So a few years ago our management and booking agency gave us Honda ruckus scooters in appreciation for all the great years together. Now we carry them in a trailer so we can goof off on the road. There is nothing more awesome than a fat guy on a scooter. Today we decided to go to the movies. We thought it would be very fitting to park next to the Ferrari.

Ahh yeah. This is the way we roll, we roll.

- bart

Hey fellow Bloggers…. its Robby here.

I wanted to let you guys know about a great band named Addison Road. They are a band out of Dallas that has signed with INO Records, which is the label we are on. The self titled record hits the shelves on March 18th.The reason Im bringing this up is because they have been given the privilege of being the current iTunes Discovery Download of the week. All you have to do is click on the link here for a free download of their first single “All that Matters”. Its currently #10 on the CHR charts.

I have been working with band for over a year and now co-manage them with our manager Scott Brickell. I really believe in them and think they are going to do great things. Thanks for you time and hope you like the song….

Robby

Get The Song.

So this last weekend was the 1st time my 3 year old son Ben came out on the road with me all by himself….no mommy, no baby sister. This was basically his potty training bribe….”if you can go all by yourself, you can come on the bus w/ daddy!!!” It was the greatest weekend of touring EVER!!! most tiring too…2 people don’t fit in a bus bunk together very well, especially if one of them is scared he might crush the other one! The weekend was full of trips to the zoo in Jacksonville, riding the scooter all over the parking lot in Mobile, and of course, playing with Lightning McQueen in every dressing room we visited. One of the best times was had in Mobile, Al. We were on a college campus that had a football field and track right next to the bus lot. So I thought I’d share a little home video of Ben’s 40 yd dash debut!!!!!

mike

For those of you that do not know the story…my wife, Shannon, was my first girlfriend. It was the summer between 8th and 9th grade, also known as “The Summer Of Love” ha ha. Everything was perfect that summer. Flowers smelled better, bluebirds sang louder, church camp was more fun…you get the picture. But, unfortunately, Shannon is two years younger than me, so when the summer ended and I started high school, it was not cool to date someone in middle school…so I quit her.

Remember the days when you could just “quit” someone? No drawn out discussions, no begging or pleading, just “quitting.” And it never came from the actual person. No, you would either get a note, or a friend would let you know that you had been “quit.” Anyway, when Shannon made it to high school, we got back together…for a whole year! It was the perfect year. Flowers smelled even better, bluebirds sang much louder than in the summertime and every Sunday I was guaranteed to have someone to sit by in church. Then, unfortunately, I started my senior year and thought I needed to be “unattached,” so I quit her again.

Actually by this time it was called breaking up. Man I was a jerk! The funny thing is that no matter who I dated, I would always use Shannon as the standard, and nobody ever compared to her. After high school, we went our separate ways, but remained really close friends. I guess we got tired of wishing we were together and decided to seal the deal once and for all.

Shannon graduated college in May of 1997 and we got married that November. We celebrated 10 years this past November. How awesome is that? With Shannon, and my three amazing kids, Sam, Gracie and Charlie, can life get any better? I submit to you it cannot. Happy Valentines day.

-Bart

So I haven’t posted a blog in awhile. I have been really busy. But I got this email from a friend in my small group today. Im not one to be overly spiritual with these, but I thought it was a good word and encouragement. Hope all you bloggers do too.
Robby

J. C. Philpot, “Strength Made Perfect in Weakness”

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is
made perfect in your weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Not your strength,
not your wisdom,
not your prayers,
not your experience;
but “My grace”—My free, My matchless grace,
independent of all works and efforts, independent of
everything in the creature—flowing wholly and solely,
fully and freely, out of the bosom of Jesus to . . .
the needy,
the guilty,
the destitute,
the undone.

You who are tried in worldly circumstances,
who have to endure the hard lot of poverty
—”My grace is sufficient for you.”

You who are tempted, day by day, to say
or do that which conscience testifies against
—”My grace is sufficient for you.”

You who are harassed with family troubles
and afflictions, and are often drawn aside into
peevishness and fretfulness—”My grace is
sufficient for you.”

Our weakness, helplessness, and inability
are the very things which draw forth the power,
the strength, and the grace of Jesus!

Believer, your case is never beyond the reach
of the words—”My grace is sufficient for you!”

The free, the matchless, sovereign grace of God,
is sufficient for all His people—in whatever state,
or stage, or trouble, or difficulty they may be in!

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is
made perfect in your weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

So Barry and I wanted to try something new….ok…it was Barry’s idea and i stole it!!! He decided to do a guitar cam and what better place than a sold out show in Mobile, AL?!?! Please forgive the shoddy camera work….it was my Flip Video camera gaff taped to one of my guitars…that’s what we in MercyMe call Jimmy Rigged. If you ever saw how Jim’s keyboard stand has been held together for the last 3 years, you’d understand.

So here is the 1st installment of MercyMe’s guitar cam on the song “Time Has Come”

Mike

So I’ve had the question from a bunch of people, “How come you haven’t written anything on the blog yet?” Well I was trying to think of some good reasons. Here’s a few that I came up with…. I was ice fishing in northern Alaska. I was working part time on a city zoning commission in Tightwad, Missouri. I was working as a lifeguard on the white beaches of Peru, and finally I was handmaking crocheted baby shoes in the country of Liechtenstein. Ok so I know the last one is a stretch because anyone that knows me knows I much prefer cross stitch to crocheting.

Ok ok….. what I’ve really been busy doing is starting a small photography studio. No I am not leaving MercyMe. It’s just something that went from being a hobby to people asking me to shoot their families etc. So I thought I would show a few to you. Really I want to show a few of my boys so I can brag on them. The older one is Riley and the younger one is Jack. I’m sure someday I’ll get punched in the arm when they realize I’ve shown everyone their pictures! Enjoy.

Jim

We would like to introduce you all to a new series that we will be doing occasionally called You on YouTube. Every once in a while we will be scouring the world of YouTube, and when we find you doing a MercyMe song, we will post it on here. It can be a drama. It can be lip syncing. It can be karaoke. So let’s see those videos.

Up first is this guy….

-bart

So for Audio Adrenaline’s last concert in Hawaii, I wanted to do some small gesture to honor our “fallen comrades.” (More like retirees really!!!) So in my own little way I decided I would don a mohawk to honor Will. If any of you have ever seen Audio A, you know he had some HUGE Mohawks in his time. Our own Robby Shaffer has been sporting a large hawk of his own for almost a year now. Mine was nowhere near the level of hawk as these 2 guys. Mine was a last minute ode de Will, and with no time to build up to it, was a mere 2 inches tall. It should have been called a minihawk.

Well I’m not really a minihawk kind of guy so as soon as the show was over, I took the clippers to my head and buzzed it. It’s been 27 years since I’d buzzed my head and I’d forgotten the freedom that comes with not having to style ones hair. So for the rest of the summer and fall, I’ve been a clean cut version of my younger self. Through our winter break however I got lazy, or bored and decided to let it grow out again. Well after spending more than 17 sec. per night fixing my hair I realized I HAD to go back to the buzz.

So right before we left for the KLove cruise last week, I buzzed it all off again. Here’s where the story gets good. I finished up and removed the guard from the clippers and asked my lovely wife, Abby, to clean up my neck.

Let me preface this next part with, it was about 1am, and Abby doesn’t function well past 9pm. She went straight for my hairline and instantly let out a big ol’…”OOOPS!!!!! I’M SORRY!!!!!” Needless to say, there was no going back other than to trim up the mistake or shave it bald. Since I was heading to a cruise, I figured that the mexican riviera was not the place to go for my Powder impression, so….here it is….my new haircut.

mike