|
Wow! We finished the All Of Me Tour over Labor Day weekend and have been looking forward to writing all of you ever since. After traveling all over the country this year we might have hoped for some time to slow down for a while, but instead we have remained busy the past few months. As the members of Mercy Cries have begun to settle themselves into “life after tour”, we want to take some time to catch you up on some highlights from the past 6 months of ministry, what’s in store for Mercy Cries, and what’s in store for John, Cory, Renee, and J.a.n.e.e.n.. Throughout the tour the thing that meant the most to us and reminded us regularly that God had us on the road for a reason was what happened after the concerts. The evenings when someone pulled one of us aside to share how God spoke to him through the music or our testimonies, and the nights when people wanted us to pray with them about decisions they had made or for loved ones that hadn’t come to the concert - those conversations after concerts are how we knew that God had called us to this ministry. As the tour went on through the spring and summer the stories we collected just grew. One question people had for us pretty often was, “What do you do if someone gets sick?” We tend to take things like our health for granted when we have them. But when we look back on a year of touring, we have to give credit to God for keeping us healthy. We only had to cancel one concert the whole tour – and were able to reschedule that concert for later the same week – so it turned out for the best. We definitely had times when we were worn out and needed rest, but the tour schedule just worked out so that we would have a few days in the same area for some R & R - just when we needed it most. God is good and knows what we will need long before we do! Another pretty amazing obstacle we managed to avoid was weather. Rain can make it difficult to keep things from getting damaged as we carry valuable sound equipment in and out of the building for each concert. We can only point to providential protection to account for never having to carry our stuff through the rain. When it did rain, it was at a church with a covered drive-way entrance where we could park to load and unload. We also thought it was kind of weird that the only time we saw snow (other than the ski retreat in Colorado) was on May Day in North Dakota. It was pretty surprising to set up for a Sunday morning concert and look out the window to see large snowflakes in a flurry! We really enjoyed experiencing a bit of winter this year – even if it was just for a short time on May first. Our beloved Suburban, “Guzzle”, kept us safe all year. It was the perfect touring vehicle and allowed us to have plenty of room during our driving days to feel like we had a little personal space even though we were all in the car together. We had some emergency repair situations come up along the way, but everything always worked out perfectly to give us time to get things fixed without disturbing the tour schedule. In July, when we started back on the Summer Tour, our air conditioning went out. We were able to take it into a shop and get it totally fixed on the one day of the week we didn’t have a concert. At the end of the tour we were traveling across the country between a Sunday morning concert in New Mexico and a Wednesday night concert in New Jersey (1,950 miles in 3 days!). We knew it would be a tiring drive and had tried to divide it up as evenly as we could. But as we were driving through Pennsylvania, the car started misfiring. We were able to drive off the interstate before it died, only to become stranded at a small auto garage… at closing time. The garage happened to be owned by Christians, but the mechanic was not a believer. He volunteered to stay late to see what was wrong with the car. While he worked on Guzzle, John had the opportunity to witness to him and pray for him; it was a really cool experience. We ended up staying in a hotel in Harrisburg and had Guzzle towed to a dealership. Guzzle was fixed the next morning, and we made it to New Jersey in plenty of time for our concert that night. God is so good! In June, we participated in
Imagine Festival 2005 in Illinois. It was a Christian music festival
that hosted many local musical acts as well as Mercy Cries. They
had been having some electrical problems out in the park where the
concerts were happening. Everything seemed great during our sound
check, but during the program, right before Cory gave the invitation,
the power surged and fried all of the sound equipment in the tent.
The lights dimmed, then flashed and went out. J.a.n.e.e.n.
looked over to the soundboard and saw smoke and flames coming from
the surge protector that the keyboard was plugged into. As the equipment
was quickly unplugged and damage assessed, Cory stepped forward
off the stage and proceeded to present the invitation to the audience
in the dark without a microphone. After leading them in “unplugged”
worship, Mercy Cries wrapped up the concert - and prayed that some
of the sound equipment would be salvageable. With the Lord’s
protection, nothing was damaged except the surge protector that
was on fire! Even the keyboard worked perfectly – charred
power cord and everything! Unfortunately, there had been high winds
blowing earlier, and our guitars blew off their stands just before
the concert started. J.a.n.e.e.n.’s
was okay, but the top of Cory’s guitar was cracked through.
He made it through the concert, but was concerned it would just
snap off soon. It just so happened that the Imagine Festival was
the last concert of our Spring Tour, so we had a few weeks off that
Cory could get his guitar fixed. He expected it to be very expensive,
but the repairman at Griggs Music in Iowa had compassion for our
situation and completely repaired the guitar free of charge! We
never would have seen all these ways God could bless us if these
“tragedies” didn’t happen first. It’s such
a good reminder to be thankful for any and every situation. God
can be glorified through it all! It’s so hard to try to pick out stories to share with you all from a tour where we met amazing people and experienced amazing things every single day. We just want to thank each and every one of you for your support during the All Of Me Tour. Be assured that this tour was everything we had hoped for in that it was life changing, challenging, and God was quite clearly working all the time – through the presentation in the concerts and the ministry that happened all the time before and after the actual event. There are no regrets, and somewhere between the start of the tour and the end, all of our lives took a turn in direction. John has gone back to school
in Los Angeles to pursue his degree and eventually go into pastoral
ministry. Cory and Renee, the newlyweds, will be approaching their
first anniversary soon, and what a first year of marriage they have
had! They have moved to Oklahoma City, where Renee grew up, and
J.a.n.e.e.n.
has moved there as well. The three definitely miss their homes and
friends in Nashville but are getting adjusted to the new city. Cory
has continued his career in audio engineering at Ford Audio Video.
Renee is continuing in her expertise as an administrative assistant
– now for The Oklahoma Publishing Company. J.a.n.e.e.n.
has begun a new career as a network hardware broker. They are planning
some musical events together for Christmas and are still looking
for a new home church to get plugged into. The new Mercy Cries headquarters
has moved with them to: Even though the tour has ended and the ministry of Mercy Cries has been put on hold, we still want to keep in touch with you. Mercy Cries Ministries will remain online, and you can stay current with pictures from the tour, concerts, and individual information through www.mercycries.com. On the website you will find GREAT deals on Mercy Cries CDs. Please go online and order them at these clearance prices for your friends and family that can benefit from this music! Also, as the year comes to a close, you might be looking for a great place to make a year-end tax-deductible donation. Mercy Cries Ministries would love to put it to good use, and your support allows us to continue this ministry by maintaining the cost of the organization as well as planning future events. Please keep us in mind for the offerings to ministries you choose to support. Here’s the biggest request we need to make from you – our faithful support team: in order to pay the bills of the ministry (accounting, taxes, etc.) through the end of the year, we need to sell and pay off Guzzle. Although we’re offering it way below Kelly Blue Book value, we haven’t been able to sell our 1998 Chevy Suburban 1500LT. If you know ANYONE that might be interested in a fantastic deal to help out Mercy Cries, please have them call us right away. Without any love offerings to cover end-of-year expenses, we need to sell our beloved vehicle to finish the year in a financially sound way. Guzzle is in fantastic condition and even has new tires, shocks, breaks, and A/C compressor. We’ve taken good care of our tour vehicle, and it will be a reliable and safe ride for someone. Please take a moment to consider any suggestions you may have. We appreciate your prayers on this as well. Our intention with this final newsletter
(for a while) is to encourage you that your support has been well
used in a ministry that has shown fruit through this year of touring
– and we know there is more to come that we may never see.
We thank you and appreciate your encouragement and prayers this
year. We would really enjoy hearing from any of you with updates
on your life, your church, and your walk with the Lord. Let us know
how the Mercy Cries concert has affected you! It means so much to
hear from others that our time on the road was well spent. We love
you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and wish you all the best
for the rest of 2005. The expense makes it impossible for us to
send you an additional letter for Christmas – so God Bless
you and your family this holiday season. It’s been an unforgettable
year, and we won’t forget you! Mercy Cries
|