After almost 10 years as a band we have decided to say farewell to Revive. We want you to know that this was a tough decision to make and one we prayed about for many months.
We will miss so much about the band but in the end we wanted to have more time at home with our growing families and (for Dave & Rich) be closer to family back in Australia.

God has certainly had us on a crazy adventure as many of you know.

The band started in 2001 with Dave and our old guitar player (Tyler) stringing together songs in a garage in the suburbs of Sydney. After bringing on Rich and our old drummer (Mike) we changed the name to Revive - and from their a mission was born. We had a deep desire to bring glory to our God through the gifts he gave us. We wanted to stir the hearts of our listeners, encouraging them to worship our great God with their whole lives.

Of course we were not always perfect at this! Our focus would at times shift away from God's glory and on to ours and we would forget the reasons for doing what we were doing. We would start to trust in ourselves and lean on our own understanding. But, as I'm sure you've also found, God was quick to bring us back to earth through what was often painful lessons. It's funny though, in hindsight those difficult lessons are perhaps what we treasure most about our time in the band.

And despite our imperfect nature, God continued to use us as a band.

For four years we played in Australia. Touring around schools, churches, youth groups, festivals and whatever else we could get a chance to play, we cut our teeth as a band. We worked hard on being tight, entertaining, fun and meaningful. We put out 2 albums in this time: Where I Belong and the rockin'Trafalgar Street.

But, as much as we enjoyed our time as a band in Australia, we always felt a deep pull toward the USA. For many reasons, we felt this was where we needed to be. The only problem was we had no idea how we would get there! We needed a break.

That break came in the form of a band from Atlanta, GA called Third Day. We had the privilege of opening 3 Australian shows for them. That began a wonderful friendship between Revive and Third Day - and not only a friendship, but a mentorship too. We looked up to those guys (and still do). They saw our passion for Christian music and our desire to do it in America and they helped us do just that.

At the start of 2008, we packed up 4 families, condensed all our belongings into 3 bags (and one instrument) and moved countries. It was the beginning of an incredible new journey for us.

That journey had us drive all across the USA, play 1000's of shows, sleep in countless Walmart parking lots, travel to India and meet many dear new friends and fans. In America we put together 2 records: Chorus of the Saints and then our final album: Blink. We are very proud of this music particularly our most recent project; we feel like God has used it to resonate with many people. During this time we sadly lost Tyler and Mike to Australia but gained amazing new friends in AJ Cheek and Michael Wright. We have so enjoyed these friendships and know that despite being in different countries that we will be lifelong buddies.

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We are incredibly grateful for everything God has given us through Revive (yes even the bus breakdowns weirdly enough!...they do make good stories!).
Although we are sad to see this door close we have always viewed Revive as a ministry and with the ending of this assignment will come the provision of another. We have certainly learned that no matter what God is worth trusting!

Here's what our new assignments are currently looking like...
- Dave will be taking a Worship Pastor role in Sydney while studying at bible college.

- Rich will be working in youth ministry in Sydney and also studying at Bible college. He will also be pursuing music production - a passion that has developed in him the past few years.

- We are excited to let you know that AJ is beginning his career as a solo artist. Check out his artist page here. He plans to have an album out next year and will be touring this fall with Tenth Ave Nth and playing guitar for Aaron Gillespie. We encourage you to support him in any way and every way!!!

- Michael will be moving to Ireland to marry his Irish lady later this year! Congrats mate! In the meantime he's looking to go out with other artists as a drummer or a road manager (a skill he has perfected with us!). We look forward to seeing what God has in store for you!

There are so many people to thank but we mainly want to thank you, our fans for supporting us...and we'd love to ask one more favor.

We want to hear from you how Revive has influenced your life.

Whether it was through our music, live shows or just hanging out after a show, we want to know how God has used us in your life.

Most of the time we are in and out of a town so fast we barely get to meet people, let alone hear their stories...so we'd love to open it up to you...allow us this one indulgence!
Please share with us any way your life has been affected by Revive and send it to: band@reviveband.com. We want to put together the collection of emails and put it in a book - so we can show our grandkids one day! After all, you're the reason we existed as a band!

Our last show will be Rock the Desert in Texas on August 5th & 6th. Come out and see us one last time!
We'll stay in touch over the next couple of months and we look forward to hearing from you too!

God Bless
-Revive-

Dave, Rich, AJ, Michael.

We wanted to give you a heads up about a cool blog that was recently done on the ABC music lounge about us. Check it out:

ABC MUSIC LOUNGE

Have you ever stopped to thing about what it would be like to be an adult and not be able to read? Think about all the times you could get ripped off and stuck in bad contracts - there really is no end to the ways you could be fooled into awful situations.

Many Indians can not read. They never had the opportunity to learn. They weren't privileged like us.

One of the main reasons we love Mission India so much is that they are literally changing people's lives by teaching them how to read. We've seen it with our own eyes - we've seen the hope that literacy brings to people.

So - wanna help these people to learn to read?

There really has never been a better time. Mission India is running a matching opportunity for their Adult Literacy program. It's a great way for people to get involved and double their impact in India! The deadline for gifts to be matched is March 31, 2011.

Here's the link: www.missionindia.org/facebookgiving/literacymatch

You know how Jesus said "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded" (luke 12:48) - well that's pretty applicable right here I think.

God bless and thanks for helping,

The Revive boys

Even though we may not be affected by it, we still see the constant message that is sent:

"If you do this, or wear that, you will be beautiful - you will be worthwhile".

Christian women are buying into this lie everyday and unfortunately learning the hard way that it's not true. It is an endless pursuit; and a very destructive one. We have seen many females (both close to us personally and that we meet on the road) get swallowed up in this obsession.

We do what we can to fight this, by speaking of true beauty (like that found in Prov 31) and by reminding women from the stage that in the eyes of their heavenly Father they are more beautiful than they can imagine - and this is what matters.

But, as I said, being guys we are not often listened to on this issue! Which is why, when we meet someone like Caryn Cruise (DJ for Tulsa's KXOJ) and hear her heart we just have to share it with our fans.

Caryn is an artist and painted this beautiful picture that we wanted her to share with you. So here it is, please read the description below:

"I first called this painting “Plain Girl in a Fancy Dress,” because that’s how I felt. But, her new, real, TRUE name is Beauty Revealed.  God has spoken to me so much about beauty through this painting...and through Cinderella.  That's who she’s like, who most women are like I believe.  

You'd have to agree that Cinderella was beautiful even before her Fairy God-mother came into the picture.  Her ugly step-sisters knew it.  That's why they didn't want her to go to the ball. She was a beautiful person, because that’s how God made her, but after years of abuse and the cares of the world, her beauty was eventually covered by life’s  ashes.

Then she undergoes a dramatic transformation and comes out glorious.

But, I don't think she would have been as beautiful if she had only thought of herself the way she was before she was transformed. 

If Prince Charming had come up to her at the ball and said, "You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen!"  And, her reply had been, "Oh, but you should have seen me before the makeover.  I was a mess!  My hair was ratted, I didn't have any makeup on...etc," I don't think he would have seen her in the same light.  Too often when complimented we, instead of graciously accepting the compliment, deny we deserve it by reminding others, and ourselves, of our faults.

But she no longer remembered the girl covered in ashes, but only saw her beauty revealed.  

It's sad to admit, but we usually pick up the ashes and choose to carry those instead of our beauty.  We leave our beauty on the floor and think it worthless because that's how we feel.  Worthless and undeserving. 

But Christ has covered us in His flawless beauty. Christ has washed us clean.  Christ shines in us.  Christ IS our beauty revealed. 

Nothing shines brighter in you.  But you have a choice...to wallow in the ugliness of your past or shine in the glory of who, and Whose you are.

Let your beauty be revealed.

Caryn Cruise"

"It really can happen in a blink or a flash, on March 6th 2010 I was a normal girl sleeping in her bed peacfully. At about 1:00 am on March 7th the worst happened. It was a sunday morning and when I heard my parents yelling I thought it was time to get up and start the day. I had no clue what time it was and really did not care. So I stumbled to my bedroom door prepared to feed the animals and do my morning chores. What I did not expect was a bright light when I opened my door. In the next second a fireball shot across the hallway from my sister's room. It just felt like a ball of hot air had hit me. I instantly dropped to my knees and crawled to the living room. It was smokey and hot. my parents told me to roll on the floor to make sure I was not on fire. during all this my sister was still in her room searching for her dog. she stood in the flames not bothered even though her room looked like a furnace. It was a scary sight. She finally came out and she was still standing. she danced out of her room like she could not feel the heat nor notice all the smoke around her. a friend we had staying at the house opened the front door and the cat was the first one out of the house. eveyone else followed right after. my mom was the last one out because she grabbed the cordless phone and her purse. all this happened within 3 minutes. as soon as we were all out side the house was consumed within another 2 or 3 minutes. my mom had just enough time to call 911 to report what was happening before the phone line burned through. It happened fast. after we got out my dad yelled at someone to help him with the garden hose so he could try to save part of the house. he also yelled at someone to move my grandmas car because it was too close to the house. during all this I did not notice my arms nor my face was burned nor did anyone else. It was absolute confusion. after we completed the tasks my dad wanted done he yelled at my mom to get us kids away from the powerlines and the house due to the fact the 10,000 rounds of 22 ammo we had stored in the house was going off like popcorn. It was when we got to the end of the driveway I noticed my arms were burned due to the moonlight hitting me just right. What happened is I was wearing a shrit that had nylon sleeves and they melted to my skin. We ran to the neighbors house and started banging on their door to get up so my mom could call 911 again and let them know to send an ambulance. It took 20 minutes to get there to my house. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. after that I just remember bits and pieces. most of the house was gone and I was in the hospitial. I had 3rd degree burns on both my arms and hands and a 3rd degree burn on my face. After I got out of the hospitial I learned my bible made it through the fire and all the other bible's made it through the fire also. my dad also told me when he found each bible they were all opened to psalms 23. That was a miracle to me. That is my story on how my house burned down. the end."