New Project Updates

Today we're finishing up the final overdubs for the last 5 trax of the new record. Everything's going really well and I'm pumped about how they're turning out. This album will combine the 6 tunes from ATG and make it a full-length. Pretty excited about it. Although I thought it would be completely different from The Healing in terms of its singability, it's actually turning out to be more corporate in nature than I had originally thought. So, that in itself is pretty exciting. I've got a great group of guys working on this with me. Scott Spruill, Andy Cherry, Tim Morrison, Stuart Clark, and of course, Jake Hunter, our fearless engineer.

Tasha will be here later this afternoon to finish her parts. Our good friends, the Newmans, from Southbrook Church, are watching our kiddos this afternoon so that Tasha can be here both in body and in mind :) Thanks guys!

Tomorrow we head down to South Carolina where we'll spend the weekend with some old friends from college, the Hanna's. Curt and Morgan planted Oasis Church about a year or so ago and we have the privilege of leading worship for them. On top of that, Tasha will actually be playing a big role in the service itself as she speaks about biblical womanhood and submission. It'll be kind of a Q & A format with Pastor Curt. So, pray for her as she prepares. It's gonna be awesome.

The Wee Hours of a Studio

God Be Praised - Recap

Well, it's about time I brought you up-to-speed with the live recording last Friday night. It was an amazing night of worship with Journey Church of Raleigh, NC at The Worship Center in Durham, NC. The theme of the night, "God Be Praised" was more than a theme, it was a reality that we all experienced. It was more than a recording or an event. It was a night where hurting people came to experience the overwhelming love of God and to worship the everlasting Creator of the universe, the One who reigns forever.

One young man came up to me after the night was over and told me how much he needed that. He came in broken and with the baggage of sin in his life, and he said that from the first strum of the first chord he felt the Lord's presence and felt His forgiveness, restoration, mercy and grace in a such a fresh way. It was indeed a night to remember and a night for which we give God all the praise and glory. God Be Praised!



Watch for the CD to be released in just a few short months.

The worship set included:
1. I'm Not Ashamed (Hillsong)
2. Yours Forever (Hillsong)
3. King on His Way (Via's - Journey original)
4. God of Our Salvation (Adam Neal - Journey original)
5. Overcome (New Life Worship)
6. The Stand (Hillsong)
7. Arms Open Wide/In Your Freedom (Hillsong)
8. God Be Praised (Via's - Journey original)
9. With Everything (Hillsong)
10. We Shine (Fee)
11. Sing, Sing, Sing (Tomlin)

God Be Praised - Worship Night and Live Recording

You're not going to want to miss tomorrow night. Click here for more info.

Ridiculous Week

Monday and Tuesday we were back in the studio at Jake Hunter's tracking three more tunes to add to the growing album. If all goes well we should have 11 tracks for the new record, and if we can raise some significant funds, we should have it early 2010. We'll see. Anybody know any millionaires wanting to give to a good cause? :) (All That Glitters is another project altogether and should be done really soon. Thanks for your patience!)

The timing of this was ridiculous! We're smack in the middle of packing boxes and getting ready to make the move to RDU on Sunday afternoon. We're getting a brand new roof and preparing for the first Journey live recording next Friday, the 30th. What in this world were we thinking? The only thing that I can think of that would have made this even better is if Tasha were having a baby this week or if I were on a mission trip!! But hey, you can't have it all!

Here are some pics of the current craziness.

Acoustic Guitar Invasion

Laid down the acoustic overdubs yesterday at Jake's. Borrowed a Freshman guitar from Kevin and Sarah DeShields from Renovatus Church. It sounded amazing!! Borrowed a 12-string Taylor from Allen Brunson from Crosspoint Church. And it also sounded incredible. Thanks guys for the borrows. Blessings to you and your ministries.

Tracking "All That Glitters"

Last week we began tracking for All That Glitters, our latest CD project. This is my Dad's brain-child. The idea behind it is for it to be a musical journey of the Gospel. There are 7 spoken-word pieces narrated by my Dad, Rick. Following each narration, there is a song that portrays a bit of the theme from each section. Each song is pretty unique, offering a slightly different genre of music so as to appeal to a greater number of people to reach them with the Gospel. Pray for the final stages of this project as we finish up overdubs in the next 2 weeks and then move on to mixing. Pray that the Lord will use it to reach people with the Gospel who normally wouldn't step foot in a church. And if you'd like to order some discs in bulk for your church or ministry, please feel free to contact me anytime. Once they're ready, we'll be offering them super-cheap because we just want to get them into the hands of people who need Jesus Christ.









Jake Hunter and Rick Via getting set up to record some sweet spoken word.










The ever-smiling Stuart Clark on bass











Timmy Tim Tim Morrison on drums - buries the click every time













"Sick-riffs" Andrew Cherry on lead electric













Scotty Spruill - the gift and the ministry of the pad!

Return Worship Live Recording

Yesterday was an amazing day at Southbrook Church. We had our first ever live recording. And it went better than any of us could have imagined. The presence of the Lord
was thick in the room. And people were engaged with God. Tasha and I feel privileged every time we get to share the stage with this amazing team of worship leaders, musicians and lovers of God. Word on the street is that it will be available by Christmas. We'll see how it goes. Our good friend Jake Hunter did the recording and will be doing all the post-production work, so if he has his way, I'm sure it will be done by Christmas. Thanks to all of you who served alongside us yesterday and/or prayed for us and supported us. Blessings to you all.

Here's the Set:
1. Breakthrough (led by Andy Cherry)
2. Revival's Fire (led by Andy Cherry)






3. Immanuel (led by Josh & Tasha Via)














4. Fade Away (led by Dan Rutty and LaDonna Mole)
5. Pour (led by Dan Rutty)




















6. You Do All Things Well (led by Josh Via)












7. Everything You Do (led by Sara Scott)








8. God of Me (led by Gal Friday)
9. Glory of Your Name (led by Gal Friday)
10. King Above All Gods (led by Andy, Dan, Josh and Sara)
11. Your Love Does No Wrong (led by Sara Scott)

Tasha on "Oh, How I Love Jesus"

Day 7:
Tasha finished up her overdubs today. They sounded amazing ... as always! Here's a little sample of her on our arrangement of "Oh, How I Love Jesus."

Day 5

Day 5 at Jake's Place:

Another amazing day. We had Brett Banks and Andy Bradberry in sessions today for bass and drums consecutively. Andy Cherry and Scott Spruill were back on guitars and keys. All of these guys are doing a phenomenal job. We've begun each day with group prayer, asking God to show up in power and move and work through us as we worship. Because I have this thing about recording a worship album where worship doesn't actually happen in the sessions. And so far, after 10 tracks, this hasn't been the case. The Lord is showing up mightily and I believe that He's being honored and glorified through this entire project. Jake Hunter has done an incredible job as our engineer. He's been very sensitive to our desire to capture as much of a "live" worship feel as possible, so that what really happens in the studio and in our hearts comes through on the album.

Day 4

Today we finished up Day 4 in the studio at Jake's Place working on our new CD. It's going really really well. Jake Hunter is an amazing engineer and is doing a great job. The Lord is blessing beyond what I ever expected. Every day He shows up in a powerful way, and with His presence He brings an amazing sense of freedom to worship and allow Him to move in and through us. My hope is that we can catch that as much as possible on the record. That the whole album would be totally bathed in His presence--that when anyone hears it, they will sense His presence. Keep praying that the Lord will sustain us through another week and that the end result will be nothing less than a sweet sound in His ears.

Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith

We're in the studio this week. We have been privileged to be a small part of a new worship CD with the Southbrook Worship Band from Southbrook Church here in Charlotte.
And we're having a stellar time. There's some amazing song writers and musicians all having their hand in this project, and the Lord is going to be magnified through it.

The studio we're in is called Studioeast. It was one of the first recording studios in Charlotte, built and managed by none other than Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith.
You may know Arthur better as the man who wrote "Duelin' Banjos" that first appeared in the 70's flick "Deliverance." Arthur still comes around the studio and is having a hand in the production of the CD. Tasha and I got to meet him on Monday. What a cool guy. At 87 years of age, he's got impeccable hearing. The whole band would be playing wide open and he'd say something like, "The third G accented note on the acoustic guitar on the fourth bar of the second verse is flat." And that's only a slight exaggeration.

Today we've got a break from being in the studio, so I'm spending some time in the sun with the kids in our above ground pool. Gotta run.