It was my pleasure to preach at a “CASTING CROWNS” concert in 2005, in Manassas, Virginia at a large church. It was a Youth Evangelism Rally and Duffy Robbins and I, were the two invited guests and I had the pleasure to preach both Friday night at the CC Concert and Saturday morning on the main stage for discipleship. One of the joys before and after the Casting Crowns show was to hang out with Andy Williams – former drummer to Grammy/Dove & recently named “Group of the Year” – Casting Crowns.

He is POWERFUL on stage but super personable off stage. We had a blast talking in the tunnel prior to the show and it was wild eating in the “Green Room” with lead singer, Mark Hall, Andy Williams and the band prior to the concert. We had two hours to kill before the doors opened and ironically an indoor basketball court was adjacent to the auditorium. Someone suggested we play a pick up game of basketball. Since I was the speaker they graciously invited me to play hoops with them. It will remain one of the wildest memories that I will hold dear for life being able to play 3 on 3 with Casting Crowns.

The good news is it was a ton of fun. The bad news was I was wearing jeans and dress shoes while playing. Its hard to do a finger roll or hit a three pointer without tennis shoes but it was a blast none the less. About two months ago on my radio show “FRANKLY SPEAKING” I had the pleasure to re-connect with Andy and he was a “call in” guest and talked about his recent transition from CC to start a new group with his wife and a few friends called SOUL SISTER SALLY.

Friends, you talk about faith – he left the security, stability and stage of Casting Crowns to start a new group “by faith.” What is super cool is that Andy heard God say “go” so he was gone. You have to check out their website www.SoulSisterSally.com and you can hear their NEW single “Destined to Survive” below – IT IS AMAZING and you can hear it here first.

That radio interview will be released on a future blog post here soon. In the interim, enjoy the recent video that we taped in June 2009, while I was in town preaching in Georgia at two churches. Andy and his lovely bride and son were gracious to hang out with me and grab lunch. They are INCREDIBLE and please share some love and give them a SHOUT OUT and let them know you wish them well as they follow God’s call. If you are a pastor or youth leader – PRAY about bringing them to your church in near future. You will not be dissapointed.

“Destined To Survive” – http://www.soulsistersally.com/destined/player/player1.htm