Jon's Accident and Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas !

I hope you are doing well! You might be wondering what the title of this post is all about. Let me explain. A few days before Thanksgiving I had an accident while fixing my lawn mower and without going into the details, I lost part of my ring finger on my left hand. (I know.....not good for guitar players!) Now on the other side of two surgeries, I will continue physical therapy over the next couple months so that I can regain full use of my hand and continue playing music. The picture is of me and my two boys, Thomas and Connor, and what became known as "The Club" or my cast after the first operation. We laughed because it was as big as Connor's head.

As you might imagine, this has been a challenging season to go through on many levels, but God has been very present with me through my family, our Church, faithful friends, and in times of my new found solitude as I haven't been able to do much since the accident. Knowing that God is good and sovereign, it has been my prayer that I would not miss what He would want to teach me and accomplish through this. He has never let us go or never not made good come out of our troubles, mistakes, and sufferings. In fact, He humbly chose to become a child to pursue, redeem, and love us in the midst of them.

Have an amazing Christmas!

Jon

NoiseTrade Widget

DR Bound!!

For the past few years, I've been looking for an organization that I could partner with who truly serves, loves and defends the poor, voiceless, and needy. As as touring artist and worship leader, i've been given a small platform, through my music, to be a voice for those who can't speak out against their injustices. Compassion International is a ministry that I have grown to respect and trust, and at the end of this month I'll be going with Compassion to the Domincan Republic to see the minisry in action and learn how I/we can help through sponsoring children in need in DR and around the world. I can't wait to share more with you next month!!

If you're interested in learning more about Compassion International and how you can help, please click the link below.

Nacho!!!

My wife Sue and I went to a super-fun birthday party the other night. The party started with a scavenger hunt that led us all over Dallas retrieving unusual stuff. In honor of the birthday boy's favorite movie, the biggest "points" item was to come back to the party dressed like Nacho Libre. Not thinking that anyone could pull this off, our team focused on the "more items/lesser points" strategy. Yea, we lost!

Music City!!

Nashville, TN is a great town! I’ve been here all week and have had a lot of fun. When I’m here, I mainly spend my time songwriting. I’m heading into my second year as a songwriter for Universal/Brentwood Benson so I write songs for my own albums, but I also get to write for other artists too.

Just a couple highlights….I wrote with a talented artist/songwriter named Alli Rogers. She just ended a tour with Shane & Shane and Bebo Norman. Please check her stuff out at allirogers.com.

I also wrote with an artist/writer named Jason Walker. The song would probably fall under the ‘country’ genre. I’ve been writing a lot of country stuff lately, which has been a lot of fun. The song was about a guy who just got dumped by his girlfriend but instead of him getting bitter about it, he’s doing his best to take the high road and love her enough to let her go in case there’s someone better out there for her. Awwww! Country songs are cool to write b/c you’re writing a story and there are absolutely no boundaries. Take Brad Paisley’s song, (I’d Like To Check You For) “Ticks” that he sang on the Grammy’s last week as an example.

On my way out of town, I had lunch with my manager, Kirk Dahlgren. Have you ever had the legendary creamy tomato soup with asiago cheese croutons at Panera Bread?? Come on, anyone? Anyone?

Cedarville University!!

Spent a couple days with the amazing students/faculty at Cedarville University in Ohio last weekend. We played at their chapel service on Friday and then for the Song of Solomon Conference that night through Saturday.
The folks at Cedarville University took things to the next level as far as their hospitality and level of excellence. A huge shout out to Joel and Co. at the Hearthstone Inn and Jon, Carl, Michael, Matt, & everyone involved with the conference. Thank you for everything, CU!!

Barbeque and Airports

Hey Everyone,
We played in Tuscaloosa, AL this weekend....AKA "T-Town"....on our first stop on the Everlasting Love Tour for Song of Solomon Conferences. We'll be in Ohio, Indiana and Texas in coming weeks so if there's a conference within driving distance, it'd be well worth it. Check songofsolomon.com for more info!!

OK....so we ate at possibly the best barbeque place EVER! The kind people at Dreamland Barbeque don't mess around. They have only three things on their menu: 1. RIBS 2. WHITE BREAD and 3. BANANA PUDDING. What else do you need? You want some burger? Go to McDonalds! You want a steak? Don't let the door hit you on the way out! Needless to say, their three items were unbelievable!



After lunch, we were flying out of Birmingham, cheking in for our flight. As I handed the lady at the ticket counter my drivers license, it slipped down behind the console, behind their computer. We were already a bit late for our flight so this was not that funny at the time. The attendant left to go find somebody to help so we took matters into our own hands. We removed the monitor from the console and realized that we could probably find and reach my license if we dove for it. We chose Phil(electric guitarist) because he was the tallest. So using the backlight on his phone as a flashlight, he dove down into the American Airlines abyss and FOUND IT!!!! Phil is my hero!!