Leeland in London! say that 10 times really fast...

I've got to hurry because my computer is running out of battery and we have a plane to catch. We had a 9 hour lay over in London today en route to Africa. Instead of sitting in the terminal all day we decided to explore a little bit.

Here are some pix...



Got on the Heathrow express into london...


We stopped by St. Paul's Cathedral. Probably my favorite place in London. It's been there for 300 years and it's the most amazing thing you've ever seen inside. Unfortunately you can't take pictures in there. :-(


St. Paul's


We had to go see Big Ben. Classic.


Love you guys! Talk to you in Africa. Please be praying for us; we're kind of tired.


Thanks!

-jack

Taxi cab driver meets Jesus!

Hey everyone I hope your all doing well and following Jesus. Well, I wanted to encourage you with something pretty cool that happened today. Me and Matt got a ride from a taxi to "Barnes and Noble" and on our way back we got to talk to our cab driver Dave. I told him about our band and that we were leaving today for Africa to be apart of a christian youth conference there. I told him about our faith and what God was doing in our lives. Anyways when we stopped at the hotel to get out he just started pouring out his heart about his belief in God. He told me that he grew up in a religion that had way to many rules and at a young age it didn't feel right. He told me that he was always drawn to the story of Jesus and accepting his forgiveness of sins. So I explained what it meant to follow Jesus and to give your whole life away to HIm. I asked him if he wanted to pray with me and ask God into his heart. So we prayed together and he got saved!! It was awesome! David is a cool dude, I cant wait to hear about what God is going to do in His life and the lives of his family!

So be encouraged and stay plugged in to Jesus, you never know who you'll meet that needs to feel the Love of God. Love God and love people! What's God doing in your life today? Big or small please share!

Lee

Kingdom Bound Vlog

We had a pretty serious conversation about candy bars in this video.

matt- butterfinger
jake- twix
lee- kit kat
jack- expensive european chocolate that he can't afford
mike- undecided... likes them all

We want to know your candy bar of choice... c'mon let us know. Peace!

-jacko

The Ride of Steel

So... today we rode a few rides. This is the best thing about playing at theme parks. We're all scared to death of rides, but we can't help getting on them again and again. Here's some pix..





This one was awesome. You sit on tiny little motorcycles. Genius!


Leeland and Jake found a coon hat and some fire arms.


Loopty loops are the best!


The best part is that we had an escort from the park that let us cut in through the exit. No lines!


Superman: The Ride of Steel.



He's totally pumped.


The drop.

Any ways, that was our roller coaster excursion. Also, we just got off stage and the show was amazing tonight. God really showed up and the worship atmosphere was intense.

Thanks for reading. We'll be back again soon. Much love!

-jack

Kingdom Bound (Day 1)

We woke up a little earlier than we wanted to today. Loaded in all our gear, and now we're hanging out in the dressing room waiting to sound check. And oh... we just heard that there is a huge tropical storm (hurricane potential) headed to Texas. Hope it doesn't hit us.


Mike... havin' a little dessert.



Leeland in the work out room. Doing some pilates possibly?


Jake's lifting some mad weights here.



This is the front door (the only door for that matter) of our little home for the day...


Mike can sleep anywhere.


FIFA!

Soundcheck...

Mike's his own drum tech.


Ok... so when the airlines are charging us a million dollars per check in, you have to get pretty creative. Here we've tied the snare and cymbals together, turning two into one. Take that Delta!







The view from Leeland's microphone.

Buffalo, NY... Superman here we come

Hey... it's jack here. Some of you may know that I took a couple of weeks off because of some health problems. Thanks for all your prayers! I'm back now, and we're in NY state for a couple days playing Kingdom Bound festival at Six Flags. I love theme park festivals... we're definitely going to hit up the Superman ride tomorrow. It's so life changing.

Any ways, this is our new blog. We'll be posting tons of updates and random odds and ends from life on the road. You're gonna hear from all the guys. Give us a comments and let us know how you're doing. We're just hanging out in the hotel right now. Lee and Mike are down in the workout room right now. Pictures soon to come.

Much love! Talk to ya tomorrow.

-jacko

_____________________
Listening...

Australia

So it was our first time to the beautiful nation/continent of Australia. The long flight was totally worth it as we arrived in Sydney. We were there for the Hillsong conference. A lot of our friends have been to the conference and said that it was incredible. They weren't lying. God totally shook us up as a band in a really good way. We played twice in five days, so we really had a lot of time to dig in and go the sessions. The worship was so genuine and inspiring. But most of all God reminded us that this is more than singing songs to Him. That for every note we play and ever lyric we sing, there should be an action behind it. Worshiping God with music is amazing, but it means nothing unless it's flows out into rivers of evangelism and justice.

It reminded us that the Opposite Way is simply doing what Jesus was brave enough to do. Fighting for the poor. Standing up for those that can't stand up for themselves. Actually doing what we talk about all the time. Living what we're singing.

These are just a few of the things that God challenged us about in Australia.

Matthew 25:35-40
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'


Here are some pix from the trip. We'll post a video soon.

This picture sums up our entire summer. :-)




















The sound o' melodies...




The view of Olympic Park from our hotel.




Not really sure what's happening here...




Hanging with the boyz.




And this is the reason we go to Australia. Tim Tams will change your life.

I have to soundcheck now. Much love!

-jack

PS. If you haven't gone over to www.theoppositeway.com yet, go check it out. Share your story about what God is doing in your life. About how your living the Opposite Way.