Tonight we got started on a series of fall tour dates. I was joined by my good friends and band mates in Nashville, TN at Brentwood United Methodist Church to help kick off their fall youth ministry schedule. If you get the chance, you should make a point to come and see us play. I have never had so much fun. I love sharing the stage with friends and the experience of playing music together. There's really nothing else like it in the world. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we head up to Penn State in State College, PA. We have a very long drive ahead of us with a trailer in tow. I'm sure there will be many stories to share. Also, my voice is still worn out from a mission trip this summer. I'm struggling a bit with a little hoarseness and throat is a little raw. 

Hope to see you on the road soon.  

Just wanted to let everyone know that my new album, All I Can Give You, is now available online at Noisetrade.com.  If you've never heard of NoiseTrade, you have to check it out. Here's how it works, click on the the image below and either share it with 3 friends or make a donation of $1 or more and you can download my entire album. Whatever you want to do, pretty cool. Be sure to come back here and let me know what you think of the new CD. Thanks.

So, Casey and I just returned from an amazing mission trip to Costa Rica. We accompanied the Highland Park UMC Youth Group (from Dallas) to Puerta Viejo, where we did construction work for three Methodist churches and led Vacation Bible School at six other churches. It my second year in a row on the trip, and Casey's first. It was so nice that the wife could join me this time around. She so often gets left behind in Memphis while I travel. 

I don't even know where to begin, so I'm going to let Casey, the real writer of the family, pick up where I leave off. But just as a teaser, her post might include: worship at Agape Methodist Church, rain forest tours, Costa Rican children, concrete, and Javier, our rockstar bus driver.

Stay tuned for more, amigos.

(PS: "Pura Vida" or "Pure Life/Full of Life" is a popular saying in Costa Rica. Usually said with much enthusiasm, Pura Vida is an acknowledgment of the Costa Rican attitude towards life.)

First of all, THANK YOU.

Thank you for being loyal fans, friends, family, and stewards. Because of you, The Ken Weatherford band had the opportunity to play for a national book tour. That's right - on your generous donations of over $1000 (I know - WOW), we made it to Dallas for the Jesus For President Tour, where we rocked intermission like it's never been rocked before. 

Comprised of myself, Josh Vegors on guitar, Bryan Rumfola on drums, and Stephen Adkisson on Bass, along with special musical guest Adam Wheatley, the band hopped into my little Ford Escape and  journeyed to the Longhorn State. Wednesday night, we were graciously hosted by one of my favorites groups at Highland Park UMC. On short notice, they let us play our music, and even put us up in a hotel for two nights. (Thanks HP!)

But the main purpose of our adventure came Thursday night, when we joined forces with Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw, and the Jesus for President Tour. We got to play in front of a thousand folks who never heard us before, and hopefully we gained some new fans. (Casey, my beautiful wife, and her mother Gail, even flew out to join us). I wish you could have all come along. It was so much fun.

We arrived at the venue on Thursday afternoon around the same time that the Jesus for President Tour Bus pulled in. It is an old clunker school bus hand-painted by the guys, and it runs solely on vegetable oil. They have taken that thing all over the country. Honestly, I can't believe how well it has held up. During the event, Shane and Chris (co-authors of Jesus for President), spoke about the ideals in the book, and they were accompanied by fantastic band called The Psalters. These ordinary radicals are challenging much of what the American Church has come to be, and instead, they are offering a different perspective on the scriptures than I've ever heard before. Man, do they nail it on the head. This book isn't suggesting that we add Jesus as a write-in on our presidential ballot this November; it suggests that the ballot is irrelevant to Christians. We pledge our allegiance to another Kingdom, another Principality. Our national heritage, once we are born again, no longer lies with any country or city or political party of this world. Derek Webb reminds us of the same principle in "A King and a Kingdom":

"So my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood. It's to a King and a Kingdom."

Most countries would consider this language high treason. But that's what we are called to. To commit acts of treason to serve our true King. Without borders or lines of division, we are brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God. And we are called to love one another like family.  I don't know about you, but I want to love and be loved like that. How radically different it is to truly love, even if it costs your life. 

The trip was great. I think we sounded pretty good. People bought music and sponsored a few kids through World Vision. But man, it was incredible to listen to Shane and Chris speak. Because here's the deal - unlike so many of their contemporaries, they are actually living what they preach. They live in the poorest section of Philadelphia in community with one another. Bringing together their gifts, talents, money to share with one another and their neighbors around them. They offer a bed to anyone in need of a good night's rest. They share food with anyone who needs a meal. They are actually doing what Christ asked us to do. And they don't just throw money at charities and let others do the work. No sir -  they live it. In a "Christian" culture that considers Jesus a safe option, a family-friendly choice, Jesus calls us to be radically unsafe. He calls the rich to sell their belongings and follow him. To hang out with whores and beggars. In fact, once he began His ministry, Jesus was homeless, traveling from place to place and relying on the kindness of believers to provide. He called us out of Babylon to a new economy, one that is so very different than anything this world has ever seen. I'm tired of watching friends, family, and myself suffer under this Roman economy, and I want to taste what God has in store for us here. Heaven on earth. It's not that far away. 

The Bible Belt: Casting Judgment Since 1864

Can't you just see that on a t-shirt? You'd wear one, wouldn't you? 

This magical shirt idea came from the tired, yet agile minds of Josh (guitarist for The Ken Weatherford Band) and myself whilst on the road from Texas to Tennessee. Actually, we came up with a whole line of Bible Belt Tees. They will either offend a lot of people or sell like crazy. But there's only one way to find out, right?

So it's 2:30 in the morning. I was asleep an 4 hours ago, but now I am wide awake with sinus trouble and a brain the just won't shut down. I didn't want to just keep lying there and bother my wife with me sneezy-ness so while I wait for the medication to do its thing, I am writing to you.

I've been waking up more and more i the middle of the night lately. Not just with sinuses, but because I am worried. Which yes, I know, many preachers would say that that is simply a lack of faith in God and not trusting that He will provide. But the reality of applying that trust is a bit more difficult than the words make it seem. Everyone I talk to is feeling the crunch. Gas prices are affecting everything we do in this country. It is still just amazing to me how much 1 thing changing can affect everything else about our economy. I know there is much more involved than just high gas prices, but you can see the domino effect everywhere. I hope you aren't up with me now, worrying over something we can't control. I hope and pray your faith in God or whatever you have faith in is helping you rest soundly tonight. 

The Benadryl is kicking in now. My eyes are starting to close as I write. Hopefully I can go back to bed and not wake Casey up. Good Night. 

I killed off my back yard this past fall and seeded all new grass. When it came in, it was beautiful. It was this amazingly bright green grass. My neighbors and friends were all really impressed. It was just great. But then we left town for 1 week and upon our arrival home (sidebar - this would have happened no matter if we left or not) the yard was full of weeds and little tree seedlings. It is no longer the pretty green yard I longed for but a lawn struggling to survive. It is being choked out by the weeds and large trees of our neighboring yards. With all of these factors going against it, there's hardly any chance that the yard will live a pure existence free of its contaminants.

It will take an army of pesticides, chemicals, weed killers, and pre-emergents just to maintain it. All of that takes a lot of time and money, neither of which I have to spare. Hopefully I'll be able to do something about the grass down the road. But to take this relate it back to life, we as Christians can't continue to try and rid ourselves of the "contaminants" or "weeds" in the world. In doing so, we ourselves become vessels of hate which is more often than not the thing we are trying to destroy. As followers of Christ, we can no longer conform to the patterns of this world by fighting problems the same way everyone else does. Instead of trying to eradicate sin and evil from the world, we need to simply LOVE the world. We need to imagine a different world now. One where heaven is actually here on earth and not some far off ideal we can only reach through death. Heaven can be obtained, the perfect yard can be seen and enjoyed by bringing about real change through Love. 

“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”  - Mahatma Gandhi