Thought Quotient

IBB Records has inked a deal with TAG Artist Group to distribute the debut release Vertical from Jerimae Yoder. The CD, executive produced by IBB Records president and all-star pitcher turned recording artist Kent Bottenfield, will be in stores nationwide August 8th.

Jerimae Yoder has been entertaining audiences nationwide on the Extreme Tour for the past year, tweaking and looping every sound that could possibly emanate from an acoustic guitar, while relaying his biblical message of hope for the future and contentment for today. Yoder is truly creating a new sound and a buzz in the Indie music community with his charismatic personality, engaging message and innovative live performance, melding together acoustic guitar with electronic elements that he gleans from influences like Beck, Wilco, Phil Keaggy, MuteMath and Damien Rice.

Yoder grew up in a Mennonite household in rural northern Indiana. There seemed to be a lot of religion in his life being the son of an Amish mother and a Mennonite father. Yoder will be the first one to say that he never tried too hard to know God. So when he left College to look for that elusive relationship with “god,” he did not expect to end up reading the bible voraciously or experience the one, true God change his life dramatically before him.

Yoder’s personal revolution began in 1995. A “radical self- turning” is how he describes the transformation that began on a summer evening on a park bench in Michigan. Nothing would be the same from that point on. As he packed up his red VW bus bound for California, God began to work in all his situations. A two week stop in Indianapolis turned into 10 years, 1 wife and 3 kids. And of course, a national music ministry.

“What sets me apart from the mainstream music scene is that I care about the message,” says Yoder. “I care about people. I care about God. And I care about how people respond to God.”

We learned of this encouraging news recently…

In Afghanistan:

the number of known believers has grown from 17 in 2001 to 10,000 today, and three new churches for widows have recently been started there.

There’s more…

Thanks to an Arabic evangelistic website, designed for Middle Eastern and North African students, the Gospel is reaching young people in this part of the world at an unprecedented rate. In fact, more than 100,000 young people from Arab countries are visiting this website each month, with an average of nearly 1,000 accepting Christ. That’s 1,000 new Christians in some of the most closed nations on earth each and every month!
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Clearly, this evangelistic resource is having a tremendous impact in the Arab world. It’s safe, anonymous, and they can email with any questions they might have. In Iraq, for example, more than 100 students who have visited the site have contacted our staff via email. Staff have been able to follow up with emails and even meet face-to-face with some of these students. As a result, the very first campus ministry was launched inside Iraq!

Source: Campus Crusade for Christ Intl.

…it begins at the cross.

We come to understand at some point that we were weak, too weak to live life on our own. Our next understanding comes when we realize the cross, Jesus, and that God alone is the satisfier of our deep need. As we truly understood this need for Jesus, and the work that took place on the cross to set us free, it permeates us at our core, it deepens our hunger for the person of Jesus; it frees and releases us from this world and the things that entangle our souls. We begin craving life in Him and with Him. It becomes an addiction, giving us an intense desire that surpasses emotion, to be intimate with Jesus, commune with the Holy Spirit, and make God famous in all of the earth. Even in our failures and weaknesses something rises up that screams I am starving for Jesus, I need Him, I love Him with all of me, He is the answer for the world. It fills us and satisfies us beyond comprehension as we let Him do His work in our lives and we learn to commune with Him. In this place, gratitude and faith rise up and we begin to see that there are others that desperately need to be set free. Some that need freedom are those that have never known God and His love before. Others are children of God that are living like orphans, completely bound and tired of the whole thing. This is where we learn to weep. To cry out with faith and fervency, “God, we need You alone, pour out Your spirit”. - Charlie Hall

Try Gold Records USA.

They have a large selection - including out of print CDs and imports as well.

“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.”
–Lou Brock, Hall of Fame baseball player