HeartSong - OneVoice - Juilate

This past weekend, HeartSong and OneVoice Gospel Choir, held a combined woship concert at Cedarville University. The concert, which was held in conjunction with Parent’s Weekend on campus, provided a time of worship and reflection of God and what He has done for us. The concert also included the group Jubilate from the music department at Cedarville. One of the highlights of the night would have to have been when all three groups gathered together to sing 2 songs at the end of the evening. It’s always amazing to see God bring people together from all different backgrounds culturally to worship Him. It shows that we are one body and that we serve a BIG God. Enjoy some of the pictures from the night and also visit our Facebook fanpage to see a larger album of pictures. A big thanks goes out to Scott Huck, Cedarville University photographer, for these great shots!

Justin leading OneVoice

HeartSong

OneVoice

This Saturday HeartSong and OneVoice will be LIVE at Cedarville University in the Dixon Ministry Center. The concert starts at 7pm. Make sure to get there early to catch our special guest Jubilate.

If you can’t make it to the concert on Saturday, be sure to catch HeartSong and OneVoice at Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon, OH on Sunday at 6pm.

We are looking forward to 2 great nights of worship. Hope to see you there!

Hello everyone,
While all other Cedarville students are heading home for a long fall break weekend, the HeartSong touring teams are getting ready for our first weekend out touring. I could not wait to get out on the road again, and get back into the swing of touring on the weekends. Fall break tour is a little different type of weekend for teams because each team has a member of HeartSong staff with them for the weekend. Jim Cato, the director of all the teams, was with my team all weekend.We had such an awesome weekend together playing in Xenia, Defiance, Toledo, and Marion Ohio. My team played in many different types of venues… from schools, to YMCA’s, to bonfire’s, to churches. It was an awesome first weekend to get into the swing of touring, and just meeting new people. It was very evident to me after this weekend that my team, is going to have an awesome year filled with a lot of fun and memories, but more importantly I think it will be so awesome to see how God is going to use us in different ways this year.
The biggest thing that I learned this weekend is that things change and God has a reason for these changes. I am in a completely different position this year with my team. Last year I was the freshman whose job was to do whatever I was told, this year it is so different because I am one of 3 returning members on my team. Myself, Taylor Valarik, and Tommy Hutchinson are the members on my team that all traveled with HeartSong last year as well. As returners, we are looked to for advice and guidance. This is so opposite from last year, because I was the one who needed to be taught everything. I probably annoyed everyone with all the questions I asked about everything. As a team it is important that we have a direction where we know we are going, and as a returning member, I realized that I need to lead by example. I, along with Taylor and Tommy, have been through this before, and it is our duty to make sure our first time team members know what they are to do, and how to do it correctly. Something that I learned that stemmed off from this new position is how prepared I need to be to worship before a service. It is so tough while leading music to remember all the small details, and order of songs, and etc. But there is so much more to leading worship than just making sure you remember the lyrics, and the order… It is about your heart being right before God. We need to surrender to the Holy Spirit and let him lead our worship. If I try to take control, my worship is in vain. So a huge thing that I learned this weekend was that although this year I am in the “worship leader” position, I need to remember why I am doing what I am doing, and that is to give God my whole self in worship, I need to surrender my life to Him every day.
My life verse is found in Galatians, it says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  This verse has continually been reminding me that this life is not mine. I owe God my whole life, God deserves my best. So yes, I do need to do my best to remember the words to our songs, and remember the order of our songs, and when to say what, etc. But, the most important thing is that I am right before God in my worship, and that I am surrendering myself to His will every time I sing or open my mouth.

-Hayden

Hayden – Brownsburg

Photo Scavenger Hunts are great...rigged, but great!

Hey all,
This was my second turn at Brownsburg for the annual Cedarville Touring Teams retreat. The basic goal for this weekend is for all the teams to grow closer together as teams, and get some experience ministering in a church setting. I personally love this weekend because it’s the first real time when your team comes together and you can really start getting to know each other. I also love this weekend because the church we rehearse in all weekend is such an awesome church. Bethesda Baptist Church really welcomes us in, and makes all the teams feel at home. Heartsong and Lifeline ministered and worshipped with the Bethesda congregation in their sunday morning service, while East to West and Masters Puppets ministered to the youth and children from the church as well. It really was an awesome “getting started” weekend for all the teams.
Even though this retreat weekend came less than 2 months after summer tour with last years teams, I was so ready for this weekend. It is always such a good reminder while in host homes, that we are called to be servants, like Christ was a servant to everyone around him. I am not talking about me serving my host family, I am talking about my host family serving me. The body of Christ is called to serve others and when I am in a host home, I see the body of Christ at its best. There is nothing better than being in someone else’s home, that you do not know, and just sitting down and sharing with each other. I love it, and I am so looking forward to all the homes and churches I will be in this upcoming year.
One of the highlights of this weekend is always the photo scavenger hunt in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday night. All 6 teams split up and try to get as many creative and unique pictures as they can, trying to gain points in whatever ways they can. It is a great time you get to share with you team, even though in the end every team knows they will loose because the Lifeline players win every year (Yes, it is rigged). Anyways, we are so blessed this year with the people and the teams God has perfectly placed together. We are so excited to see all the awesome things that we will do this year through the power of Jesus Christ alone.

Aubrey – Brownsburg

Aubrey and Hayden on Sunday

I’ve caught myself many times this year acknowledging the various “last first times” for me on HeartSong. For instance, during our first team rehearsal, I thought, “This is my very last first practice!” and all throughout our touring teams retreat in Brownsburg, IN, I kept thinking, “This is my last Brownsburg experience!” It seems crazy that I am actually in the midst of my senior year at Cedarville! People often say that college goes by so quickly, and now I am discovering the truth in their statements! Being a part of HeartSong has been such a gift in my life—God has used this ministry to challenge and refine me and teach me about the importance of unity in his body, the Church (among many, many other things!).
During our weekend at Brownsburg, where we had music rehearsals and had sessions on what touring is like (basically, the “how-to’s” of touring), I was reminded of the power in community, even the power in serving together for God’s work. I got to stay in a host home with Rachel Lee (who is on another HeartSong team this year), and we found that we have had many similar experiences in our lives. We’ve wrestled with many of the same things, we’re struggling with similar stuff right now, and we also have desires to see similar things happen within the body of Christ. Rachel and I got the chance to talk to our host mom and dad for a while when we would come home in the evenings. Our hosts told us about their lives together and about their families, and we realized that they, just like us, have experienced similar situations and encountered many of the same difficult times that we have.
On Friday night in our host home, before we went to bed, I was reading in 2 Corinthians, and came upon verses 3-5. It says, “All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah, Father of all mercy, God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too” (the Message). I love it when I spend time in the Word and God brings me to a passage or a verse that relates directly to my life right at that given moment. After reading this, I was just reminded of how God displays His grace to us through relationships He brings along our way. During our Brownsburg weekend, God brought Rachel into my life as a new friend, and He brought our hosts into our lives who are going through similar hard times so that we “can be there just as God was there for us,” just as 2 Corinthians describes. It was so neat to actually be able to see, again, the way God gives us just what we need at just the right time—for me, it was people who knew what I was going through and could completely identify with that! And now, when I pray for those situations in my life, I can pray for them as well.
I’m really looking forward to the year ahead of us! In the next few weeks, we’re getting ready for our first touring weekend in October during our fall break from school. Pray that God would continue to use the truth in the words that we sing and in the music that we play to encourage his body and bring people to Him—but also pray that God would allow us to form relationships with each other on our teams and with people in the churches and with our host families so that we can build each other up and bring glory to God.

Hayden and Grayson doin their thing

Every so often, an event on Cedarville’s campus takes place called an Interruption. Grayson and Hayden (along with a crew of other HeartSong members and friends) had the honor of being the guest performers at the very first Interruption of the year. It was a great time, and a lot of people showed up to sing along to some great music and hang out with their friends. If you are ever in the area you should drop in on an Interruption. It proves to be a cornerstone of Cedarville student life. Enjoy some pictures from the night courtesy of Tyler Scott.

Darris Sneed singin a smooth vocal

A group shot

A moon clock and nice photo work

These guys were huge.

Earlier this week Alise told you that we were able to partner with The Power Team. The Power Team is a dynamic ministry that uses great feats of human strength as an analogy for how much God can do in our lives if we choose to follow hard after Him.

We had an awesome time with Bonzai, Timber, and Jamie. Really great guys with so much talent. Not only could they bend steel with their hands and teeth, break concrete and baseball bats over their backs, and break Hayden in half, (just kidding, Hayden is fine) but they were also great speakers and singers! These guys are more than just muscle. The last night we were with them they broke about a million pounds of concrete with their hands and FACES. . . yes, their FACES. And after the carnage, Timber, probably one of the scariest guys I’ve ever seen, picks up the mic and starts singing Revelation Song with the band. You can check out Timber’s singing voice on HeartSong’s YouTube channel.

We have had a blast being with LiFT this summer, but this week has been special. Not only because we’re home, but because we were able to partner with yet another amazing ministry and see students come to know Jesus through that partnership. We are blessed to be a puzzle piece in God’s plan. Pray that He continues to use HeartSong.

Check out The Power Team on their website at www.thepowerteam.com

Way to go Christy! You can pick up the metal they can bend with their mouths.

For instance, this week we have the Power Team here and they have been breaking and destroying all kinds of things for the campers’ (and our guys’) enjoyment. What’s really cool, though, is how, at last night’s service, after tearing phone books and breaking some Louisville Sluggers, the Power Team shared a great salvation message and 113 campers met Jesus for the first time last night!!  It never ceases to be amazing to watch dozens of students come to the cross and experience true love and forgiveness.  As a team, we have been talking about how powerful Jesus’ blood truly is and how we don’t give Him the credit He deserves.  We are so blessed to be able to witness the Holy Spirit moving in so many lives.

We’re praying that the rest of the week (and next week, which is our last) just keeps building and kids keep making decisions to live for our Lord.  He has been incredible in providing for us this summer.  We are each so grateful to Him and are excited by what He is doing with Heartsong, with LiFT, and within our own hearts.

Alise and Heartsong

Tour has been amazing up to this point, and the past few weeks have followed suit. 2 weeks ago now, (wow where does the time go. . .) we were at Scioto Hills camp, and for a few of us it felt just like home for a few of us. Grayson, Joe Price (Suss), and Tommy all had grown up going to Scioto Hills camp and we were totally looking forward to going back and serving at a place where we had been campers not too long ago. It was so much fun. The camp really blessed us. We were able to relax a lot and were impacted through God’s Word as well. We were blessed to hear Kyle Estep speak. He was incredible. His words spoke directly to the students, as well as to us ‘adults’. One of the biggest highlights for us was getting to spend a lot of time in prayer. It quickly became something that we looked forward to every night. We were able spend a lot of time together and it will be a cherised memory.

On a lighter note, a tradition of Scioto Hills is the late night taco bell run. At around 11:30, a group of people pile in a vehicle or two and drive to taco bell to eat. While this doesn’t sound like such a big deal, the kicker is that the dining hall of taco bell is closed, but the drive through is open. Tommy was driving a group of people through the drive through with eight passengers and had to ask the person if they could take eight orders. We were quickly told that we were only allowed to give three orders at a time. So we gave three orders, went through, paid and got our food. Then we drove out of taco bell, turned around and right back into the drive through and gave three more orders. Then after those three orders, we left taco bell and did the same thing for the last two orders. We ended up getting back to camp late, but it turned out to be quite a hilarious experience and one we soon won’t forget.

One thing we were able to do is keep the Heartsong tournament championship streak alive. The first day, we ended up winning hocker (think football, meets basketball, meets ultimate frisbee, with soccer goals and no out of bounds. It’s a lot of fun). The second day, Jo-Jo, Grayson, and Tommy ended up winning the 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Then it was ultimate frisbee. If this were an ESPN sport, this match would have gone straight to the classic channel. We ended up in the championship game and were down 2-1 with 30 seconds to go. With time running out Grayson threw a perfect toss to Tommy in the endzone to tie the game and send it into overtime. In overtime, we quickly scored and ended up winning the ultimate tournament. The last day though, the team struggled. The main sport of the camp is definitely soccer, so we tried to put together a team. Let’s just say soccer is not a blessing that most of us were given. Suss showed off his sweet soccer skills and schooled a few kids. Tommy decided to jump ship when seeing the disadvantage and joined up with some campers and ended up winning the tournament, which we count as HeartSong continuing the tournament championship streak.

Skyview Ranch -

Grayson loves horses...Tommy does not.

Jo Jo and his ride

HeartSong had the opportunity to be at Skyview Ranch last week, and it was incredible! As soon as we got there we were welcomed with extremely warm and encouraging people who provided an amazing opportunity and venue for us to help serve the campers. This was one of the biggest weeks they had ever had, and some of their usual kitchen staff was attending as campers, so a couple of us decided  to pitch in and help out in the kitchen staff. We all loved the extra interaction we were able to have with the kitchen staff there at the camp, and it was awesome to be able to do something to help them out other than just play the music during the sessions. Other than the opportunity to serve and the new friends we made, this was also a sweet opportunity because it gave us another chance to get to know the campers.

The energy at the camp was extremely high all week and not a single meal went by without the loud chants of their different teams that the campers had made during the week, espcially the junior highers. We still have no idea what they were saying, but they definitely made a lot of noise. The campers also had challenges during the week where cabins can challenge other cabins to sporting activities and such, and we were challenged by two different cabins . Not to brag, but the HeartSong Tournament streak is still alive and well. We surprised ourselves with our carpetball and volleyball skills. It was a lot of fun to get to interact with the campers on a lighter note.

One of the highlights from the week was a food fight that took place on Thursday night. The campers played games that all involved different ways of getting messy with different kinds of food, such as the counselors dipping themselvs in soy sauce before their campers rubbed a mushy pinapple something or another on them and threw rice and sauce on them. After the games, they brought out tons of leftover food and everyone participated in an all out food fight!

For chapel, we were leading music for the high school camp, however, on Friday night they combined the senior high and junior high chapels. It was amazing to hear all the different voices praising God together during this time! The week was extremely exhausting, yet extremely rewarding at the same time. We all formed new relationships that we are excited to keep up! God is definitely working at Skyview Ranch, and we were excited to be able to take part in it for a week!

-HeartSong

Fun times in the Big TX

HeartSong has arrived in Texas!  It’s big and hot and humid.  We’ve already had the opportunity to get to know a lot of Texans in our short time here.  Saturday and Sunday morning we were at First Baptist Church in Joshua, TX, which claims Fort Worth as the nearest big city.  The church put us up in Southwestern Baptist Seminary’s guest center.  The boys all enjoyed the complimentary bathrobes in the guest rooms (see the picture!).

Complimentary is always nice

Sunday morning we were blessed to worship with the members of the church and spend some time getting to know them.  Brittany and I had a privilege of talking for a while with a woman who just recently returned to Christ.  It was encouraging to talk with her and realize that God is teaching her a lot of the same things He is teaching us.

Sunday night we were in Kemp, TX.  We each got to stay with host homes and really enjoyed getting to know the people of Calvary Baptist Church.  For me personally, I got to stay with yet another woman who had recently returned to the church and she was really on fire for God.  We got to have a great long talk Sunday night.     Now, we are at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, serving with LiFT again.

We’re having a blast getting to know the students here.  There are over 500 students here this week, so we have plenty to hang out with.  We were all pleasantly surprised to see our director Jim walk in while we were setting up yesterday afternoon.  It’s nice to see a face from home after having been on the road for over a month.  Also, during our concert last night, Ryan broke his first drumstick – so we’re all very proud of him!

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.  We greatly appreciate them.  Continue to pray that we can truly learn to love and serve those around us, especially the campers we come in contact with.  Also, please continue to pray for physical health and travel safety!

Love, Alise and Heartsong