Won By One Summer Tour

Quite a busy couple of weeks...

2009-07-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Apologies all around for no posts in the past few weeks. Things have been quite hectic and time on the Internet has been scarce. All that aside, we are updating now from Davis, CA. We sang tonight at the Rancho Cordova CoC and are staying at our soprano's home, Sarah Hollingsworth, as well as good family friends of her family. We will be in the area for the next few days and look forward to our last week of tour.

Working backwards, we have come from....:

Our most recent stop put us in Redding, CA and Sierra Bible Camp. We were able to stay with Matt Baker's family in Redding and then get to see all of his family, home church, and many friends at his home church camp, SBC. We had a great time and loved getting to sing there at the camp. It is always a fun time on tour to see a member's family, even if it isn't "your" family, it still feels like it. We thank Matt's family and all those at camp that made it an enjoyable time.

Before SBC, we were in Myrtle Creek, OR. We sang at the Tri City CoC and had a great time of worship there with the church. We got to hang out afterwards and enjoy some good watermelon as well as some good fellowship with the church there.

Previous to Myrtle Creek, we sang a few concerts in the Portland, OR area. We loved our time in Portland and got to stay with some good Won By One friends there as well. A previous WBO member, Peter Wilson's parents live in Portland and we were able to stay with them for a few days. We enjoyed our time getting to see them and stay at their house. They currently are now grandparents as Peter's wife, and also previous WBO member, Lindsey Wilson, had her baby a few days ago. Congrats to all of their family and to the new parents!

For the entire week previous to Portland, we sang and stayed in the Seattle, WA area. We loved our time there as we got to stay with Caitlin Lawrence, a Pepperdine graduate, and her family for the whole week. Some of us also had significant others visit as Darnell's girlfriend Jayme, Matt's girlfriend Ashley, Kristen's boyfriend Nick, and Sarah's boyfriend Kyle, all came to visit for most of the week. It was a fun time to get to see good friends and enjoy the company of the Lawrence family. We enjoyed our time getting to sing, fellowship, and site see in the Seattle area. The Ferry into Seattle at night is quite beautiful. Thank you to those we got to see in the Seattle area and to all who made it such a wonderful stay for us.

It has been quite a two week period and we have had a great time on tour. We are entering into our last week and look forward to spending it back in the southwest as we make our way back down into the Southern California area and even into Arizona. The end is near and we look forward to finishing it with a bang!

What a week!

2009-06-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a week. We have been blessed to have spent time all over the country and it has been such a great time. The van has held up and we have had great times of fellowship, worship, and fun.

After the Dallas area, we left to go down to a camp in Bandera, TX. The camp was such a blast and we loved getting to sing for such a crazy, hyped up crowd. Luckily, it was Monday, so that meant it was the beginning of the camp week. Also, the kids had just had a round of canteen which means caffeine and sugar highs. It was a high energy concert and we had such a good time with the kids. We loved camp Bandina in Bandera, TX and hope we are able to go back next summer.

After camp, we drove up to Tulsa, OK. Still in the humidity, but we were making our way out of Texas. We were singing and staying with folks from the Garnett Rd Church of Christ but when we arrived on Tuesday night, we had the night off. The boys got to play with our host family's son, Jacob. What a fun kid. We got to play some 2 on 2 basketball, as well as some Nintendo Wii. Naturally, this was right up the guys alley. On Wednesday night, we sang at church and had a blast getting to worship with the congregation there. We enjoyed our time in OK as the next morning we left the state.

On Thursday, we were able to travel to St. Louis, MO. Naturally this was my (Matt Earnhart) favorite place to stop, but is always fun to get to stay with families of members in the group. Even if it isn't your family, you feel like it is. We had a great concert as well as some great fellowship following the show. It was great for me to get to see family and I appreciate all that attended and made it so much of a fun time for me and for the rest of the group.

The following morning, we traveled to Littleton, CO. Littleton is just outside of Denver. It was quite a drive from St. Louis but well worth it. We always get to stay with the Sykora family as well as the Smith family, both from Littleton. It has been a pleasure staying with them the last few years and it always makes Colorado one of our favorite stops. We had a great BBQ at the Sykora house on Saturday. Such good food and fellowship and a rousing game of Croquet. Even though we're really bad, it is always fun to play. We got to sing praise team at Littleton COC on Sunday morning as well as singing a concert during class time. We love the church there and had a great time on Sunday morning. On Sunday night, we stayed in the Denver area and sang at the Longmont COC. We had a great time with the church there getting to worship on Sunday night as well as singing a concert. The church seemed to really be encouraged and we had a great time being there.

On Monday night, many of us got to visit Downtown Denver. Nick, Kristen's boyfriend was in town all weekend visiting Kristen and the rest of the group, and so it was fun for some of us to get a chance to site see in Denver. We got to eat downtown and walk around on the 16th street mall. Also, we walked down to the capitol building where we stood on the step that is exactly one mile above sea level. It was a cool time, and the weather was GREAT as we were finally out of the deadly heat and humidity.

Today on Tuesday, we had a very beautiful drive on I-70 west as we drove through the Mountains toward western Colorado. It was great to see this part of the country as we never really get to see mountains. Tonight we sang at the Grand Junction COC. We had a lot of fun getting to spend time with the church as well as sing for them and encourage their congregation. We got to hang out some too with members of the church after the concert and the night is just now coming to an end. We have loved Colorado. The more of it we saw, the more of it we loved. We travel to Salt Lake City, UT tomorrow and look forward to the weeks to come. Thank you to those who we have been with in the last week. You truly have made tour a blessing for us. Much Love.

What else could happen???

2009-06-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

When we last posted, the current count of van problems was 2, for both of the flat tires we had. Having reported on both of those, we now come to you with more news of van related problems as well as an up to date tour report...

Wednesday night we were able to sing in Tyler, Texas at Glenwood Church of Christ. It was such a fun time and we had such great fellowship with both of our host parents. They were such wonderful people and it was great getting to know them and sharing stories of past experiences as well as playing the name game with people that we all knew. It was so fun to spend time in Tyler. It was so wonderful, that on Thursday morning, the van decided to create problems...enough so to make us stay for the afternoon. On our drive to pick up the girls, the van started breaking down. It sounded as though we were driving a go Kart. Apparently what happened was a spark plug in the engine came out as well as problems with the exhaust manifold. Well, neither of us guys REALLY knew what was going on, but luckily, the girls host dad knew a lot about cars, so he drove to meet us on the side of the road. While we were waiting for him, two high school aged boys met us on the road and offered help. They graciously helped push our van to a nearby driveway to help get it off the road. After the boys helped, Mr Carey, the girls host dad, arrived and helped us in to town. We traveled to two places only to find out the only place that could fix it was about 20 miles away. Mr Carey offered to drive there to have us follow him. He was so helpful. We finally dropped the van off to get fixed. Mr Carey, along with getting us to the auto care place, also called the church and talked to a youth intern who very graciously offered to pick us up and drive us around town. Ben was such a blessing. He took us to lunch and then drove us all to the movies. It was a crazy afternoon, but ended up being quite alright. God truly blessed us with help that day and we were able to get the van fixed and get on the road to Dallas.

This weekend we have been in the Dallas area. The girls have been able to stay with the Pauley family, who's daughter, Kate, is going to be a sophomore at Pepperdine and also is one of the 3 newest members who will join Won by One next semester. It has been a great time in Dallas and we have enjoyed singing and spending time in the area.

Matt Baker was also surprised when his the girl he is currently dating, Ashley, showed up at our concert on Friday night. Much of the group are good friends with her and so it has been great getting to see her not only for the group, but especially Matt. He was excited to get to spend time with her.

This morning we sang at the Riverside Church of Christ. It was such a fun time singing a concert during class and then leading in worship during Service. This was Kate's home church and she got to sing some with us, which was very fun. We got to have a great fellowship lunch after church and spend time with members of the church family. Dallas has been a blessing to us and we have very much so enjoyed our time here so far.

21 Years and 3 days!

2009-06-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to our very own, Stacy Stivers. She turned 21 on June 13th, this past Saturday. We were able to celebrate her birthday on Saturday and had a great time. We got in to Houston on Saturday night and got to go to the Hooten household. We love the Hooten's and their daughter, Skylar, who most of us know from Pepperdine. Evelyn, Mrs. Hooten, graciously cooked us and Stacy a birthday dinner, and we had a great time at the Hooten house on Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, we got the chance to sing at Clear Lake Church of Christ. What a great church. We loved being able to sing a concert during class time and then lead worship during service as the praise team. It was a great concert but more importantly a great time or worship with the congregation there. They had a potluck meal afterwards, and graciously invited us to join them. Our first Sunday potluck of tour, and it was DELICIOUS! We couldn't have asked for anymore. It was a great time of fellowship and fun with the church there. I, Matt, also got to see some old family friends of our family and loved getting to spend time with them. The Fike family have been great friends to our family for quite some time now and, as they live in Houston, we don't get to see them all that often. It was great to see them though, as always. Thanks to the church there in Clear Lake and thanks to all who made it such a great morning.

On Sunday evening, we got the great chance to sing at the West Houston Church of Christ. The minister there, Matt Soper, and his family are great friends of Darnell as Matt used to be the minister at Darnell's church in LA a while back. The guys have been able to stay with Matt and his family the past few years and we have enjoyed our time. They have two daughters, one of whom, Morgan, just graduated high school and is coming to Pepperdine next semester. We are excited for her and the opportunity she is going to have out in Malibu. That being said, it was a great concert on Sunday night and we always enjoy our time at West Houston. We got to hang out afterwards and loved our time of fellowship with the church there.

On Monday we got to take it easy in the morning, which was a very nice break. In the evening, we traveled to the Cinco Ranch Church of Christ to sing at the summer youth event, Summer Youth Series. We are thankfully able to sing at this every summer we are in the Houston area, and so this summer it was a blast to get to go again. We were able to lead some worship with the youth there, and then perform a concert later in the evening. It is always a blast to get to sing with and for teens as they provide a great energy as an audience. We also get to call them up on stage and ask them to do things like beat boxing and to fill out Pepperdine info cards so that we can give away free Pepperdine stuff! We loved our time at SYS and enjoyed getting to fellowship with the youth of Houston. What a fun night!

Today on Tuesday, we are able to have a free day and to hang out in the Houston area. We will be heading to Tyler, TX tomorrow and then we will be in Texas for a few more days after that. We have appreciated all the hospitality and friendliness that everyone has extended to us thus far in Texas, and look forward to the next few days here....not so much the heat and humidity though. Man it is hot in Texas!

A Stormy Update...

2009-06-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

After singing in the San Antonio area at Northside Church of Christ on Wednesday night, we drove to Round Rock, TX, just outside of Austin. One of the girls in New Reign lives in Round Rock and so we got to meet her family and enjoy a morning at their church VBS, Champs Camp. It was a great time hanging out with kids and getting to relax at the church.

On Thursday night, we planned to do a joint concert with both groups... Won by One would sing for 45 minutes, we would sing together for a few songs of worship with the church, and then New Reign would close out the night with a set of their own. We were set and ready to go. Won by One sang our set and then invited New Reign up to sing with us. It was a blast getting to all sing worship together and we really got the church energized. During the last song, someone from the church got up and informed us that a Tornado was in the area and heading towards the church building. Needless to say, this got some of us a little startled. We were moved to the hallways of the church to wait it out. It turned in to quite a mess when the Tornado left the area only to have another one touch down about 3 miles away. It was a crazy time and something that most of us were not used to being in the middle of. However, after all was said and done, the church remained, and the concert moved on. New Reign gave a great show and everyone really enjoyed it. After the concert we went to a family's house from the church who was very hospitable and had us all over for dinner, even at 11PM!

Overall, we had a great time in Round Rock and a blast getting to sing and hang out with the members of New Reign. We hope they have a great tour this summer, and we look forward to being with them again in the future. Thank you to everyone in the Round Rock area and to all your hospitality. We appreciate it greatly!

We are back in San Antonio at the McNabb household, and will be heading to the Houston area tomorrow. One week of tour in the books and we have had:
-2 Flat tires
-5 Days of Texas heat and humidity
-25+ Bathroom stops
-6 Concerts
-2 Tornadoes
-Many great memories and fun along the way

I can't wait for what's next....

Tour thus far.....

2009-06-09T22:03:00.001-07:00

Day 1:
Planned time to leave Pepperdine-2:30PM.
Actual time left Pepperdine-3:50PM.
The packing took much longer than we had anticipated as we had TONS of stuff to pack including sound equipment, luggage, CD boxes, a "store" box for merchandise, as well as cool Pepperdine stuff from Admissions...needless to say, fitting it all in the van was quite a chore. However, the drive to Arizona was not bad, we just got in a little later than we had anticipated. Although we didn't sing there, our contact, Tom Riley, was gracious enough to fix us up with houses to stay in for the night, including his own. He, as well as the other host home were awesome and hospitable as they waited all the way until midnight for us to get in. We thank you guys so much as we are sorry for the inconvenience of the lateness, but appreciate your willingness to house and support this ministry.

Day 2:
The next morning we drove to New Mexico and sang on Saturday night at the Netherwood Park Church of Christ in Albuquerque. It was a fun first show and we had a good time. We got to meet and stay with the Burnhams that night. Their daughter, Lauren, will be joining Won By One next fall. We greatly enjoyed getting to meet the Burnham family and look forward to having Lauren join the group.

Day 3:
We sang in the morning at the Burnham's church in Albuquerque, Montgomery Church of Christ. We were able to sing praise team for two services as well as do a concert during class time. We loved getting to fellowship and spend time with the church there. They are a wonderful congregation and it was a very fun concert.

Our drive on Sunday afternoon from Albuquerque to Lubbock began without delay and with a smooth path to it. Half way to Lubbock, and close to the New Mexico-Texas border, disaster struck in the form of a flat tire. The back left tire on our van completely blew out and bit the dust. The guys, with some help from our girls got it fixed and placed the spare tire on the van. The ordeal set us back quite a bit as far as time went, but we were able to make it on time to our concert in Lubbock. Although it was quite the ordeal, we had a fun time being together on the side of the road and got it all taken care of.

Our concert in Lubbock was a blast. We had a great crowd at the Monterey Church of Christ and we enjoyed getting to praise, worship, and experience God with that congregation. Following the concert we got to go out to dinner at Rosa's in Lubbock with many of the youth group and some adults. It was a great time to get to fellowship with the members of the youth group and church in Lubbock as well as get to eat great TexMex food! Following the dinner, we were able to go over to the girls host home to watch a movie. The house was beautiful and we settled down to watch a film with some of the youth group and all of us. The movie chosen...... Twilight. The book series that is sweeping the nation and hearts of teenage girls everywhere, including our own, Matthew Seth Baker, was turned into a movie and we watched it on Sunday night. Many Won By One members are extremely into the book series and thus, watching the movie was very fun for all those who got to come over to the girls host home. It was a fun evening and great time to relax after a long day!

Day 4:
Before we left Lubbock, our host family was kind enough to get us an appointment at Woody's Tires in Lubbock to get our spare tire replaced. We figured the sooner the better as we had no idea the tire would be blowing out on us on Sunday, and we wanted to be prepared for next time just in case. It was very nice of our family to help us out and we got everything taken care of.

On to Abilene, Texas. The drive was nice and easy and we got in to Abilene in the evening. We immediately got to stop and see John and Tracy Calhoun. John and Tracy both attended Pepperdine and John used to be in Won By One and so it was great to get to visit with them before our concert. John was our contact at Southern Hills Church of Christ and so we went with him and Tracy to set up at the church. It was a very fun concert and we had a great time getting to worship with and sing for the congregation in Abilene. A lot of us had friends at the concert including John and Tracy and so afterwards we all went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was a great time to get to fellowship with great friends and share a good meal. However...during dinner, there was a big thunderstorm outside and the power actually shut off on us at the restaurant. It was nuts, but everything soon kicked back on and we were able to continue with our dinner. Overall, our time in Abilene was a blast and we loved getting to not only sing for a great church, but also to get to see great friends!

Day 5 (Present Day):
You will NEVER guess what happened today on our drive from Abilene to San Antonio!! We got ANOTHER flat tire. Not sure what happened, whether it was the hot air in the tire, or the age of the tire, but either way, the back right tire this time was ruptured and blew out on us on another Texas highway. Luckily, as we pulled into a very random driveway, a nice Texas man was leaving and offered to help us change the tire, which proved to be a very good thing as he had a very nice jack and took care of the whole thing in about HALF the time it took us on the last tire, HAHA. We got everything fixed and got back on the road. Let's hope that the van and all its parts hold up the rest of the way!

We got into San Antonio and got to stay at family friends of Matt Baker, the McNabb's. We loved staying with them last year and we are looking forward to getting to spend time with them this time around as well. Also, the acappella singing group from Oklahoma Christian University, New Reign, is also in San Antonio and so they came over to the McNabb's tonight and we had a big BBQ and swim party. It was a great time of food and fellowship and we all enjoyed getting to spend time together. New Reign and Won By One will both be in the area this week and so we are getting to do some joint concerts with them. We are excited to get to sing and show God's word through song together and look forward to the time we have here in the San Antonio area.

Thanks to all who have been so great to us on tour so far. We look forward to the stops in the future and to the time we will get to spend with all of you. God Bless.

Thanks to all

2008-08-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well, tour has been over for a little over a week now and we all just wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who has made tour great for us. It was a huge success and we all had a blast. We had some fun concerts, some great host families, and most importantly, some great fellowship along the way. God has blessed us with such a great experience and we are so thankful to him for the opportunity to spend our summer serving him, bringing the message through song, and strengthening the ties of christian friendship throughout the United States. We want to thank all who have made tour a great time along the way and for making our time traveling one to remember forever. As we all start our summer vacations now following tour, we just want to say thank you and may God bless you all.

On the road in Musictown, USA

2008-07-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey there from Nashville, TN. Our journey on tour has led us the the musical city of Nashville and we are loving it. We got to sing tonight at Woodmont Hills for the youth group there and it was a lot of fun. Last night, we were all over the place. Stacy and Sarah got to drive around downtown Nashville and see the sights, Kristen met up with friends who live here from Harding that she knew, Matt got to stay with family friends of his that he has known for a while who used to live in St Louis, and Darnell and Matt got to sit in on a recording session for Zoe Group. Quite the experience for all of us here in the Nashville area. We really have enjoyed our time here.

Prior to stopping in the Nashville area, we were in Atlanta, Georgia. We got to stay with a lot of Darnell's family and we had a blast! Darnell and Stacy however, got to travel back to L.A. on Friday night to go to a wedding of 2 Pepperdine students who we all know. They had a blast. The rest of us got to BBQ with Darnell's family and get to see a fun fireworks show with them as well. It was a great 4th of July for us and a much needed, relaxing break. Saturday night we sang at Burnt Hickory Church of Christ and had a fun time at their outdoor picnic. It was humid and hot outside, but fun nonetheless. Sunday morning we got to sing at North Atlanta Church of Christ and hear a great sermon from Don McGlaughlin. He is the minister there and he always does a great job. After having a fun afternoon in the Atlanta area, we got to sing at Camp Creek Church of Christ on Sunday night. It was a lot of fun and all in all, we had a great stop in the Atlanta area.

After Atlanta we traveled to Florence, Alabama on Monday night. We had a fun time getting to sing at a youth event that the churches in the area have every Monday evening during the summer. We had a lot of fun getting to visit with the teens and then afterward we all went to Chili's. We had about 25 people there and it was a blast getting to hang out with kids around our age! We loved our time there.

I apologize for the long time between posts, but it has been a pretty full week. We have really been having a good time and are looking forward to the last few weeks of tour. Thanks to everyone who has made the last week, as well as tour in general, a great experience for us so far! Blessings to you all.

Hello to all from North Carolina!

2008-07-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings to you all from Camp Greystone in North Carolina. We have made our way up the east coast and in to the Carolina's. Since the last post we have been all over Florida. We got to go to Ft Lauderdale and spend an incredible weekend with the DellaPace family, and by DellaPace family, I mean, ALL of Kristen's family. Her aunts and uncles live no more than 30 minutes away and so it was a party every night. It was an awesome time and we sang a great concert for her church family on Sunday night. The following night on Monday, we traveled to St. Petersburg and got to have a very fun time singing at the church there. We got to eat a neat dinner at a place called Caddy's, which was right on the beach, and it was very fun. After that, we traveled all the way up to Jacksonville and got to sing at a church in the Jacksonville area. There was a really neat guy at the church there, Willis, who was very fun to talk with. He has been directing symphonies for quite some time now and so it was really cool to hear his story. That was Tuesday night. On Wednesday we drove up to South Carolina and sang at Palmetto Bible Camp. It was an awesome time and it was full of energy. The kids there were crazy, but we loved every minute of it. Following that concert, we drove to our current location here at Greystone. We met up with about 6 or 7 of our Pepperdine students who are working the week of camp here and got to hang out till bedtime. It has been great all day getting to relax and hang out with not only the campers at camp but also our close Pepperdine friends. We sang in the morning and had a lot of fun, then have had the rest of the day off to swim, play tennis and just hang out. It truly has been a blessing to have a relaxing time here. Tonight, we head to Atlanta where we will get to stay with some of Darnell's family which should be a blast. We are looking forward to it and are sure we will have a great time. Hope you are all well. Happy 4th of July tomorrow!! God Bless.

When you wish upon a Star!

2008-06-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you. We are writing to you after a fun filled day at Disney World in Orlando, Fl! We got to have a day off on Thursday and go to Disney. We met up with a guy who worked Public Relations at Disney who was so gracious to give us passes for the day. We started at Hollywood Studios and had a blast riding on the Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster, Toy Story Ride, Star Tours, and the Great Movie Ride. It was fun to hang out in Hollywood. Next the guys went over to the Animal Kingdom and the girls headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Shortly after, it rained, and rained, and then stormed, and then rained some more. However, we still had fun. The guys saw a Lion King show and it was spectacular. The girls got to ride some indoor rides as well as do some shopping in downtown Disney! We then met up at the Magic Kingdom and had some fun. It stopped raining so we got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and had a blast! The girls then went back to the van to call it a night and the guys decided to stay for the fireworks, then got to go on Space Mountain. This was definitely the high light of the day for the boys! All in all, it was a great day and we vastly enjoyed the day off as well as the free Disney Passes! Thanks to all who helped with that, it was a huge blessing.

Tonight, we drove to Central Florida Bible Camp in Eustis, Fl. This is the camp that Kristen grew up going to so it was a lot of fun for her to be back. She got to see a lot of her old friends and family and the rest of the group had the chance to meet lots of new, fun people! We got to sing a concert for all the camp in the evening and had a BLAST getting to do it. Camps are always way fun to sing at because the kids are always hyped up on sugar and super excited to be there. We had a really fun time and Kristen really enjoyed getting to see her old pals. Tomorrow we travel to Kristen's house in Ft. Lauderdale and then get to spend a few days in her neck of the woods. I'm sure we will have a great time.

That's it for now. Blessings to you all. Goodnight from Central Florida!

Funnest game EVER!

2008-06-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

So when we were all in Tallahassee, the guys stayed at a guy's house from the church, Chris. Him and his son, Chase, love to play this game called Heroscape. Now this is, as best as I can summarize it, an interactive risk game, where the characters are actual game pieces, not just the normal little canon, infantry guy, or horse. The game has characters like archers, dragons, dragon killers, and like the occasional Marvel character. I got to use the Incredible Hulk!! Needless to say, this game was awesome! We had such a great time and stayed up probably way too late, but it was super fun. We want to personally thank Chris and his son Chase for teaching us the game and playing with us. It was quite the experience. Here are some pictures from the BATTLE!!

Us having the time of our LIVES!

Here is Darnell deciding which character to use on his next turn

Hey there from Tallahassee Florida!

2008-06-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we have moved through the south all the way into Florida. We got to have a fun day in New Orleans on Saturday, checking out the French Quarter and getting to see the craziness of Bourbon Street. It was a fun opportunity as most of us had never been. Sunday morning we sang at a church in New Orleans and it was great. We got to sing praise team and then do a concert afterwards. Immediately following church, we had to high tail it out to Montgomery Alabama. It was a 4 1/2 drive, and we had about 5 hours to do it!! Needless to say, we made it safely there and had a lot of fun. We all got to meet some of Darnell's old friends, the Powell's. Grey Powell used to be Darnell's youth minister back in the day and so we got to have a lot of fun hanging out with him and his family. The boys stayed at his house and the girls stayed at a family's house from the Landmark Church of Christ in Montgomery. It was a fun night. Today we traveled to Tallahassee and got to sing at Meridian Woods Church of Christ. We had a good concert and enjoyed getting to fellowship with those at the church afterwards. We got to go to dinner with the minister, Chris, and his wife and son. It was quite the time! We are heading to the Orlando area tomorrow and will be in Florida for the rest of the week. We are looking forward to possibly heading to Disney World on Friday, which should be a nice break and a fun time for the group. That's it from our end. God Bless you all!

Apologies!!

2008-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

I just want to apologize that it has taken so long to get a new post online! We have been away from Internet access for quite some time now and so it has been tough to write to you all! We are now in Lafayette, Louisiana! Crazy how time and distance travels. Following the Dallas area, we drove to West Monroe, LA and got to sing for a Church there that Won By One hadn't sang at in over 9 years! It was so much fun. The Church packed their fellowship hall and we sang a great concert for them and had a great time getting to get to know many from the church. Following West Monroe, we headed to Baton Rouge where we got to sing at Camp Smiling Acres. This was a ton of fun! We got there in time for dinner with the campers, then sang out concert and had a blast. The kids were nuts and we really had a fun time singing for them. Teen crowds are always more fun cause they are so full of life and energy. It was a great time. We ended up staying the night and got to hang out some more with the teens at the camp. The following day on Friday, we got to stay the day at the camp and play sports with them. We added to their counselor soccer and volleyball teams as the staff battled the campers. Not gonna lie; we helped the counselors own in both! It was a fun day and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with all those who were at the camp. It was a great treat for us and we really were blessed to get to spend time there. After we spent the day Friday at the camp, we drove to Lafayette where we were tonight. We had a lot of fun singing tonight considering we were pretty worn out from the long day of summer camp we had, haha. We got to go out to dinner with the minister and his wife as well as the guys host dad, Mike, and we had a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we are getting to go to New Orleans and have a free day. It should be quite an experience and we plan to have a fun time together as we explore more all that the US has to offer us on this tour.

Sorry again for not posting in a while, but I hope you are well and God Bless you guys. Thanks to all who have made tour so much fun thus far. You have truly been a blessing to us.

Onto Dallas, TX!

2008-06-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

Hello there from Dallas, TX. We have since driven through Abilene as well as into Dallas and are now staying at a house from the Church in Coppell, TX, Riverside Church of Christ. We had an amazing weekend in Abilene. We got to see John and Tracy Calhoun and see John's parents for a while. It was a lot of fun to get to hang out without having to sing. It also was STACY'S BIRTHDAY!!! Happy 20th Stacy! We got to have a very fun dinner at Olive Garden for her birthday and it was great to be together as a group on her special day. On Saturday night we stayed in a hotel just outside of Dallas and woke up early to head over to the Highland Oaks Church of Christ. We sang a concert for their teen class and then got to have a great time of worship with the congregation there as we sang praise team with the worship minister at Highland, Chad. Now Highland Oaks for me was quite an experience. It is a HUGE church in Dallas. I'm talking like, 2000ish members and the biggest building I have ever seen!! It was crazy.

Sunday afternoon we met up with Clint Loveness, a former Pepperdine student, and hung out at his apartment all day and rested. Sunday night we headed to our current location in Coppell and sung a concert for the congregation at Riverside Church of Christ. We had a great time and sang a good concert. Stacy had her aunt and uncle and cousins at the concert tonight and so that was fun to get to see them and for her to get to spend time with her family.

We have a day off tomorrow to sleep in and have a fun day off. It should be a great time and we look forward to the rest of our stay in the Dallas area. Thanks to all who have made the past few days great for us! You truly have been a major blessing!

From San Antonio, TX, hello to you all

2008-06-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts, we just have not had Internet in a few stops. Anyway, after having a great time in Midland, we drove all the way down to Houston, TX where the girls stayed with the Hooten family who have a daughter currently a Pepperdine, Skylar, who most of the group is friends with. The guys got to stay with family friends of Darnell and his family, the Soper's, who have two daughters, Morgan and Alex, as well as the youth intern for the church that they go to staying at their house, Leslie. Both the guys and the girls had a lot of fun getting to stay at those homes and we loved the good times we were able to have. On Sunday morning, we sang at the Sugar Grove Church of Christ in Houston. We led worship with Josh Kasinger for the early and late services, and also were able to give a concert for the teen class. It was a lot of fun and we had a good time at the church. It was quite the early morning however, as both houses were about 40 min away from the church and we needed to be there by 7:45! We were up about 6am. After church we went out to lunch, then had 45 minutes to nap and rest, only to head up to the West Houston Church of Christ to sing a concert. The Soper family as well as the Hooten family attend the church there. We had a lot of fun at that concert and then afterwards went out to eat with some of the youth group and friends from the church. It was a good day on Sunday.

On Monday, we got to spend the day hanging out at our host homes. The guys hung out at the pool and played tennis with the Soper kids and the girls spent the day running and catching up on sleep. We had a great time. On Monday night we got to sing for the Summer Youth Series in Houston. They held it at Memorial Rd Church of Christ and there was over 600 teens and parents there! It was a lot of fun leading worship and singing a concert for those there on Monday night and we had a great time. Overall Houston was a great stop for us.

Today we traveled to San Antonio, TX. Matt Baker knows a family here, the McNabb's and so we get the pleasure of staying with their family and then singing a concert tomorrow night at their church. It should be a great time. Tonight we will get to go down to the river walk and see the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. Hopefully we will also watch a Laker win tonight. Should be a fun time but as always, we will keep you posted on what is going on from the road! God Bless.

Midland, TX

2008-06-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight we are in Midland, Texas. We drove all day from Tucson, Arizona and made it here around 9pm. We got to eat dinner with our host family, the Boone's, and had a great time getting to know them. The guys got to watch Game 1 of the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals series, and although the Lakers couldn't pull it out, it was a fun game to watch. On Tuesday night we sang in Mesa, AZ, and got to hang out with the teens from the church afterwards. We took them out to Chili's and had fun just getting to know them as well as spending time just hangin' out. On Wednesday night we sang in Tucson, Arizona and had a great concert. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with Jesse Warren, the Campus Minister at the church there as well as some students from his group and from the church there. It was fun getting to fellowship with other college-age students and to get to have a fun dinner. We look forward to having a fun day tomorrow in Midland and then singing a concert tomorrow night at the Golf Course RD Church of Christ here in Midland. It should be a fun time and we are looking forward to it.

More to come from the road later. Blessings to you all.

Greetings from Anthem Arizona!!

2008-06-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all. We are writing from Anthem, Arizona. This being our third day of tour, and we are having a blast so far. We started on Sunday Morning singing in LA at Darnell's home church, Culver Palms, and had a great concert as well as some great fellowship afterwards at lunch. The Brisco's along with the Stivers and some other family and friends joined us at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles for a fun lunch. After that we drove to Palm Springs and had a lot of fun on Sunday night. We sang a great concert and got to have some great time of fellowship with the church there. We were able to go to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with our host family the Johnson's, as well as the minister Dave and his wife and kids. It was a fun evening and we loved getting to sing there. Yesterday on Monday, we traveled here to Anthem where we sang a fun concert outside in the park for the Canyon Church of Christ here. It was a lot of fun getting to sing outside and then we had a great time eating out with our two host families.

A funny story;Matt Baker was dared by one of the host dads, Tim. Matt ordered hot wings and was misled by the waiter to thing that the "hot" wings weren't THAT hot. However, they were HOT for sure. As Matt finished his wings, the host dad said, well so those weren't that hot were they. And in Matt style, he obliged and said nope, I sure wish the cooks here knew how to do hot. So Tim then dared Matt to try one of the "suicide" wings. As guys are guys and pride is on the line, Matt tried one. Needless to say, he immediately regretted his decision to try it. It was super hot! I guess Matt learned his lesson. lol.

Tonight we travel in to the Phoenix area, into Mesa, Arizona. We should have a lot of fun and get to enjoy some great fellowship. Continue to look for posts as we continue on with tour this summer. God Bless.