What's new with ACross Life? [{Prison Ministry and Awards}

Hi guys,

It's Joey from ACL giving you an update on somethings.


Fresh Bread/Prison Ministry:
There will not be a Fresh Bread this Sunday for a few reasons that were outside of our and COFAT's control. Some of you may know that on Sunday afternoon, ACross Life will be leading worship at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women.


MCIW is a maximum security prison in Jessup, MD and undoubtedly there are souls that are seeking answers for a million and one questions that run through their minds. Having the chance to minister in front of hundreds in a situation like this is an honor and a privilege. God has seen it fit for us to do something great for Him and please keep us in your prayers so that nothing but His message comes through us on Sunday afternoon.


With that being said, please know that Fresh Bread wasn't canceled without trying to find any and every possible way to make both things happen. There are people here in Maryland that don't have an opportunity to freely attend things like Fresh Bread and Friday Night Live but need Jesus just as much as we do.


Billboard World Songwriting Contest:

I entered "Don't Know Why" in the 15th annual Billboard World Songwriting Contest last fall and it won Honorable Mention! I'm happy to say that this is big for ACross Life. The fact that a)It's Billboard and b) it was a World-Wide competition should show that we were up against a lot of strong competition. Fortunately for us, the song was able to place and we were able to put our name on the map as someone to compete for the top next year.
Although the song was placed in the Contemporary Christian/Gospel category, it won Honorable Mention out of ALL of the categories combined too!!

God is great and please keep us in your prayers!!

See ya tonight at FNL!!

Joey

So we won an award!

Some time last year I entered ACross Life's "Don't Know Why" into the 15th annual Billboard World Songwriting Contest. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew that we have some really good music but I wasn't sure how far something off our EP could go. Well, out of thousands of entries, it was picked for Honorable Mention!! The award isn't just for the Contemporary Christian/Gospel section, but it was for all the songs across the board.

I think we'll submit a few more songs next year and I think we've got a great chance of doing much much better this time around.

New commercial for our cd release party Friday July 18, 2008

What a great weekend!

Wow...what can I say...

This weekend was GREAT!

It started off with FNL on Friday night...soooo many people came through to chill and fellowship, and of course, to worship!

The church had a capacity crowd and had to stop letting people in at around 11:30 while Agape was on. Word of mouth buzz is really growing and we've got only God to thank for that!

ACross Life went on at 12 and we closed the night out. Unfortunately (due to some "new" county noise ordinance) we had to shorten our set a bit but we still were rockin! Can't wait until next month!

If you don't know what Friday Night Live (FNL) is, its a monthly Christian event that ACross Life and Agape host every third Friday at Church of Love Faith Center in Temple Hills, MD.

Saturday we were at the "Youth Building Up Our Future" Benefit Concert and Telethon down in Brandywine, MD. The goal of the day was to bring some of the hottest Christian acts from the area together to help raise money for local church youth groups and diabetes research. Well, we went on at about 1:30pm during the prime of the day and the crowd was live! We even got an encore! Big ups to Wayne and Chris from RC Productions for inviting us to minister for such a great cause!

Next Up: Check our calendar on http://www.acrosslife.com

Friday Night Live TONIGHT!!!

Man! The best part of the month is finally approaching!!

It's an understatement to say that the band is really looking forward to tonight because there is so much happening!

We've got Jeremiah Hicks leading praise and worship!

The smooth harmonies of up and coming group Relentless!

The rockin bounce beats of Agape Band!

and of course...

The HIGH ENERGY of ACross Life!!!

Tonight will be special too because we're in the process of releasing our first live cd! We've been working on it for the past couple of months now...tweaking levels, doing overdubs, and A LOT of long nights in front of protools and the MacBook Pro. We will have a few tracks on the album that everyone has been waiting to have recorded BUT you're just going to have to wait til it drops to find out!

If you need more information about tonight then hit up our website at http://www.acrosslife.com/. Everything you need to know is on the site!

See ya tonight,

Joey

The Commonality of Christ

While on vacation a couple weeks ago, I ran into a very special person.

Before I got to talk to him personally, I knew there was something different. You know that feeling you get when you think you've met someone before but aren't sure? Well, I kinda got that vibe. We were at the basketball courts chilling and low and behold, we ended up guarding each other in a game of three on three. What I experienced that day (other than losing the first game and winning the second, haha) was something that I'll never forget...

The Commonality of Christ.

After the games were over, I told him I was in a Christian Hip Hop/Rock band and he told me he was a Youth Pastor from just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. I told him that my band often travels through the east coast doing ministry, and he told me that he has 13 brothers and sisters, some of whom were adopted from missions trips both here and abroad.

Christ.

Here we stood, two guys from two different walks but we were excited about each others pursuits in ministry. I mean, his passion and heart for youth led him to the streets of Compton, California and the villages of South Africa. My ministry has allowed me to step on several stages and churches, not to mention build relationships with supporters and friends whom have been blessings in my life.

Commonality.

Jesus tells us in the Great Commission to go and spread His Gospel to the saved and the unsaved. There are so many people on Earth with so many likes and dislikes...it's good to know that we can all have one thing in common...

Christ.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers out there...and the grandfathers/uncles/cousins/brothers/mothers/grandmothers/sisters who might be filling in the gap.

Where would we be without fathers? Where would we be without Christ?

On another note, while several dads are probably watching the US Open and NBA Finals, I want to make my two picks...Tiger and the Celtics!

Best Buy was rockin!!

ACL wants to thanks everyone who came out to support our in-store concert at Best Buy yesterday. Thanks to the managers and staff who allowed us in the store and thanks to the random customers who stopped shopping for cell phones and dvds in order to see what we had to say about this man named Jesus.

If you have photos and videos from yesterday post em up!!

Website goes public today!

Hey guys, it's Joey here...

I just wanted to say that we finally got a chance to release our website today! It's so crazy...I walk across the stage for graduation in about 8 hours and I'm more excited about the progress of our ministry than the biggest moment of my life so far. Well you know how it goes...only what you do for Christ shall last...

Welp, that's it for now. We released our site and I graduate from University of Maryland College Park today!!! May 23, 2008 is going down in history as the best day ever, haha.

Who We Are.

We are ACross Life.

We are God's radio.

Ok...enough of the bylines.

This is a blog that ACL is starting to share some of our thoughts and opinions on the topics of ministry and music. As a band on the rise, we believe it's very important that people get a feel for who we really are. Are we just musicians? Are we musicians who love Christ? Or are we Christians who love music?

Read the blog...then decide for yourself.