CD Release Party!!!

Well, the time has finally come for you guys to come and hang out with us as we release our new EP "Falling!" We have an AWESOME show planned with the great Scott England and featuring the wonderfully talented Anna Houston. Here are the details:

What: Scott England/Seven Stories Up CD Release Party; feat. Anna Houston

When: Sunday May 17th. Doors open at 5pm

Where: The Murray Arts Center; 2250 Stilesboro Road Kennesaw, GA

Cost: $7 in advance; $10 at the door.

It's so easy. Just follow the link below to purchase your tickets. They'll be mailed directly to you! We look forward to seeing everyone there! Oh, and if you're bringing a group of 15 or more, the cost is only $5!

Select:

1 $7.00 15 or more $5.00

crazy beautiful

good day friends. i'm writing from the safe confines of my favorite starbucks here in good ole' alpharetta, ga. i'm in a good place today; i've got a great family, great friends, and most of all, a God who truly does care about me and wants desperately for me to spend as much time in His presence as possible. i'm still learning to understand that it really is for my good that i spend time daily in His presence.

my life continues to be a whirlwind of emotions and busyness, that i don't often get time to sit and journal on here. what with putting a band together, recording our first album, coming up with a name for said band, and also trying to manage my week-to-week schedule, i'm a bit overwhelmed. however, i believe i'm on a back swing right now waiting for things to get really crazy.

we finally got a name for our band. the official name is... drum roll please... Seven Stories Up. moving forward, i'm super stoked to see where God takes this new approach to doing ministry . what i mean by that is, for 3 years now, i've operated under the umbrella of 'andy rocker music.' that has been what has kind of defined who i am as a worship leader and has been my brand. now, i'm moving into a totally new direction, but obviously with the same goals. my purpose on this earth is still to help people first understand a bit better who God is and how He wants for them to have a relationship with His son Jesus, and to help people to worship God through music; our expression of love and adoration of our King.

now, seven stories up is the vessel God will use to hopefully reach tons more people and place us on a much larger platform for ministry. the label already has quite a few things in store for us and those things will be unfolding as the year progresses. our debut album is scheduled to 'drop' 4.21.09, so be on the lookout for that! it will be a six-song 'ep' type of a album but will have full art work and all of the works that a full-length album will have. i'm still a bit in the dark on how all of this will work, except that i'm really stoked about it! more info on that later... :)

as for now, we are all really excited to get this thing rolling and to get on the road touring our new songs. we ask for your prayers as we move into this because only by the grace and guidance of God can we accomplish anything. Colossians 1:16 says, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."

we have nothing except for the love and grace of God and if we hold firmly to that, all of the riches in the world cannot compare to how immensely God will pour His favor upon us... if we could only trust...

thanks so much for your love and support and prayers!
-andy-

what do ya do?

yesterday was a day filled with happiness and enjoyment as i was able to spend some relaxing time with my family. we had a great dinner (feast really) shared a bit with opening some gifts... nothing much really, but it was just enough. there were a few times yesterday that i was quite sad though.

as most of you know, my sister Beth lives in Johannesburg, South Africa serving with campus outreach. she's been there just over 4 years now, but it is still hard to not be able to spend such a meaningful holiday with her. we did get to talk with her on the phone for about a half an hour and that was amazing, i love technology. but i still would have loved to give her a big hug and actually say the words, "merry Christmas" to her face. she's expected to come home sometime in February and i know those will be some good times!

also, around 1:30 yesterday, my mom and i went to visit my grandmother at her nursing home where she is being very well cared for as she has fallen ill to Alzheimers. i've made my peace with the fact that i'll never really spend a Christmas with my grandmother again since the disease has pretty much put her in a state of unconsiousness most of the time. i mean, she's there sort of, but it's just not her. i miss her sense of humor and they way she'd say, "hey suga!" everytime she'd see me. my grandfather is a champion. he spends at least 5 hours a day at the nursing home sitting with her, helping her eat, and just keeping her company. they (well, he) celebrated their 60th anniversary this year!

what saddens me the most though is to see all of the people in the nursing home just sitting there with no one to visit them or to care for them, other than the nurses, and they are just spending the rest of their days there in that home. now, i'm no philosopher or wise man by any means, but i just don't see how there is justice in that. why don't the majority of us care for older people better? we put them away in homes and forget about them because it's easier than having to take time out of our busy days to simply go and sit with them and love on them and, whether they know it or not, care for them. of course i realize that some people brought the lonliness upon themselves and may have treated others poorly, but still, i just don't see how it's right for someone to sit in a chair staring blankly into a world that has all but forgotten about them.

if you know me then you know that i am one who stands against injustice and i'm making it a point in my own life that i will not allow this to happen to those in my family. there, now i'm off my soap box. many thanks for letting me vent... comments?

-ar-

C-R-A-Z-Y

the title of this blog post pretty much describes my life for the past month, and that's just about how long it's been since i last posted anything on here. for those of you who check this regularly, i'm truly sorry. i'll do my best to re-cap the last month or so of my life without going into so much detail that you fall asleep whilst reading.

around the middle of september all of the works were being started for the new venture of my life. the contract with VSR was signed and the logistics were being ironed out to begin producing my first record with them. as i was praying about the future of this ministry, God began to put some names in my mind of guys who could possibly join me in this mission. so, as i kept praying and getting more and more comfortable about the guys i was praying for, i began speaking with them about the possibility of them joining and becoming a part of this band (name still undecided) and writing and tracking the album with me. the conversations went well and all party's were in agreement that it would be cool to see where it went and agreed to be on board for the time being.

as we began to move forward and start writing and being creative, it became clear to me that God was going to do something huge. our writing and creative sessions, although few, were very productive and meaningful; at least to me they were. i felt as though we were writing well as a band and everyone had great input as far as creativity, arrangement, and writing. we worked really, really hard and came up with 6 great songs. these will accompany 5 songs from my first album 'this is my song.' all in all, i was very happy with what we were able to accomplish.

well, last wednesday, drew and josh flew out to phoenix, az to track all the bass and drums for the new songs. phil flies out on wednesday of this week, yep, day after tomorrow, to track electric parts; i fly out a week from tomorrow to track vocals and acoustic parts; and dan will be tracking all the piano parts here in town! it's been a really crazy process getting to where we are now, and we're trusting that God is going to use this project to bring many people into at least an understanding of who He is and hopefully into a relationship with His son Jesus. what an increadible thing to be able to make music that can span thousands of people and share a message of hope and restoration with a world that is so constantly beaten down by lies and deceit.

please join with us in praying for this project and asking that God would open doors in massive ways for us to bring this message to the world. we know that it's tough to get into the countries that are 'closed off' from the Gospel, but we know that we walk boldly and powerfully with the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead and that anything is possible with Him.

thanks so much for your support and prayers and i promise that i'll try to do better about posting reports on our progress as a band. oh, and by the way, the name of the band is 'seven stories up.'

until next time
-ar-