Prayers Do Get Answered

If you are a friend of this band or if you have been following this blog for a while you know that a little over a year ago we were asked to step down from a long running commitment we had made to lead the contemporary service at Nashville's Belle Meade UMC. The reason why is still unclear, but many members of the band X-ALT! were badly hurt by the way things were handled. As a member at Belle Meade, along with my wife Brooke and Tommy and his wife Luann we have been facing our own challenges in continuing to worship at Belle Meade.

Not long after we were let go, a new Assistant Pastor, Pam Hawkins, was assigned to the church and she has made quite a difference, especially where Tommy, Luann, Brooke and myself are concerned. She has spent time talking, praying with and for us and counseling us and it has made a huge difference in our outlook. But there has still been that feeling of hurt and betrayal that continues to nag at me. I have been praying for a chance at closure for the situation and also for a chance for
X-ALT! to return to Belle Meade. We have many friends there who stood by us while we were going through everything and transitioning from a "Church Praise Band" to a working "Contemporary Gospel Group" and we so missed all of them.

Well today my prayer was answered with an invitation from Senior Pastor Mike Ripski for X-ALT! to return to Belle Meade and play an after dinner concert on Aug. 29th. We have accepted his invitation and it will now be my prayer that this appearance will be a stepping stone to the healing that needs to happen. God is good and everything happens on His schedule. I've always felt that when the time was right we would be asked to return to Belle Meade, and now that time has arrived.
Thank God! (Literally)
V

Portland Strawberry Festival

I'm not going to waste a lot of space telling you about our day at the Portland Strawberry Festival. Let's just say "We Had A Blast"! Here's the pictures to prove it.




















A special thanks to my daughter Lucy for the stellar pictures she took of us on stage and to Susie and her family for the ones they took as well.
V

Prayer requests and many thanks

X-ALT! is blessed to have a lot of very talented friends and we so appreciate all that they do for us.

Having said that we need your prayers for one of our own. Katy Seale, who has been with us since the beginning, is facing another round of surgery for problems with her back and neck that have kept her away from the X-ALT! shows for too long. Please keep Katy in your prayers that this surgery will be a success and she will be feeling good enough to join back up with us soon. GOD bless you Katy, we love you and miss you.






I also want to say a special thanks to a couple of people.



Thank you Lawrence! Lawrence Bailey is one of the most talented multi-instrumentalists that I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. Lawrence started playing with Tommy and me many years ago in a band called "Blue Collar". He is now resident Sax player for one of the hottest FUNK bands in Nashville. His group "The Jones" is well worth your time to check out whenever they are playing around town. Lawrence has been kind enough to sit in with us from time to time and will be doing so again this Saturday at the Portland Strawberry Festival, playing both Sax and Guitar (not at the same time). THANK YOU LAWRENCE!




Thank You JESSICA! Jessica Reel will be making her first official appearance as part of X-ALT! at the Portland Strawberry Festival. Jessica is Susie's daughter and has an incredible voice and her mother's love for singing. Jessica will be filling in for Katy untill she feels well enough to come back. Thank You Jessica! You ROCK!

Come on out to Portland for the Strawberry Festival this Saturday. X-ALT! will be playing at 4:30. See you there.
V

A few pictures from the Portland "Relay For Life"

How cool is that!

Mark Mills informs me that Gospel radio station 790am out of Ashland City TN played "Open Up" from the Rhythm and Praise CD during their Sunday morning line up!
We were on the radio - HOW COOL IS THAT!
V

A Great Night in Portland

Sometimes things just go your way, Friday night at the "Relay For Life" in Portland Tn was just one on those nights. We were all grumbling a bit as the rain came down for the second consecutive night we had scheduled for an outdoor appearance but God was watching out for us and for this great event. The rain had dwindled to a sprinkle as we arrived and started to unload our stuff. Just as the luminary ceremony started the rain stoped and a cool breeze started to blow. The luminary ceremony was one of the most touching events I've had the pleasure to experience as candle after candle was lit in memory of those who had survivied cancer and for those who unfortunately had not. As a bagpipe player started playing "Amazing Grace" the crowd made a commemorative lap around the track at Meadow Brook Park, we finished our set up and were ready to go. The six of us that made the trip began our set as the crowd completed their circuit with "Down To The River To Pray" then went into a set of our favorites including "Piggy Back Ride", "Lean On Me", No Place Like Home", "Just For You", Sooth Me", "The Lord Is Coming Back" and a few others. The night was perfect and the crowd seemed to enjoy our music. Afterwards the host who is a DJ for a Christian music station in Ashland City pulled us aside to thank us for our appearance and to ask for a CD so he could play some of our music on his station. He also invited us to make an appearance on his show to talk about our ministry.
We tentatively made plans to do the show the Sunday before our appearance in Ashland City on June 30th.
We are really looking forward to our return trip to Portland for the Strawberry Festival next Saturday the 19th.
Then we are off to the races again during the month of June with four appearances before taking a break during the month of July. God has blessed us with such an active ministry, and we thank Him for it. EVERYDAY!
V

A Note From Some Fans

We received this over at our Myspace page from the girls in the pictures at the end of the last post...

"Oh my goodness I saw y'all at relay for life in Gallatin...I was one of the wet dancers!!!! I'm in those pictures!! Y'all were awesome!!"
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"We loved y'all's band! And we had so much fun!!! I wore my shirt today and put y'alls CD on my ipod! I'm glad I'm y'alls friend!! I hope we talk! Love y'all, Jade"
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We love you guys too! Thanks for helping make a wet night a lot of fun! Hopefully we will see you all again soon!

Raindrops Are Falling On Our Heads

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit,
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'
So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin
'But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me
Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me'
Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm freeNothin's worryin' me

I am so proud to be a member of X-ALT!

We arrived at the Sumner County Fairgrounds for the American Cancer Society "Relay For Life" Friday around 8:00PM. It was starting to sprinkle as it had been all day long but the forecast was calling for heavy storms with thunder and lightning - and the forecast was right. Around 9:00 the bottom fell out. Some of the scheduled bands cancelled but we were there and although there was a lot of concern we decided to wait it out and see what happened. The ceremony scheduled to start at 9:00 was delayed for about 20 minutes and the track was cleared due to lightning. As the water started to flood the set up area we started to quickly put our equipment on the stage and begin our set up. The rain slacked off to a steady downpour but they began the ceremony around 9:30. By 10:00PM, when we were scheduled to start, the rain was still coming down but a few of the walkers has returned to the track as others started giving up and packing to go home. We were given the nod and started our set and it was like God was listening, the longer we played the less it rained and by our last song, an hour and a half later the rain had cleared and we even had some young and very excited dancers in front of the stage.

What could have been a total wash out turned into an evening to remember. I've said it before and I will continue to say it "God is good and works miracles every day." The "Relay for Life" was a blessing for us and it raised a lot of money for a great cause, and I hope God was glorified by both.
Here are some pictures from the event...

A slight change of plans

X-ALT! will be performing "Horn-less" for the upcoming "Relay For Life" benefits. Circumstances beyond our control have caused our horn section to be unavailable for the month of May so we will be pulling out the more Rockin' material and moving on!
Our good buddy Lawrence Bailey will be joining us on sax for the Portland Strawberry Festival.
Rock On!
and God Bless
Vince