Jesse for The Wintons

Our 2010 cross-country tour is officially over. Since May 5th we have played 50 concerts in 21 states and driven close to 20,000 miles. That’s an average of about one concert every 3 days! Our travels far surpassed what we expected in many ways. There were more challenges than we expected, more evidence of the hand of God at work in our lives and the lives of His people, more opportunities to share the Gospel with the lost and encourage the Saints than we had ever anticipated. We are humbled and grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be a small part of seeing His church reaching out to the lost and loving one another in His name and for His sake. While it was our hope to see and visit many parts of the country while traveling and ministering the Gospel, our schedule and pace didn’t allow us to see everything we desired.

In Bettendorf, IA.

Instead, we had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people and build friendships along the way. From Arnold, Nebraska to Charlottesville, Virginia; from Billings, Montana to Bellingham, Washington; from Augusta, South Carolina to Sanford, Florida, we have met a remnant of God’s people all across this vast country of ours, fighting the good fight, taking up the cross of Christ and following Him each day. What a thrill it has been to be with these great people and build lasting friendships that we hope will remain strong through the years. We look forward to partnering together again in the near future with many of the same people to reach out to lost neighbors and friends through Gospel bluegrass music and the sharing of the Word.

We have a week off before we hit our local and semi-local concerts, and about four weeks until we head to Texas for some concerts and the San Antonio Christian Independent Film Festival and Academy hosted by Doug Phillips and Vision Forum, to which we were generously given a gift to attend. We are beginning to prayerfully consider what this winter will hold and what our lives and music schedule may look like next year. We have been booked for three days at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri over Memorial Day weekend 2011, so we are beginning to schedule concerts around the country next year with those dates as a spring-board for our next tour.

We have been asked many times about how our needs are met on the road and while we are home doing local concerts. God has been faithful to meet our basic needs and take care of us, sometimes in miraculous ways. However, as the winter months approach and concert season slows, we are asking God to clearly show us what He has for us in the future as a band and as a family. For the health of our family and stability for our little girls, we desire to be able to rent a small home with a yard as a base when we are not performing so that we can continue to work with our daughter’s special needs. Monthly living expenses like a house payment and utilities have not been a part of what God has provided while we were on tour. We also have some additional financial needs beyond normal monthly expenses that we have been unable to take care of. We are so grateful to those who have been gracious to participate in love offerings at our concerts because that provided the gas and food we needed while on the road, but it took the extreme pace we had to travel at in order to perform enough concerts to meet those basics. Gas alone for the RV averaged $2500 per month for a grand total of close to $10,000 for the four months we were on the road. It was also very taxing on our entire family to travel 20,000 miles in 4 months, and for my health as I learn to deal daily with my multiple sclerosis and for some of the needs our little ones have, we know next spring we cannot average 1,000 miles a week and still remain healthy and strong enough individually and as a family to minister to others. However, we believe that this is what the Lord would have us do right now, but we have learned some things through this trip and are prayerfully asking the Lord how to continue doing what we do, but do it better.

Performing in Branson, MO.

A few months ago two families approached us and desired to support us with a monthly gift so that they could be a part of allowing us to continue ministering to others through music. It was through their desire to be a part of our ability to minister and continuing questions from others of how they could help that we decided to ask others to prayerfully consider being a part of what the Lord is allowing us to do. We are asking those who feel lead by the Lord to partner with us monthly through the next year as we work to put out our next CD prior to the spring tour, continue working with Freedom Films, are working hard to establish a new online family business, Christian Home Industry, to help provide income so we can continue ministering through music, and to allow me to continue to be available so we can book and perform concerts. Our desire is to see families partner with us monthly, whether $25, $50 or $100, or whatever amount the Lord might lay on your heart. Our prayer is that we could cover at least 50% of our anticipated budget through monthly gifts, and that, Lord willing, along with concerts that this would allow us to continue doing what we do. Our tentative plan at this point is to continue for the next year in full-time music as a family ministering the Gospel while we continue working on our website, and pray that by this time next fall the Lord would see fit to have that business flourishing enough to help support our family along with performing concerts. Both of the boys have interests and opportunities that they desire to pursue, so while we would like to continue in music, it may look different after the next year as they pursue those opportunities and interests alongside continuing with their music. Our desire as parents is to see them pursue those God-given gifts and talents for the glory of God and we are supportive as we see Him directing and providing opportunities in many areas for their futures.

We will have accountability and openness with our budgeting of the funds and resources donated through our already-established prayer team, which includes our pastor. If God so directs and you believe He would have you partner with us through the next twelve months, would you please e-mail us at thewintons@juno.com and let us know? You can make donations through our web site at www.thewintonsbluegrass.com, and we would be happy to set up something that would be helpful as a monthly reminder, whether an automatic monthly payment through PayPal or through secure Intuit online credit card processing which we are now able to use on our website and at our concerts. People are also welcome to e-mail and ask for a mailing address if they would prefer to mail a check.

Randy speaking in Augusta, GA.

We have about one-third of our next CD completed and would like to finish it before the end of the year. We would like to complete the recording in the studio and then have Cody mix it at home on the Mac computer we were generously given by a dear friend. Cody has a great ear for mixing our music, and this will also save studio hours that we would need to pay for. We have already laid down the rhythm tracks through the generous gift of Lisa’s mom and step-dad, and now need to record vocals and solos, then pay to have it manufactured. We are estimating it will take about $2500 to finish up the CD and make it available. If you would like to help with a one-time gift toward the CD, you can also use the Paypal link on the site and mark the donation, “CD”. As we wait on the Lord to help meet our needs we eagerly look forward to finishing up our next project.

One of the greatest things that happened while on the road was the “House Concert”. While in Viola, IL we were treated to a special and refreshing time on our friend’s farm, and they asked if we wanted to put on a concert in their house for their friends.

One of our house concerts in VA.

After the concert that night, we told everyone on Facebook what we did and the response was incredible. Twenty of our fifty concerts on tour were house concerts. They varied from living room settings to backyards to barns. The relaxed setting allowed families to reach out to neighbors and friends who need to hear about Jesus Christ. We look forward to many more house concerts as they ended up being the backbone of provision for us as we traveled, and gave us an intimate opportunity to share and speak with others about the Lord’s saving grace, the importance of many issues about family, adoption, and God’s refining in the lives of His people.

Our friend R.C. Sproul, Jr. reminds us that everything that happens is for God’s glory and our ultimate good. God continues to shape and mold us into the image of Christ through difficulties, gracious Providences and victories in Christ. Please continue to pray for us as God refines The Wintons into the people He wants us to be. May He be glorified in all of our lives.

Since we last posted an update we have seen quite a few friends all over the East Coast and played in Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.   We also got to visit some great historic sites, such as Boston and Philadelphia, as well as West Point in New York and Mount Vernon in Virginia. We have had a great time for the past week or so here in Augusta, GA, playing for all our relatives in the area and getting the chance to catch up after not seeing one another for several years. We were so blessed to be able to perform so many concerts here in Augusta, and the Lord blessed us with great opportunities to meet new people and make some new friends, including the folks at Silvercrest Baptist, Calvary Baptist, Brandon-Wilde Retirement Community and Family Bible Church.

Although the weather around here has been extremely hot and humid, we have had a wonderful time in the area.

Just today we left North Augusta, SC, where we visited with our friends the Downey’s and played for their nearby friends and family. We were scheduled to perform a house concert on their back lawn;  they had rented a stage for us and were expecting 85 people.   We arrived with plenty of time to get all of our equipment  set up and a sound check done. However, close to twenty minutes before the concert started, it began to rain extremely hard and we ended up moving the concert into the garage. Even though we were squeezed in like sardines, we had a great time and close to half of the folks showed up in spite of the weather challenges.

Sunday night we performed at Windsor Forest Baptist Church in Savannah and the concert went very well. We headed into downtown Savannah on Monday, which we have been told is extremely beautiful. In fact, when General Sherman came through the South during the War Between the States, burning everything, Savannah was so beautiful he could not give the order to burn it. An interesting piece of history for y’all.

After we leave  Savannah, Canon, GA will be our next stop, playing a house concert and then heading to Boydton, VA for another house concert.  Saturday we’ll trek South again to Valdosta, GA for a house concert and then we’ll be heading into Florida to visit with friends for a few days before the long trek back to California.  Looking forward to seeing all our friends back there and spending some time with everyone!

Sincerely,

Jesse Winton

Well, we had a great time in Silver Dollar City these past couple days at the Youth in Bluegrass Contest. On Saturday we went into the park early and did some of the activities, then we played our first set in the contest that afternoon. The park is really a very family -friendly atmosphere and the attractions are great. They have a few big roller-coasters and some other thrill rides, but the best part about the weekend was the contest. The first day when the three of us went backstage, we heard some really good bands practicing and knew that they would give us a run for our money. After we played that day we closed out the park and then headed over to a big jam session for the contestants and spent a few hours playing together with the others. Yesterday we showed up backstage ready to play and performed our second set. After listening to all of the bands the second day, we hoped to place in the top twelve.  The caliber of these performers is top-notch, and out of twenty bands we were very pleased and surprised to be awarded fifth place in the contest, which means that we will be booked at Silver Dollar City during the Bluegrass and Barbeque festival next year as well as being in the Youth Contest again. Overall, it was a great experience and we can’t wait to go back. The other four bands who took prizes were really great. Here are the links in order of placing:

1st: The Jed and Harry Clark Band

2nd: Lonesome Meadow

3rd: County Line Bluegrass

4th: The Sherman Mountain Boys

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If you have ever been in the south, you must have heard of Cracker Barrel. They seem to pop up every 30 miles or so here in Missouri, and there have quite a few of them elsewhere. The first week we were on tour we stopped in Omaha, NE at their restaurant in downtown about ten minutes before they closed, but they very graciously seated us and, in the process of explaining why we were late, we told them why we were on the road and about our tour. During the meal the waitress came out and told us that if we had some kind of memorabilia that we could sign, the restaurant would buy our meal. We signed one of our pictures and gave it to them, which they hung up in the store.  We were so pleased to meet these kind people and were grateful for their wonderful hospitality.  Thank you, Omaha Cracker Barrel!  (Sorry it took so long to get these photos up, we have been so busy and battling illness since our visit with you!)

Last week we got to spend some time with our friends the Blicks in Viola, IL, where we spent quite a few hours repairing our generator.  It quit on us on the road while driving, leaving us with no air-conditioning in 90-degree weather. While there, we did our very first concert in a living room. We found that we enjoyed the venue very much and are now going to offer this as an option for booking our band. E-mail us at thewintons@juno.com for more information about this.

We just finished up our time performing at and visiting the fabulous Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY, and today head to Charlottesville, VA, where we will be performing Friday evening, June 4th at Jefferson Baptist Church at 7pm.   Please join us if you’re in the area, and we’ll try and post more photos and another update soon.

In the meantime, be sure to visit our schedule to see if we’re coming to an area near you.  Upcoming concerts are scheduled for Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Georgia, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Montana with other events in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma in the works.  We’ve just completed our first month on the road with performances in California, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky and can’t wait to see what the next five months hold in store!

~Jesse for The Wintons

Jesse wrote this post on May 7th, but we were having some challenges getting adequate internet time to get things posted.  Now we have continuous access in the motor home thanks to a cell phone that acts as a computer router, and we’re hoping to catch you up on the past week’s travels in the next few days.  We’re currently in Iowa headed to play on Friday evening at Cross Point Church in Davenport, Iowa.

Greetings from somewhere in the middle of Wyoming! We can’t tell exactly where we are, but we have heard that once the scenery changes you know you are out of Wyoming. But from where I sit in the motor home it doesn’t look as though that will happen soon;   I see much sand, hills, and plants that look like tumble-weeds that have taken root.

After two extremely late nights and long days hauling, we got all of our stuff packed and in storage and everything we were taking with us stuffed into the motor home with help from our friends the McLaughlin’s and Darrel Kelly. It took a lot of work to pack up all of our stuff. When we moved five years ago we were able to fill up the biggest moving van that we could rent, and after five years living here we accumulated quite a bit more to pack.

Just a week before we were to take off, my mom hurt her shoulder and neck and was unable to do much.  This cut our help with packing down and put us to the wire getting everything ready.  We also had to have some minor repairs and maintenance done on the motor home, and only got it back just in time to toss in everything we wanted to take.  Believe me, it takes a long time to organize a motor home when you just stuff everything into it on the table and floor.  I speak from experience. On Tuesday night we finally pulled out of Redding around 11:30pm, and headed for Willows;   I spent almost the entire drive cleaning, and that was just to make it able to be slept in. We stayed the night there because were so so exhausted, then headed to the Sacramento area the next morning to say goodbye to our family and good friends in the area.   We have been driving ever since, but so far the driving has been great and we can move around which makes the traveling really easy. We have all of our books organized, which makes my Mom extremely happy. We are just starting to figure life out in a motor home.

We have had some mishaps already, including Dad slamming on the brakes just as I was on the edge of the bed in the back. I did a face-plant from on top of it and proceeded to slide down the linoleum floor, hurting my right arm somehow and just about breaking my nose.

As I write, I am sitting in a McDonald’s using their Wi-Fi. I never thought that I would set foot in a McDonald’s again (it’s definitely not one of my favorite restaurants), but being on the road full time, many things change.  I will say this is the nicest McDonald’s I have ever been in, but I won’t attempt to describe it to you because it would bore you,  I’m sure. To sum up, so far the trip is going well and we are planning to hit Arnold, Nebraska around 9pm tonight.  We’ll have tomorrow to rest and then we’ll perform on Sunday at Arnold Baptist Church at 7pm.  If you happen to be in the area, we’d love to meet you!

Jesse