February 24, 2009 - I just recieved a phone call from the guys of Shiloh.  They left early this morning from Ozark, Alabama for the 11 hour drive towards their homes in Texas.  They have been on a two week tour in the state of Florida, and I know that they are ready to be home with their families.

This morning, they had to make a 2 hour detour north to Birmingham, Alabama due to engine troubles with their Sprinter bus.  From what I was told, their Sprinter is losing power and the engine light is now lit.  Their vehicle must be taken as quickly as possible to an authorized Sprinter mechanic to be inspected/repaired.

 I know that you love the guys like I do, so I want to ask that we all say a special prayer today not only for the situation they currently face with repairs but also traveling mercies once the problem has been solved.

I want to ask you all for some BIG help!

Shiloh is up for Breakthrough Artist for the 2009 SGN Awards. You can all go to http://sogospelnews.com/ to vote. You will have to vote in all 21 categories.                Voting ends February 15, 2009!

While you are there, scroll down to the WEEKLY CHART and vote for "Count It All Joy" (it has been moving up the charts...it is now 13th) and our newest release "Don't Ever Miss The Chance", which has just been added. Help us reach #1!

You can vote on the WEEKLY CHART every day!!!!!

One final thing, please continue to go to www.southerngospel.com/Contact-Us/ or call them daily at 615-367-2210  and request "Don't Ever Miss the Chance" and "Count It All Joy." They haven't added them to their playlist yet.

 Stay on 'em! They have been playing "In My Shoes" frequently!

Thank you all for your help!

Love you all!
Jeremy

          As far back as I can remember, Christmas has always meant Jesus. Sure…as a child in Tennessee, we always had our get-togethers on both sides of the family with lots of good food, sweets, and gifts. As children, we all had a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve, wondering what Santa was going to bring us. Were we "really" good enough? (usually not…lol)  Those last few days of school before Christmas break….ohh yeah….lots of candy, lots of fun, and most importantly, NO SCHOOL WORK! However, I also remember my Papa McKissack giving a devotion at many of our Christmas gatherings.  Papa McKissack made sure that every single one of us knew who and what the real gift of Christmas was all about.  Both sides of the family always included prayer, thanking God for the real reason we were celebrating. I'm thankful for being brought up in a family that knows the real meaning of Christmas; and my wife and I plan on passing it down to our children.

          When we first got married, I would hear my wife humming a particular tune during the holidays that I didn't recognize. I finally asked her about it, and she said it was a song she sang for a school Christmas pageant when she was younger (surprisingly she still remembers the words…love ya Honey!)  The song was a spelling of Christmas with something about Jesus on each letter.  The chorus went something like this…"C is for the Christ-child, born upon this day; H for herald angels in the night; R's for our Redeemer, I's for Israel, S is for the star that shone so bright; T is for three wise men, they who traveled far; M is for the manger where He lay; A's for all He stands for; S for shepherds came; and that's why there's a Christmas day!"  I believe this about says it all. Yes, we try to provide a "good" Christmas for our children and other family members with our material gifts, but we as humans will never be able to match the one perfect gift from God – his Son.  Everyone KNOWS the real reason for Christmas; however, it sometimes gets pushed to the backs of our minds with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  But we need to remember WHY there is a Christmas…we are celebrating Jesus' birth! Jesus…the reason for the season! Can I get an AMEN?

          Shiloh, along with our families, would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We pray that Jesus will be lifted high amidst all that you do during this wonderful holiday season!

In Christ,

Jeremy

This is a great time of year for great music.  I just love listening to the great Christmas music that is being played during this time of year.  Hearing some of the classics from Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, The Carpenters, and so many more take me back to my childhood and some great memories.  Then, some of the newer songs just bring a real sense of worship to the holiday.  I love Christmas music.

Recently, I stepped up my technology knowledge and purchased an iPod.  This is a neat little thing.  Don't understand how it all works, but I do know that it holds a lot of CDs in its' memory.  When my father passed away back in 2006, I inherited a ton of CDs including a lot of classic Christmas CDs.  I now have over 9 days worth of just Christmas music without repeating one song!!  Now that is a collection.

          We then took a trip down near Corpus Christi, to Robstown, to lead worship in a revival at River Hills Baptist Church. This was my second year to be a part of this revival. We had a great time with those folks, leading worship on Sunday morning, a concert on Sunday night, and leading the worship in revival Monday through Wednesday!

          The following weekend, we were blessed to be part of the concert series at the Texas Gospel Music Hall in Athens. We shared the stage with The Stanley's, a wonderful family group! It was also good to see our friends Kris and Reese, as well as many others! The following weekend, we took off for our annual trip to Kansas. We began with a Saturday night concert at Country View Baptist in Ulysses. This is where we learned that we had a tenor who…really shouldn't be driving. We kind of knew that already, but a situation happened that reinforced it!  Brian went to move the bus and decided to bury us deep in some mud. How he didn't see the huge construction area that looked like wet mud is beyond us. Steve had to put his redneck skills to work, because our trailer was still attached. DUCT TAPE could not solve this problem…lol! By the time we were done getting the bus and the trailer out of the mud, we had the church some irrigation paths dug up, ready to put a sprinkler system in or something…lol! We apologized as best we could! I want to especially thank Loy and Cindy Henderson for letting us stay at their Bar Lazy L Ranch Bed & Breakfast in Ulysses. This beautiful ranch was way out in the country…beautiful. We stayed in a fully furnished unique bunkhouse, where hunters stay throughout the year. In fact, pheasant season was about to begin, and they were booked up for weeks! We were treated to an awesome country breakfast before heading out on Sunday morning. 

          On Sunday morning, we led worship in Moscow (pronounced like "Costco", not Mos – COW, as in the farm animal – we learned that you don't dare say it like the Russian capital, which has the same exact spelling), a small farming community in Kansas, where both the Methodist and the Baptist church combined for a morning worship service at the Moscow Methodist Church. It's great to see a community come together to worship. It was a real blessing for us to be a part of. We closed the Kansas trip with a community concert in Hugoton, at the Hugoton Middle School auditorium. We will look forward to getting back up to Kansas in 2009!

          We closed the month of October with a day at the Chaparral Baptist Camp in Iowa Park, Texas for an associational Senior Adult Rally. For Halloween, I was blessed to be able to attend our home church's Fall Festival with my wife and kids. They had a blast bungee jumping, rock climbing, and climbing all over a bunch of blown up giant playhouses. Of course, they had WAY too much candy….keep's the dentists busy…right?

          November kicked off with a Sunday at First Baptist Church in Carthage, where we led some worship Sunday morning and did a full concert Sunday night. Later that week, we took a trip up to Little Rock, Arkansas, for another all-day association rally at Immanuel Baptist Church. The following weekend, we were a part of the worship service at First Baptist Church in Magnolia, north of Houston. Then we headed back North to be at mine and Steve's home church, First Baptist Church in Corsicana. We had a great time with all our families, our church family, and many community friends. The following week, we had a concert at First Christian Church in Duncanville on Thursday night and Pleasantview Baptist on Friday night.  I t was good to see Mark Hampton and Lynn Dodson, a couple of the original Shiloh Quartet. It was especially good to hear The Hamptons sing (Mark, his wife, daughter, and son-in-law), as well as others.

          The following week, we were back at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth for the quarterly Friday night singing. It was good for me to see my friends Wade Traylor (who just became a daddy as of September), as well as the Russell family from Athens (Brandon, Mandy, and the Russell Rugrats….lol). Oh yeah….remember Brandon, I'll send you the bill for the dry-cleaning for my jacket to get the greasy Cheetos stains off….lol. Love all you guys! Oh….it's always great to see our DJ friends, Lorene Kirksey of KVTT 91.7 FM, Charlie Campbell of 90.9 FM KCBI, and Steve Randall (formerly of KCBI radio). For those of you who are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we would encourage you to contact KCBI radio and ask that they bring back their Southern Gospel, Inspirational, and Christian Country programming on Sunday afternoons. I was listening today and they have totally removed this type of program from their play.  Steve always did a great job with the program, and it would be great to have that program back on the air. Finally, it was also great to see Holly with Steve Randall. Holly…you're what I like most about Steve.

          We closed the month with worship services at Bible Baptist in Jacksboro (the church I nearly passed out in about a year ago) and Field Street Baptist in Cleburne. We are just about to finish up our week off for Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for my wife, Lynell for staying by my side through the good times and the tough times. There is no one I know that could be a better wife or mother. She's had a tough time these past couple weeks with her back being out. I've actually had to cook a bit. Scary… I know! So far, it hasn't turned out too bad…lol! I love you, Honey! I'm so thankful for my children: Erika, Jonah, James, and Emilee. They love me no matter how tough I get on them about doing their chores. They are the best kids a dad could ask for! I'm thankful for mine and Lynell's extended family (my mom, Donna, and step-dad, Mike,  are here as I finish typing this – it's been awesome to have them in our home a few days), for keeping me in church, for encouraging me in music, for loving me so very much despite my many flaws…for so many things! I'm so very thankful for my close friends, which are too many to list here (you know who you are), and my best friends, Steve Colburn, and Brian White. I truly love you guys…otherwise I would have killed you already…lol!

          Hope each of you had a great Thanksgiving. Stop and think about what and who you are thankful for! I'm thankful most of all that Jesus died on the cross for me so that He could save me! Thank you, Jesus!

In Christ,

Jeremy  

Here's a couple places you can vote for our new single "Count It All Joy":