The Story Of The New Divide’s Summer
Over the last four months, God has revealed himself in new ways, and has provided time after time! We have stories of how day after day, whenever we think things have gotten out of our control, or we feel fiscal stress… God reveals that he has had the whole thing figured out long before we even knew the issue existed! In April of 2009, all of the guys in The New Divide felt called to step out beyond our comfort zones… and to step into full time ministry as a touring band! People around us called us crazy for quitting solid employment in a time of economic question… but from the day we left the office, till I am writing this, God has provided every need, at the exact moment it arose!
Since only April, The New Divide has driven from Coast to Coast, playing shows everywhere from Port Angeles Washington, to the beaches of Florida… and every place in between! Over the last 5 months alone, we have driven over 30 thousand miles, and spend countless nights sleeping inside our van. We have played shows and led worship at churches and youth groups… parks and Hardcore shows… and seen God change lives and reveal himself to people differently each and evey night!
Major Cities we have played at and been through this summer alone include Sacramento, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Denver, Orlando, Port St Lucie Florida, Atlanta GA, Saint Louis MO, Nashville TN, Kansas City MO, Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne Wyoming, Seattle, Portland, San Fransico, El Paso, San Antonio, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and countless other cities across the country! We have been blessed to get to see the St Louis Arch, Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, (Aaron almost touched a buffalo…) Old Faithful… The Redwoods… The Grand Canyon, and so much more!
We have had our vehicle break down in Sacramento… had our brakes burn up in the Rocky Mountains, had a bearing explode on the trailer axle in Hollywood… and seen God provide over and over again for every issue as it arose! We’ve not been paid when expected, and stressed about having even enough Gas money to get home, only to have God hand us to the dollar what we needed… almost as if to say; “What was that guys?… you thought of chickening out of what I have called you to because of a few bucks?!?” We have had all our amps blow multiple times, and ended up meeting “Fat Willy”… The amp guy for Eric Clapton. (Yeah… he is our amp guy now…)
We have done radio interviews on multiple radio stations, Almost left Doug at several gas stations, and had Steve almost get arrested for simply looking suspicious in a small town! (apparently having tattoos, no physical mailing address, and forgetting your ID in the hotel is a bad idea!) We’ve played at about 20 various youth camps and seen God move at every single one…
We have slept in host homes, walmart parking lots, high rise hotels, resorts, and underneath freeways. Discovered that fire-crackers and bottle rockets are legal in states such as Tennessee, and that its a bad idea to light off said fireworks while driving down the freeway. We have cut each others hair to avoid the barber, and almost lost Aarons eye in a wicked game of wall-ball someplace in Georgia… We found the largest crawdad ever in rural Kansas, and saw Wild Buffalo Bills grave in Colorado. Seen state parks we diddnt eve know existed, such as “Ha Ha Tonka”?!? Watched all the seasons of Prison Break on the laptop while getting from city to city, and eaten more cold ravioli than any group of guys ever should. Learned the proper way to care for a full beard, and watched the fireworks at Disneyland from across the street after leading and awesome time of worship. Gone days without sleep, and changed a guys tire on the side of the freeway someplace in Nevada. Only to almost lose our lives to non-attentive semi-truck driver. We went from a Yukon, to a 15 passanger van… which in our world, is sort of like moving from the motel 6, straight into the Ritz-Carlton!
Through all of this… as 4 guys who live in a van together, we have learned more about how we as a nation, and even as the church put God in a box, and often limit what he is able to do in our churches and in our lives. We have developed a heart for the lost like never before, and have learned that putting your faith in God is much different when you don’t get a paycheck on the 15th and 31st of each month…
We are excited to see God continue to provide… and to see where he takes us next.
As it sits right now, our plans as we have layed them out include our guitar player Steve attending Bible College in Seattle for the next few short months before joining us back on the road. During this time, he will begin working on, and recording the new album, due out after Christmas. (It will be a 2 part album… including both brand new worship songs, as well as new rock stuff we have been writing while on the road.) Meanwhile, the rest of the band will continue touring and building relationships across the country. All the while looking to see what new things God is going to do. We would love nothing more than to see you at a show… however if you are unable to support us in that way… nothing would mean more to us than to have you support us in prayer! Keep us in prayer as we constantly seek God for direction on tour routing… and that he would position us exactly where he wants us to be. Pray that God would prepare the hearts of each person who we are able to speak with, that they would be open to hearing Gods word. (We know that when spoken, Gods word can’t and won’t return void!) Pray that we would have strengthened relationships with our family and those we are close to as we continually are apart. And pray also that God would continue to provide our needs as we drive on… as we know he will. These are just a few ideas of ways that we would appriciate your prayers!
Follow us on twitter, text message us, become our friends on facebook… and we will keep you up to date on what God is doing in our lives and on the road!
Andy, Doug, Steve and Aaron
The New Divide
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2 Responses to “The Story Of The New Divide’s Summer”
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November 2nd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hi guys, we saw you at the Sutherlin Christian Assembly on Nov. 1st. and what an awsome time it was. Your band is great , I admire what you guys are doing and what an impact you have on the kids. Great job and God bless all of you.
Ray and Judy McClanahan
February 6th, 2010 at 4:04 am
Man I wish my blog was as well written as yours!
great work! I guess I am still learning and started on a tough topic, weight loss!