SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN.

One of the great features of being on the Winterjam tour has been the opportunity to get re-acquainted with the Newsboys. My first adventures in the Contemporary Christian Music industry were with the Newsboys in the UK and Europe in the summers of 1995 and 1996, and they were the guys who first invited me to work over on a tour in the USA in late 1998. One of the support bands on that tour was Third Day...and the rest is history. Besides that, Third Day's current tour manager, and good friend of mine, Lott Shudde was Newsboys road manager when I first met them. So tonight was one of those special nights- involving me stepping on a Newsboys tour bus for the first time in over 10 years- when their production manager Steve Campbell, also a long-time friend, invited me and some of the Third Day guys over for a curry. It was such fun to hang out with Dunny, Steve, Wes, Jody, Jeff, and to have a long chat with recent Newsboys addition Michael Tait (once of legendary group DC Talk). Dunny came back onto our bus for a couple of episodes of Ricky Gervais' Extras. I owe a lot to Newsboys, and to their founding guy Peter Furler who is no longer in the band. They took a risk on me, I took a faith step not knowing what the outcome would be, and my life was immeasurably changed and my ministry experience enriched.

BETTER NEWS FROM LIBERIA.

Whilst out on the road with Third Day I've received some heartening news from Emmanuel in Liberia. over the last few months Ignite have been raising funds to buy Emmanuel an Ignite Liberia vehicle, and we eventually wired the money to him a few weeks ago. Ignite Liberia are now the proud owners of a Nissan car normally used as a taxi, which will make Emmanuel's role in overseeing the work of Ignite in each of Liberia's counties so much easier.
 To read the story of how we funded the car you might want to read my post dated 9th October 2009 entitled 'God answers prayer.'

TENSION IN LIBERIA.

I recently received this disturbing news from Emmanuel Jonah, National Director for Ignite in Liberia.

 Please pray for J. Nehemiah Johnson and family as they serve in Lofa. He just informed me that yesterday, there was an attack on Christians by the Muslim community. According to him, a little girl from the Mandingo tribe was killed mysteriously and her body was found side the road with parts extracted. This happened in a town called Kornia. The local authority called residents to  investigate. While  investigating, someone from the crowd  went outside and called  on  his mobile to Voinjama(where Nehemiah is) and ordered Mandingos to attack Christians and burn down church buildings. This led to the burning of the catholic compound, five other church buildings, including one of Ignite member churches-the pentecostal church- leaving 8 people dead.  The government troops have put things under control, but  people are still  angry  and  want to  pay  back.  Please pray for God's intervention. Remember, prayer works!

STILL ON THE ROAD.

I'm coming to the end of my third stint in the USA since 6th January, on the Winterjam tour with Third Day.

it's been pretty cold, long, tiring, but nevertheless very fulfilling. The tour is LARGE- average 13 or 14 thousand people a night, and with many young people giving their lives to Christ. Third Day don't play until 9.30pm so it's  a long day waiting around. It has meant the guys have been able to focus on some brand new songs for their next album, and plenty of good conversations and devotional times together. We've also all found a great iPhone camera app called Hipstamatic and here are a couple of cool shots: A skyline of Kansas City: 

and Mac Powell working on one of those new songs in the dressing room: