We Go to the Dominican Republic this week

This week promises to be a life-changing week for us as we embark on our first "vision trip" with World Vision to the Dominican Republic. We have had the privilege of working with World Vision over the last 10 years - you have probably heard us share about them and their ministry at one of our shows. This quick trip (Monday through Thursday) marks our first opportunity to see first-hand what your sponsorship dollars are doing in the lives of the poorest of the poor. We would like you to join us throughout the week and participate in the trip via live video chats, blog posts, your prayers, etc. Our hope is that the Lord will break our hearts with the things that break His heart (sound familiar?) and give us stories to bring back and share with you as we encourage the western Church to step up and give out of our enormous abundance. Here are a few ways you can join with us this upcoming week:

Twitter - if you are not yet following us (@downhere), now's the time! We will be tweeting real-time updates from the various projects we visit along with specific prayer requests throughout each day.

Facebook/Blog - each evening one of us will be posting some thoughts and pictures as we process what we are seeing and experiencing. Chances are that whatever is posted here on our blog will also be duplicated on our Facebook page - so it's your call as to where you check it out!

Video Chat - if you have been a part of one of our live streaming events via our Livestream channel you know what to expect. We don't have set times for this yet - that's why it will be important for you to be following our Twitter updates as that will be where we post the times. We WILL be in Eastern Standard Time and won't be streaming any earlier than 6pm any given day. We look forward to having you join us as we share our experiences of the day (as long as the internet service at the hotel is robust enough to handle it).

SPONSOR A CHILD

In the spirit of full disclosure, World Vision is taking us on this trip so that we can come back to North America, share our stories and experiences, and help them get even more kids sponsored. It is a well documented truth that - while some of us may not feel like it - we in North America are among the wealthiest people in the world. And as the North American Church it is our biblical mandate to take care of the orphans and widows - not just in our country but around the world. This week we are focusing on the people of the Dominican Republic, and we want to present to you a unique opportunity:

All the children you will see via this link are in one of the villages that we will be visiting on Wednesday. If you sign up to sponsor one (or more!) of these children and email/Twitter/Facebook us their names before Wednesday morning we will do our best to meet your child, take a picture with them, and tell them that one of our friends back in America (or beyond) has sponsored them. We cannot guarantee that we'll be able to meet each one, but if we have their name we can be on the look-out and ask around for your new sponsored child.

As always, we would covet your prayers as we travel. There will be a lot to digest in a short amount of time; we want to come back healthy as we have two shows to play right after we get home and don't want to share any bugs/sicknesses with our families. Thanks for all of your support - we look forward to seeing how the Lord extends the ministry of our music as we partner together in changing lives around the world. We can't wait to share this week with you!

Sincerely,

Jeremy, Glenn, Marc, and Jason