Greetings to all,

One of the beautiful aspects of being on the road (and there are many) is meeting amazing people and taking in incredible new scenery every day. A couple days ago, in Billings, MT, we met a guy who offered to take us flying around the area for the afternoon in his private plane. After prepping the plane, we spent the next couple hours soaring over the Beartooth Mountains, the Yellowstone River, the Big Horn Mountains and River, Black Canyon, Custer’s Last Stand, etc., before returning to Billings just in time for sound check.

As depicted by the names “Beartooth” and “Big Horn”, these mountains are anything but gentle and smooth. In fact, the jagged terrain of these areas is responsible for the deaths of much wildlife and many humans each year. One careless move, and these rugged ridges will send even the most experienced hikers falling to their demise.

Flying at an altitude 8,000 feet alongside the crest of these ranges; however, gave us an entirely new perspective, previously unattainable at ground level. From our new vantage point, the pitch of each peak seemed much less severe. Through the window of the small aircraft, we could easily discern the best possible land route for crossing over the mountains. We were able to effortlessly spot the dead ends and the debris along the trails, as well as the clear and open paths leading to the summit. The golden hue of gently rolling wheat fields in the opposite valley brightly glistened beyond the dark peaks. We were completely awestruck at the view of these magnificent mountains in their entirety.

While taking in this picturesque scene, I began thinking about the obstacles we’ve been facing recently as an artist as well as in just day to day living. These thoughts continued into thoughts of all of you and the many different obstacles each of you face in your own lives, whether it be in raising a family, or in facing a parent who doesn’t see eye-to-eye, whether it’s a difficult boss, or the complex logistics of self-employment, whether it’s a disability, or the financial burden that this economy has been taxing on nearly all of us. No matter the dreams, goals, and aspirations you are striving to reach, treacherous mountains are protruding on your path to achievement.

Just as the aerial perspective totally changed our outlook on the Beartooth and Big Horn Mountain Ranges, sometimes taking a step back and looking at the big picture of life can entirely change our perspective of the obstacles that are currently staring us in the face. By slowing down and backing away from the cliff that is hovering directly over us, we can then perceive and assess the situation in it’s entirely, thus revealing the clear path to take. Though the path is rarely ever easy and unforeseen circumstances nearly always occur, scoping things out and knowing where the path leads will undoubtedly help us to prepare and endure the rough stretches that we know we will encounter along the way. Let us all take a step back and soak up the breathtaking, panoramic view of our own lives this upcoming week. You may just so happen to see a clear cut road nearby the dead-end path you are currently struggling against that will lead you to the summit.

Brysson
DeRock

~Temple Veil

Greetings to all,

We hope all of you are having an enjoyable and relaxing summer, and keeping cool in all of this record breaking heat around the northern hemisphere. On our end, this summer has been anything but a vacation, as we are in the middle of the heaviest tour schedule of our lives. We’ve been traveling and performing nonstop all over the country, hitting up favorite spots along the way as well as discovering new places we never even knew existed; all the while, enjoying every single second of every day. Honestly, the only thing that bums us out is how little time we’ve had to connect with and build our online community, but it’s been so amazing to connect with so many of you out on the road.

A couple of nights ago we were sharing a meal with a pastor, as we often do before or after our church performances, and he asked us this question: “Do you consider yourselves a successful artist?” This question brought up a much bigger question. What is success? In the music industry, success is looked at in a variety of ways. According to the record industry, success is measured in things like album sales, ticket sales, ticket prices, merchandise sales, online and digital sales, Billboard charts, Grammy awards, and so on. While artists always strive to improve in these areas, are these really the key factors in making a music career successful?

Having been down the record industry driven road before, we had to ask ourselves: Is selling a lot of albums really a success when you’re in six figures of debt to a record label to produce and market that album? Is having a huge turnout at a show really a success when the ticket sales still can’t cover the fuel and maintenance it takes to get your entourage of buses and semis full of equipment to that event? We’ve come to a point in our career where we’ve gotten over having stars in our eyes, and define our career success in music in a way that anyone should define success in any career.

Success is not always found in the dollar amount or the social status, but always in the provision. In other words, do you have what you need when you need it? Provision can come in so many forms other than money. Just recently, our tour van was in desperate need of new tires. At the same time, there was a family death in the band, and the money we had set aside for tires, needed to go towards airfare to the funeral and back. So then, what about the tires? A tire shop in MS, who believed in what we are doing, put a brand new set of $600 tires on the van. Did we have the money? No. But did we have the provision? Yes. So was it success? Absolutely.

Regardless of what we do, and where and when we do it, we all ask ourselves at some point if we are successful at what we are doing. The next time you question your own success in your career, don’t question the scale no matter how big or small; instead, question the balance of the scale. Do you have the provision you need to balance the needs that you have? Not necessarily the provision you want, but the provision you need? And most importantly do you know who your Provider is?

Brysson
DeRock

~Temple Veil

Meet and greet lunch to follow.

Many of you have been asking us to share some of the incredible things we get to see while traveling around the world, so we made a Flickr page, and over the next several weeks, we will be posting pictures from many of the amazing places we've been over the past year, and we will contiune to post pictures as our adventures contiune. Our photo stream is at www.flickr.com/photos/templeveil. For our first photo set, we posted a few shots we snapped out of the van window on our way to Salt Lake City, UT earlier this week. Check it out here.

Greetings to all,

We are so excited to announce that "Party Song" will be featured on the sound track to an upcoming movie titled "The Message"!

"The Message" is a full feature film that was made to bring awareness of God's ever presence and His ability to enable us to experience His love in never ending ways and through many different outlets. The production company, Integrity Films, has two main goals. First, to tell a story that showcases the power of prayer and the meaning of God in our lives. Second, to bring to the audience a quality film that is educational as well as entertaining.

Jake, a 30 years old IT programmer is about to receive a very important message... from God.

Jake's never been much of a believer in anything, not even himself. He's content with the life he has simply because it's comfortable. Working in the same job for almost ten years, no big goals for himself, other than the fact that he's engaged to a young woman named Kate. Pretty much your average Joe, that is... until a series of strange occurrences start happening to Jake.

It all started when he noticed a strange screensaver suddenly appeared on his coworker's computer screen. The desktop background was an old picture of a camping trip he took with his family over 20 years ago. As he's trying to figure out the origins of this photo, he begins to remember the day that picture was taken. The memories of that camping trip start to haunt him throughout the day.

His mother, Iris, is a devoted mother and Christian, who never gave up on her son or God. Her faith and prayers are answered as God starts to reach out to Jake in different events, and using Jake's medium to get his attention. Jake, ignoring the messages, brings God even closer. God doesn't give up until he sees a re-born Jake. Finally a Message is fully delivered, proving again that for God, there are no limits. He is everything and everyone.

Again, we are excited and so grateful to have our music be a part of this film produced by Liss Cartagena for Integrity Films and directed by Ben Rosa. You can view the trailer by clicking here and learn more at www.messagethemovie.com. Also, if you are interested in showing the movie as a fundraiser for your church or organization, you can find more details at www.pangelo.com.

Brysson
DeRock

~Temple Veil