April 2021
WELCOME
Happy Easter Vigil Family!
Welcome to the sixth edition of The Vigil Project newsletter. This Easter season invites us into a joyful reflection of what the Resurrection means for us. When Christ conquered sin and death, once and for all, He did so knowing what you and I would be facing right now. His grace broke through the darkness and has given us the Light of Life!
Today, we will take a look back at where our team was before Vigil and as we do, we invite you to take a minute to reflect on where you were 10 years ago and where God has placed you now. He is so faithful and He is still moving in power! We also hope the below photos make you laugh as hard as they made us laugh. We like to think we’re aging well! ha!
God is not done with us, friends. So with that, let’s dive in and see all He is doing!
BEFORE THERE WAS VIGIL
Before there was Vigil, each one of us was doing our own thing. Some of us were considering a career outside of music, others were making music with others! In the spirit of becoming who we were meant to be, we thought it would be fun to throw it back to where we all were 10 years ago!
ANDREA:
10 Years ago this year, I was invited to collaborate with Country singer, Collin Raye, on his first-ever hymns record called His Love Remains. I was slated to do one duet with him, and ended up doing two tracks. This photo is from that recording session with him in the studio in the heart of Nashville! It was such an incredible experience, and it lit a fire under my seat to finish my first album, too. I toured with Collin here and there for several years, and learned so much from working with him.
Little did I know, that would give birth to my second album...which eventually led me to what became The Vigil Project. Excited to see what I'll say ten years from now, looking back. God writes the best stories. Sidenote: being the dramatic foodie that I am, it feels relevant to tell y'all that after we wrapped this recording day, we went to this great Mexican restaurant in Nash, and remember eating my weight in chips, salsa, and guac, and having one of the most delicious margaritas of my life. (Shout out to John Finch, who loves margs more than anyone I know.)
JOHN
I joined the choir my freshman year of high school. I stood way in the back and didn't sing much at all. Music was always a part of my life. I started taking piano lessons at seven years old which ultimately began my musical journey. In high school I had the chance to explore new ways of playing music, learning how to read chords and singing while playing at the same time. This photo was from my junior year of high school. A lot changed in just a few years and I had grown a lot. This is really how it all started for me.
For as long as I can remember, when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a police officer. I loved the lights and sounds and high speed chases, it all was super exciting. Believe it or not, while I was in high school, I wanted to be a federal agent and spent most of my free time invested in learning as much as I could about all the different opportunities there were out there. I was absolutely convinced I would be protecting the President one day. Not exactly how it all panned out. This is a photo of my team and I dusting fingerprints on a mock crime scene at a two -week long camp at the Slidell Police Academy, where we did all kinds of cool police things.
GREG
Little more than ten years back, Lizzy and I were going through a pretty major spiritual conversion. One of the ways we felt called to respond was by singing and inviting our friends to do the same...here we are singing in a log cabin somewhere.
That time in college when Lizzy and I had the same haircut. Here we are waiting our turn to play at a songwriting contest.
SHAWN
This was from a photoshoot I took my senior year of college before my senior recital/launch into my touring career.... My dream was to eventually be on the road with Carrie Underwood playing fiddle for her band. Haha! Those days are long gone... Now I am happy at home with my beautiful family being all things behind the scenes
CORRIE
10 years ago, I was a sophomore in college and beginning to feel the tug of two directions in my life. Music had been a side thing for me and mostly existed through random covers for YouTube (some of which I hope are never discovered…). I was studying exercise science and planning on going on to play professional soccer. This year consisted of club soccer practices from 9-11pm and 8am classes, mixed with learning the ukelele and writing my first songs, often spontaneously. We’ve come a long way in ten years!
BECOME WHO YOU ARE
Reflection by James Dubyoski // Forward by Andrea Thomas
What started as a fun “10-year-throw-back” text chain among our group for this month’s newsletter, paved the way for a deeper reflection/conversation on what God has done in our interior lives these last ten years, as well. Our lives have changed so much. Our hearts have changed so much. Our world has changed so much. And the Lord continues to call each of us (and you!) to wade ever deeper into the ocean of his love and mercy...into the great unknown. As the late and great St. John Paul II’s beckons us: “Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that God is with you.”
In the spirit of JPII, we invite you to continue your Lenten & Easter journey thinking about God’s Divine Mercy as we appropriately head into Divine Mercy Sunday. Below is a prayerful meditation written by Corrie’s father on this beautiful topic.
Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that God is with you. Pope Saint John Paul II
[TVP] HAPPENINGS
Welcome Baby Pax…
Pax Williams was born March 31! Mom and baby are doing well! We invite you to keep the Williams family in prayer as they adjust to being a family of four. Prayers for restfulness and peace for all!
Partnership with The Word Among Us…
We’ve long admired the work of The Word Among Us in publishing resources for daily meditation and prayer with the Scriptures, so it was an easy “yes” for us when they approached us about the possibility of adding a music player to their daily meditation page! From now through Pentecost, you can find our music embedded on the Meditation page of their website. The goal is to provide a deeper experience of prayer with the readings and meditations of the day. You can access the music and meditations HERE!
CtK Musician Retreat next week…
Please pray for us and the student-musicians at Christ the King this weekend, April 9-11! We’ll be wrapping up our second semester of musician formation on the campus of Louisiana State University (LSU) with a retreat. Please pray especially for the students to experience new depths of community, relationships, and confidence in the call to serve the Church through the musical talents God has given them.
Musician Retreat with Regnum Christi…
On the weekend of May 21-23, we’ll be co-leading a retreat for Catholic music leaders, musicians and songwriters along with Regnum Christi. We share with Regnum Christi a common desire to form our modern day Catholic apostles to use their gifts and talents to the best of their ability at the service of the Church, and music is one those gifts that serves the Church in many dynamic ways. The retreat will be held at Bocamb Farms in Covington, LA. Interested in joining us? Get all the info you need HERE.
Help us welcome Paul to the team…
Since we started TVP back in 2016, no one has shared their wisdom with us more willingly than our friend and mentor, Paul George. We’re thrilled to now welcome him to the team in an official capacity! Paul will be working with us this year on a specific (and yet to be announced) project that we have in the works. Scroll down to hear directly from Paul and to get to know him.
Exodus videos in Italian...
We have some amazing friends in Italy (who we will be seeing more of in the coming months), who have taken major initiative and translated the videos from the Exodus album into Italian. This makes it official that we have content in four languages - English, Spanish, Italian, and Latin. Check out the videos HERE!
Tumblers for our subscribers!...
As a way to show our gratitude for you all, we will begin a featured product segment just for our newsletter subscribers! A few times a year there will be an item in our shop on sale just for you! For Easter, here is 10% off of our coffee tumblers. These come with us on tour, and we know there are several of you that have asked for them. Use the code NEWS10 to grab your tumbler before the end of the month!
SEEK 2021 Winner...
We are excited to announce that Parker Staub won our SEEK 2021 contest with his song, “Very Good” which will be recorded this Fall! Keep an eye out for it.
MEET PAUL GEORGE!
Paul has spent over twenty-five years helping people discover the “art of living” through searching themselves, discovering a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and finding true happiness. Throughout these years, he has served in various capacities, including: president of a non-profit, speaker, mentor, consultant, coach and author. It’s his role as a husband and father that he cherishes the most. His personal mission is to love God, his wife, his children and his neighbors as God loves. His book, Rethink Happiness, was released in May, 2018. Paul received an undergraduate degree in education and a master’s degree in Theological Studies from the University of Dallas. He is a former college baseball and football player and an avid lover of the outdoors. Paul is a sought after speaker, life coach and consultant; he serves as founder and director of Art of Living Inc. Paul and His wife Gretchen have been married for twenty-four years, they are proud parents of five, Marie, Jacob, Sarah, Clare, and Addie.
Now you can see why we are so excited to officially welcome Paul to our team! We asked Paul a couple of questions to help our extended Vigil family get to know him a little better, so read on!
How did you get connected with The Vigil Project?
I knew Greg (and Andrea) when Vigil was in conception. Greg reached out many times as they went through the start up phase, and visioning phases, as my experience in non-profits was an asset (I think) to them.
When it comes to Vigil, food is kind of like a secondary mission. We love to talk about food, we plan our meetings around food, and Andrea has another calling as a host of her own cooking show. Within this secondary mission, what do you feel you can contribute? For myself (Corrie speaking), I contribute the complexity of having 7 of the 8 most common food allergies. So no pressure to be positive here, anything goes.
I eat mainly things that grow from the earth, like ribs, brisket, steak. I love to cook too, especially Louisiana favs like, gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, fish, rice and gravy, and steak, ribs, brisket and steak :)
featured artist
SEPH SCHLUETER
Seph Schlueter is a young adult worship artist passionate about awakening hearts to beauty, giving language to relationship with God, and leading others into an encounter with Jesus. At only twenty one years old, Seph has already released two songs with hundreds of thousands of streams, opened for eight-time Grammy nominee Natalie Grant and seven time Dove Award nominee Phil Wickham, led events in multiple states, and been featured on national news platforms. Seeing a need for worship in the Catholic Church, He began the worship collective Damascus Worship with the intent on reviving the Church and bringing unity to the body of Christ; pioneering the release of their first album, Awake My Soul, and leading the collective as its Worship Director. His first release in over a year, Rest In Peace, will be dropping in April. His greatest desire is that Jesus would be glorified in all that we do, and that Heaven would be made present through the way we live our lives.
You can follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube!Youtube
— FEATURED PLAYLIST—
ON THE ROAD
Andrea here! We are thrilled to share with you that we will again be part of the Flourish Conference in Miami, Florida this Spring. I have had the absolute honor of being part of this conference for the last couple of years; working with Adriana Gonzalez and her incredible family/team in Miami is such a gift and a true inspiration. I have seen few hearts as on fire for ecumenism. These guys are walking the walk! See below for details. If you are near the Miami area, please consider joining us!
"We are so expectant and excited to witness the movement of the Holy Spirit at this year’s Flourish Conference! Flourish 2021 is a two-day gathering in South Florida that seeks to bring Christians together in order to grow in Christ as one body. Through our unity, we proclaim to the world that Jesus is Lord! (John 17:21) Evangelii Nuntiandi says, "Unity among His followers is not only the proof that we are His but also the proof that He is sent by the Father. It is the test of the credibility of Christians and of Christ Himself" (EN, 77).
The Vigil Project will lead us into worship this year! Our amazing set of speakers includes Peter Herbeck, Dr. Mary Healy, Deacon Ralph Poyo, Fr. Shenan Boquet and J.T. Olson. Each speaker brings a powerful message that will challenge and encourage us on how to live our faith in today’s world. Best of all, we expect the Lord Himself to move among us and in each one of our hearts. If you are longing for more from God, come to Flourish with an open heart and receive!"
BECOME A PATRON
We are on a mission to restore our heritage of beauty through music, and we need your help! Be part of the mission by doing what the Church has been doing for centuries - patronizing the arts.