Monday, July 16, 2007

Full Circle

Hey guy's,
I can't tell you how excited we are to be a part of New City Church, and how God is working in our ministry. We've decided on a band name - "Full Circle".
We wanted a name to describe not just the members of the band, but what God has done in so many people's lives. I grew up in a Christian home, and was in church every time the doors were open. But I was just in church - The building. I didn't grasp the concept of worship, or even what it truly meant to be a follower of Christ. I graduated high school and moved out of my parent’s house when I was about 17 (have you ever taken your dog off the leash at a dog park and watched it go banana's? that was me). I joined a rock band shortly after and started my journey. We played local bars, parties, and began to get a pretty good following. We eventually traveled the east coast and played with some pretty well known bands. Along with being in this "scene" comes a great variety of temptations – unfortunately I just happened to be one of those people who wanted to try them all.......at the same time. I didn't realize how this affected me, my relationships, and my family – I was alienated. I became addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Finally one day I realized that I had all these problems in my life (financially, legally, and with family) because of what I was doing. This began my path to recovery 10 years ago. With many tears, interviews with psychiatrists (I've interviewed quite a few) many prayers, and the love of my family and friends, and by God’s grace today, I feel like the most blessed man on this earth.
I walked out of Sunday school a couple of months ago to get a refill on coffee, and I heard this band playing. I walked in and my jaw dropped. I saw Keith standing off to the side and I started asking him some questions. Keith said he may have something I might be interested in, and that we would talk later. When he explained his vision of New City Church, it was like a gong went off. My mother always said that God would use me and my experiences one day to serve him, and here it was (doesn't it bother you when your mom is always right). When I started putting together a band for New City, I called my old buddies first. My old bass player was playing on a praise team in Warner Robins, but would love nothing more than to come and worship and play with us. My old guitarist had almost the same story. Drummer.....this is when it became more than a coincidence. God's hands were all over this.

The first time we all got together to practice for New City, it was breath taking, in a good way. The music wasn't perfect, the sound was off, we were all tuned differently, but we were there. We had come from the back doors and alleys of bars and night clubs, to not just playing Christian music, but worshiping together. We had come full circle.
We are now well on our way preparing for this fall and God has added to our original few - and He continues to. Please keep us in your prayers, and know that no matter what you are going through in life, God always has his hands on you.

Shannon Allgood