20 The Countdown Magazine

FFH’s lead single, “What It Feels Like,” from the new album “Wide Open Spaces” was just featured on 20 The Countdown Magazine as “John’s Future Favorite.” The magazine’s website http://www.20thecountdownmagazine.com included a poll for visitors to vote on the song. It did very well! If you were one of individuals that voted thank you!

1 Music Village with FFH on JCTV

I have been touring with CCM group FFH now for about seven months. Well, last month we got the amazing opportunity to go perform on TBN’s youth programming network JC TV on a new program called 1 Music Village. It was an amazing opportunity.  The NewsBoys were the first band to perform on the show, and since then many major Christian artists such as Seventh Day Slumber, Pillar, Decyfer Down, Bluetree and Sonic Flood have performed on the show as well.  It was such a fun thing for me to do.  It was the first time I’ve ever had a professional stylist do my hair and make-up. lol.  (Isn’t it funny the little things that stand out to us?) I felt so immensely honored to be given the opportunity.

Here is a little sneak peak of the show. If you want to see the whole thing you’ll have to tune into JC TV. This is just one song. The full program featured 5 songs and interviews with Jeromy and Jennifer. Here is the song “One Of These Days.” I hope you enjoy.

To tune into JC TV online visit their website at http://www.JCTV.org and click on the “watch now” button.  It will be re-airing Saturday October 31st at 10 pm central time.  I hope you’ll tune in!

Click the image below to go to the JCTV website!

Tune in Saturday, October 30th at 10 PM Central time to see FFH!

The Extreme Ironing Dream Team. . . and Oprah

So The Oprah Winfrey Show sent me an email telling me that they had found my Extreme Ironing Facebook group and that they had some questions for me about the sport.  So they asked me to call them back as soon as possible.  So i did.  The lady told me that they were considering doing a segment on Extreme Ironing in the show.  So she asked me some questions and then asked me to send her some of my extreme ironing videos.  She said that they were just in the research stages but that there was a chance they may use the footage if they did indeed end up doing a segment on extreme ironing.  So I put the below video together and sent it to her.  A few days later she thanked me for sending the video and told me it was great but that they had unfortunately changed show topics.  She was a very kind and courteous woman.  It made me want to be her friend.

Anyways, we didn’t get to be on Oprah, but we did have a blast making the video and telling everyone how The Oprah Winfrey Show wanted to see it.  And hey, the producers at The Oprah Winfrey Show now know my name, and they even gave me my own upload folder on their FTP site.  I’d say that’s quite an accomplishment. It’s not every day you get a call from Oprah.  So watch the video below as the Extreme Ironing Dream Team Eagle – (me), Cobra (Josh) and Tiger (Jon)- perform some courageous daring acts of extreme ironing.  It’ll rock your face off.  Enjoy.

And if you care to join the Extreme Ironing Facebook group that started all this here is the link. http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=50047178313

CCM EPKs

I got the privilege of producing the electronic press kits (EPKs) for CCM groups FFH and NewFire, of whom both groups I also tour with. It was a blast getting to produce both videos and both bands have the videos featured on the home pages of their websites. Which you can visit at http://www.FFH.net or http://www.NewFireMusic.com. OR you can just click the play button on the videos below. : ) I hope you enjoy.

And if you watch real close you’ll see me in both videos. Most of the time I was the one behind the camera. But I did manage to find a few ways include myself in both videos. ; ) ha ha.

Abortions Covered In Health Care Reform

This is another call to action i made to my Facebook group concerning the new health care bill.  Please help me get this message out by forwarding it to as many people as possible.

To view or join the group go here. http://www.facebook.com/chrisulery?ref=name#/group.php?gid=10168895951

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Hey everyone!
It’s been quite a while since i wrote all of you and i hope all of you are doing well! I’ve been on the road the majority of the summer and have been really busy and haven’t had a lot of time to write. It’s been a great summer tho, i hope it has been for you as well.

The reason i’m writing you now is because it is again a crucial point in our nation’s history and it is imperative that we as pro-life believers stand up to defend innocent lives. All that is required for evil to prosper is for good men (or women) to do nothing. How can we call ourselves Christians and refuse to take a stand and fight for the things that our precious Jesus holds dearest to His heart? We MUST make our voices heard!

If your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend (whatever you have) was having the people they love threatened you would lay down your life to defend them. It is our responsibility as the bride of Christ to do the same for Him. The bottom portion of this email will explain to you how to take the steps to make a difference. It is an email copied and pasted from Bound4Life (http://bound4life.com/blog), Jay Sekulow (http://aclj.org/), and Don Wildmon (http://action.afa.net/). I would recommend getting on their mailing lists if you’re not already.

Please don’t just read this email and then delete it doing nothing. It is our responsibility to fight! Lives are literally at stake, don’t let their blood be on our hands! We can make a difference if we will choose to step out of our comfort zones to do so. If you don’t understand all the legal stuff that’s alright. You do understand that Congress is pushing for national healthcare coverage that includes mandatory coverage for abortions. As long as you make it clear that you want abortion services removed from mandatory coverage than that is all you need to understand. Just call them and say that. You don’t have to understand anything else to call. Besides, everything you would need to understand is included in the bottom portion of this email if you will just take the time to read it. The bill is a death decree.

As you read this you are feeling prompted to do something to make a difference. Don’t ignore that or say “Someone else will do it.” ALL of us are needed right now. The rest of this email will explain what you need to do. Forward this on, write blogs, send messages, start threads, etc, whatever it takes to get awareness out there about this issue. Martin Luther King Jr. said this, “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Let’s not be one of Jesus’ “silent friends.” TAKE ACTION NOW!

“Storm the gates ye proud and strong. Are we not invincible?”

Living to destroy God’s loneliness,
Chris Ulery
http://www.CHPHMinistries.com
http://www.ChrisUlery.com
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From Bound4 Life:

Bullying Blue Dogs: Rep Waxman Twists Arms and Morals

Time is now. There is a 39 day window to make a difference before Congress returns after Labor Day, September 8th 2009

Much prayer has gone up in recent weeks for the House Blue Dogs to take a stand against the taxpayer-funded abortion mandate in this current health care reform bill. When a proposed bi-partisan amendment to reinsert “Dornan Amendment” language (prevents tax dollars from paying for abortions) was repeatedly blocked in the Appropriations Committee, it became apparent to everyone in the pro-life movement that an ominous freight train of death was rolling into the nation with an agenda cleverly shielded from the eyes of the American people.

Negotiations
Then a glimmer of hope was seen last week when the seven Blue Dog Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee began to take a stand on the issue. There were negotiations over their concerns, but last Friday the meeting exploded in anger as the Blue Dogs walked out on the Committee meeting declaring to the media that Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) had been negotiating in bad faith. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) went on to say, “I’ve been lied to. We have not had legitimate negotiations. Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are trying to make this bill work for America.”

A Seeming Step Forward
Yesterday, Thursday, July 30th 2009, the Energy and Commerce Committee allowed a vote on an amendment to the Health Care Bill stating:

Health care legislation moving through Congress may not impose requirements for coverage of abortion, except in limited cases.

Extraordinarily, the amendment passed, and things seemed positive for moment. But the step forward was to be short-lived. Despite objections Chairman Waxman invoked special House rules to FORCE THE AMENDMENT TO A SECOND VOTE late Thursday night only after putting pressure on a couple of the committee members. Rep. Zack Space (D-OH), who had not voted the first time, voted “NO” on the amendment, and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) changed his yes vote to “NO” giving Waxman his 1-vote majority.The amendment to prevent your taxpayer dollars from funding abortion was defeated 30-29.

Battle Lines
This is an outrage but it serves a vital function. It exposes the fact that the upper echelon of House leadership has a clear agenda to advance and expand the abortion industry. It demonstrates that they will do whatever it takes to ensure it’s success. The White House has not ruled out government-funded abortions yet, and they will be hand-picking the panel of medical experts that will make the decision. The battle lines over taxpayer-funded abortion have been made abundantly clear. In spite of the fact that 71% of Americans oppose government-funded abortion, agenda-driven bureaucrats are doing everything they can to move the freight train of death forward and running over anything and anyone that dares to get in their way. This bill is designed to “bail out” Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry at a time when the majority of Americans self-identify as “pro-life.” Take action now during August Recess to stop this death agenda that would be the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v Wade.

Take Action:
1. You must call your Representatives and Senators during Recess and attend town hall meetings to tell them NOT to support the current health care reform bill. Be sure to tell them that you don’t want taxpayer-funded abortion.
2. California, Tennessee and Ohio residents should call Rep. Waxman, Rep. Gordon and Rep. Space to let them know that:
A. You don’t want your tax dollars to pay for abortion in a government take-over of health care, and…
B. They made the WRONG decision in voting in Committee to support it. (Tell Waxman he should not have undone the “YES” vote on the amendment. Tell Gordon he should not have changed his vote.)

1. Henry Waxman- (323) 651-1040 CA, (202) 225-3976 DC
2. Bart Gordon- (202) 225-4231
3. Zack Space- (202) 225-6265

3. Pray for the Blue Dogs. NOTE: Not all of them are pro-life.
A. Pray for boldness to stand up against political pressure seeking to advance the abortion agenda and undermine their conscience.
B. Pray that they would have a revelation of the sanctity of human life in the womb and fight to defend it.

4. Pray that the voice of Planned Parenthood would be silenced in the halls of Congress and that the will of the Lord would be clearly heard.

Take A Stand

Folks, retweets and email forwards aren’t enough! You must aggressively start to talk about this yourself. Start your own discussions, your own Facebook threads, MySpace bulletins and blogs, letters to your local newspaper editors and comments on political blogs. Attend town hall meetings with your Representatives and engage in public debate. Talk to your pastor. Address your church. Organize church prayer groups. The time is NOW. You have 39 days to make a difference before Congress returns after Labor Day on September 8th.

READY, SET, GO!

Matt Lockett
Director- Bound4LIFE & JHOP DC

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From American Center for Law & Justice:

As a committed member of the ACLJ, I urge you to take a bold stand today on behalf of life by contacting your Senators immediately.

As you know, Congress is pushing for national healthcare coverage that includes mandatory coverage for abortions. As a result, abortion would be considered a ”health benefit” in both government and private insurance plans … that’s EVERY health insurance plan in America, including YOURS.

This is reprehensible! The American Center for Law and Justice is demanding that Congress insert a critical exemption – REMOVE abortion services from mandatory coverage. And we need you to take action by getting personally involved!

Stand with the ACLJ to keep abortion services out of national healthcare legislation. Call Senator Pryor and Senator Lincoln immediately at the numbers we’ve provided for you below.

Decisions about this issue in the coming weeks are essential to the future of the pro-life movement – and, more importantly, the millions of unborn babies killed as a result of any insurance-covered abortion.

So make your voice heard today. Without a specific exemption, abortion will be a part of mandatory coverage under universal healthcare.

Uphold the sanctity of life! Call Sen. Pryor and Sen. Lincoln today and urge them to keep abortion services out of national healthcare legislation. Thank you.

* Senator Mark Pryor: (202) 224-2353
* Senator Blanche Lincoln: (202) 224-4843

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From American Family Association – Don Wildmon:

My friend Gary Bauer has proposed some questions for you to ask your Senators and Representative about ObamaCare. I’m asking all AFA supporters to get a group together and go to your Senators and Representative offices and ask these questions. Most Senators and Representatives have Townhall meetings in their district during their August break. Get the schedule and attend the meetings. Urge others to do the same. Have different groups at different locations to ask these questions to make sure the Congressman is consistent.

Here are Gary’s recommendations. Yesterday, President Obama conceded that there probably won’t be a vote on healthcare reform until “the end of September or the middle of October.” That means you have August to attend town hall meetings with your representative and senators, stop by their congressional offices, write letters to the editor and educate your friends and family members about the dangers of socialized medicine. To help you in that effort, we’ve produced a short list of key concerns and questions, which are copied below. Please share this report with like-minded folks and those who may be undecided and willing to listen. Thank you for everything you do to defend our shared values in your community!

1. ABORTION
Pro-choice groups, like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, are demanding that abortion be covered in any healthcare reform bill. In a recent interview with Politico, Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, defends this demand by saying, “the alternative would be slashing benefits for millions of women who currently have [private] coverage for abortions…” In addition, key administration officials refuse to rule out abortion coverage. When asked on Fox News Sunday whether taxpayer money would go to pay for abortions, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag replied, “I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It’s obviously a controversial issue, and it’s one of the questions that is playing out in this debate.”

Pro-life senators on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee forced a roll call vote on the issue when Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) attempted to add an amendment to the healthcare bill that would, in her words, “include women’s health clinics that provide comprehensive services…deemed medically necessary or appropriate.” She admitted that such “health clinics” would include Planned Parenthood. The pro-life amendment to prohibit funding of abortion lost 11-to-12.

Question for your Congressmen: Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill that uses my tax dollars to pay for abortions?

Across the Miles.

This was a very special weekend for me.  I had a blast playing with FFH, and of course with NewFire as always, as we played two packed out shows.  One in Decatur and another in Paris, IL.  They were both amazing shows.  But not only were the shows fun, but we had a blast just traveling and seeing the sites.  We stopped by Springfield, IL to see President Abraham Lincoln’s home, where we went thru the tour, and then we went to his burial site.  Very neat to see those things.  Then, to top it all off we stopped by Six Flags on the way home and spent the day there.  It was awesome.  Not to mention that I got given a laptop, which was a huge blessing.  And the best part of all is that 20 people responded to the altar call Jeromy gave at the show in Paris.  Who would’ve thought so much awesomeness could’ve been packed into one weekend.  lol.  God is good and His mercies endure forever.

I would like to thank Kellie from “Across the Miles Photography” for taking these photos and sending them to us.  You can visit her site at www.acrossthemilesphotography.com.  Click on the image below to view the photo album of this weekend.  And one last thing, you can read Jeromy’s blog about the trip on the FFH site by clicking here.

Is Kris Allen a “dying star” ?

This is a message I sent to my FB group.  You can view and join the group here.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10168895951

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With all of the current excitement within the Christian community right now about Kris Allen I felt the desire to share a video with you. It is a song called “Dying Star” by Jason Upton whom is one of my favorite “artists.” This song was one of my favorite songs for a very long time. I hope that you will take a minute to watch the video and let the message touch your heart. I didn’t create the video, i just found it on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaQdCLZJLPU

Also, I would like to ask all of you to pray for Kris Allen. He has been thrust onto the world’s stage and will be put under immense pressure to compromise. Many of the decisions he will make in the next few days will be a cross roads decision for him. Pray that He will acknowledge who the true Star is and choose to glorify Him and not himself. That kind of fame could easily cause a person to lose focus and track of why they have been put there. I’m not necessarily saying that God was responsible for causing Kris to win. . . I don’t know. All I know is that Kris now has an opportunity to make a huge impact in this world for Christ if he can stay focused on doing so. And we can help him do that with our prayers. The bible says the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.

This kind of influence, fame, and power will either destroy the life, marriage and ministry that Kris had, or it will be the ultimate opportunity to do more with it than he ever dreamed possible. Lets pray for him that it’s the latter.  America needs to start destroying its idols, not making more of them.  Let’s pray that Kris doesn’t become an idol in his own eyes or anyone else eyes.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Matthew 16:26

Living to destroy God’s loneliness,
Chris Ulery
http://www.CHPHMinistries.com
http://www.ChrisUlery.com

And ps, if you’re not already familiar with music and ministry of Jason Upton i strongly recommend you check him out.

GMA Week, 3D Give, and life on the road.

This past month I got to enjoy the GMA (Gospel Music Association) music week with NewFire for my first time.  It was a really neat experience.  Here are a few photos.

This is me with my artist badge, I was quite proud of it.  ha ha.

Close up of the badge.

The Springboard Entertainment Suite had a Wii party for a bunch of their artists and invited a bunch of industry people so we could make connections.  It was a lot of fun.  This picture is of Josh Wii bowling with a guy who owns a management company.

Here we were entering the Springboard Entertainment Suite.  There were probably 40 people in that little place.  All of them either artists, writers, publicists, magazine execs,  managers, radio DJs, plus there was a video crew there as well. It was packed.

This was dinner with our publicists Anita.  NewFire plus several of her other artists all went out to eat at PF Changs.  It was scrumptous.  I’m very very fond of chinese food.

Does this guy look familiar?  Well he should.  He was one of the funny fireman in the movie “Fireproof” and he also played in “Facing the Giants.”  He was good friends with Two Empty Chairs (one of Springboards other artist) and he hung out with us Sunday night.

This was me taking a pic of NewFire minus me on our way to the Springboard Entertainment Suite right after we had gotten there.

This is obviously self explanatory.

This is where we stayed while we were in Nashville.  It is an apartment that is owned by the bass player of Tree 63 and it doubles as a recording studio.  While we were there the band Glorious Unseen that toured with Leeland was working on an album.  I thought that was pretty cool.

This is Jon with his new princess travel bag on our way to a show.  HA HA.

I’m getting to where i really enjoy hotels a lot.  They’re starting to feel kind of like home.

Josh jamming in our room.

One thing that i always look forward too and enjoy on our trips is our game nights.  Usually at least one night of a trip (if not more) Josh and I (and whoever else happens to be with us) will go over to Jon and Alli’s room and we will play games.  In the background there you see the band playing a game of Skip Bo, our usual game of choice.

People checking out the NewFire table after a show.

While I was in the green room before a concert I was able to see the parking lot and some of the surrounding churches that were bussing in their youthgroups.  So i tried to get a shot of some of them, but I sort of missed.

Josh during sound check.  I love the look on his face.  Ha ha.

One of the attendees with her signed NewFire shirt.  lol.

In one of the host homes we stayed in the owner took us to check out his collection of antiques including a model A and a model T.  It was pretty neat.

And this was me getting ready for a little Extreme Ironing.  My sport of choice.

I started going to an outreach called 3D Give that we have every Saturday morning.  We all just meet, take a bus to the less fortunate side of town and do random acts of kindness.  This was this weeks crew before we headed out.

And here was my random act of kindness.  : )  We just walked up and down the street saying, “Hi, we’re with Victory Christian Center and we’re just trying to show the love of Jesus to the neighborhood.  Is there anything we can do for you?”  We got to pray with people and serve them.  I love it.  As you can see here these people wanted their lawm mowed.  So that’s what we did.  It was great.  Seriously, serving and the feeling you get from doing it becomes addicting.

NewFire, FFH, The Harvest Show, and Bible League. These are a few of my favorite things.

Here is a vlog of NewFire on tour including a couple concerts with FFH, “The Harvest Show,” and a visit to Bible League!

Click the image below to watch video.

NewFire concert with FFH!

It was an amazing trip.  I actually got to play drums and bass on this trip.  On a couple of shows that NewFire did with FFH I got to first play drums with NewFire and then play bass with FFH on a few songs!  It was really exciting for me.  Here are a few photos of that.

Playing drums with NewFire.

Playing bass with FFH!

The NewFire boys with FFH.

My purple sparkly bass with bright pink strap. Ha ha.

Jennifer showing hand motions for the song "Daniel."

Jeromy and Jennifer Deibler of FFH

Also on this trip we got to do an interview and performance on Lesea Broadcasting’s “The Harvest Show.”  The shows signal goes to nearly 80% of the world’s population covering the globe.  That’s a potential viewing audience of 25 million homes through out the US and over 4 billion (with a b) people internationally.  Here are a couple photos of that. You’ll also see it in the video above.

NewFire interview on "The Harvest Show."

Jon performing on "The Harvest Show."

The whole band played on the show, i just unfortunately don’t have any photos of that.  Not only did we get to perform at some awesome places, but we also got to do a little sight seeing!  We got to hang out in Chicago and while we were there went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  It was way awesome.  We got to tour through a real submarine. Here are some photos of our exploring.

That's Lake Michigan and the Chicago City skyline behind me.

A train in the Museum of Science and Industry.

The famous Navy Pier in Chicago.

We found the weinermobile!

Plus, NewFire is now artist partners with Bible League.  Bible League provides millions of Bibles to locations where they are desperately needed around the world.  Not only do they provide Bibles but they also raise up churches, lead millions through Bible studies, raise up church leaders, and provide the new Churches with Bible study materials.  You’ll see a few shots of Bible League in the video posted at the top of this post.  Here are some of Bible League’s 2008 stats.  And in 2009 Bible League will do even more!  And NewFire is now a part of it all!  Praise God!

Scriptures Placed	18,332,538
Churches Established	3,905
Church Members	479,758
Church Planters Trained	3,368
Bible Study Groups	210,882
Bible Study Graduates	3,246,228
Bible Study Leaders Trained	279,544

Also watch this video about Bible League!

For more info on Bible League visit www.BibleLeague.net.  Please check it out!

CCM Magazine article and updates from the road.

Newfire was featured in an article on the front page of “News & Views” section in CCM Magazine!  Where you get  “the week’s most “it” stories in Christian music.”  The article is entitled “Double Dose Of Newfire News.”  Read the article on CCM Magazines website here.  And just in case it has been removed before you get a chance to read it there, i’ll post it here as well.  It says,

DOUBLE DOSE OF NEWFIRE NEWS

“Not only is Oklahoma-bred pop duo NewFire joining FFH on tour in 2009, but co-leader Jonathan Firey just joined FFH as a permanent member. It will indeed be double duty for the blossoming star, but given his impressive vocals, it’s truly a match made in harmony heaven.”

Ever since CCM Mag called Jonathan a “blossoming star” we’ve been teasing him about it, and making lots of comments about his “impressive vocals.”  Ha ha.

Last week we were in . . . the cities had really weird names so i don’t actually remember the names of the places.  Except for Joplin, MO.  I remember that one.  BUT, we ate at this really . . . creepy (in my opinion) restaurant that was featured on the food network on “Drive ins, diners, and dives.”  Here is a picture of Allison with the poster singed by Guy.

It was an interesting experience to say the least.  And then this past weekend we were in Abilene and San Angelo Texas.  It was a lot of fun.  Here are a few pictures from that trip.

(Above) This is Jon and Alli with Mark (the host of the morning show on KCRN).  Sandy is the one in the corner of the pic that you can’t see.  I’m obviously the one taking the picture, and Josh slept in so he wasn’t even there. . . lol.  The studio was really cool because it was up high and the big windows overlooked the city.

(Above) This is Sandy and I in another one of the KCRN studios.  Sandy is another one of the DJs for KCRN.

I think this one is pretty self explanatory

Ok, let me explain this part below.  I got hired to do a poster for some upcoming shows.  You’ll see below the version that was finally approved by FFH’s management.  But underneath that one you’ll see how I thought the poster should’ve looked.  Personally, I think the second design would have drawn a bigger crowd.  But you know, whatever.

Now here is my favorite version, and the one i designed first.  For some reason it didn’t get approved.  Go figure.

Allison sent this version to Jeromy saying, “Hmm, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have our drummer design the flyer.”