So this year I have been blessed with an awesome job at Arizonas Chidren Association. I have two roles there. One as a Family Support Counselor (Meet Me Where I Am) for families in northern Arizona and the other clinical therapy work. My favorite part, which is very different from the usual "counseling/life coaching" setting, is that its all is done in the home, school and community. Our job is to provide services for familes in need and high risk youth with a variety of different crisis and problems. I do a lot of travelling in northern Arizona and in Flag every week and am always excited for new creative ways to help people in need. After being in ministry for over 12 years this has been a great career change and amazingly enough I personally have felt like this has been a more effective and unique way to minister to people than most church settings provide and than I have been able to do in many years in the past. Needless to say I'm very grateful for this opportunity. At AZCA we have multiple programs for in Home therapy, Independent Living Clinical needs and also have offices in Prescott, Phoenix and Tucson with a great reputation throughout the community here and the state. In a couple weeks I'll have completed a year here and I'm looking forward to great new opportunities in 2011.

Check out the website at http://www.arizonaschildren.org/

You can also check out more about the programs on Youtube.com and get info on Facebook!

Fall Vacation in Buchanan, MI!

Im blogging live from Buchanan, MI! woohoo. Small place yes but its my hometown! Havent been on here forever. Im taking my first vacation in 2010 and Im ready to stay another week. Rode here on a train for 36 hours which was very cool and very long. Very very long. Flying back which will be alot more enjoyable Im sure. We've been to the haunted house the Harvest parade ,which was more like bad morning traffic and doing fall stuff with the family. I was most impressed today downtown with a new coffee house called Union Coffee house. Amazing. Who would have thought a place like that would appear in downtown Buchahan. Got an awesome Pumpkin spice latte and walked through the exhibits and all in the Harvest fest with the boys, fam and nephews and nieces. Pretty cool. The weather is much colder but been very seasonal and enjoyable. Love having the boys play with all their cousins and catching up with both brothers. Its been a great Time!

"One Step Closer" is now released!

Its hard to believe but I started this project in the fall of 04. Almost 6 years later I have completed a set of 11 songs that I believe are my best ever written and have become my theme songs over the past several years. Its amazing how these songs came together and how they turned out.... let alone how long it took! All of them are perfectly complete from the first one written "Set Me Free" to the last , "One". Both songs that I find myself singing over and over everyday.

I have to say a big thanks to Mark , my producer and his wife Mindy Adler who continued to push me over the past three years to finish this project. I first was introduced to Synthesaur Studios when I moved to Flag and from the moment we first sat down to talk about the project I knew great things were going to happen. I would walk in week after week, month after month with random ideas and would come back a day later and he would have made it into something I could never imagine. My ideas and creativity and his unique style and technical skills on Pro-tools and Reason together made all these songs turn into something I am amazed at. I have to admit, this is the first project where I actually wrote the songs during the recording process. I often work better that way... under pressure and find some of the best lyrics I have ever written were just stumbled upon in the process. Some of the song lyrics including the bridge from "Set Me Free" and parts of "Sunset" were actually made up on the spot while standing in front of the mic recording the song in the studio!!

One of the biggest challenges I face during recording a CD is not finding new songs to write but "spiritual battles". I personally admit that during this process I was attacked more than ever and at times just gave up on the project for weeks and months at a time. Some of the most crazy and painful stuff in my life actually happened during this process. It was even for a while becoming predictable and I remember telling Mark about it many times and just waiting to see what was going to happen next. Financial struggles out of the blue, major health issues with the kids, the news of my mom's cancer, personal struggles and frustrations with people and ministry.... we have all been there before but it always came just as I was headed to the studio or on the verge of another great song. With this in mind there is only one thing that stands out and that is this project was going to be amazing and in my own "spiritual battle" I was being attacked so it would never be completed. Every day though... was "One Step Closer" to seeing how this would come together.

Today, February 24th, 2010 11 songs with lots of memories and stories behind them and 5 years of some major changes and challenges to tie it all together is available for you to experiene and enjoy! The finished project will be here and be available for sale on the market, on the internet, on I-tunes and hopefully soon at some of your local stores.

This cd features a whole new sound and many awesome different instruments, a lyric and melody written by my son Corey Earnst on "Sunset", my favorite new song entitled "There's A Place" and "One" the perfect love song. It also has a suprise choir on "One Step Closer" a great worship song for your local church called "Nothing Compares" , a heartfelt passion that runs through each melody and a wonderfully produced collection of music thanks to Mark Adler and the many hours he spent in the studio with me.

I know you are going to love this project.

Available soon on CDbaby, I-tunes and all major music distribution websites.

If you want to get a copy sooner please contact by snail mail at:

932 Parker Dr.

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

CDs are $12 or two for $20!!!

Get your copy today!!!

Thanks everyone for your support!

Kevin

Lots of new exciting things are happening for me here in 2010!!
Heres what happening!


THE NEW CD IS HERE!
First of all my new cd "One Step Closer" is finally complete and will be out here in February. This is a collection of songs that have been written over the past 5 years and recorded over the past three. This is definitely the most exciting project I have done musically and these songs are incredible. One of my favorites is the one I have done with Corey B. called "Sunset". You can check this one out on Youtube. I will be announcing the big CD release party soon and it will be available through Amazon, I-tunes and tons of other music venues including Best Buy, Target and Borders. Check out my website at Kevinearnst.com to read more about the CD and hear the music.

CAREER CHANGE
Ya strange but true. I have taken a new turn presently in what will be keeping me busy on a regular basis. I have been involved in worship ministry and in the "church scene" for over 12 years full time and most of the rest of my life a very busy volunteer. However I recently decided to pursue another area of my life that I have always been excited about and that is working with youth. I know a
lot of you know my passion for that population and may have been a part of that at one time even. So starting in December I began to look for a way to get more involved in that area and see what God had in store. In a very short time God blessed me with an awesome opportunity at the Arizona's Children Association. There I will be working with youth and teens from a clinical approach and out in the community meeting those needs on a daily basis. You can check out more about the organization at www.arizonaschildren.org . Its pretty amazing stuff. I have always loved the work I have been involved in even tho it can be very draining, stressful and time consuming but I'm thoroughly excited about this new opportunity.

It will definitely be a different kind of transition for me but have also found it so far to be extremely rejuvenating if you will. It's always cool to see what God has in mind for you next. (one of the songs called "More" on the new cd is my present theme song and explains that whole process of following God even when it doesn't make sense. Check out the lyrics sometime) I grew up in the church, been involved in church all my life and have worked as a volunteer and employee in 3 of the nations largest Christian Churches and it has been an honor. At the same time it has also been the cause of some of the greatest stress and frustrations I have ever had. ( who would have thought that could happen working in a church??!! jk but its true.) So with that in mind I know this will be a great time for change and using other gifts I have been blessed with. (I actually have a masters degree in counseling and had a license to practice for three years in Michigan.... I know, scarey.) I will continue to do music however and volunteer as needed in whatever place I find myself as well as write, perform and sing. Music has been and always will be a huge part of my life.

One thing I have tried to keep in mind, remember in my own personal life over the years and have taught to others, is that being a worship leader on the weekend and being a worshiper during the week is two different things. To be honest there have been many times when the second part has been lacking. I try daily to work on that but do feel I need more time to do focus on that just as much as anyone. I have talked with many people about the spiritual battle we face everyday especially in the role of a worship pastor/leader. I don’t know if you know this or not but as worship leaders we are on the front lines of the battle and face great opposition every day in more powerful ways than any other ministry. The book I wrote, "Sinking Deeper" focuses a lot on these kinds of things. Although written about four years ago I keep finding myself lately going back and reading it to remind myself of those scripture verses included, the encouragement and spiritual guidance I needed and wrote about over the years in this role. I want to encourage everyone to think about these things and find ways to continue your spiritual growth daily... even when we don’t feel we have time or think we are already "spiritual giants". We all have a lot more to learn. I know I do.

So even tho I am not employed as a worship leader, I still consider myself one as it's a lifestyle we all need to practice and role model. Through my life, my music and my writing that I will continue to do I hope to accomplish just that. Even in my new role at Arizona's children I know I will be given new opportunities to "minister" to people and reach out to them in new amazing ways firsthand. It will be great to actually worship now on a daily basis in a whole new way!!

Please pray for this transition and the new CD. I am very excited to get this out finally and hear your thoughts on these new songs!!!!!

Thanks everyone and remember that everyday no matter what new twists and turns come our way, we are "One Step Closer" to an eternity in heaven!!

Kevin

Random thoughts of Thanksgiving and Christmas
The boys and I were in San Diego for Thanksgiving and spent a couple days at the beach. 70 degree weather and a great time... only to come back to Flagstaff a day later and see the first snowfall here. It was about two inches and so we went out for a snowball fight. Beach one day, snowball fights the next.. hard to believe. Believe it or not its December already as you can tell by the freezing chill in the air and the snow that is still around a week later.

My neighbor across the street seems to have decorated every square foot of his house. The boys and I went out and strung up our icycle lights as well as decorated all the pine trees out front. Check out these pics......

Just to let you know if you havent watched The Christmas carol movie this season on the big screen done by Disney you have to go see this. I saw it in San Diego in 3D and then here back in Flag. I absolutely loved this version. Very creative, mysterious and by the end of the movie I thought I was going to be a changed man too. Jim Carey actually did an amazing job and still stuck to the story. The expressions and dynamics of this movie really pull you in and make you think you have heard the story for the first time!! Make sure you see it. Just know that if you have kids its a bit scarey. The commercials make it to be very comical but it is actually kind of creepy and believe it or not I got the chills a few times watching it. (theres nothing like a creepy Christmas movie!)

If you want funny you just need to re-watch the Christmas vacation movie. I watched that again the other night after several years and laughed hysterically.

What I really have been enjoying this season is new Christmas music. I have always been a Jim Brickman fan and have been listening to his Christmas tunes on the piano cd for weeks. Very amazing stuff. New Christmas music out there tho that I absolutely love is Chris Tomlin's Glory in the Highest and the Sting Chritmas CD- available at Starbucks .
The choir did some awesomeo work last weekend with some Christmas songs that I still have running through my head. I will be posting those on youtube soon. But my all time fav so far is
Corey and I my arrangement of the great Christmas song "One Small Child". We wrote a modern acoustic version of it and will be debuting it on Christmas Eve for all four services. That version will also will soon be available on Youtube.com .
Its crazy that Christmas is actually a week away and I am learning new songs even as I type for our services. Im very excited about this weekend and Christmas eve! Hope to see you all there!!

Sedona Hike
(vacation time around the corner!!)
The weather is finally getting more summer like here so last Monday we went hiking down in Sedona along the creek that flows through Sliding Rock. It was a beautiful day. Here are just a couple pictures from our hike on the creek. Below those pics are Ethan and his buddy Michel enjoying a few exciting moments in a parked Miata. Gotta love it! My vacation time is starting tomorrow and I hope to get more pictures & videos of all we do up on here!! Come back and check it out!

Ethan & My Biking Adventure

Today Ethan and I went on a great bike ride through the urban trail system trails here in Flag. We conquered about 8 miles and discovered a lot of great new scenic parts of town. Above are pics I took along the way on my new Kodak video/pic camera. Check them out and also the video below. If you live in Flag you have to check out the trails!!