The concert was part of the The Rock & Worship Roadshow.

The name of the organization is MATS and their mission is to provide affordable and reliable transportation to ministries and their staff. They’ve been fulfilling this mission since 1977. They have been great to work with and I really can’t explain what they do any better than what their website says.

Since 1977, MATS has assisted thousands of ministries and their staff in finding transportation, including but not limited to:

• Mission organizations and their staff
• Churches and their staff
• Para-church ministries and their staff
• Humanitarian organizations and their staff
• Schools, Counselors, and Teachers
• Colleges & Universities and their staff
• Missionaries

Our Service

The staff at MATS has over 100 years of combined experience in the automobile business and a unique desire to serve those in Christian ministry and education. We are aware of how limited ministry resources can be and we want to help you be a better steward of those resources when purchasing a vehicle for your organization or family. Whether you are located in the United States or Internationally, MATS has the ability to provide the right vehicle for your needs at a significant cost savings from the retail market.

If you’re in ministry and looking for a vehicle, or know a ministry that needs some help with transportation needs, give these folks a call and see what they can do for you. Visit their website at www.mats.org

What are your thoughts?

What other actors, celebrities, influential people and athletes do you feel do a great job of their faith in public and staying true to their values and belief system?

Hammitt and his wife, Sarah, knew something was wrong minutes after finding out during an ultrasound in April 2010 that their third child would be a boy, following two girls. They saw the sorrow on their doctor’s face even before she spoke.

Doctors later confirmed the baby had a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which causes the left side of the heart to be severely underdeveloped. For five months, the couple contemplated all of the possible procedures and treatments while weighing the odds of what could go wrong.

Their baby would face multiple surgeries and an uncertain future at best.

They also didn’t know how to deal with a flood of emotions — the anger, the doubt, the feeling of being alone. Hammitt, 32, decided he needed to tell God how he was feeling, so he started writing songs about their journey.

I think I take the health of my children for granted far too many times. I stress about their “challenges” I face through the day and they’re all normal challenges. How would I have the strength for real battles for my kids if they experienced severe health problems and hurdles.

Reading the story makes me want to hear some of the songs Matt was inspired to write. One of the great parts of the story was that the nurses would play his music for their whole wing after visiting hours were over to soothe all the children, not just Matt’s.

You should read the entire article: Unborn Son’s Struggle Inspires Christian Singer

This past week I had the opportunity to listen to Jeremy Spring, of Abandon Kansas, perform at a friend’s house during his Living Room Tour 3 concert path.

I wasn’t familiar with Jeremy or Abandon Kansas up to this point. After finding out that I was going to the concert, my son looked them up on iTunes and let me listen to some of their songs. Although hard to get a real idea of what they sounded liked as I listened to my son’s iPod while standing in line at Moe’s Southwest Grill, what I did think was that I liked what I had heard so far.

My friends have hosted a number of these concerts in the area but this is the first one I’ve attended. You can’t get much more of an intimate experience with your favorite artist or group than with this type of event. I found out from our host, Rob and Jane, that these concerts take place all of the country a lot more frequently than I would probably expect, but digging into that is probably better suited for another post all-to-itself.

So, let’s focus on Jeremy Spring and Abandon Kansas.

For this concert it was just Jeremy and it was an all acoustic set, something I really enjoy. For me, it doesn’t really matter what genre of music I’m listening to, if there are lyrics and I can’t understand them, I’m not enjoying your music. Lyrics are very important to me and I think they should be heard and legible.

Jeremy weaves his lyrics like a mighty poet. The themes are fairly simple, but the meaning and emotion behind each of the songs really comes out. I think hearing these in an acoustic format first, and in the intimate settings of the living room, really connects the audience with the music and lyrics. What was really nice about this experience as well is that Jeremy shared more of the meaning and motivation behind the words he incorporated into each of these songs.

You can get a little bit of a feel for what the concert was like from the photos and the playlist of videos I put together from four of his songs he performed. You can also still catch him in the next few stops as he wraps up The Living Room Tour 3.

If like me you’ve really enjoyed what you’ve heard, be sure and touch base with Jeremy and the rest of the group by finding them online and letting us all know what you think.

Catch Abandon Kansas and the rest of these guys online in all the cool places!

• Abandon Kansas Official website (www.abandonkansaslovesyou.com)
• Abandon Kansas on Facebook (www.facebook.com/abandonkansas)
• Abandon Kansas on Twitter (twitter.com/abandonkansas)
• Jeremy Spring on Twitter (twitter.com/akjeremyspring)
• Jeremy Spring on Tumblr (jeremyspring.tumblr.com)
• Brian Scheideman (twitter.com/akbrians)
• Brad Foster (twitter.com/brfoster)

Back in my grade school days I had the opportunity to march with my high school band, but I was only in 5th grade at the time. Michael was a trumpet player like myself, but he sat 1st chair and was kind of the trumpet player icon I hoped to always become. I finally did sit 1st trumpet for a number of years, but was never as good as Michael.

Michael now lends his amazing talents and tenor voice to this group that belts out doo-wop classics and southern gospel harmonies.

After you watch the video below, be sure to check-out their Facebook page and let ‘em know what you think.

The video is of their newest recorded song “Goodbye World Goodbye” by Mosie Lister features some great harmonies and acapella talents like you’ve been seeing on “The Sing-Off” each week.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Identity Crisis 2011 Conference is for young adults (18-30) and will focus on exactly what it means to be who you are and who defines that perception of yourself.

The first EVER Identity Crisis conference is a two-day event geared toward young-adults (18 to 30) in Fort Wayne and surrounding areas. It will feature speakers, break-out sessions, and praise & worship, all dedicated to bringing 20-somethings together to answer the question, “What does it mean to be me?”

This promotional video explains it pretty well:

Identity Crisis 2011 from Life Bridge on Vimeo.

• Website: www.identitycrisis2011.com
• Follow them on Twitter: @IDCrisis2011

To me, it seems like the different record labels and other Christian organizations should be able to infuse this festival and others like it with some cash.

For the past six years, the concert series has been losing money. Ichthus Ministries tried laying off staff and cutting expenses to the bone to close the gap, but now it says it has no choice but to take a painful step: sell the 110-acre festival site at a time when the real estate market is as soft as a muddy mosh pit.

Have you been attending Ichthus? Have you noticed things being in the decline for participation and quality at all? I hadn’t really heard of anything.

How do you think we should try to help keep events like these running around the country. Are there two many of them? Should we see some consolidation perhaps? What do you think is the answer?

It’s amazing what you find when you start digging through your old emails. I received an email years ago from Jeff Capps letting me know about his new EP “Shine”. He sent me the title track to listen to which I just did. I can’t say this is a new release or anything, it’s been out for quite awhile, but like TV reruns, if you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you right?

It’s a good sounding song, you can take a listen to it yourself below.

If you’re looking for another artist to add to your collection, Jeff may be your guy. Let me know what you think.