It used to be when I heard golden ticket I always thought of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, now I think of American Idol contestants making it past auditions and I can also now add Mark Schultz to the list.

If you purchased one of the gift tin collections from Mark Schultz’s online store you could be seeing a golden ticket in your future.

The gift tin is a 3-CD collection of Mark’s albums that includes:

• Broken & Beautiful
• Stories & Songs
• Song Cinema

If you purchase the tin, only from his online store, and there’s a golden ticket inside, you’ll be winning all of this stuff too!

• A Pair of Tickets to the Mark Schultz concert of your choice
• Meet Mark before or after the concert
• 1 free web store item of your choice (bundles not included)
• A phone call from Mark Schultz

The gift tins are available online now for $25. That’s three (1,2,3) CD’s of Mark Schultz for $25 AND the chance to win all that other stuff. Sounds like a great deal to me.

I’m still trying to confirm whether or not I’ll be able to meet Mark for a photo op when he comes through Indianapolis. You can be sure I’ll let you know and have photos if it happens.

• 5/10/2007 Rancho Mirage, CA
• 5/14/2007 Prescott, AZ 
• 5/19/2007 Gallup, NM 
• 5/24/2007 Las Vegas, NV 
• 6/1/2007 Joplin, MO 
• 6/7/2007 Abilene, KS 
• 6/8/2007 Fort Scott, KS 
• 6/15/2007 Jacksonville, IL 
• 6/23/2007 Orange City, IA 
• 6/26/2007 Hudson, OH 
• 6/29/2007 Hamburg, NY 
• 7/3/2007 Pinellas Park, FL

Also don’t forget about Mark’s bike tour across America. I’m still waiting on confirmation from one of Mark’s team members on whether or not I’ll be able to grab an interview with him when he comes through Indianapolis. Keep your fingers crossed.

Mark Schultz has had some great success with his albums. Although not the only thing he does, the songs that he sings that resonates with me and I believe the public are those songs that really tell a story. With favorites like:

• He’s Walking Her Home – a beautiful story of beginning and enduring love
• Letters from War
• I Have Been There
• He’s My Son

Mark has absolutely left his mark and has secured his place in Christian music for the ages. On top of everything else, he’s now making his Mark in charitable efforts as well. He’s cycling across America to help widows and orphans.

Watch the video below to find out why Mark is doing it and a little bit of history. You can track Mark’s progress and find out about his story on the blog they’ve setup just for this event.

I’m going to see if I can touch base with Mark as he comes through Indianapolis. Maybe I can get an exclusive interview with him or something.

I want to thank everyone for coming out to see us this past Fall on the Broken and Beautiful tour. Thanks to you, the tour was a big hit! Therefore, we are pleased to announce that we are extending the tour this Spring for an additional 30+ cities. Look for the Spring tour schedule to be posted soon.

The other thing I was impressed about in his newsletter is he reported on the success of his World Vision sponsorships drive during his tour. He lists all the cities and the number of sponsorships for each city. Not sure if it was his intention or not, but that would sure put some peer pressure on you try to get as many sponsorships as possible in your city so you didn’t show-up as a slacker in his report.

What would be neat is if they came back to the city that gained the highest number of sponsorships and provided a free, private concert for all those that sponsored the World Vision efforts.

• 11/03 – Hoffman Estates, IL
• 11/04 – Sioux Center, IA
• 11/05 – Lafayette, IN
• 11/07 – Omaha, NE
• 11/09 – Tulsa, OK
• 11/10 – Conway, AR
• 11/11 – La Marque, TX
• 11/12 – Baton Rouge, LA
• 11/13 – Montgomery, AL
• and more tour dates

We’ve received some good reviews of Mark Schultz in concert, so if you haven’t ever seen him in concert be sure and read them so you’ll know what you’re missing and try and work him into your schedule if he’ll be close.

You can also visit his website to catch his first ever video blog after the Charlotte, NC show.

As a matter of fact, I have been to 3 concerts within the last year……and I will be flying over 1000 miles to go to the 4th one at the end of this month.   My husband has gone to 2 of the 3 with me and my youngest son (23 years old) went to the third one.  My dad lives less than 100 miles from the concert site so my son and I are going to fly up to see family for the weekend and will take in the concert as a bonus!  We LOVE Mark, he is so down to earth. 

I have been to many concerts (dating back to the 70′s)…from the first when I was in high school (our choir classes went to see Blood, Sweat & Tears @ Seton Hall University), to the Beach Boys, Johnny Cash (twice—-2nd time we were allowed to go backstage….I have a photo taken with him, my husband and 3 oldest kids), Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Monkees (after Mike Nesmith, went to a Padres game in 1986 knowing that they would perform afterward) and at Disney World on New Years Eve (12/31/92) heard a revival type concert at Disney World with Mitch Ryder, Gary Puckett and others…

Then in 2004, I got hooked on Contemporary Christian Artists thanks to the local radio station of that genre.   Since you mentioned hearing Letters from War, I will start there….The first time I heard LFW one of my sons was serving in Iraq and I cried every time I heard the song.   When I heard that the radio station was the sponsor for a concert (only way you could go was to win tickets) I was on a quest to go to his concert.   I won tickets and we could have listened to him tell stories all night without being disappointed (even if he never played the piano, keyboard or guitar and YES, even if he didn’t sing a song).  Mark is GREAT…..If you can’t get to a concert yet, get his (CD/DVD set) Night of Stories & Songs and watch the DVD!!! You will get a pretty good idea of what a concert would be like!   The extra stories, etc. on the DVD are well worth watching, too!  If you don’t want to see Mark every chance you get after seeing the dvd, well……I don’t know what to say! 

Hi Jason…my husband and I drove 150 miles to see Mark Schultz at the Elkhart County 4-H fair. It was awesome! We had good seats on the track and were very thankful because the grandstand filled up really quick and the entire place was packed when the concert began!

I already loved his music but seeing him in person made it even better. He was so warm and funny and friendly…I felt like he was speaking to me personally. He sang all the favorites and then led the entire crowd in several praise and worship songs. It really felt like a worship service. My husband was so moved by his salute to all the veterans in the audience because he (my husband) is a Viet Nam veteran. Then Mark sang “Letters from War”. There were a lot of tears throughout the evening. His final song was “Remember Me” and we will remember Mark. He gave an wonderful concert and we can’t wait until he’s in Indiana again!

Feel free to edit me if you decide to post my review…I’m a novice at this. It was a definitely worth the long drive to hear Mark and his band. My husband said it really struck him that the gospel message was being heard all over that huge fairground! When the entire group sang without accompaniment…it sounded like a little taste of what heaven will be like!

Happy Birthday too… I hope it was a great one. Love in Christ…Karen Smith

Thank you Karen, no need to edit your review. You did a great job. Thanks for the birthday wishes too. You won’t have to wait too long for Mark to be back in Indiana. He’ll be in concert again with Big Daddy Weave on the “Broken and Beautiful Tour” and performing in Lafayette, IN on November 5th.

Mark’s also looking for some help in recruiting some Street Reps for the “Broken and Beautiful Tour” if he’s coming to your city. Be sure and check out the link above for all the locations and get more information on helping Mark spread the news in your area.

I decided to just visit his website and see if he would be close to me for a concert sometime soon. Many of his songs really seem to tell a story and have signficant meaning behind them. It kind of reminds me of the early, epic Carman songs when I was growing up.

Looks like the closest he’ll be to me here in Indianpolis is in Goshen, IN at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair on July 23rd, and then back on November 5 at Lafayette, IN for “The Broken & Beautiful Tour”.

Mark Schultz Website

If you’ve ever been to a Mark Schultz concert, e-mail me and let me know what you thought. I’ll be sure and post it in the reader review for everyone to benefit.