Past Internet Chats with Amy Grant

FOA June 2, 2005 chat summary

Not allowed to post full transcript so here is a summary...

Tonight's reporters are ypwife2 from North Carolina; Dillie from England (good morning); Tate from Maine; BlueMomi from California; and mcy03970 from Arizona! Hey AMY How are you?

i'm great...how is everybody doing tonight?

Dillie, let's begin with you! Good Morning to you in England

Hi there!
HI Dillie

Hi Amy, I am on cloud nine because I can�t believe I am talking to you right now! I am originally from Uzbekistan, but have been living in Oxford, United Kingdom. I am currently administering a National Health Project but I am actually and EFL teacher.
What's an EFL teacher?
English as a foreign language
mmmm...
Dillie, what do you want to talk about?
Here is my first question

On behalf of UK fans I want to ask you, whether you are planning any tours to the UK? Amy, please come to England!!
I have great memories of touring England.... it's been a long time since I've been on tour there....
My manager, Jennifer, who is also my typist tonight...says that I've gotten some offers lately from promoters in the UK....I'm hoping that this "Three Wishes" tv show can help springboard some touring...But as of right now, there are no UK dates on the books.
Thanks, this sounds a bit promising....

One of your fans wanted to know how you started out music business. Could you tell us about that, please? And also, when did you start playing the guitar. Could you give any advice on guitar playing for beginners? Any useful books to learn from?
Funny you should ask....This past month I bought two new guitar books for beginners. One is just filled with chords...Sometimes just learning a new chord can inspire a new melody....I started playing guitar when I was about 14.....I'm just a rhythm player....Coming from Nashville, Music City USA.....I dreamed of working in the music business when I was in high school....I took classes about songwriting....I shadowed an engineer at a local studio and did odd jobs....When you love something you just find a way to be around it and if an opportunity opens up, you are already there..... There's no rhyme or reason to doors opening ... or not opening...in the music business....Great people sometimes get looked over....I had coffee with a friend today, a musician, she can hardly pay the bills, but she plays because she loves it....Everybody has a unique story.

We as Christians...have a favorite Bible verse...I was wondering what yours is, Amy
For many years I have said Hebrews 10:23....."Let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess, for He who promised is faithful".... I just finished a Beth Moore bible study called "Believing God"....we memorized a lot of scripture....i think my new favorite verse is from Ephesians 3...."I pray that you, being rooted and established in Christ, may have power along with all the saints....""to grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ.....and to know this love that passes understanding....so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

YPwife2, welcome - and go ahead!

Hi Amy, this is Beth. Last year in Columbia, SC, you signed a Simple Things cd jacket for my sister who works with orphans in China. She wants me to thank you. Your music has helped her through homesickness and through the recent death of an orphaned baby she was helping foster.
Her job sounds heart wrenching....so much need.... only two arms to hold with.
It is tough.

My husband, who is a youth pastor, and I work with a group of teens whose parents are in somewhat high profile ministries. The kids face everything average teens do, along with the added stress of being "in the spotlight". What advice would you give to high profile parents of teens?
My natural tendency is to diminish the effects of "high profile" in our daily life as much as possible....kids are kids....teenagers need a safe place to vent....I try to guard the privacy of my teenagers and not use them as illustrations out of respect to their journey thru life...I hope you don't have a special group for "high profile" teenagers.... that would be too strange.....we are all in this journey of life together.

That's great advice. We try to keep things normal. We're all excited about Three Wishes! Many FOA members would like to know if you will be recording a theme song for the show.
There hasn't been any discussion of a theme song at this point...One might naturally develop from the experience of doing the shows...They like the song "Helping Hand."

GAJULES is wondering if you have a favorite memory of summer from your childhood. Catching lizards and lightning bugs... riding horses on my great-grandmother's farm....we had a lot of kids in our neighborhood and we played "kick the can" and "hide and seek"...we were always outside....i took three of my kids camping this past weekend....it was great to get away from technology.

My favorite memories involve lightning bugs, too... CindyW asks if you might be able to share another favorite recipe with us sometime soon -- maybe a good picnic dish.
i'm thinking.....there's a product called "grill plus" that i buy online.....the chef who catered Vince and my wedding reception has a restaurant called the Beachwalk Cafe in Destin, Florida...his name is Tim Creehan....Grill Plus is a magic tool for anybody who likes to bar-b-que..... check it out. I'll throw another recipe up online after the chat.

Greetings from Ludlow, Massachusetts are you planning a Christmas tour this year? Or perhaps a Christmas DVD which would be a great keepsake. I know this is a busy time for you.
there is no Christmas tour this year.....but I do have a compilation Christmas record coming out that will be sold at Radio Shack stores called "My Best Christmas"....That's really it for this Christmas.

Rob wants to know if you are planning another pop cd anytime soon The next record will not be a hymns record.....I plan on being back in the studio in early 06.

I know it�s difficult, but if you had three wishes what would they be? ie: family, friend world... wow, that's a hard one.... philanthropic wishes? or selfish wishes?.... :) ..
your choice
i'd like to see my great-grandchildren....i'd like for the lives of my children to be compelled by Jesus' love for them....let me think about the third one.... i'll come back to it.

So onto lighter matters....how's the golf game? Are you whipping Vince's one handicap butt yet?
He's a scratch golfer...so, NO, not yet...he did get me a new set of clubs and i've started playing again....
I scratch a lot too when I golf...
taking Corrina out to the driving range a few times....we usually wind up looking for wild life, but i'm told by "experts" that if you make the golf course a fun place for a child, they will grow to love the game....we run through sand traps, roll down hills, and Vince occasionally helps me with my short game.

OK thanks for taking the time to talk to us...Amanda asks what are you listening to these days....
The last cd I bought was Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust"...There is a new country artist named Shelley Fairchild whose voice I'm wild about...I just downloaded Nichole Nordeman's new cd "Brave"...But I haven't listened to it yet...I like Toby Keith's song, "Good as I once was".....music these days is like second hand smoke, i listen to whatever my kids are listening to.

Hello Amy, thanks for spending some time with us tonight. I'm Margarita and I have had the pleasure of meeting you once. I must admit I became a tad bit misty-eyed when I tried to express what you and your music have meant to me over the 20+ years I have been a fan! You were very gracious, and I figured it wasn't the first time. You hold a very special and tender place in many hearts. Years ago in an interview you mentioned your struggle with whether or not God heals. In ROA, you sound so joyful about your faith, so strong. Have you have found the answer to that question? Does God heal? Thanks Margarita. Yes...From a biblical perspective, a lot of miracles from the Old Testament were physical....exterior walls coming down.....resurrection from the dead.... red sea parting...the New Testament has just as many miracles, maybe more,...but the nature of those miracles was always geared toward a more important internal work....i think both kinds of miracles happen...exterior and interior...funny you should bring this up....it sort of folds into my third wish...i wish for the kind of faith everybody in Hebrews 11 had.... the kind of faith that compelled the miraculous to occur... i think we see little because we believe little... i want to believe much.

What you say is so true...Oh we of little faith...
faith is a gift. let's just keep asking for it.

What many people are willing to give an arm & a leg for is the opportunity to enjoy the collection of acappella hymns you made for your parents! Have you considered making your hymns projects a "trilogy," with the acappella project being a "pre-quel"? Pre-quels are very big these days, you know. ;-) I think the quality of this recording would "qualify" it as merely a bootleg find....maybe we can eventually put a few songs up on the site to stream for FOA.

FirstCorin13 stated: "Someone posted at Vince's board that they heard someone on a local radio station in California making a radio request and then thanking you for making a wish come true for her personally, since her request wasn't one of the ones chosen to be used for your show. What a wonderful thing for you to do! I was just wondering how many of these personal wishes do you make come trueAnd I want to know if what Vince said in his CCM interview was right: "NBC would be granting 3 wishes, and we'd be granting 303!" LOL�
I'm laughing at this....the cameraman filming me during "Three Wishes" kept saying to me, "we have to choose 3. at least we are choosing 3"....it is very overwhelming to hear first hand so many requests for help...I did make a few mental notes about some of the unanswered wishes...and all i'm doing now is trying to connect the dots between people who owe me favors (ha ha) and the few "compelling" wishes i brought home with me.
Great talking to you Amy. You are a treasure, and I look forward to seeing you in California this August!

Greetings from sweltering Phoenix�make sure to bring your shorts in August. Also, congratulations on hosting, �Three Wishes�! We are all so excited!!! Amy, many of us are curious if you can share with us what "flavor" your upcoming tour will have (will there be a focus on hymns, pop, a combo, etc.).
it's really a walk down memory lane...i do a lot of songs from the Best Of....a couple of things from the hymns record...it's not a big production show... just music.
Excellent, it will be very exciting. I cannot wait!Amy, �sharayahsmile�, would like to know if you can update us on your Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
this is Jennifer..... we are currently talking to NBC about dedicating the star during the premiere week of "Three Wishes" in September, but nothing is firm yet. We will definitely keep you posted.
Great...it is well deserved!

Amy, several members like �Leah� from Canada would like to know if you can tell us about your upcoming cruise with former President Bush. They seem to have a fondness of you? i'm sort of surprised you knew about that... vince and i are so excited....
"leah" must have had some "in"-LOL
neither of us has ever been to greece...when i got the call from President Bush's office, I jokingly asked if all of his close friends had previous engagements...I could not believe we were invited...Here's the crazy thing...I had just torn an article out of an American Way magazine about great cruises to take.... it was in my purse....had been there for about 4 days...then i get this call about a greecian cruise with the Bush family....vince and i are wondering if we will be singing for our supper every night!
You must have had a premonition-LOL! That sounds like fun. I have been on several cruises...the best vacations ever. Have fun!

We are just going to have time for one last question, and the surprise question will come from "forgvn"....be thinking and I'll call on you soon.

Can you tell us, so far, what has been your greatest experience about hosting �Three Wishes� and �Felicia� wanted to know how it feels hanging out with actors and television personalities?
people are people...always interesting... my favorite part of the show so far has been the sense of community building and the experience of being invited into people's private lives...we've only filmed the pilot episode so far.

Thank you for taking time for us, I know we can be nuts sometimes with always wanting "more" Amy...you are sweet to make the time :)

woah...this is amazing thank you so much for choosing me...Amy, I am a fairly new Christian about 4 years now. You had me singing with you about Jesus on the Heart in Motion cd before I knew who He was. Now you�re teaching me the hymns.
that makes me smile.

Thanks everyone for participating tonight. Amy, save travels on your cruise! Any last remarks.

My question is, is there anything specific that you want me to raise up in prayer when I pray for you?
my parenting skills...my children.

Thanks Amy.....any last thoughts for FOA

thanks for staying up so late, everybody...today was our last day of school...i'm so glad the alarm clock is not going to be ringing at 6am tomorrow morning....i hope we all get a good night sleep... i'm ready for some new mercies tomorrow morning... sweet dreams everybody.

Thanks to all our reporters .... goodnight all!!!!! Take care!!!