A Sweet Deal...

Hey there guys, quick note. You can now get my entire new album for free by telling some friends, or you can pay me whatever you want. Pretty sweet deal. This is provided by a website that I have loved for quite a while called NoiseTrade. NoiseTrade was created by Derek Webb (who is one of my favorite musicians ever) and some of his buddies. You can click here and get to my noisetrade widget. I have am also going to be adding it to my site here pretty quick. Probably in the right pane area somewhere. Enjoy!

WWAAWWLTB Is Here!!!

(WWAAWWLTB = Where We Are And Where We Long To Be.)

Alright, so finally I can say that the cd is in my hands all packaged and pretty and ready the holiday season! It came in on Thursday so if you pre-ordered it my wife and I have been working to get those all sent out and you should be receiving them shortly. If you would like to purchase it you can do so by coming to my site, rolling over the image of the new cd on the right side and clicking purchase. The price is $10 now and will take you through a paypal checkout process. It's very simple and in no time flat you'll have your very own copy of my latest work.

I gotta say thank you to everyone who gave me money to get it done. The final product weighed in at about $1900 and conveniently enough I brought in about $1900 in gifts and pre-orders to pay for it. The wife and I didn't have to put up much of our own money to pay for the cd which is great because we have very little extra money floating around these days.

I also gotta say thanks to Andy Ferris for the many hours he put into mixing and perfecting the sound, and to JJ Clark, Mark Lago, Mitch Mallard, and Kristen Lambert for adding some instrumentation to it. You guys are awesome!

So right now the cd is available through my site, and through Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, MI. However I am trying to find some way to get it distributed so that it will be available in more places. Also within a few weeks it should be available on iTunes. You can actually already get to my songs from Still Frame on iTunes by clicking the iTunes link on the right side of my site.

So if you know anyone, or are someone who can help me with distribution, I would greatly appreciate anything you have to offer. I am pretty small time right now and not a whole lot of people have heard of me or my music. My goal really is just that the music would be heard by lots of people and that it would hopefully minister to them in some way. Whether I am making lots of money or not, while it would be nice, is not that important in the big scheme of things. God had provided for all my needs and given me some amazing opportunities to be used by Him to accomplish what He wants, and thats all I really care about right now. I just want to be used by Him to do what He wants me to.

So there we go. New cd. Out now. Hope you like it.

It's Almost Here...

The new cd is in duplication and will be available very soon. I went through a company called Oasis CD for the duplication. Their website is telling me I should have it in hand around December 12! I am super pumped to get it out to all of you that want it and have pre-ordered it (thank for that by the way, you helped pay for its completion :). In the meantime, I have uploaded all the songs to my site so that you can listen to them. If you rollover top of the new album image you should see a link to listen and it will load all the new songs. Take a listen and let me know what you think. The album is also still available for pre-order which allows you to get it for $5. Pretty cheap right? Once the album is out the price goes up to $10 so get it cheap while you can.

...And for all you blog readers, the few, the proud... or maybe not so proud, I promise to blog again soon. I am one of those types where I can only write about stuff when I feel I have something to say... so... yeah, nothing to say right now :) Hope you all enjoy the new songs.

Rick Hopkins + iTunes = It's About Time

I finally have managed to get my first cd "Still Frame" on the iTunes store. It only took me 2 years. So get there and check it out just click the iTunes link on the right side, or click here. All this just in time for the holiday shopping season. Now hopefully the new cd is done shortly and you can purchase that as well...

Quick Update

I feel like I am leaving you all in the dark. The new cd is getting very near completion. We are working on final mixing right now, and will hopefully be sending it off for mastering very shortly. After that is off to duplication, which is looking like about a 16 day turn around. So I am guessing the cd will be available early on in December. Not quite as soon as I would like, but hopefully you will all think its worth the wait once you hear it.

There are about 5 tracks that I haven't uploaded to the site yet. Two of those are new songs entitled "Sleeper" and "Gate Called Beautiful". I think musically and lyrically these 2 songs have come together to be my favorites. I can't wait for you guys to hear them.

Also, I need to thank about 50 - 60 of Ada Bible Church's finest Studio attenders. They came up last Sunday and chipped in on finishing our recording of Lord Most High. Now I have an actual congregation singing along with me in the song. It sounds awesome, and they sang their throats out. It was a great time and I hope to get that new version posted up here pretty soon. Virb, my music host, is having some problems lately so we'll see how that goes.

God has been very good to me with this album. He has provided me with the financial means to get it done, he has called the best musicians I have ever played with to play along side me, and he has given me all of you. You continually send me emails of encouragement, prayer and support. I can't thank you all enough. I don't know if this cd will go anywhere past you, but I hope there is at least something in it that will speak to you. I'll keep you all posted on the process being made...

Side By Side

We recently got pictures snapped of our youngest boy Jack when he turned 2. Thought you may enjoy a side by side comparison.

I apologize for not keeping this blog up to date as much as I had originally intended. I want to thank all the people who have responded to me and said how much the blog entries mean to them. It means a lot to me that they are helping people.

Life is such a crazy thing, how it takes you on the ups and downs so quickly. Yesterday I was invited to play at a church in Eureka, Michigan. They basically had me play during what would be their normal Sunday morning services. I was able to do my normal show thing where I get up there and explain my songs and what I was thinking when I wrote them and how they came about, then play them for the crowd. The congregation was completely engaged in the experience with me. It was awesome! I think its amazing how God can take all these experiences I have had, filter them through me onto paper, slap a melody in my head and move people through the songs. It was one of the moments in life when it feels like everything was clicking and I was exactly where I needed to be. Then I woke up this morning to go back to my desk job. To sit silently, talk to basically no one, and program web applications all day. That transition is getting more and more difficult for me to make. From the huge spiritual high weekends, to the sit and stare weekdays. From every part of my body rejoicing in being able to do what I feel God made me to do, to every part of my body aching because I am sitting at a desk with a lousy chair, and my arms, wrists, and fingers hurt from repetitive typing and coding and error checking, and testing, and etc and etc... But that is a transition that a lot of people make, and I think its why God made weekends and Sabbaths. If I did not have that outlet and time away from the daily drudgery I am fairly certain I would go completely awol.

I have had lots of people tell me that my life is a mirror to theirs, that they share the same fears, anxieties, and struggles that I do, and that it helps them to hear someone else say it. Well I say it often, so I hope it helps... One quote from Oswald Chambers that has meant a lot to me...

"Are we refusing to enter the domain of drudgery? Drudgery is the touchstone of character. It is a 'drudging' thing to be virtuous.

The greatest hindrance of our spiritual life lies in looking for big things to do; Jesus Christ 'took a towel.....' We are not meant to be illuminated versions; we are meant to be the common stuff of ordinary human life exhibiting the marvel of the grace of God. The snare in the Christian life is looking for the gilt-edge moments, the thrilling times; there are times when there is no illumination and no thrill, when God's angel is the routine of drudgery on the level of towels and washing feet. Are we prepared to 'get a move on' there? Routine is God's way of saving us between moments of inspiration. We are not to expect Him to give us His thrilling minutes always.

The secret of bringing forth fruit is to abide in Jesus. 'Abide in Me,' says Jesus, in spiritual matters, in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is. Beware of putting on your religious 'blinkers' - 'I can live finely in this type of meeting, or with that particular set.' The Christian life is not a bandbox life. We must live where we can be tested by the whole of life. Are we preventing God from doing things in our circumstances because we imagine it will hinder our communion with Him? .....Our Lord and Master never chose His own circumstances, He was meek towards His Father's dispensation for Him; He was at home with His Father wherever His body was placed.

We have to learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God, and to learn to abide in Him where we are placed."

New Website...

Hey there, I have a new website finally! I have been working on it for a while now and I am very excited to have it done. Being a web designer / programmer and all I figured I should have a site that I actually made.

You can now pre-order my new cd entitled Where We Are And Where We Long To Be. I just finished recording all my parts and it is in the mixing process now. I am very excited to get it done, and I am hoping to have it available within the month or so. $5 gets you a copy of the cd if you pre-order it. You can do that by rolling over the album image in the right pane and clicking the purchase link. If you feel like sending me some cash towards getting it duplicated I would really appreciate any help. Shoot me an email in the contact page to ask me where to send it to.

Also take note, this blog is going to be functioning as my news and my blog entries. I am importing them into my new site from here. So you'll be able to read them there and there will be links for making comments and all that.

So anyway, check it out every so often to see if its up yet. Should be soon.