Cannon Beach Men's Conference

Dear Prayer Team,

RESCUE had a great time at the Men’s Conference at Cannon Beach Conference Center this past weekend! We enjoyed some very inspiring messages from Pastor Ed Underwood of Church of the Open Door in Glendora, California. He is a former military man and related the stories of his time in the US Army's Jump School where he became a member of the "Airborne" troops. He related the principles of his training and the story of Caleb (Joshua 14:12 specifically) to our own spiritual walk. He spoke of four principles: Conditioning (getting into spiritual shape by reading the Bible and daily prayer), Obeying commands (submission to God), Facing confrontations (speaking the truth in love and being able to receive it from others) and having Courage (standing for what is right under very difficult circumstances). The themes are universal to men and women, but Ed knows the way to relate these concepts to men in a way that really motivates us.

One of his statements really stuck with me throughout the week. He said, "...these are some of the things I've done. I Have jumped out pf C-130's, I HAVE jumped out of C-147's - I have fallen trees (I used to work as a fireman for the Forest Service) The biggest one was seven feet on the stump, so that was pretty exciting seeing that thing come down. I served with a Hot Shot crew in Southern California, while I was in college, fighting fire. I’ve fought fire in the brush fields of Southern California, going downhill cutting brush bringing fire with us, standing on the mountain, daring the fire to get us! I’ve taken tanks downrange. I've done a lot of things, but nothing, no assignment in my life, has been more messy, no assignment in my life has been more confusing, more daunting, or taken more courage, than to love one woman as Christ loved the church and to raise kids in a Godless world so that they would want to follow my Savior, and to lead men, not to jump out of airplanes, not to fight fire, but to lead men in a way that they could make a difference in this sin-stained world for Jesus Christ."


Ed Underwood was inspiring as he spoke to the men of the conference.

After feeling so blessed to be able to take part in such a wonderful time of Bible teaching, we were so happy to be a part of the program, encouraging the men there to worship God and to live lives that can make a "difference".

We sang two songs per speaking session and did a concert on Saturday night. Former RESCUE member, "Mac" (Jason McKenney) and his father-in-law happened to be in Cannon Beach that weekend and decided to come and support us that night. It was great to see him again and he was a great encouragement to us.

It has been really fun for us to be able to offer our newest CD, "Before the Throne Pre-Release". The three songs that are on the CD mean a lot to each of us. They are definitely ministry songs that we can really stand behind. It is also really great that Brandon's percussion demonstration is on there too, because many people want to hear more from him than just the video demonstration that we play at concerts.

It was such a pleasure to see the encouragement on the faces of the men who spoke to us afterwards. We felt no doubt that God had ministered through the ministry of RESCUE and were so humbled to be able to witness such a life-changing time for many men.

Six Concerts

Dear Prayer Team,

Wow! It’s been a couple of VERY busy weeks around RESCUE! Since our last bulletin we’ve done SIX outdoor concerts! I think I’ll just give you a little taste of each of them.

Warner Pacific College was rolling out their new logo and decided to have a community event with local radio personalities, HUGE balloons, and CUPCAKES (yum!). We had an outstanding time at this very well-planned event!

Sherwood Presbyterian has a nice little park right across the street from their church where many community events are held, so they decided to bring Jesus to their community. There were several other Christian musical groups there and Starbucks had people there with, get this, coffee backpacks! Very cool! We think Dustin needs one.

Garden Way Church in Eugene brought us out to do an outdoor concert on their huge church lawn on a sunny Sunday morning! We hate wearing sunglasses while doing concerts because we don’t want anything to get in the way of the message, but the blinding sun was reflecting off of the white tents, so we made it a "sunglasses optional" concert. There were such helpful people at the church, we were well taken care of! It was a great event and I am sure that many were encouraged in the Lord because of their efforts. I had some barbershop friends from the Eugene area come to the concert to check up on me :-) . It was great to see them!

We also did a concert for a group called "Stand Up Girl". It is an organization dedicated to help at-risk pregnant teens to make godly decisions, encouraging adoption rather than abortion. There were two other groups before us on the program including a great sounding Christian band called "Allaway" (turns out I knew the drummer from barbershop) and a group of four sisters aged 13 to 19 from Grants Pass who sing Christian Bluegrass called "The Emmons Sisters". The concert was on a huge stage in idyllic, Monteith Riverpark in Albany, OR. We had a great time meeting with people afterwards and were glad to be a part of an event to benefit such a worthy cause.

We traveled from Albany that night to Sisters, OR and arrived in our rooms at about 2:30 AM. We woke up early the next morning to set up the equipment on the lawn at Sisters Community Church for their morning service. If I had seen the view of the mountains from their lawn in a movie, I wouldn’t have believed it was real. I wanted to just stop and stare at the Three Sisters Mountain Range, but then I saw another unusual sight. Right across the street from the church, toward the mountains, there is a herd of domesticated Elk. They were amazing! We had a really fun concert! My family’s closest friends live nearby so my family and I stayed there for Labor Day.

Last Saturday evening we traveled to Community Chapel in a little town called Sweet Home, OR. I heard Over mention something about an outdoor amphitheater, but I didn’t give it much thought. When we arrived it was dark, so we didn’t get to see much, but I could tell this was going to be quite an experience. The next morning as we loaded in the equipment we saw the amphitheater in the full glory of the morning sun. I was DAZZLED! There were flowers everywhere, a pond, and PALM TREES?? We’ll have pictures on the website because words cannot express how beautiful this place is. I thought I must have been transported to Hawaii in my sleep! We had a great time there. During the middle of the concert the pastor delivered a great sermon about serving others with what God has given each of us, and there was a big barbecue afterwards.

Even with all of these concert dates, Over was STILL able to get the pre-release album done this week! PRAISE GOD! (details at www.rescuemusic.com)

Even though it takes a lot of emotional, physical and spiritual strength to shoulder this type of schedule we’re so very thankful for the opportunity that God has given us to encourage the body of Christ and to share the Gospel with the people who come to our concerts! The members of RESCUE and our support team of friends and family all know that prayer, and prayer alone, has made this possible!