Mr. Gustav

We had another wonderful weekend. We started off by flying to Phili and driving to RevGen festival in New Jersey. We had a great time opening for Chris Tomlin and the crowd was fantastic! The next morning we woke up and flew to Omaha, Nebraska then drove to Sioux Falls, SD for LifeLight festival. This is probably the band's favorite festival by far. It's free... so there's about 200,000 people attending. We opened for Michael W. And I think we played to about 120,000 or so. Unbelievable.

Any ways, everyone is back home now and we're waiting to see what this hurricane is going to do. It's not going to hit Houston straight on, but we will get some fall out. Probably a lot of rain and maybe some flooding. Please pray that our houses stay safe. And pray especially for the people in Louisiana because it's headed straight for them.

We're going back out on Thursday so also pray that we don't have any problems getting there.

Thanks everybody!

jack

At the gate...

We woke up at 4am again, and came to our new home... the airport.

c ya in New Jersey.

-the leeland boys

The Power of the Gospel is Love

Knowing God is this simple. Love God with everything and love people (Matt:22:37-39). When we seek God in prayer and studying his word, we build up our spirit man and the fleshly desires pass away. Not only can we draw close to God by prayer, but by actions of love to others around you (1 John 3:18-19). Love is the power of the Gospel because God is love and when we love others we fill ourselves up with more of God.(1 John 4:16)

We are called to love others because we're in love with God. You notice Jesus said first love the Lord God with all your heart then love your neighbor. Loving people should be a reaction to the action of Jesus dying for you and your sins. It's not a chore or a duty, but it's realizing God loved and forgave me, so that I might love and forgive others, and when I have hate for others I have hate for God and God does not dwell in me because love does not dwell in my heart. You can't separate people and God. Your actions to people are also actions to God. Jesus said "if you've done it to the lease of these, you've done it to me"(Matthew 25:40)

It's not easy to love others. It's easy to love God because God's love isn't conditional and will never fail us, but Jesus said even sinners love people who love them (Matthew 5:43-48). The true demonstration of God's love is loving everyone, even your enemies. The only way that you and I can effectively walk in love is realizing that your life is no longer to be lived for you and your desires, but it's for God. My life is not my own. Once we truly turn our whole self over to God, we set our hearts at rest in his presence and life.(1 John 3:18-19, Matthew 16:24).

Thanks for reading and know that I love you guys.

-leeland

Washington Weekend

I love these trips. We spent less than 72 hours away from home. Drove through beautiful scenery. Played two great shows and met some amazing people. All in a tour bus you may ask? No people... I'm talking about two matching Toyota minivans, the real way to travel.

Last night was a great time with a not so huge crowd but everyone had great hearts. They were all super worshipers! And tonight we played at a fair with Jars of Clay. It was a big crowd but I felt so bad for them because they were standing in pouring rain our entire set. They were champions though and stuck in there. It turned out to be another great worship time. Tonight was our first night to play "May Our Praise" live. I can't beieve we haven't played is sooner seeing as it's my favorite song on the Opposite Way record. Any ways, it went over very well, and we didn't mess up with the tracks so that's always good.

Here's some pix from the weekend...


Flew to Seattle.


The drive today was amazing. Leeland wanted to get out and climb it but we didn't have time.


driving....


ate at Red Robin...


kept driving...


jake in his emo hoodie... listening to his ipod and he totally can't hear anything we're saying to him.


Leeland's getting some wind here.



We got to the fair and played to the great people in the rain. These girls were awesome; they made custom Leeland hoodies to protect them from the elements.


I know this is kind of random... but I have to fill you in. Marcus (our sound doctor) never wears shoes. We give him a hard time about it. He might have learned his lesson here.


Oh... and then we made him put his hair up in a pony. We can't decide if he looks like the bad guy from "Kindergarten Cop" or the jerk instructor guy from "Karate Kid"? Thoughts?????



I'm armed with my pillow and a boarding pass with a window seat. Time to get on the red eye and try my best to sleep on the way home.

love love love!

-jack

I love worship... I don't like 4am

So... we just got back from the Hillsong Conference here in Houston. It was amazing worship tonight! I was crying like a baby while we were singing "Hosanna". And "With Everything" was off the charts... God was off the charts. He totally overwhelmed me tonight with His love and His goodness. I love those moments when God sweeps you off your feet and just surprises you once again with how great his love is. Then when I feel the reality of that love all I can do is tilt my head up until my neck hurts... open my eyes and sing through the ceiling and just shout to heaven. This is worship people!

Any of you guys had an awesome worship experience lately? If so... tell us about it. If not, stop what you're doing right now and just tell God how amazing He is. Then begin to live for this incredible God. That's worship.

I've got to pack now and then go to sleep. We've got a 5am call time and that means I have to wake up around 4am. Fun!

Later gaterz.

-jack

my favorite things right now

yours?

-jack

Angels in the Outfield

So we find ourselves once again at the Anaheim Angels Stadium for the Harvest crusade. This is our second year at the crusade and it's such an honor to be a part of this. We're here all weekend playing three nights. Tonight was so special... 50,000 people packed into the stadium. We played with Kutless, Lincoln Brewster, & P.O.D. After Pastor Greg's message (which was so powerful and compelling) thousands of people came down and filled the outfield making decisions for Christ.

Here are some pictures from the last couple days.


We met P.O.D. Really nice guys.


Leeland and Shelly (our sister) decided to match tonight.















The crowd was packed tonight.




Pastor Greg gave the Gospel message.


Thousands responded and gave their lives to Jesus.