downhere

sometimes i get to hear music that has not been finished or released to the stores yet. sometimes its good and sometimes ... well, we wont talk about it. today i got to hear the new music from "downhere". this band is from canada, but was smart enough to move to the south for the winter. and then they stayed . anyway, the music is great . here is a band that is very talented and they have purpose. they have good music and , they have something to say. i will keep you up to date on this cd . you will probably see it hit stores in a few months but until then you can check out www.downhere.com
i have my eye on some other new music that i have heard recently. i am excited about whats coming . i will definitely keep you updated on new music. and dont worry , if i dont love it i wont talk about it .

merry christmas

i was in the mall this week and the place was decked out in christmas decorations. did i miss something? i was actually in there looking at some halloween stuff and there were christmas trees in most of the stores i was in. so i started telling everyone merry christmas. some people were confused and some people joined right in on the celebraTION. call me old fashioned but i think christmas should be after halloween. actually i propose it should be in december. i will be sick of christmas in about 3 weeks. i love christmas, its a great holiday. its my favorite holiday but lets do it in december. am i crazy for thinking this? maybe if our country wasnt so greedy and profit hungry we wouldnt have to celebrate christmas for 4 months. im sure the root of this nonsense is money. what do ya think?

bring on the comments

walmartville

last night we did a show in walmart's home town . the birth place of what some people call "the all in one shopping one stop do it all and get your oil changed while getting a hair cut and go to the bank" store. i learned alot about walmart while i was there. they even have a walmart visitors center. i also was informed that walmart was taking over the world. the plan is for walmart to run for president next term. i think thats what i heard them say.

the show was great . the people were very nice and the crowd was fun. i hope to go back someday

calling out the men in mo

yesterday i felt God leading me to call out the teenage guys at the show in missouri. i felt that i needed to challenge them to raise the standard and not just sit thru church week after week . it was a call to holiness and leadership . i have to say , i saw the power of God rush through that building and change some lives yesterday. it was amazing . i will not soon forget.

2 shows in mo

today i am in missouri. we have 2 shows today . then we go to arkansas for a show tommorrow. pray for us that the shows go really well . and pray for peoples lives to be touched. we trust in God to work in peoples lives . so pray with us this weekend .
also i am praying for two of my friends to have an encounter with God soon . each of them are on the verge of a new life. pray for them with us . thanks

my first circus

we are trying to soak up every bit of fun on our days off. last night we went to the circus. we have never been to a circus . i had so much fun. we saw horses , elephants , camels , zebras , and tigers . we also saw people walking on a tight rope. then i saw some people that were dressed funny. they had big shoes and their clothes didnt match. they were wearing make up , which is weird. as a matter of fact that make up was terrible . you could tell it was the first time to wear make up . it was all over their face. the lipstick covered half of their face. they kept bumping into things and falling down. i felt sorry for them . they seemed like they were not very smart. they were all tripping over the same thing. they had big noses and bad hair. it kind of made me sad because everyone kept laughing at them . there were lots of kids in the audience. everytime these guys with bad make up came out the kids screamed . it was so odd. i cant believe those strange guys with big pants were even allowed to be in the show. dont worry i didnt join in the laughter. i tried to stand up for the poor fellows . i told everyone to stop laughing. then for some strange reason they asked me to return to my seat and sit down. it was a sad night.the next time i go to the circus and people start laughing at people who are tripping over things and falling down , i am gonna leave.

hypocrites in the church

recently someone told me that they wouldnt go to church because the church has hypocrites. yeah , and so does hell. if that is your reason for not going to a church , then it is weak. there are hypocrites at the mall. my pastor did a message this week called "no perfect people allowed". it was great . it gave me some good perspective . none of us are perfect . and because of that we are all percieved as a hypocrite at some point of our lives .church is not full of perfect people . church is full of screw ups like you and me . if you are looking for the perfect church you can end your search now and save the gas. it doesnt exist . church does offer a sense of community. a fellowship of believers that are flawed but forgiven . if you are waiting to find the perfect church with no hypocrites before you attend , get over it . instead try to find a church that loves people and teaches truth, and you will find it as a help for you on your spiritual journey.

common sense wont allow it

soemtimes , as i am doing interviews , journalists will ask me things like,"is there a natural or scientific explanation for the miracles of jesus?". for me to come up with an answer to these seemingly difficult questions , i just use my common sense. i take in all the facts that are attainable, put myself in the story , and think about what it would have been like to watch jesus do a miracle. here is an example of a response i gave recently to a magazine.


I believe that common sense won't allow scientific explanations to negate
the miracles of Jesus. Even if there was a natural explanation to every
single miracle in the life of Jesus, it all happened to one guy. Now that
"coincidence" is a miracle.

celeb sightings

in the past few years i have seen my share of celebrities. i have traveled alot and have seen stars in the airport and on the road. they look different in person usually. i saw drew barrymore one time at the market and was surprised to see how thin she was . one night i saw vanilla ice at a truck stop. he was a nice guy. i often see people who are in bands but dont even think twice about it. but yesterday i was in line at the store and right in front of me stood a girl who seemed a bit familiar. after making eye contact with her i realized who she was. it was nicole kidman. i was a little surprised because i was not expecting to see her at my grocery store . she asked me for my phone number but i told her i was married . after she cried for a minute i helped her up off the floor and paid for my groceries and left.

p.s. people asked me what she looked like. very thin , tall , and very blonde hair. no make up but easy on the eyes.. and oh yeah , i really did see her

what if it happened today

i dont mean to get anyone down and depressed with this . but i have a thought. what if al queda struck today? if our country was crippled because of an attack , what would be different in your life . we all know the obvious things like the economy and media chaos . but what if it was close to home ? what matters most to you? i think we should take time to figure out who and what is most important to us . you dont have to get all mushy . just figure out the "what" and the "who" that really matters most. now make that your priority. dont wait till tragedy strikes to think about it . do it on a monday. we get so busy and our lives get cluttered with things that dont matter. think about this today and now , go LIVE your life

auny has a birthday

today is auny's birthday. go to www.auny.blogspot.com and post a comment saying happy birthday .. thanks friends . she will love it

stress management

yesterday got to me . i had something to deal with that became very stressful .i have been reading about how bad stress is for you . it hurts you in many ways . it even leads to bad health . i have been doing things to release stress and i am finding that it works . i am more healthy ,and free , and effective. sometimes i get on my motorcycle gripping the throttle and take off. that works best. but i have done other things that are helping me as well . like taking more breaks . breathing. ya know take deep breaths. the best thing i have been doing is daily walks . i walk thru the woods by my house. last night i was really worked up about my day so auny and i were talking about running and laughing as a way to reduce stress . so right there in the middle of a parking lot i stopped the truck and we got out and ran full speed across the parking lot. it was great. we laughed as we ran . i told auny if she could beat me i would buy her dessert.
i guess my legs were longer .. but she still got some chocolate

life at home

people ask me about what i do when i am not on the road . the truth is i stay pretty busy . i am on the road about 300 days a year so when i am home there are things to do. regular "life things" stack up. things like lawn work , house maintenance , bills , and car stuff for most people can be done weekly . but for us it will stack up for a few weeks. the mail gets stuffed in the box so much it is troublesome to get it out. so our life at home is a bit chaotic sometimes . up until the past few months i would work alot at home, too much sometimes . recently we have restuctured things so that i can relax more and focus on other things at a comfortable pace.
i am learning how to pace myself better so i dont over do it. i try my best to hang out with friends when i am home . auny and i will go out to eat and have people over to the house. we are always ready to go and we cant get enough spontaneous fun in our lives . after a few meetings during the day we will take a walk through the woods , and work out until people get off from real jobs. then its play time . what i have learned is, take advantage of everything good and enjoy it while you can.

more like , american idiot

these people have no friends . they have no family that loves them . or they are all deaf. maybe they are mentally ill. a few people that are auditioning for american idol are out of their minds. it seems like the ones who have a good voice arnt so proud of it , but the worst singer they are the more arrogant and obnoxious they behave. what has gotten into these people. these people who have never gotten thru a whole song before suddenly think they are the next american idol. i hear them sing then hear them believe they are the greatest in america. so sad. its ok if you sing bad , most of us do . but dont tell the world you are the best and then cry and scream at those who tell you the real truth.
as sad as it is , it makes good tv.

the mtv report from yesterdays post seems to be unanimous. mtv is boring . you should all read the comments from yesterday.

mtv is boring

lately i have been hearing teenagers say that mtv is boring . i dont think i ever imagined that i would hear that in my lifetime. but i would have to agree .it seems that mtv is in a rut. the shows that are on when i flip to mtv are always some type of dating show. it is so cheesy and obvious that they are scripted and semi-rehearsed. for the network that has had a reputation of being the trendsetters of cool , they seem to be struggling to be lukewarm. they were the ones who owned teenagers with the short attention spans . but now its just boring . i have heard teens say they arnt impressed with whats on tv now days. reality tv is not anything like reality. i heard a guy say last week that he doesnt care what kind of "crib" some 16 year old rapper has or the many cars that he can barely drive . he cant relate. sounds to me that young america is over it .
lets take a survey .. post a comment about your thoughts on mtv and include your age . you can choose to be anonymous. i am very curious to know what you guys think .

celebrity power

i wonder how many of you watched the golden globes. i watched very little of it .i was not happy with the results but who really cares.
i was in new york city a few days ago when i heard a talk show on the radio. the topic for the day was "what are you tired of?" . one of the things that got the most time was people called to say they were tired of celebrities .they said things like: they make too much money , they think they are so important , no one cares . and some other things . it made me think about all of the award shows they have for themselves and all the attention they require. i began to wonder if their bubble is about to pop..??.. i dont know . but there seems to be a growing disinterest in celebrities . what will that do to our culture? how will it change? will america get sick of the celebrities and their behavior?
ang lee(the guy who directed the gay cowboy movie) said in his acceptance speech "movies give us the power to change the way people think " . we are letting celebrities change the way we think.

think about it.








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we are growing

we are growing as a ministry and are looking for new staff. we are also looking for interns. here is an idea of what we are looking for.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let you know that we are hiring a 20 hour a week position in our offices in Birmingham, AL. Their job would be to build relationships with churches around the world and help to serve them with their event needs. The position starts at $10 per hour and like the rest of our staff, they have the option to raise support. Please email people at your church and let them know about this new opportunity.

Also, we have a need for internships at our offices in Birmingham, AL, Denver, CO, and Nashville, TN AND on the road. If you are a college student interested in the experience that will come from investing 40 hours per week into a ministry or if you would like to intern for just 10-15 hours per week and get college credit, we can work with you to set something up. Vertical internships are very "hands-on" and gives you what you need to know and understand the world of itinerant ministry.

Please email your resume and information to David Spurling at dspurling@verticalministries.com if you are interested in working with Vertical Ministries this year. Thanks so much!

reliant k mistake

2 years ago i did a tour with relient k and audio adrenaline. it was great , had alot of fun.
last night i met a girl(blaire woogumu) who said she was at the jackson ms show. she said she took a picture with me thinking i was in the band relient k . she put it up on her wall and showed everyone because she was very proud of it. last night at my show the same girl was watching me on stage and thought i looked a little too familiar . at that point she pulled out that old picture and realized that i was not in the band. she had taken a picture of me (brock gill) and not a member of the band (relient k).she laughed at herself . her friends and i all thought that was pretty funny .

snow day

today i am in east tennessee and it is snowing like crazy. i am in the mountains right now .they say it could snow up to 12 inches . it is weird because it was 58 degrees yesterday here but we woke up this morning and it was white. i am going to continue on to gatlinburg for a show tonight then back home to nashville . pray for us to get there without problems. and for a good show.

christmas contest

is there a contest going on this year that i dont know about ? i think that some people think that they will win a big prize if they keep their christmas decorations up the longest. christmas is over . i have driven thru dozens of places this week and i am seeing christmas stuff everywhere . from trees to glow in the dark santa clauses in the front yard. i have to admit i am a little over christmas now . my problem is that christmas starts too early and goes too long . i have an idea , lets celebrate christmas in december .. does anyone feel this way too, or am i unamerican??

and that makes 48

today we are going to explore vermont. this is the 48th state for us to be in . my wife auny has had a dream to go to all 50 states. (smart amy if you are reading this , there are 50 states in america) we are almost there . we go to alaska in march and if you are good with math you will see that it will leave one state untouched by us . maybe someday we will make it to hawaii. if anyone wants to plan a trip for us i will gladly clear some time on my schedule to go. especially if you want to pay for it. lol.
ok im outta here . i have got some hiking to do.

new england

new england is in the united states. for some people this is the first time they have ever heard that. my smart friend amy thought i was going to europe when i said i was traveling to new england. i gladly pointed out the error she had made. then laughed.
i am traveling through the tiny states in the northeast . in a few hours time i traveled through maryland , delaware , pennsylvania , new jersey , new york , connecticut , rhode island(not really an island amy) , massachusettes , spent the night in boston. then to new hampshire , maine , stopped and ate a lobster , then back through new hampshire , and tonight we sleep in vermont. sounds like alot but the states are small and you can cross them in no time.
we are taking a few days off and taking a spontaneous trip . we dont know where we are going or what we are doing exactly. it is fun to see where we end up. tomorrow we will head back to baltimore get back on the rig and make our way back to tennessee.
now you know what we do when we are in between shows out on the road. you are all welcome to go with us next time..

protesting at the whitehouse

we did it .. we finally did it. we protested in front of the whitehouse . what were we protesting ?? protesters. we held up signs that simply said "protesting should be illegal" and "stop the protesting". it was a total joke . we drew a crowd immediately and people began taking pictures of us . most people thought it was hilarious . but the protester against bush wasnt impressed . she said we couldnt do that . i laughed . she didnt agree with us protesting protesters. isnt that what protesting is ? i didnt agree with her either . it made no ssense for her to tell us we couldnt protest there . i was amazed at the hypocrisy. the crowd all thought it was funny , and even the secret service guys cracked a brief smile. that was our day in washington d.c. . i had the most fun i have had in quit a while , and i was protesting. check out the pictures below or go to www.myspace.com/brockgill

in washington d.c.

got to see some cool things at the smithsonian museum today .we saw the bill of rights, the puffy pirate shirt from seinfeld and the declaration of independence , which i kept pronouncing "the decoration of independence". what was funny was the people i was talking to didnt correct me . the funniest moment of the day was when i approached the security guard that was guarding the constitution and asked her "what is the constitution?". she thought for a moment and said "i forgot what they call it,i dont know what it is". i thought it was funny that she guarded something 8 hours a day 5 days a week and never knew what it was , and never thought about it.
i learned some things today. after the movie "national treasure" the smithsonian had to change their security procedures. the movie was accurate about that and some other things.the magna carta was found on the back of a painting that was bought by ross perot in 1984. after examining the painting he found the only copy of the magna carta that exists in the U.S. .lucky him

Brock's Birthday

from Auny

Brock had to do a show in Maryland yesterday on his birthday. We tried to make the day special by stopping in one of our favorite places, Annapolis, MD, and eating one of our favorite meals...crabcakes! However, we're doing most of the celebrating today. We have a day off between our two Maryland shows, so we're going to D.C. We've been four or five times before, but Stephanie has never been, so it'll be fun!

rate the show

people are asking me everyday what i thought about my show on discovery channel . well i thought it was great . i couldnt have asked for more . the show represented me well. it said what i wanted it to say . we were thrilled with the outcome . almost all of the feedback i have gotten has been positive . the negative comments have been from people who obviously didnt watch the show . leave a comment telling us what you thought of the show . if you didnt watch "the miracles of Jesus" on the discovery channel , you can still leave a comment , but we might laugh at it .
ok everyone , spread the word about this new blog . thanks. now i am gonna hit the road to maryland for a week.

brock the atheist?

when i was 3 i found out the tooth fairy wasnt real , when i was 4 i learned that the easter bunny doesnt exist , at age 5 i found out my parents are santa clause . did someone forget to tell me that God wasnt real ?

i have had to answer some tough questions in my life when it comes to spiritual things . i believe that i am a person with common sense . i am reasonable , usually. but i have had to wrestle with some things about God and religion . there have been many things that to me just dont make sense. growing up in the church i would ask "why" to just about everything . why do we have to dress up to go to church ? why can we wear more casual clothes to church on sunday nights ? why do we fold our hands to pray? why do we skip the 3rd verse of a hyme ? as a kid i would wonder about these type of things . some of these things i found were just tradition . somethings i never found answers to . because i questioned simple things like this it made me question the big things . does God really exist? why did Jesus have to die?

i feel that many of my questions have been solved , and my conclusions have been evident in my faith. i have studied many different things and had many hours to think through things on my long drives . i dont have all the answers . i have much to learn and explore . through this process of studying the miracles of jesus, i have concluded that Jesus really was a supernatural being. the Bible is a supernatural book . and i will devote my life to Him. my faith has been strengthened and my beliefs are more clear . i now know what i believe and why.

why did i do a show about the miracles of Jesus

many people are asking me about the tv show . well i will start with how the show came about in the first place . i was asked to do an investigation on the miracles of jesus . the producers from the bbc and discovery channel wanted an objective look at the life of jesus from an illusionists point of view . i had an understanding of scripture and a background of illusions so i felt i could do it . when they officially asked me to do the show i realized that my findings would be aired all over the world and for an estimated 6 million viewers in america. i wanted to make sure that what i said was accurate. i knew that i would have to live with it for the rest of my life . i also knew that i would offend some people no matter what i said.
to do this show i had to do something that i had never done before. i had to set my beliefs aside and put my faith on the shelf to uncover the real truth about Jesus and his miracles. i am a rebellious person . i always ask "why". i want to know the reason for things . i test answers to old questions and form my own theology and philosophies. i am not narrow minded. i realize that i have been wrong before about things i was convinced of . so i am always examining what i believe and what others believe . i felt that because i am naturally like this , an investigation on Jesus would be right up my ally .


more about this tomorrow

dreams

looking back on my life for the last few months i realize that i am living my dreams. i remember when people said that i was crazy to pursue the dreams i had of being an illusionist . they had plenty of reason for doubting . first of all i knew nothing about it . i was 22 years old and never mentioned it before . it looked ridiculous for me to quit my job and begin performing to make a living . at first people were a little surprised , but thought it was a "phase". almost 9 years later that "phase" is in full force .

i am not afraid of dreaming . i am not afraid of asking God for big things . i dreamed of having a tv show . he gave it to me . i believe God wants us to dream . some dreams are just dreams , and thats ok . thats what makes them dreams . but when you pursue those dreams and they are fulfilled thats extraordinary . i want to live an extraordinary life . that starts with dreams. i ask God for dreams and ideas and visions. then i ask for His help to pursue them and obtain them .


this year.

i dare ya to dream