Hey there!

(1) A band on tour

(2) A bunch of Amish people stranded on the side of the road

(3) A phone number you can call, to get all your questions answered

What do these 3 things have in common?! Check out my friend’s blog to find out!

I love it when my friends Blog. There’s something so fun about having friends that share the same passions and interests, and someone who understands and shares my love of Blogging and Twitter is my friend Joy! There aren’t many girls into all this stuff… All the guys who taught me how to Blog and Twitter (Randy Elrod, Spence Smith, Carlos Whittaker (Ragamuffin Soul), are all GUYS!) so its great to have some chicks in the cyberworld too!

Joy wrote a blog today that mentions me… so check it out by following the link below!

http://aussiejoyslife.blogspot.com/2008/08/on-road-dedicated-to-vicky-beeching.html

Question - “Do you have friends that understand your love of being online, visiting blogs, twittering, Macs, iPhones and all-things-geekish?!”

Love,

Vicky

Hey gang!

If you are needing new music to inspire you, there is good news!

Phil just recorded a brilliant new record with his producer Pete Kipley (who lives in San Diego and has become a friend of mine - Pete and his family are awesome!)

So the album really is free…. and its great. So watch the video clip below, and download your free copy! Click on the photo above and it will take you to the download site!

Question - what tunes have you heard recently that you’d recommend?

Vicky

Hey there!

As you know I love books… at Oxford I was surrounded by thousands of books, so I rarely recommend any to anyone as I’m pretty picky! But one of my dearest friends just wrote a brilliant new devotional and I HAVE to tell you about it!

My favorite thing to speak or write about, is that worship is a lifestyle. Worship is SO much more than singing songs, or attending church gatherings. It’s about being a LIVING sacrifice - walking in purity and holiness, day in and day out, honoring God in the nitty gritty of our daily lives.

One of the people who MOST shines this truth is my dear friend Rebecca! So I’m delighted that she’s written a new book to share her thoughts and insights about living a life of purity.

Bec is the right person to be writing this devotional book because lots of people TALK the talk, but few people WALK it out. It’s beautiful to see the things she shares from stage walked out, and I’m constantly challenged and inspired by the way she is committed to purity whether she’s in front of thousands or unseen in her run-of-the-mill daily life.

It’s awesome to have a friend who shares my same commitment of saving sex for marriage, and believes as I do, that purity is anything but boring! God is the giver of true joy, and living HIS way is totally the most joyful and fun….and we certainly have plenty of FUN!….

Take the journey of reading this devotional and see how God can change and impact your life and heart. The “PURE” book is available Sept 3rd, so pre-order it now and gets yours!

Here’s the link to get your copy:  http://rsjames.com

And here’s a photo of the great publishing team!

On this theme of friendship here’s a question for our blog community here, as our discussions are my favorite part about Blogging!

“Friendship is a powerful thing in life - Proverbs says that ‘those who walks with the wise will become wise’ and that ‘iron sharpens iron’. Choosing friends that pull you into God and His ways is really important. Obviously not everyone in our lives needs to share the same beliefs, but if you are following Jesus it’s crucial to have some friends to share that journey with you. Do you have that kind of community in your life? Is your family, or some friends, or are you still searching and praying for those people in your life? Share below!”

Love,

Vicky

Hi friends,

Greetings from San Diego and a sunny morning here! Just went walking down by the SD harbor downtown. I grabbed an iced Americano and walked past the bay with the boats lined up. One of the marine corps were doing morning training, so they ran past shouting their in-unison training cries.. I’m so glad I’m not a marine! I have SO much respect for those folks and their hardcore training!

Saw this update online about the writer of the song Healer, and seeming as it got so much discussion here on my blog I thought I’d post it for you to see. Sounds like Mike G truly needs our prayers and compassion, as do his family at this tough time.

Look for another blog real soon -this one is just a quick hello, and giving you the Healer update asI thought you’d like to be in the loop as we discussed the song here…

Here’s the link:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24233308-5006301,00.html

Cheers!

Vicky

Hey friends!

Every now and then I recommend a great blogsite to you… Carlos Whittaker’s is awesome (http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com) and recently I told you about http://www.biscuet.com, my friend who lives over in China. Here is a great Blog by a dear friend and worship pastor Brian Wurzell. (I also highly recommend his girlfriend Promise Tangemen’s site too - she is an amazing designer… http://promisetangeman.wordpress.com)

Today Brian messaged me on Twitter to fill me in on some sad news about one of my current favorite worship songs called “Healer”. I don’t ever want to be a rumor-monger or blog about gossip…so I only post this today so that people are in the loop. I didn’t know and was thinking of using the song at church (which I still might do…) but it was important for me to be in the loop about what happened today, so I feel it’s important for you too…

Here’s the link to Brian’s good explanation of it all:

http://brianwurzell.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/hillsong-healerummmmmwhat/

And here is the newspaper article:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24212817-5006301,00.html

My response to it is that even MIke G’s testimony seems to be untrue, the song still declares Biblical truth - “I believe You’re my healer, I believe You are all I need”… So it seems a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater and lose a great song about God’s healing power. It seems more redemptive to keep using the song… but perhaps this newsflash has spoiled people’s ability to sing it without thinking about the untruths that went along with it…

I don’t know. All I know is that God IS our healer and we do need to sing about it! And I know that Jesus said “let those who are without sin cast the first stone”…so I know I have absolutely no right to judge Mike G at all… I just feel a lot of sadness and compassion for him and his family….Using news like this as fuel to pray is really the most productive course of action… We are all just fragile humans and this should make us love and pray for our brothers and sisters, not point fingers… but teachers and preachers are subject to a high standard of character, so it’s also not OK to lie or mislead people…. A tough situation indeed.

What do you think about all this? If you are a worship leader, would you still use the song at church? If you attend a church, would you like this song to continue being sung, or would it be distracting/tainted by this news?

Love,

Vicky

Hi friends,

Did you ever hear the old Michael W Smith song, ‘go west young man”? That was one of my favorite songs when I was growing up! If you’ve been following my “Twitters” (see www.twitter.com) you’ll have heard a lot about me packing up my apartment in Nashville and taking a road trip West, via Estes Park, to California. Its been a busy and exciting few weeks of transition, so let me sit down and tell you all about it!

Since I was a teenager, I’ve always wanted to live in California. It was a pretty unusual thing to want, as my family had never been to the States and had no desire to go there. So God planted a love and a huge prayer burden for California in my heart at a young age. In my later teens I researched the Azuza street revival, read all about the Jesus movement, and spent much time praying that God would touch the ‘Golden State’ and one day allow me to live there and serve him in that place. When I was 20 I visited the States for the first time, going to a songwriters retreat held by the Anaheim Vineyard Church. I fell in love with Southern California instantly and it hasn’t gone away since.

Nashville has been home for the past 4 years, and I’ve loved being there. But over the past year my heart has grown more and more excited at the thought of making a move to CA. My job is totally mobile - songwriting happens wherever me and my guitar are…. recording happens wherever my laptop and a microphone are… and traveling ministry just needs an airport nearby to fly out of. So I began to realize that I could live anywhere and still continue everything as normal!

After a lot of prayer, thought and planning over the last 6 months, I finally arrived here in CA last week! I chose San Diego as it’s quieter and more laid back than LA, but I can still head up there for any writing or recording stuff in Los Angeles. The chilled out, surfer vibe here in San Diego is awesome, and there are lots of musicians, writers and creatives to inspire me and team up with!

It was a beautiful and long road trip across the country, aided by my trust GPS! (I need a name for my GPS… all suggestions welcomed!)

In a truck stop I saw this mileage chart and kept realizing just how BIG america is!

I saw incredible scenery….

And having crossed the CA border on the final night of the road trip, celebrated with the classically Californian meal of “In and Out Burger” : )

The beach is about 5 minutes from my house, so I’m loving that already…and I love all the palm trees…. you don’t see any of those in England so they are still quite novel to me!

This week has mainly been unpacking suitcases and getting furniture for my apartment… as you can see I”ve been busy….(this was day 2, so now it looks WAY more organized!)

So I am now based in San Diego and am very excited about it. There is so much going on for me at the moment - finishing songs for my forthcoming record… just about to sign a book contract for a book about worship and revival… lots of concerts in the US coming up, plus a 2 week tour of Canada in October… looking at great ideas for more events in the Fall… So San Diego feels like the perfect place to base those activities out of - when I need inspiration and rest, all I have to do is jump in my Jeep and go walk along the beach. I’ve also found the perfect beach-side coffee shop where I can do all my writing and blogging. Awesome!

So that’s my update : ) How about you guys - where do you live now, and is there anywhere else you have dreamed of living? Do you sense that God is calling you to your current location for a long time, or do you feel called to a different location or nation?

Love,

Vicky

Hello there!

Last week I came back from Estes Park Colorado, which was a truly beautiful location. I was part of “GMA in the Rockies” run by the Gospel Music Association. Here’s a shot of me with the Head of GMA, John Styll who is an awesome guy…

Seeing the mountains stretching up into the sky, and the unending line of trees across the horizon was breath taking! It really reminded me of God’s power and glory. One morning I led worship outdoors as part of the GMA program and it was really special to sing and look around at creation’s majesty!

It reminded me how much of our lives we humans spend indoors looking at four walls or a TV and computer screen! The world and all its beauty is just outside our doorstep.. I’m inspired to get out there more, as every glimpse of creation’s wonder is really a glimpse of our glorious Creator God!

What have you seen, or where have you been in your life, where you most experienced God through His creation?

Vicky : )

Hey there!

I wanted to share more with you about how great my week in England was. I went over there to lead worship for the week long worship event called New Wine. Its the event that birthed Soul Survivor - SS originally began as the youth meeting at New Wine many years ago and gradually grew into its own youth conference and youth movement, producing worship leaders Matt Redman, Tim Hughes and others. So New Wine has been a very influential conference over the last decades, and it was a real blessing to be part of the team!

As you know, Joy Argow my Aussie friend came with me, and she and I had such a blast. God really met us both in the meetings, and we also loved drinking real British tea, and laughing at good old British humor!

Here are some photos from the trip! Above is a shot of me and my excellent UK musicians from the event - most of us had never met before we arrived at the conference for rehearsals, so they did an amazing job of learning my songs and going with the flow. I’m so glad to have made such great new friends!

Joy and all our gear, getting off the Heathrow Train at Paddington Station!

Classic british food - pie and chips! (not a low carb option!!)

Main stage worship session…

“ACTION!”… New Wine filmed an informal interview with me one afternoon…

This is the Vicar of my home church in the UK, Chris Pemberton, then one of the couples who ran my youth group at his church when I was 13-18yrs old. Alistair on the right is the guy who first encouraged me to start leading worship…he was there the first time I ever led and can testify that I was VERY nervous! It was great to see them all again!

This is me and my Dad. My parents came to the conference as my UK visit was literally zooming into the first night of the event, then flying straight out after the final session. So they came to the conference and hung out with me each day. One of the venues was holding a ‘hat party’ as a fun after hours activity, hence my Dad’s viking hat!

This was the brochure/poster for the event - “KIngdom Come” was the theme and I certainly felt like God’s kingdom was powerfully present at the conference… some of the meetings felt like heaven was invading earth, as we sang our hearts out in worship. In several ministry times we prayed for the sick and saw people truly experience healing in body and heart.. so I came away feeling like I’d seen God’s kingdom breaking in, and longing to see more of that over the coming weeks and years!

Right now I’m at Estes Park, and having a great time at GMA in the Rockies - an event run by the Gospel Music Association. Photos and Blog to follow from here!

On the subject of the Kingdom of God, lets have a theological chat here - as we love to do! “Why do you think some people get healed when we pray, and others don’t? Why do we sometimes see God’s kingdom break in with victory, and other times it feels like heaven is silent? Can we expect the fullness of God’s kingdom here on earth, or is that something we can only see in heaven, or when Jesus returns again?”

Love,

Vicky

Hey friends

If you’ve been following my Twitter posts (www.twitter.com) you’ll know that I just experienced a seriously crazy travel time, coming back from London.

I had a BRILLIANT week leading worship at New Wine 2008, an amazing worship and teaching event in the UK. I left the conference to drive to Heathrow and from then on things just got crazier and crazier…

The plane had 3 different mechanical faults and sat on the tarmac in London for over 3 hours before it even took off, with us all on board as they tried to fix it. Seven hours later we descended into JFK but couldn’t land because of storms. Circling for 2 hours drained fuel, so the pilot announced we needed to make an emergency landing in Boston or we would totally be out of gas.

Touching down in Boston, we were denied a parking gate as they were full with other storm re-directed international flights. Assigned a space in the cargo area, we parked amid warehouses, old vehicles and palettes. Boston then denied us entrance to deplane anywhere as we were unexpected and their customs could not handle us. JFK refused to let us take off from Boston and head their way as weather had caused so many flight delays that their customs and flight re-booking areas were now under police control as people had got aggressive.

So stuck in the cargo area of Boston airport, we sat trapped in the plane on the tarmac for nine hours with no proper AC or food/water supplies. Children were throwing up, people were shouting and demanding answers. The pilot, desperate for answers from either JFK or Boston received neither, and pushed both so hard for a solution when both were denying responsibility, that they threatened to take away his flying credentials. The temperature rose to a point where all the plane doors had to be opened, but we were told anyone jumping out onto the wings would be arrested immediately as an internationally non-customs cleared criminal.

Customers at the end of their sanity made a phone-call to a Boston TV channel reporting that we were unable to leave the plane, and therefore were being held hostage by the airports, without water or air for 9 hours. Apparently a newsflash went out across Boston TV, questioning whether our plane, Delta DL4 from Heathrow was indeed in a hostage situation! Thankfully it was not.

Eventually we were deplaned and taken through customs in Boston which was a ghost town at 1am. We were then told we had to get straight back on the same plane as Boston would not be able to fly us anywhere for several days if we stayed, due to a backlog of other travelers. So awaiting the same plane to be fixed, cleaned and re-crewed was our only option. Held in a waiting area with MacDonald vouchers we all pretty much passed out, strewn across the floor with our bags. Kids were crying and people ate their MacDonalds silently just desperate to be anywhere but there. Finally departing Boston at 2am we arrived in a deserted JFK at 3am and were sent through lines for vouchers and re-booking for another hour. Assigned a hotel several miles away we were sent onto the AirTran train to a waiting point for a hotel shuttle on a dark street corner. The hotel shuttle didn’t show up for 45 minutes. After a long line to check into the hotel I was told there were not enough rooms as Delta had over-sent passengers. Eventually I got a bed for a few hours before setting out for JFK again to get the final leg of my flight on to Buffalo NY. Seriously it felt like some kind of nightmare and travels problems continued again all the following day as I headed to Buffalo!

Read the timeline and see it all…. P.s. thanks for reading all this… I feel like downloading to you all about how stressful it was is very healing somehow!!

Friday: (times are in USA central time)

Full day at conference leading worship (which was a great time!)

10pm drove to Heathrow
Midnight: Checked into Heathrow.

Saturday:

Boarded flight 2.45am.
Sat on tarmac til 6.19am, over 3.5 hours.
12 noon: After the normal 7 hours in the air we began descending to JFK, but circled over JFK for 2 hrs until 2pm Saturday. Began to run out of fuel and had to make a detour landing.

2pm: Re-routed to Boston, circling more and finally touching down at 3.52pm.

NINE HOURS ON GROUND:3.52pm – 2.30am Sunday: Sat on tarmac without proper AC or food/water.

12midnight: Deplaned into Boston. Long customs line. Put in holding area for flight to JFK as told no flights would have space out of Boston next day.

Sunday:

2.22am: Departed Boston for JFK.
3.30am: Landed in JFK. Long line for hotel vouchers and re-booking info.
4.30am: took AirTran to hotel shuttle stop.
5.30am: Hotel shuttle arrived 45 mins late
5.45am: Arrived at Hotel. Long line. Told there were no more rooms left and Delta had sent too many passengers.
6.15am: A nice guy gives up his room for me and takes a couch instead.
6.30am-11am: Sleeping. Praise God!
11am: Back on shuttle to JFK.
One hour in line to check in and told my new ticket isn’t valid.
12pm noon Sunday: Finally allowed a ticket for my final leg to Buffalo.
2.55pm: Flight supposed to depart
Delayed three times. 4.15pm: Finally board plane.
Sat on tarmac for one hour.
6.30pm: Landed in Buffalo, shuttle to hotel and now am ready to sleeeeeeep!

So that’s 3 days with barely any sleep, and almost 48 hours in transit and 13.5 hours on tarmac.Yikes.

It’s already been showing up on online travel sites like this one too, as people figure out what went wrong…

Wow. So that was a seriously crazy weekend. Here’s a snap of me right now, looking exhausted and ready to sleep!

Tomorrow at 1.30pm I play at KingdomBound festival, here in Buffalo, then again on main stage at 5pm sharing the stage with Leeland and Third Day. Now that’s worth all the travel craziness so get to see awesome friends like the Leeland guys and the Third Day-ers… thats cheering me up already : )

Here’s a question for discussion, as its always fun when we have conversations on this blog community! “What are your worst travel scenarios? Have you had a pretty good experience of travelling places, or any hair-raising stories of things going wrong??

In His grip!

Vicky

Greetings from me in my homeland!

Its been a great time here so far… I left nashville airport at 2pm on Friday, then connected in Newark to take an overnight flight to London Heathrow. Saturday morning, after a 7 hour sleep on the plane, I woke up to see us beginning the descent into Heathrow, catching a beautiful view of Big Ben, the Thames River, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, all outside my window, sparkling in the morning sunshine…beautiful!

Here’s a snapshot of me and my road manager Joy who is travelling with me on this trip. We had just boarded the flight to London and were very ready to sleep!

From Heathrow, we took the tube and train to Paddington Station (have you heard of Paddington Bear? That’s where his story was set in the children’s books!). Here is my favorite station on the London Underground… there is a station called “London Victoria”… and I’m biased because that’s my name!

From central London we took a train three hours to the countryside of Somerset. Its a beautiful part of the UK…lots of rolling hills and wide open skies. The nearest town is called Castle Cary, as there is a brilliant castle there… I love how historic England is!

Read Joy’s blog too, to see what we are upto as she is blogging from here too! http://aussiejoyslife.blogspot.com

The speaker today is Dave Parker from the Desert Vineyard Church outside of LA. Nice to have an American here at the conference too, as it reminds me of the States! He spoke about our hearts needing to be broken tiwht the things that break God’s heart. He said our world has become SO apathetic. He told them story of a woman who was attacked outside of a busy apartment complex full of people. She shouted and cried out, but no one came to help here. Curtains flickered as people looked and decided they didnt care enough to move beyond the safety of their own world. We need to have our hearts broken with what breaks Gods heart - we must be moved out of out apathy and into action for a broken world. Does that resonate with you? How can we share God’s heart?

More later!

Vicky