We are really excited to be heading out this week on the start of the Make A Difference Tour with Michael W. Smith, TobyMac, and Max Lucado. This tour is being used to raise money for our good friends over at World Vision. We have ben involved with World Vision for years now and have seen countless times the difference they make in the most remote and poorest parts of the world. In order to keep our expenses down for this tour so that we can give as much money as possible to help World Vision we are relying on YOU to help us Make A Difference. We need volunteers to help set up, tear down, and work during the concert. You can sign up at www.hearitfirst.com/volunteer. This is a great opportunity to partner with us and help give to those less fortunate. This is also a great way to see some of the show if you are unable to afford a ticket yourself. Everyone that volunteers is guaranteed to be able to see at least parts of the concert. So please, sign up now! There are only 50 spots available for each city. Below is a list of some that are still in great need of your help.
Thanks for your help and we hope to see you soon!
10/1 – Corbin
10/3 – Cape Girardeau
10/9 – Lafayette
10/21 – Colorado Springs
10/22 – Lubbock
10/23 – Wichita Falls
10/24 – Topeka
The brand new single "Lift Up Your Face" is available for download! This is the first song off of the upcoming album "move" and features a quest appearance from the Blind Boys Of Alabama. Be sure to get your copy Today!
Sometimes, an opportunity to spread awareness about global poverty and disease can be right under your nose and you don’t even realize it. That’s how I felt when my dear friend Christina Howell approached me (and my fellow ONE members Nancy Bauer and Angela Harvey) about collaborating on a World Malaria Day event at Marietta First Baptist Church. Christina’s husband, Paul, is an internationally-recognized mosquito expert for the Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. Paul had given a presentation about mosquitoes to Marietta First Baptist Church preschool, and the kids were so moved to help protect other children that they came up with the idea of making paintings and artwork to sell to raise money for nets. That got the adults thinking, “With so much knowledge about the disease at our fingertips, surely we can create an impactful World Malaria Day event that will educate and inspire folks to purchase lifesaving bed nets to stop some of the 900,000 deaths that occur each year from the effects of this horrible yet preventable mosquito-borne disease?” Or so we hoped. That was December, 2009. Now, four months later, we’re just a few days away from making it all happen. With kid-friendly basketball activities led by Ivano “Newby” Newbill (of NBA and Georgia Tech fame), an intimate music performance featuring local heroes Third Day and newcomer Scott England, and an interactive bed and net display, we’re hoping that collective donations raised at the event for Nothing But Nets and Malaria No More will yield thousands of bed nets for families who need them.
Fighting malaria is especially important to me, because, in a coincidence that could not have been more timely, my friend Joyce Tannian (fearless leader of the nonprofit Water is Life Kenya), is recovering from the disease even as I write this blog. But so many others around the world, particularly children under the age of 5 who are so vulnerable to malaria’s effects, aren’t so lucky.
Be sure to tune in this Friday evening, March 26th, for a live video chat with us! We'll be taking questions from you guys and take this chance to get to know each other a little better. Also, you will be able to get an exclusive discount code for the upcoming 2010 Music boat in November.
For more info click here.
Third Day received their 4th career grammy last night. They won "Best Rock/Rap Gospel Record" for their 2009 release "Live Revelations." "Live Revelations" is a CD/DVD combo that documented life on the road with Third Day during their 2008 "Music Builds" Tour.
Below you can watch bassist, Tai Anderson, on the Red Carpet at last night's awards.