2 down... 3 more to go...
On to, Boston City Hall Plaza...
As you all may know by now, Ashmont Hill is from the GREAT city of Boston, Massachusetts...Home of the Sox, the Celtics and of course the Legendary Patriots... In fact, our name Ashmont Hill is named after a neighborhood in Dorchester right around Ashmont train station where Phil, April and I grew up... Wil grew up around Dorchester too, just not exactly in Ashmont Hill...
As much as we love our wonderful city we very rarely get to actually do events in or close to the city... So when we got the call to open for Donnie McClurkin at the annual Gospel Fest at Boston City Hall Plaza, we were very excited... Every year the City of Boston puts on a Free Gospel concert and bring in a great artist... Some past artists have been Dottie Peoples, Kirk Franklin, and Karen Clark Sheard...
What a it was sight to see our beloved Bostonians worshiping God along with us!! It was absolutely amazing... It was so good to have the band back with us after a few dates without them!! It's so cool to look back and see them totally getting into the worship experience along with us, we feed off each other, and it's NEVER the same without them!! :)
Well, I know this is a short one... but, until next time my loves...
Debaleelee from AH...
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Philly...Let's Face it, We go for the Cheese Steaks...
Hello Again!
Glad to see me back so soon?? :)
I'm determined to catch all you guys up before we head out on the road again because I REFUSE to become so behind that I feel like I'll never catch up...
Ok, I've got about 4 more tour dates to tell you all about... in the next 4 blogs...
Philadelphia, Boston City Hall, GMWA in Cincinnati, and San Francisco...
On to Philly... City of Brotherly Love and Mom and Dad's hometown...
Again we begin our day meeting at Phil's house... This time April has brought along a Nanny and then SURPRISE!! Mom shows up to go with us too!! Mom has since gone on another trip with us in addition to this one, and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE having her with us...
It's about a 6 hour drive to Philly and we decide to divide up the driving time a bit so Phil doesn't have to do the entire trip...
*SIDEBAR* Phil's driving is a bit of a running joke between us and the band... He is the TYPICAL Boston driver... drives WAY too fast, rides people bumpers like crazy, always brakes way too late, esp. on the highway...which REALLY freaks us out!! We pretty much have our lives flashing before our eyes when Phil's driving on the highway... LOL... And if you try to follow him?? You're pretty much gonna get lost, because he speeds through yellow lights and you get stuck behind the red and he doesn't even look back to make sure you are still behind him. And for some reason, he has the HARDEST time following the GPS! April is always like, "NO!! Phil, not here!! Turn there!!" :) But it makes sense... he's an artist!! Brilliant people who write songs like "Your Masterpiece" don't have time to be worrying about driving well, he's too busy creating some other concept or song that will completely blow our minds!! And it's that and SO many other things that make him our Phil, and that's why we love him... :)
So we arrive in Philly on Saturday, which is perfect because we CAN'T come to Philly and not go to...
PAGANO'S!!! People can talk all they want about any other place they think is the best but it doesn't matter because they are ALL WRONG. THE BEST place to get THE BEST and the most INSANE Philly Cheesesteak, IN Philly, is at Pagano's... It's one size, humongous, with the best grade beef, mushrooms, onions, triple cheese... mmm...SO GOOD... and I never get through more than half... :)
Sunday we sang 2 songs at both services at West Oak Lane Church of God, Pop Pop Shepherd used to be the Pastor, the Pastor my Dad got saved under, but he passed a few years ago, and his son Horace is now the Pastor.
We had an unbelievable time... The anointing and the Spirit of God was so evident and we are always grateful how He shows up and Powerfully moves in and through us...
After church, we went to visit April's Godmother, Mother Joel in a nursing home not far from the church... A powerful and amazing evangelist and woman of God. She never married and doesn't have children, so apart from some of the saints at West Oak Lane she doesn't get many visitors, so she was very glad to see us. We brought CDs and sang with her and she played with Little Zee... we had such a great time... Very difficult to be in such a sad place, and some of us were even moved to tears seeing the conditions that some of these Elderly people live in. But even in the midst of it all, Mother Joel still has a smile on her face, still knows she has a purpose on this earth, and is still getting people saved... what an amazing woman... :)
Well, that was Philly, until next time...
Love Always,
Deb from Ashmont Hill
Glad to see me back so soon?? :)
I'm determined to catch all you guys up before we head out on the road again because I REFUSE to become so behind that I feel like I'll never catch up...
Ok, I've got about 4 more tour dates to tell you all about... in the next 4 blogs...
Philadelphia, Boston City Hall, GMWA in Cincinnati, and San Francisco...
On to Philly... City of Brotherly Love and Mom and Dad's hometown...
Again we begin our day meeting at Phil's house... This time April has brought along a Nanny and then SURPRISE!! Mom shows up to go with us too!! Mom has since gone on another trip with us in addition to this one, and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE having her with us...
It's about a 6 hour drive to Philly and we decide to divide up the driving time a bit so Phil doesn't have to do the entire trip...
*SIDEBAR* Phil's driving is a bit of a running joke between us and the band... He is the TYPICAL Boston driver... drives WAY too fast, rides people bumpers like crazy, always brakes way too late, esp. on the highway...which REALLY freaks us out!! We pretty much have our lives flashing before our eyes when Phil's driving on the highway... LOL... And if you try to follow him?? You're pretty much gonna get lost, because he speeds through yellow lights and you get stuck behind the red and he doesn't even look back to make sure you are still behind him. And for some reason, he has the HARDEST time following the GPS! April is always like, "NO!! Phil, not here!! Turn there!!" :) But it makes sense... he's an artist!! Brilliant people who write songs like "Your Masterpiece" don't have time to be worrying about driving well, he's too busy creating some other concept or song that will completely blow our minds!! And it's that and SO many other things that make him our Phil, and that's why we love him... :)
So we arrive in Philly on Saturday, which is perfect because we CAN'T come to Philly and not go to...
PAGANO'S!!! People can talk all they want about any other place they think is the best but it doesn't matter because they are ALL WRONG. THE BEST place to get THE BEST and the most INSANE Philly Cheesesteak, IN Philly, is at Pagano's... It's one size, humongous, with the best grade beef, mushrooms, onions, triple cheese... mmm...SO GOOD... and I never get through more than half... :)
Sunday we sang 2 songs at both services at West Oak Lane Church of God, Pop Pop Shepherd used to be the Pastor, the Pastor my Dad got saved under, but he passed a few years ago, and his son Horace is now the Pastor.
We had an unbelievable time... The anointing and the Spirit of God was so evident and we are always grateful how He shows up and Powerfully moves in and through us...
After church, we went to visit April's Godmother, Mother Joel in a nursing home not far from the church... A powerful and amazing evangelist and woman of God. She never married and doesn't have children, so apart from some of the saints at West Oak Lane she doesn't get many visitors, so she was very glad to see us. We brought CDs and sang with her and she played with Little Zee... we had such a great time... Very difficult to be in such a sad place, and some of us were even moved to tears seeing the conditions that some of these Elderly people live in. But even in the midst of it all, Mother Joel still has a smile on her face, still knows she has a purpose on this earth, and is still getting people saved... what an amazing woman... :)
Well, that was Philly, until next time...
Love Always,
Deb from Ashmont Hill
Thursday, August 19, 2010
CONNECTICUT...
Hello All,
Sorry it's been so long!! I've missed you!! Things have been so incredibly hectic that I just really haven't had time to blog all about our adventures!! But I've been keeping a journal in my mind, so don't worry, I will catch you all up with plenty of detail :). AND I promise, that I will try very very hard, to come on and tell you all about what's going on with your beloved Ashmont Hill AS it is happening, instead of so late as it will be now...
Ok, I've got about 5 tour dates to tell you all about... in the next 5 blogs...
Connecticut, Philadelphia, Boston City Hall, GMWA in Cincinnati, and San Francisco...
Let's start with CRAZY Connecticut...
Well, I don't know if you all know this but we, Ashmont Hill, are actually full-time worship leaders at our wonderful home churches Jubilee Christian Church here in Boston, MA. Phil and April mainly lead in the main campus in Mattapan, and Wil and I mainly lead in the Stoughton campus. Us, along with other AMAZING worship leaders in both locations, also switch around whenever we can, and even AH leads altogether sometimes. I say all that to say, that in the rare times when we ARE home on weekends, and not out on the road in one of your fine cities, we usually are leading worship.
On this particular weekend, it just so happened that we'd be home, and none of us were leading worship in either location. And instead of our wonderful brother/fellow AH singer/AH songwriter/AH manager thinking, "Well why don't I just give us a nice weekend off to relax, and come to church like everyone else..." He comes up with the idea for us to set up some engagements in our neighboring state of Connecticut. He makes a few calls, and some great stuff opens up. It started off as 1 church, then 2 churches, then went to 3, then 4, and when all was said and done, we ended up doing 5... Yes, you heard right, 5... 5 church in one long, crazy, insane, exhilarating, and exhausting day.
6AM
The day begins with us meeting at Phil's to load up a church van and carpool the 2 hour drive to CT.
8AM
We arrive in CT and decide to go to Cracker Barrel for Breakfast...
*SIDEBAR* Cracker Barrel holds a very dear, and at the same time a very sickening place in Ashmont Hill's hearts because back in 2008, on our very first tour, with the lovely and amazing Natalie Grant, on the off days when we were stuck in Nashville, living in Red Roof Inn (because why spend $$ on a nice hotel when we are back to living on a tour bus in only a couple days??), and desperate to get out of our hotel room for ANY amount of time, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast EVERY DAY. That's right people, for almost 3 straight months, if we weren't home in Boston for a couple days, or out on the road, we had Cracker Barrel EVERY DAY. Sometimes a couple times a day... Needless to say, we got RIDICULOUSLY sick of it, and loved it at the same time cuz let's face it, it's Cracker Barrel, uhm Pecan Pancakes?? the best French Toast ever??
Anyway... :) On to...
Church #1:
10:40AM
Rehoboth Church of God
GORGEOUS church, absolutely beautiful... (we actually have a concert there next weekend and I'm VERY MUCH looking forward to seeing it again because it was that beautiful...)
We did our 2 songs and it was really really great...
The biggest downside to this whole day was that we didn't have our band with us, but I'm actually glad we didn't because it was already such an insane day, it would've been 4 times harder having to deal with instruments and sound systems when we absolutely had no time to do so.
Church #2:
11:45AM
Ebenezer Temple UHCA
For the size of the church, it was pleasantly surprising how great the sound was!! And the Spirit of God was SO heavy in that place... so great... :)
Church #3:
1:30PM
Citadel of Love
Not exaggerating, they shouted and danced and sang for about an hour before we got up to sing... and we loved every minute of it!! :) At one point, the Pastor and most of the choir ran about 5 laps around the sanctuary... And no joke, I saw this older woman in front of us, pull out a washboard, (like the metal thing they used to rub and wash clothes on back in the day) and a wisk (the kind you stick in an electric mixer) and scrape it against the washboard during the shouting as her own personal makeshift tamborine... LOL... It was SO AMAZING to see that kind of abandon for God. One of the best things about what we get to do is going around to all of these AMAZING churches we would've never known about, and experience the way they worship God.
*SIDEBAR AGAIN* Sorry guys but it's been a while!! I have a lot to say!! :)
Speaking of abandon in worshiping God...
Last October, we ministered at Covenant Church of Pittsburgh's Annual Conference... and that year it happened to be a worship conference, and Bishop Garlington (our father's Bishop) invited all of these amazing worship artists to come and lead throughout the conference...
Well, one particular artist, was a husband and wife duo named Brian and Ramey Whalen, POWERFUL, ANOINTED, UNBELIEVABLE people of God... Anyway, they led worship during this one particular service...and they had about an hour to do so... They sang a song called "Praises Rise" for about 45 mins... during that 45 mins, they had everyone, running, jumping, shouting, dancing, and pretty much going crazy for Jesus... it was AWESOME...
Church #4:
5:30PM Grace Worship Center
They put together a special service for us to come through because they heard we'd be in town... really warm and gracious people... :)
and Lastly, FINALLY...
Church #5:
7:45PM
Latter Rain Christian Fellowship
By this point, April's baby, Little Zee, who pretty much is ALWAYS in a smiley and happy mood... pretty much had ENOUGH... LOL... he let out a scream that we'd never heard before in our lives...
We had a wonderful time at this last service, but to say we were tired was the biggest understatement of the year...
Well, that was our Connecticut adventure...
At the end of the day, we reminded Phil that we only live 2 hours away, and will NEVER AGAIN do 5 churches in one day... :)
But, it's ALL TO BRING HIM GLORY... and to spread His LOVE, and get this CD out to as many people that will listen...
Until next time my loves... I PROMISE the next one won't be so long in coming...
See you soon,
Deborah from Ashmont Hill
Sorry it's been so long!! I've missed you!! Things have been so incredibly hectic that I just really haven't had time to blog all about our adventures!! But I've been keeping a journal in my mind, so don't worry, I will catch you all up with plenty of detail :). AND I promise, that I will try very very hard, to come on and tell you all about what's going on with your beloved Ashmont Hill AS it is happening, instead of so late as it will be now...
Ok, I've got about 5 tour dates to tell you all about... in the next 5 blogs...
Connecticut, Philadelphia, Boston City Hall, GMWA in Cincinnati, and San Francisco...
Let's start with CRAZY Connecticut...
Well, I don't know if you all know this but we, Ashmont Hill, are actually full-time worship leaders at our wonderful home churches Jubilee Christian Church here in Boston, MA. Phil and April mainly lead in the main campus in Mattapan, and Wil and I mainly lead in the Stoughton campus. Us, along with other AMAZING worship leaders in both locations, also switch around whenever we can, and even AH leads altogether sometimes. I say all that to say, that in the rare times when we ARE home on weekends, and not out on the road in one of your fine cities, we usually are leading worship.
On this particular weekend, it just so happened that we'd be home, and none of us were leading worship in either location. And instead of our wonderful brother/fellow AH singer/AH songwriter/AH manager thinking, "Well why don't I just give us a nice weekend off to relax, and come to church like everyone else..." He comes up with the idea for us to set up some engagements in our neighboring state of Connecticut. He makes a few calls, and some great stuff opens up. It started off as 1 church, then 2 churches, then went to 3, then 4, and when all was said and done, we ended up doing 5... Yes, you heard right, 5... 5 church in one long, crazy, insane, exhilarating, and exhausting day.
6AM
The day begins with us meeting at Phil's to load up a church van and carpool the 2 hour drive to CT.
8AM
We arrive in CT and decide to go to Cracker Barrel for Breakfast...
*SIDEBAR* Cracker Barrel holds a very dear, and at the same time a very sickening place in Ashmont Hill's hearts because back in 2008, on our very first tour, with the lovely and amazing Natalie Grant, on the off days when we were stuck in Nashville, living in Red Roof Inn (because why spend $$ on a nice hotel when we are back to living on a tour bus in only a couple days??), and desperate to get out of our hotel room for ANY amount of time, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast EVERY DAY. That's right people, for almost 3 straight months, if we weren't home in Boston for a couple days, or out on the road, we had Cracker Barrel EVERY DAY. Sometimes a couple times a day... Needless to say, we got RIDICULOUSLY sick of it, and loved it at the same time cuz let's face it, it's Cracker Barrel, uhm Pecan Pancakes?? the best French Toast ever??
Anyway... :) On to...
Church #1:
10:40AM
Rehoboth Church of God
GORGEOUS church, absolutely beautiful... (we actually have a concert there next weekend and I'm VERY MUCH looking forward to seeing it again because it was that beautiful...)
We did our 2 songs and it was really really great...
The biggest downside to this whole day was that we didn't have our band with us, but I'm actually glad we didn't because it was already such an insane day, it would've been 4 times harder having to deal with instruments and sound systems when we absolutely had no time to do so.
Church #2:
11:45AM
Ebenezer Temple UHCA
For the size of the church, it was pleasantly surprising how great the sound was!! And the Spirit of God was SO heavy in that place... so great... :)
Church #3:
1:30PM
Citadel of Love
Not exaggerating, they shouted and danced and sang for about an hour before we got up to sing... and we loved every minute of it!! :) At one point, the Pastor and most of the choir ran about 5 laps around the sanctuary... And no joke, I saw this older woman in front of us, pull out a washboard, (like the metal thing they used to rub and wash clothes on back in the day) and a wisk (the kind you stick in an electric mixer) and scrape it against the washboard during the shouting as her own personal makeshift tamborine... LOL... It was SO AMAZING to see that kind of abandon for God. One of the best things about what we get to do is going around to all of these AMAZING churches we would've never known about, and experience the way they worship God.
*SIDEBAR AGAIN* Sorry guys but it's been a while!! I have a lot to say!! :)
Speaking of abandon in worshiping God...
Last October, we ministered at Covenant Church of Pittsburgh's Annual Conference... and that year it happened to be a worship conference, and Bishop Garlington (our father's Bishop) invited all of these amazing worship artists to come and lead throughout the conference...
Well, one particular artist, was a husband and wife duo named Brian and Ramey Whalen, POWERFUL, ANOINTED, UNBELIEVABLE people of God... Anyway, they led worship during this one particular service...and they had about an hour to do so... They sang a song called "Praises Rise" for about 45 mins... during that 45 mins, they had everyone, running, jumping, shouting, dancing, and pretty much going crazy for Jesus... it was AWESOME...
Church #4:
5:30PM Grace Worship Center
They put together a special service for us to come through because they heard we'd be in town... really warm and gracious people... :)
and Lastly, FINALLY...
Church #5:
7:45PM
Latter Rain Christian Fellowship
By this point, April's baby, Little Zee, who pretty much is ALWAYS in a smiley and happy mood... pretty much had ENOUGH... LOL... he let out a scream that we'd never heard before in our lives...
We had a wonderful time at this last service, but to say we were tired was the biggest understatement of the year...
Well, that was our Connecticut adventure...
At the end of the day, we reminded Phil that we only live 2 hours away, and will NEVER AGAIN do 5 churches in one day... :)
But, it's ALL TO BRING HIM GLORY... and to spread His LOVE, and get this CD out to as many people that will listen...
Until next time my loves... I PROMISE the next one won't be so long in coming...
See you soon,
Deborah from Ashmont Hill
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