Good morning.

Just wanted to catch everyone up with what’s been going on with us. Last Thursday and Friday Hunter and I had the opportunity to share our music at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs. We had a wonderful time getting to know the FOTF crew and the legendary Dr. Dobson.

From there we headed to Nashville, TN for GMA week. For those who aren’t familiar this is the Gospel Music Association week. The entire Christian Music industry comes to Nashville for several days of interviews and showcases. This year we didn’t do any showcases but our label filled our week with plenty of interviews that kept us busy. The week concludes with the Dove Awards and Connersvine…not up for a Dove! So, we took off Wednesday after our interviews. It was a productive week and we are happy to be back home now.

Tonight we played in Noblesville, IN at White River Christian Church and had a great time worshiping with the crowd that came out. If you are in the area Friday night we will be at Second Presbyterian Church on North Meridian Street supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. We hope you guys can make it out.

Chris

Good day people with a computer.

About a year ago I learned about an organization started by one of my favorite authors Donald Miller called The Belmont Foundation. When I was about four years old my Father left my Mother, two sisters and I. Being so young I didn’t totally understand what that meant. As I grew older the void left by having no male presence in my life was tough and I am still to this day wrestling with my own issues that this vacancy has left in my life. I was blessed with a great Mother and sisters but at this point in my life I have realized that in a country where over 50% of marriages end in divorce (including the church) we have over half of our country’s children growing up in single parent households.

The Belmont Foundation is devoted to help fill this need by developing mentoring programs for children (mostly boys) without Fathers. This is a cause that is very dear to my heart and I want to raise awareness of this epidemic in our culture. If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about this organization check out their website www.belmontfoundation.org.

Chris

Hey good people of the World Wide Web. Hunter and I just finished a great weekend of shows. Friday night we were in Plainfield, IN at First Baptist Church of Plainfield. We had a great time getting the full band back together and playing again. Saturday night we played at The Filling Station in Rushville, IN. This was the second year in a row that we have had the opportunity to hang out with the youth in Rushville. Again we had a blast and were able to partake in the glory of Pizza King which is right next door.

Now we are gearing up to head to Colorado Springs on Thursday and Friday where we are going to lead worship for a Focus on the Family chapel service and Hunter is going to speak. We are excited to be with the good people at FOTF and the get the opportunity to worship with them. Also, to me there is little greater than the feeling of looking out a window and seeing mountains instead of flat corn fields. I love my state but lets be serious, in a fight mountains would kick corn’s butt.

Keep us in your prayers as we travel and share the message and songs that God has given us. We are so grateful for your support and prayers.

Chris

OK, so we haven’t been very good with keeping up with our blog for this we apologize. I wanted share something very important to me and it may be boring to some but to me it is extremely important… what’s new in music.

I have been waiting a long time for the release of the new Counting Crows album. I know many of you may not be familiar so I probably wont receive many comments to this blog but I feel you need to know greatness. The new album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings is AMAZING! I once heard someone say that when they heard Charlie Parker play they vowed never to play again because they knew they could never be that good. When I hear Adam Duritz lyrics I feel the same, I should never be allowed to write lyrics. He can put poetry to music like no one I have ever heard. The new album is truly their best in a decade.

The album begins with what Adam describes as the “Saturday night” if this was a record it would be the “A” side. Full of beautiful rock reminiscent of their work on Recovering the Satellites. The “B” side full of lamenting broken-down acoustic tracks that bring you back to August and Everything After days. Haunted by regrets and glittered with hopes of love this album sucks you into to the brutal honesty of a tortured soul. I hope even the new listener will pick it up and get their life changed by the raw transparency of one of the best song-writers of our time.

Goodnight and listen to good music.

Christopher

OK, I know this might be a lame post. However, today my wife made up a recipe for cookies, and they were UNBELIEVABLE. She made oatmeal/peanut butter/butterscotch cookies and I’ve had 4 already.(it’s only 6:12 p.m.) I’ll probably hit 10.

Eating these cookies has renewed my love for cookies in general. (such a healthy love to rediscover) At any rate, I need to know some new cookie ideas. What is your favorite cookie? Is the recipe easy? Obviously there are the standards (chocolate chip, peanut butter, etc), but what I’m talking about are the cookies maybe you or someone you love made up or had passed on to them that are really good secrets.

Please think hard and let me know. This is world changing stuff! By the way, I’m working toward getting the next song commentary posted soon. Time has been scarce and I want to be thorough as you who read my posts already well know. Alright, off to get another cookie.

Hunter