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: