Music Minute - Mr. Lovewell Edition

Jen, checking in with another Music Minute. I'm taking a break from my playlist format to tell you about something I think is pretty cool. But first, A Story. I'm a pretty disorganized person in general—your basic right-brained creative type. Just when I think I have everything together, I'll do something dumb like go to lunch, get a bunch of food, and wait in line to pay only to realize I've forgotten to bring any money. One day I did this and asked the cashier if I could bring money back down after lunch. When I came back, he said, "The man behind you took care of it." And to be honest, I felt bad at first, because I had no idea who was behind me, so I couldn't even thank anyone! But then I realized that person had simply wanted to be nice, without thanks. And it got me thinking about being kind to people in a truly random sort of way. That happened a couple of years ago, and I still think about it.

Enter Mr. Lovewell. Mr. Lovewell is the fictitious namesake of MercyMe's upcoming album, The Generous Mr. Lovewell. He's been described as sort of a mashup between Forrest Gump (the title character from a  90s movie about being in the right place at the right time) and Buddy the Elf (from the Christmas movie Elf). Mr. Lovewell's favorite question is, "What if kindness really could change the world?" With his trademark red balloon in hand, Mr. Lovewell puts love into action whenever he sees an opportunity—and encourages us to do the same. "Do something out of the ordinary to show someone kindness," is how he puts it on his Twitter page. 

You can follow Mr. Lovewell on Twitter or watch some videos of him here.  

Now about the album. TGML is MercyMe's sixth studio album, and it's message of "committing to extravagant selflessness and faithful optimism" is the unifying thread in all the songs. After hearing from MercyMe singer Bart Millard, we think it's all about living out your faith, which fits perfectly with what we believe here at ec magazine. “It’s one thing to be kind to someone, to be decent,” Millard says, “if we really believe we have this hope, then to stop short—to not be the hands and feet of Jesus—seems almost offensive. Our dream is for this album to inspire others to ‘pay it forward’ to the cross. It doesn’t have to be about major sacrifices. Just let your life become such that people know what you stand for.”

We think Mr. Lovewell would approve. :o) Check out the album's first single, "All of Creation," and give the album a spin on May 4th.