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I have been remise in my duties of keeping everyone up to speed, and for that I beg forgiveness......SO now that that's out of the way, here's what's up.  We have had a really easy couple of weeks, if you look at our play dates.  If you dig a little deeper it has been a little stressful for some, and not stressful at all for others. I'll explain, no, there is too much, Imma sum up...We started tracking a new CD, had some great songs in mind, and since it was geared to be a worship record (yes, I know some people cringe at referring to a Christian CD as "worship" but we have CDs with story songs on them, and songs to encourage the church, as this CD will be directed straight to God....take a breath and relax).  We were going to put songs on there that we already do in church, but the good news is Mark started writing new songs, and the bad news is time started running out to actually get the record done.  Things are looking up, though, as we're starting to wrap things up, and not to pat ourselves on our collective backs, but it sounds good. 

Thanks for the prayers and encouragements through Twitter and email. 

As for the last few days, we were in Indianapolis and Louisville.  It marked the second  weekend in a row that I left my kids home, and I was, on one hand, bored, but then again I got a lot of stuff done - namely, sleeping like the dead.  I had finished Chronicles of Narnia, so now as I move on, I need to read some things that have come out as the world was passing me by whilst I visited a land of talking animals.  I call this "Contemporary Literature Month" and as such I bought The Shack by W.P.Youngand Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  Both of these books are getting to people around me, The Shack has been recommended by a lot of my Nashville friends, and Crazy Lovewas just read by nearly everyone in the youth ministry at my church.  So, I'm pretty excited about what I will find in the pages there.  We played at the North American Christian Church convention.  I like playing conventions, because I get to sell all the cool boothery that is being displayed.  I found a Christian History book I almost bought, but we're watching the spending, and so I have been placed on a 2 book per day limit.  Also we saw our friends from the Creation museum...actually we saw the booth, but no people...It was lunch time.

The concert went really well, I feel like we're gellin now with our new drummer, and things are staring to rock a little harder.  The night also taught me a little about crowds.  If you try to judge an audience by the reaction to your music, you may be surprised.  Because although it was a reserved crowd (I know reserved, I grew up Independent Baptist), we had the longest signing line we've had since Hawaii, and I don't even want to get into that! (I kid, we love all of you).  But that really does show you that people can be listening and meeting with God even though YOU don't think they are, or just because there's no mosh pit.  It probably just shocked us compared to the high octane festival energy we've been experiencing at the last few we played.  Lastly, I almost jammed out on some saxophones the worship band left on stage, but I decided not to.  Partly because a blazing sax solo may have distracted from the worship, and partly because I can't play......okay, mostly.

Indianapolis is always a treat, and I'll tell you why.  When Casting Crowns started, we had an interview at a station here in Atlanta (J93.3), and a lifelong friendship was struck with one Kurt Wallace, who is now in Indianapolis, and stuffs us with BBQ every time we come through.  Not to mention a few rounds of Wii Fit, then we whipped out the mopeds, and re-enacted some scenes from The Wild One with Marlon Brando.  When we got back, we all took naps. Rising from our comas, we decided to play a concert, and it was good.  It was not the first time to play with John Waller, but it was the first  time he had a whole band with him, and I do love to hear those songs with the whole band.  We were doing a concert for Mission:Pre-Born which just so happens to be the most effective crisis pregnancy center in America.  We gave an altar call, which we haven't done in a long time, and I'm horrible at counting groups, so I'm just going to say a lot of people came forward.  It was pretty powerful considering we haven't got to actually see the fruits in a while.

Many props to Alan Pierce for playing keys with us, Megan went to youth camp, and I'm sure she'll post something onher blog to tell you all about it.  I am just waiting for my bride to get home from doing vocals and violins on the CD in Nashville (or "work" as I'm telling our 2 year old).  God bless you all and thanks for praying for us.

Peace

Juan