1. Rockstar boot camp is not for the faint of heart, as Adam from About A Mile discovered. The band shared a picture of John Cooper from Skillet putting the fellow frontman through a rock singer "training" routine. From what we can tell, it involves push-ups and a lot of yelling.
2. Speaking of Skillet, the band enjoyed a special milestone over the weekend with frontman John Cooper and keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Korey Cooper celebrating 18 years of marriage. The rockers have been married for almost as long as Skillet has been making music, and John shared a sweet tribute to his wife on twitter.
3. If you drop by a Cracker Barrel today, you might see some familiar faces on the CD rack. Casting Crowns has released their exclusive Cracker Barrel album, titled Hymns of the Faith, at restaurants nationwide. Go pick it up-- and grab some great southern food in the process!
4. The lyric video for Jimmy Needham's catchy track "Clear the Stage" has hit one million views on YouTube. The grateful artist, who is preparing for the May release of his next album Vice & Virtue, posted about the heart behind the song "worship is more than a song."
5. As hard rock group Pillar has been working on a fan backed reunion record, the band has been continuing to share updates about their progress on facebook. The album is taking longer than their past efforts for a very good reason: all of the members have day jobs. For example, if you turned on Jimmy Fallon last night, you might have noticed their drummer Lester Estelle playing with pop icon Kelly Clarkson.
6. JJ Heller is launching the recording process for her next album this week. The artist shared a video of the beginning of the process, with her husband and guitarist Dave. JJ also invited fans to pray over the project with her, saying "My prayer is that this collection of songs would be an encouragement and a reminder that we are never alone."
7. Duncan Phillips of Newsboys has inspired fans of all ages in many ways over the years. Most recently, the band shared a video of a 4 year old boy who wants to be like Duncan when he grew up. To help him achieve this goal, the young fan's grandpa constructed a miniature version of Duncan's signature spinning drum kit. That's a rockstar in the making!
8. Rapture Ruckus is great at throwing parties, and also apparently at crashing them. The pop rockers showed up at the Rock and Worship Roadshow this past weekend, and Jamie Grace grabbed a picture with the "brothas" backstage.
Quotes (3)
1. "Please be strong. Do not stop fighting for your faith. Soon, God's children will no longer be anonymous, but necessary." - Kirk Franklin
2. "God is the bedrock for our healing, and God can use imperfect people to do amazing things." - Chapstique, Family Force 5
3. "Mercy is empathy turned into action." - Shaun Groves
