival and who did it benefit?
Was it a fundraiser for mothers and children in need?
Was it a fun way to network with people "of different values?"
Was it a way for people to raise money for their personal mission trips to Africa?
Or was it a way for "God to do His thing;" (without ever being mentioned.)
I'll let you, the reader, decide.
Yvonne W.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Mosaic newsletter for September no longer includes the financial information it published in its August issue.
I have a copy of the August newsletter on file here at Solid Foods.
Yvonne W.
9 comments:
sheeeeesshh....you should be a conspiracy theorist!! are you a part of 911truth.org also?
and who in the heck said God was never mentioned?! not sure where you got that from. so, if you could stop quoting me out of context to make your point, i'd really appreciate that.
i gotta take my hat off to you though, you're pretty creative!
Aaron,
I based my commentary on what you wrote in your own blog.
You wrote:
"it was very non-religious. . ."
"no gospel tracts passed out. no one “shared the gospel” from a stage. no one was asked to recite a prayer. there was no evangelist given the 9:30pm time slot. i didnt see any “Jesus Got ‘Er Done” shirts. no one sold any JESUS JUNK at product tables. and in the end, i wonder if simply letting God do HIS THING in and through the conversations, the music, the company, the art… well, i wonder if that is more effective in the end?"
The phrase, "very non religious", what does this mean? I interpreted it to mean that there was no direct mention of God or Jesus, at least not from the stage.
I do concede to the likeliness that "God and Jesus" may have come up during private conversations and perhaps in the lyrics of one of your songs (since by your own words, "we were really the only “Christian music” at the festival,") but how is that different from any other social, or even concert, situation?
What bothers me Aaron is that the Awaken Humanity Music Festival was advertised as a CHRISTIAN CONCERT.
How can you put on a "chrisitian" concert without Christ being treated as the guest of honor?
Please tell me, was God or Christ mentioned from the stage?
As to your accusation that I stop quoting you "out of context," I included the link back to your blog and gave directions on where to find this particular item on the page. If I really wanted to distort your words, I wouldn't have made it easy for people to check on what you actually said.
Now let's get back to the real meat of this issue:
What happened to the concert money?
Thank you for your comment.
Yvonne W.
To My Readers,
I've noticed several typing, spelling and grammar mistakes in this post and in my response to Aaron Ivey. (The mistakes in the quote from Serena Leslie are her own.)
I'm leaving my errors "in situ" to avoid being accused of editing out anything that was already written.
Yvonne W.
hahaha... if you only knew the truth and how far you are putting your foot up your mouth. Hilarious.
Anonymous,
Am I "putting my foot up my mouth?"
May I see your proof?
Yvonne W.
To Aaron Ivey:
I just noticed that the link I provided back to your site no longer works.
For the future, so that no one can accuse me of quoting you "out of context" here is the rest of what you said on your blog:
http://aaronivey.wordpress.com/?s=Ministry+in+the+south&searchbutton=Go%21
(This link still working as of Oct. 1, 2007)
Ministry in the South
PREFACE:
after only a few days on the West Coast, i realize that my perception of the West cannot be whole or complete. i’m working under the assumption that “the grass is always greener on the other side.” but, i do have to admit, i suffer from a bit of withdrawal and melancholy today as i sit in The Woodlands, Texas just north of Houston.
i think ministry in the south is much different than the west…i think church in the south is much different. mosaic church meets downtown Los Angeles in the heart of diversity. (i miss diversity). sure, there’s diversity in Houston…but really not much in Nashville. the Awaken Humanity Festival was hosted by Mosaic Church, but it was very non-religious. (and i use that term in a good way). we were really the only “Christian music” at the festival. alot of bands that probably weren’t believers were on the bill. thousands of people our age from all sorts of careers, lifestyles, backgrounds, religions attended the festival.
no gospel tracts passed out. no one “shared the gospel” from a stage. no one was asked to recite a prayer. there was no evangelist given the 9:30pm time slot. i didnt see any “Jesus Got ‘Er Done” shirts. no one sold any JESUS JUNK at product tables. and in the
end, i wonder if simply letting God do HIS THING in and through the conversations, the music, the company, the art… well, i wonder if that is more effective in the end?
it definitely resonates more with my thoughts on what Jesus would have done if he would have physically been downtown at the Mayan Sunday night.
i wonder if churches in the South will ever adopt this sort of thinking? i wonder if churches will ever be comfortable and trusting enough of God to do his own thing in his own time with his own agenda…instead of just falling back on the ever-so-uncreative bait and switch plot that most evangelical churches play out. bring in a catchy band, a funny speaker, and pass out corny Jesus shirts.
sometimes i think God is both amused and outraged by our lame presentation of Him in the South.
maybe i’m off…maybe i’m out of line…all i know is i’m damn tired of being a part of a stale, southern, event-driven mentality of Christianity…a southern twist on the faith without the genuine INTERACTION and LOVE for PEOPLE.
May 15, 2007
When Robbie Sortino was asked if he or his ex-wife had ever granted Erwin McManus permission to print their story in his writings, Robbie Sortino’s answer was, “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”
Yvonne,
You accuse Erwin of the same (or similar) thing you are doing here. Did you get permission from Robert's x wife to even use her initial? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I did my research too! Atleast Erwin never mentioned real names. How hard is it to figure out who *M (Sortino) is? Hypocrite!
Truth,
Erwin McManus DID use the real name of Mr. Sortino's ex-wife. That information became public due to Erwin McManus' choice to publish it in a nationally distributed magazine. Legally, I do not need anyone's permission to comment on a work already out in print.
I asked for Mr. Sortino's permission to publish this blog entry as a COURTESY to his family since I did not want to cause them any more distress than they have already endured. Had Mr. Sortino objected, I would have withheld this entry.
"How hard is it to figure out who *M (Sortino) is? "
Not hard at all, that was the whole point. If I had wanted to "mask" that point I would not have included the link back to the original article.
I omitted the rest of her name out of respect for her privacy and the privacy of her family.
Yvonne W.
UPDATE: April 10, 2009
Aaron Ivey has deleted his WordPress blog.
Yvonne W.
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