Remember the other day when I wrote about the organization that we were able to help start, Imagine A Cure? Well, since then we have had a great response to the site and the organization, that we decided to make it a little easier to spread the word.

Below you will find some code that you can copy and paste into your own blogs to help get the word out. We are looking forward to seeing God move in this.

Copy and paste this code.
<a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.imagineacureonline.com/');" href="http://www.imagineacureonline.com/"><img src="http://mercyme.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/iac_button.jpg"/></a>

Thanks again.
-Bart

Today was a good day. Why you ask? In case you did not know, there are a few guys in MercyMe that are huge, huge baseball fans. And one of the “perks” of being in a band is that you sometimes get to meet some of your heroes. And every once in a while it goes farther than just meeting them…you actually become friends. Can you believe that?!?!?

Well today was a good day. We have had the pleasure of calling Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals a friend. Albert and his family are amazing, godly people. He has a heart of gold, and he truly has a desire to see God glorified.

Well, tonight we are doing a show in St. Louis, so we were able to hook up with Albert for lunch at his restaurant “Pujols 5.” That’s right, today was a good day. Now brothers and sisters try to understand how hard it is not to freak out. I am not one to get star struck, but I am a sports nut! We are talking childhood dreams here. And to meet godly athletes is even better! Oh yes, my dear friends, today…was a good day.

Here is Albert bugging me for my autograph…again.

-Bart

Seeing the rest of the band working hard towards revealing all of their gear secrets, I thought I would let you in on my most coveted secrets.

I only use the Shure KSM9 wireless microphone with an Ultimate Brand mic stand. Trust me when I say, they seriously make a difference.

This is a water bottle: I drink water during all of my shows. I am not concerned so much with the brand as long as it is wet. If I did have to choose a brand, I would most likely go with Sam’s choice water from Wal-Mart…mmmmm smooth and refreshing.

Being a man of largeness, I also use a towel to keep sweat from falling in my eyes during the show. Sweat is bad enough, but when mixed with hair gel it hurts like crazy.

So there you have it. I know I risk the chance of many, many people taking my secrets and becoming professional singers, but I am willing to take such a risk.

Sing on my friends…sing on.
Bart.

So this past year, MercyMe had the priveledge of attending the Grammys. I must admit it was pretty cool. The show itself was great, but my favorite part of the night was the after party. Our record label is affiliated with Columbia records, so we got the invite. I enjoyed myself because I am a people watcher, and there is no greater place to watch people than in Hollywood. Let me just say the night did not disappoint. Watching people is one thing, but actually talking to them is another story. It is just plain weird to try to engage with some of these folks. But I had a secret weapon…a flat Stanley. For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, let me explain. A flat Stanley is a paper cut out figure that a grade school class will make and send to people all over the place in hopes of getting photos of ol’ Stanley in different parts of the globe. Then, when Stanley returns home, the kids giggle and snort as they admire all the places their special traveler has been. All this to say, a good friend of mine asked me to take flat Stanley with me for his daughter’s class. I must say this worked to my advantage. You never really realize how much confidence a little paper doll can give a person until you try it. I was fearless. I approached everyone the same. I would start off by asking if they knew what a flat Stanley was. If they said yes, then it was on! If they said no, then we would just stare at each other uncomfortably until one of us slithered away. People saying no was almost as funny as people saying yes. I asked Tony Bennett if he would mind taking a picture with flat Stanley and he said, “sure send him over.” I got so nervous, I said ok, walked away as if I were going to get some guy named Stanley, and never came back. Sorry Mr. Bennett. To make a long story longer, here are some pics with yours truly, flat Stanley and some of my closest friends. Enjoy.

-Bart

Ps. On a side note, the place was pretty crowded, so I jumped in the middle of Paris Hilton’s entourage to get to the bathroom quicker. Ha ha ha ha I really did!

Kevin, from the TV show “The Office.” I guess I should have looked up his real name.

Isaac Slade from the band “The Fray.” Apparently Flat Stanley was thirsty.

Here we are with Chris Daughtry. Look at the size of my head…freaking huge!!!!

The reason I look so weird is because Carrie Underwood just came up and took Stanley after my picture with Chris Daughtry. Seems that Stanley and I were so famous that the little people were just standing in line to get our picture. Kidding of course.

Flat Stanley, Weird Al and Large Bart. The perfect trio.