How He Loves: chord chart and more

This is the most requested song by far. The Ironic thing is that is it also the easiest song that I've ever written. Here is a PDF chord chart:

HOW HE LOVES

Here are a couple different versions:
(why haven't more guys done this song?)

Kim Walker


Mandy Miller


Here's one of my favorites

All the Lyrics to my new album: The Medicine

Here are the lyrics to my new album as I've realized people are singing and posting the wrong lyrics. There may be a spelling error here or there but for the most part this is the way it ought to be.

Enjoy.

1. Reckoning Day

The Lions in the street bend their heads
For the reckoning day
Cause the interstate's giving up her dead
For the reckoning day

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

Bury all your guns in the sand
Cause the temperature's changed
and the blood shot eye of the sun
stains the bones of the slain

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

The hour's gonna take you apart
On the reckoning day
If the property lines of your heart
Are drawn in the clay

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

The tide water's taxing the shores
of the washing away
The flood stands high at your doors
of the houses you made

Would you come alive everybody
Would you come alive everyone
Get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung

Lift up your head
Oh you gate
Lift up your eyes
All you who wait
Daughter and son
Ashes and dust
Come untied from the weight of the age


2.The Medicine

Driving by those trucker stops
The cheap motels made of concrete rocks
With a hole inside your chest
The size of a city block
And I remember the day
When you said you weren't afraid to die
I don't think your brave for it
I just think your more afraid of being alive

If I had the medicine
I'd give you the medicine
Cause I miss you son
I'd bring you back home if I was the one
But it's four and ten
In the belly of the four AM
And your staring down the weekend
To silence the pain
And I'm wide awake
And there's blood on the promenade

Here's to waking up with that stone between your ribs
And you're lying down again
You just pretend you don't know what it is
When everyone around you says that you're not the one to blame for it
But you're the only one feeling the pain for it
So you're gonna take matters into your own hands

If I had the medicine
I'd give you the medicine
Cause I miss you son
I'd bring you back home if I was the one
But it's four and ten
In the belly of the four AM
And your staring down the weekend
To silence the pain
And I'm wide awake
And there's blood on the promenade


3. Skeleton Bones

Peel back our ribs again
And stand inside of our chest
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Peel back the veil a time
Let us see you with our naked eyes
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Grave stones roll
to the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Yeah so separate those doors
Let the sun of resurrection in

Oh let us
Adore the son of glory
Dressed in love
Open up your gates
Before him
Crown him
Stand him up

We want your blood to flow inside our body and
We want your wind inside our lungs
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah
We want your blood to flow inside our body and
We want your wind inside our lungs
We just want to love you
We just want to love you yeah

Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
Grave stones roll
To the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound
Of eternity on
The lips of the found
yeah so separate those doors
And let the sun of resurrection in

Oh let us
Adore the son of glory
Dressed in love
Open up your gates
Before him
Crown him
Stand him up

Everything that breaths
Everything that breaths
Everything that breaths


4. Carbon Ribs

A Thousand pairs of firey eyes
Burn like a serpent down the hwy 5
As the Long amber tail to Los Angeles unwinds
I've got resurrection down in side my skin
But for all my revealating
I just cant make sense
Of this gravity we're in

Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side

A thousand miles of pain I'm sure
Led you to the threshold
Of my hearts screen door
To tell me what it is I'm dying for
Gravity comes
Like a cold cold Rain
To lead me to the rope again
But someone is standing in my place

Cause I'm a dead man now
With a ghost who lives
Within the confines of
These carbon ribs
And one day when I'm free
I will sit
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side
The cripple at your table
The cripple by your side

And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you
And I sit beside you


5. Dress Us Up

Dress us up in your righteousness
Bring us in with a ring and a kiss
When you walk into the room you know we can't resist
Every bottle of perfume always ends up on the floor in a mess

You make us sparkle and you make us shine
Like the stars who sing on your chorus line
Through space and time we'll harmonize
Where deep meets deep like the ocean meets the sky

The sun and the moon
They come out of their grave just for you
The dead man and the cynical too
They're coming out of their grave
And it's just for you

Cause the love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
Than the power of death

Dress us up in the blood of a son
Who opened up his veins so that we would overcome
Hell and the grave in the power of his love
After three dark days he showed us how it's done
And he still does

You make us sparkle and you make us shine
Like the stars who sing on your chorus line
Through space and time we'll harmonize
Where deep meets deep like the ocean meets the sky
Yeah

The sun and the moon
They come out of their grave just for you
The dead man and the cynical too
They're coming out of their grave
And it's just for you
Cause the love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
The love of God is stronger
Than the power of death

His love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger
His love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger, his love is stronger


6. Death in his grave

Though the Earth Cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls of men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
To Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all


7. Belly Of The Lion

Dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
Work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
We've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known

Listen to the rhythm
Of the pawn shop shore
Got you falling off your hinges
Like that old screen porch
It's the interstate slipping in your pores again
You can ride the vein
From the corner store to Amsterdam
You can bleed the train
From the courthouse to the Vatican
But Friday she's a ghost
And gonna slip right through your hands again

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
Who would've known

So dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
We work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Day like these
Who would've known


8. Philidelphia

You step through me
And the screen door hits the wood
And your packing all your things
You say your moving out to there to Hollywood
And I can't do a thing
You say there's nothing for you
In this cardboard town
And every bridge you cross
Your gonna burn it to the ground
You wont listen to a word that I'm telling ya

So who's running through the halls
In the houses of pain
That are staring back at me
Like the ocean from a plane
I swear I've seen your eyes
in the ghost of Philadelphia

I think about you late at night sometimes
When I can't sleep
Cause I can hear the train
It's always there
You just don't know it
Till a quarter to three
You just can't hear it in the day
When every body's got your number
In a plexy glass town
Where the birds ain't got wings
But no one makes a sound
Cause they all know how to fly
Just I wouldn't buy what they're selling ya

So who's running through the halls
In the houses of pain
That are staring back at me
Like the ocean from a plane
I swear I've seen your eyes
in the ghost of Philadelphia

I run into your old man every once and again
Mostly in the spring
Reminds me of our younger and more genuine days when
You weren't so out of reach
Still for all your running
You just can't change a mile
Of the things you carry around
In the closet of your mind
And the days keep coming man
They never fail ya

Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
Your never gonna run away
From what your hanging round your head
And I'm never gonna run away
From what you said

9. Out of the Ground
The lights come out
And follow you around the block
Where the freight train stopped
For you

Cause I can hear you walking in
The city till the pavement ends
With houses crumbling
For you

Cause I'm
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you, for you, for you

Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you

We've run from it
But it sleeps like the current quits
And would've stained my lips
But not for you

We fall apart
at the seems
From day to dark
But its seeping into our sleep
For you

Cause I'm
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
Coming up from out of the ground
For you, for you, for you


One by one
Come undone
Come alive
Come alive


10. Ten Thousand

Ten thousand glimmering like coals in our chest
Ball bearings drawn to the magnetic breath
Of ten thousand weeping with wings on their tears
Amidst ten thousand voices for ten thousand years
For ten thousand graves yawning unlocked and unlatched
Now ten thousand holes with rocks on their backs
Ten thousand tombs gaping wide singing the praise
Of ten thousand bodies unlaced and unlaid

As the ten thousand highways unfold their doors
For the ten thousand standing on Nineveh's shores
Where the blood of a husband silences wars
For the girl who rises to meet him
And she sings

World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome
By my song and the blood of a son

Ten thousand rivers
Run red like my veins
Where the bones of men hum
Like a rattling cage
For sinew to cling to
And wind to remain
In ten thousand lungs
For ten thousand days
Breathing like a choir
Of holes in the ground
Where the cynical have lain
Where the cynical go down
Save the gravity of time
Lets go of her drowned
Like ten thousand sparrows
Unlocked and unwound

As the ten thousand highways unfold their doors
For the ten thousand standing on Nineveh's shores
Where the blood of a husband silences wars
For the girl who rises to meet him
And she sings

World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome you
World, I have overcome
By my song and the blood of a son

Welcome to the Tool Shed

This blog is for artists, musicians, and worship leaders who are interested in the "what, why, and how" of what we do. 

People often request charts and lyrics to reproduce our songs within their own communities. Here we'll post charts, lyrics as well as little tips and tricks etc. to help you play the songs. However I will also be posting my opinions and theories on songwriting, music worship and art. 

Opinion # 1:

Whether your Bob Dylan or Lil Wayne, if your a songwriter your job is to help us SAY something. Songwriters help us say the things that we really want to say but may not be articulate enough to say or may be too polite to say. Often songwriters say things for us so that we don't feel like we have to say them. However you want to look at it a worship leader is certainly no different. Actually the concept is actually quite a bit more obvious when it comes to church music.  So all this to say that my goal is to help people say the things they need to say. 

Bottom line: I love the idea that you want to use our music in your community. I see nothing wrong with it and completely encourage it. But if you really want to do what we do, then please also write music for your own community. Few things are more powerful than when a group of people feel like they own a song. This is when people are vocalizing things they really feel inside of themselves and not just uttering the tired religious cliches they feel obligated to repeat.

So please enjoy the charts  but don't just cover our music. Find your own sound. It's just as good as anything we do.

John Mark

The Medicine

My new album "The Medicine" is scheduled to be mastered on Tuesday of next week. After 6 months of hard work, 2 years of writing, and about a gallon of my own blood we're almost finally done. During the process of this we've had many a life changing experience, including the birth of my beautiful son Jude and the untimely destruction of producer Elijah's house by a ginormous tree (both on the same night actually).

If its OK with you (I guess kind of has to be) I'm going to be incredibly honest here for a second. I'm both incredibly excited and incredibly nervous right now. Excited because, and again excuse my honesty, I believe the songs on this album are some of the best Ive ever written and I know that this is certainly some of the best music our team has ever made. There is not one song that I wouldn't listen to myself. I mean if I don't like it then why should I expect any one else to like it?

So, how come at the same time can I be so nervouse? My team and I have put much of ourselves into this project. It really becomes a personal thing with us. Seriously it's just the only way we know how to make music. My name is on the cover but this project belongs to them as much as it belongs to me. All this to say that whenever you present something to people I guess there is an opportunity for rejection. And it's especially difficult when the work we've done is so personal in nature and has cost so much time, money, energy, blood, first born children, eternal souls etc.... Still the truth is anything worth doing involves a risk and usually the greatest reward come from the greatest risk.

I guess you never really know what to expect out of people either. Trying to please the public is like trying to shoot a man on a moving train. By the time you take aim he's gone. People have ask me whether or not this album sounds much like the last one. I've been saying yes but then I recently took a listen to the "Song Inside the Sounds" for the first time in a year pr two and actually it sounds way different. But hey what's the use in recording the same album twice? I mean we're all changing. An album is like a photograph. I'm not the same person even one second before or after. By the time the flash clicks I'm at least one second older wiser and new. So is there another "How He Loves", "Closer" or "Ashes and Flames"? Nope. I already wrote those songs but I have some new ones that I think are better.

The album as a whole is bigger sounding. We purposely made the last one a bit "Low Fi". At the time I was tired of super "hyped" digital production. But this go around I really let Elijah mix like it was a commercial record. Its still not too polished and plenty loose. It's just sonically huge. We also incorporated a lot of "room" on this project. We used no digital reverbs or effects on any of the instruments but instead we created all effects by multiple microphone placement throughout the tracking room and creating reverb chambers like they did in the old days.

As far as the content goes I realized early on that we really were telling a story. The album opens with the foreshadowing lines of Reckoning Day: "would you come live everybody, get up out of bed for the sound of the song unsung" . This first song, in a subtile Mark Twain kind of way, ended up pleading for the attention of the listener and then continues to outline the events to be expected. The idea is that somewhere in the process a reckoning must take place. Though not chronologically you can see this progression in the body of the album. The Medicine is about a reckoning in oneself, with life, and with death. It's about blood on the promenade and the yawning of unlocked and unlatched graves. It's about worship in the context of life where the world is both immeasurably wonderful and cruel at the same time. This is the world we live in, this is the world we worship in and I want to depict worship where it really happens, in the context of a reality outside of Disneyland. At the same time these songs are full of hope and wonder like nothing I've written before.

Highlights:

Each song has a purpose for the album and a special place in my heart. If there was anything I wasn't excited about it wouldn't have made it on the record but I do have some favorites.

The Medicine (the song) has been one of my favorite songs to play live over the last couple of years. It's just a beautiful ruckus mess with definite elements of Springsteen and Southern Rock with a lil New York garage flavor. Skeleton Bones has this sweet gallup that's almost folky but with a massive sweeping chorus. Carbon Ribs began as a song called Culver City Blues. I wrote it after an evening at he pier in Santa Monica. Couldn't sleep so I just listened to the rhythm of the traffic outside my hotel room. It has this real 4 in the morning kind of charm to it. With Death in His Grave I was trying to write a song that sounded really old. There is an old folk tune about the death of the outlaw Jesse James. I took this idea and the theme of a poem by Steve Turner called The Day That Death Was Killed and wrote a story about the death of death. My wife Sarah and Molly Skaggs sang with me on this tune. One of my favorite moments on the album is the three part harmony on the bridge. Brings a tear to my eye. Belly of the Lion is a song about the treachery of mundane life and the pursuit of pacification. Ten Thousand is a song along the lines of older Dylan compositions like Desolation Row or Hard Rain. This song has a vivid imagery and tells like a story form an old revelator. Bringing the album to a close with the line "world, I have overcome you world".


Here is the track listing for: "The Medicine"

Reckoning Day
The Medicine
Skeleton Bones
Carbon Ribs
Dress Us Up
Death in His Grave
Belly of the Lion
Philadelphia
Out Of The Ground
Ten Thousand


The Medicine releases September 2008
Pre-order a copy at thejohnmark.com and download a free bonus track.
Or come pick one up at the CD Release Show Sept 6
The Visulite Theatre
1615 Elizabeth Ave.
Charlotte, NC, 28205

Quite A Ride

We've been on quite a ride the last couple of weeks. The CD is so close to being finished. Our deadline to master is next week! We should have the final product just in time for our CD release event (September 6 in Charlotte at the Visulite Theatre). At the same time we have also finished the long awaited Zao Water benefit album! We haven't established and exact release date for this project but we should be announcing a date in the very near future. I'm extremely proud of both of these projects and I can't wait to share this music with you. I'm sure you're tired of hearing about them and are ready to hear them. Well here you go. (I've posted some of the music below.)

Last night we had the privilege of leading worship with Leonard Jones at a Todd Bentley meeting in Fort Mill SC. It was great to worship with several thousand people in the open air. I love playing outside. Apparently we were on God TV. I haven't heard (and usually don't) if or when they'll re-run it but If I were a betting man...

Little Jude is healthy and happy. He's adjusting to life on the planet earth nicely. He enjoys eating, sleeping and late night conversation. He seems to respond well to music (shocker). I'm glad he likes it. He's going to hear a lot of it. He doesn't seem to like baths or diaper changes, however he doesn't like to be dirty or have dirty diapers either. He is, as we all are, a beautiful contradiction. He doesn't want to be the way he is but he doesn't always enjoy the process of change (the changing of diapers especially). Hey, I've already learned something from the little guy.

Hey Jude

Several months ago I ran into a friend from Switzerland. He recently had a dream that briefly brought him back to our area. In this dream he prayed for a couple of specific MorningStar worship leaders in the basement of Heritage International Ministries and a new sound was released into the world from these leaders. During a church meeting he saw Sarah and I and told us that he believed he also was supposed to pray for us. He proceeded to pray and began to prophesy that when our new baby was born, a new praise would also be born. Little did he know that we were planning to name our son Jude: a modern form of the name Judah that means "praise".

On July 23, 2008 at 1:07 PM a new praise, weighing in at just under 9 pounds and stretching just under 22 inches, was indeed born to Sarah and I! Significantly enough the first sound that little Jude heard on earth was the chorus of Kevin Prosch's anthem "Praise the Lord Oh My Soul". This was only one song of a large mix that I created the day before. We brought the music in to help the mood during the possible hours of labor. I had no clue what exact song would be playing when Jude made his grand entrance (or exit depending on how you look at it). It just blows me away that the first words a boy named "praise" hears as he enters the world is "praise the Lord oh my soul, praise the Lord"! I can hardly contain myself when I think about it!

Jude Williams McMillan is a healthy, glorious creature and is already incredibly loved by many people. He is a sign and a wonder and more than that, just a really great guy to hang with.

Exciting Things

Well, we are at home. We've spent a lot of time in North Carolina these last several months. This is mostly due to the forthcoming arrival of our new baby and our work on a new CD. The second of which has been the primary reason for my lack of blogging as I've found I have little passion for discussing preamps, power converters, and how many times I had to sing "Out'a the ground" before I realized it was out'a of my range. Please forgive my silence, but I do believe I may have spared you quite a few minutes of your life by leaving out these mundane details.

On the other hand we did spend some good time worshiping with and performing for many great friends in San Francisco, Nebraska, and Kansas. We also spent some good time teaching in Toronto and co-hosting a worship intensive in Fort Mill, SC. These details would have been interesting. I'm sorry.

The baby is due tomorrow! We have yet no sign of when exactly he will arrive, but it could be any day now. Sarah is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and our anticipation for meeting the little dude is growing exponentially.

The new album has progressed quite well. Elijah (our producer) is currently in the editing and mixing process. I like to avoid the studio during these stages for three reasons: 1) Editing is by far the most tedious and uninspiring aspect of the recording process 2) I want to stay out of Elijah's hair as to not distract him from his work and 3) I want to come in after the process to approve of the final product with fresh ears. I have no doubt that Elijah will give me no less than his absolute best work. He never does anything half-heartedly (to a fault).

So here we are in a season of waiting. Baby Jude and the new CD will both be arriving soon. Sarah will be taking a break in the coming weeks for obvious reasons. But I shall continue on with my crusade of worshiping, creating, and reviving. We're looking at events in Kentucky, California, and Washington State in the coming months. We're also looking into connecting with several large festivals next year and hosting several of our own functions right here in Charlotte, NC. The Zao benefit album has also been completed and we can't wait to share it with you. It should be released just before or just after my new project. Watch out for events related to the releasing of both.

Please don't give up on my bloging! I'm out of the cave and I plan to keep you ever updated as to the current state of our ministry. We're more excited than ever about the coming days and that isn't just something to say. I mean it. I really do.

Back To Charlotte

Our team is on the way back to Charlotte, NC today. We've had a pretty incredible experience in California. We helped raised over $25,000 for Sudan. That's just about enough to dig 4 fresh water wells that could possibly support more than 40,000 people with healthy water. I consider this in itself to be quite an accomplishment. Mothers will lose fewer children, families will walk fewer miles for their basic necessities, and people who were going to die will live because of this trip! Beyond that, we raised awareness of these issues in communities across the length of California, worshiped together recklessly for hours at a time.

It's honestly a little difficult to leave the people we partnered with on the Rock For Water Tour. We've become close to Aaron Strumpel, the Aiklens, the Armerdings and the whole Radiant Church community. I know that we have destiny with these people beyond this tour and we consider them to be close friends even after only a couple weeks together. Honestly, we probably had a years worth of experiences in two weeks. We ministered together in churches, clubs, schools and even garages. We worked together, ate together, slept together, sang together and played together from the massive metropolitan cities of Southern California, to quant beach towns and snow covered mountain passes in the central coast and the north. When I think back on this trip the thing that I will remember the most are these people and the adventures we had together. As cheesy as it sounds there is something incredibly powerful about people unifying for the greater good and we plan to do more of it.

Sarah and I love California. We'll be back in a few weeks to teach and worship at a seminar in the San Francisco area along with Ray Hughes, Sean Feacht, Brian and Jen Johnson and several others. If you're going to be n the area please check it out. (more info in our "events" section)

It's 11 PM. We're back in Visalia California staying with some friends. This has become home base for the tour as the main church we're working with is based here and we're central to all parts of California.

We played Redding, CA last night in a garage behind an office park. Quite a "Punk Rock" location. We had about 80 excited people who filled the room like sardines. They sang louder and danced harder at this event than any we've done on the tour so far. Sarah's songs were especially strong that evening. The people sang them so loud that she couldn't even hear herself! You could feel the power of God in every set and no one wanted to leave even after I'd lost my voice.

This tour has been absolutely life changing. We've raised more than enough money to dig 3 wells in South Sudan and with our last stop tomorrow in Fresno we may have enough to dig 4!

Next week we return home for a little down time and preparation before we go back into the studio. Thank you all for your support. Please keep us in your prayers!

Rock For Water Tour: Stop Number 4 - Bakersfield, CA

It's about 12:30 AM west coast time and we're driving an hour and a half to where we'll be staying for the next couple of days. We've just finished our fourth night in a row and we're all looking forward to a little rest.
We ended the show tonight with our whole crew on the stage singing "How He Loves US". I think there may have been over 20 people on the stage. We've been ending the shows with our whole crew together and Aaron Strumpel playing the theme of the song on the trumpet. Tonight we added a violin and jingle bells as well. It never sounds great in traditional terms but there is something pretty powerful about filling every corner of the stage with a human body and every crevice of the air with a screaming voice or clanging instrument.

I love the idea of regular people making music together. I'm a fan of excellence in art but not at the expense of sincerity (Elitism is self-defeating if you ask me). Some times the things that sound ridiculous by themselves, sound awesome when we do them together. And as cheesy as it sounds, often our insignificant things can be powerful when we combine them with other people's insignificant things. On this trip we learned that a couple of powerless dollars in our pocket or a cup of Starbucks can save a whole human being when combined with the resources and experience of other people. In our first four nights alone we've raised enough money to supply water to several thousand people. Many of them are children who have a high chance of dying with out it. And all we did was sing. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

At the moment we're in San Luis Obispo, CA about 40 minutes away from playing our third night of the "Rock For Water Tour". Things have been going well. We've already raised half the amount of our goal and we've had a wonderful time playing these events with Travis Aiklen and Aaron Strumple.

However the tour hasn't been without it's battles. Several of us have been sick and we've had major technical difficulties on occasion. (The first night we had to play with out a sound system!) I've struggled vocally this whole time from allergies and have been frustrated as I haven't been able to deliver my best performances. God doesn't need my voice but it would be nice to be able to sing the songs the way He gave them to me.

Tomorrow we head to Bakersfield and afterward we have a short break for some much needed rest before marching north. The entire team has worked hard and given their best. I have no doubt that lives will be saved as a result of this tour. We deeply appreciate all you who are praying for us. Please pray especially for those of us who have been sick.

I'll be sure to keep you up to date about the tour as we continue!

Rock For Water

Things are going well with the McMillan clan. We've recently learned that we're going to have a boy. We can't wait to meet him this July! Over the past couple of weeks we've worshiped and taught in Virginia, Kentucky, and participated in a couple events in the Carolinas as well. Unfortunately, I've been to busy to spend any significant time in the studio on my upcoming project, but I can't wait to jump back in with both feet in about 3 weeks.

At this exact moment Sarah I are in the air on our way to Los Angeles to begin our two-week tour of California. We'll start in the San Diego area and slowly work our way up through San Francisco playing worship events and concerts as far north as Redding. The purpose of these events is to raise money to dig wells in South Sudan and at the same time raise awareness of the situation there.

We're very excited about this tour and the work in Sudan that we're supporting, but one of the coolest aspects of this trip is the opportunity to work together with another group of people across the country to save lives. We've connected with a wonderful community of believers at Radiant Church (www.radiantchurchvisalia.com) in California's central valley who are partnering with us throughout the entire event, and have done a massive amount of planning and preparation for the tour. It's awesome to see how our two groups can accomplish exponentially more together than we could on our own.

Please keep our team in your prayers. Pray for safe travel, a powerful presence of God and open hearts at our events. Also pray for a spirit of generosity. None of the money we raise goes to us. Every penny goes to save lives in Sudan.

Thank you all for your love and support. We love you!

PS

Here's a 10 minute video about the tour:

 

2008

Sarah and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers as well as the wisdom and resources you've shared with us over the years. Your support has allowed us to take our team throughout the world and see the Lord move in ways that we've only previously dreamed of.

2008

We are excited to share with you many new things that we are planning for the coming season.

A New Member of The Team!

The most exciting event for Sarah and I in 20008 will most certainly be the arrival of a new team member this July. Sarah and I are expecting a baby this summer! The whole McMillan/Williams family is extremely excited.

Recording Projects

We're currently in the beginning stages of recording a new full-length album. This project, like the last album will consist of both corporate worship songs as well as songs that deal with a variety other issues. It's my hope that this variety will get this album and my message into the hands of people who might not usually pick up a "worship" album and have a life changing impact on both believers as well as pre-believers. We hope to have it out in late Spring.

Also due out this Spring is a collaborative project we've been working on to raise money for Zao Water (an organization dedicated confronting the water-born disease crisis in Africa). It's a recording with original songs written by myself and several of our friends. It's also going be a fantastic album and raise lots of money to help Zao dig wells in Africa.

Training Schools and Seminars

This Spring and Summer we're hosting regional weekend versions of our worship school with the same themes and emphasis as the weeklong version but in a conference style situation. We already have equipping events scheduled this year in San Francisco, Seattle, Maine and Charlotte.

Tours

We are currently preparing for another west coast tour in March to help raise money for Sudan Calls, an organization involved in digging wells in Sudan. We also plan to continue going out most weekends every month worshiping, teaching, and performing.