Jimmy Dooley

Have you ever heard someone say the phrase, “I wonder what might have happened if….?” I consider myself to be a pretty brave person, I don’t have too many fears in this life, but one fear I do have, maybe even my greatest fear, is reaching the end of my life & having to ask the question “What might have happened?” I think that would be the worst thing, to look back over my life & know that I didn’t fulfill my purpose that God had planned for me.

A few weeks ago I went & saw the Dr. Seuss movie The Lorax. It was a really great movie with an awesome message in it. There was one part of the movie that was quoted from the classic book that really spoke volumes to me personally, the Lorax said this, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” He was saying this in regards to saving the environment & the chopping down of trees, but I think there is such a powerful message in this statement, that Dr. Seuss was trying to get in our hearts.

Well I want to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in this year's V-Day Contest it was a huge success! But there can only be one winner & this year our winners are Chris & Stephanie Halcomb! Congrats to you both! We picked their story because it really showed what it means to stick together through thick & thin & I thought that was great. Their song will be posted on here next week so be sure to check back to hear the song & watch the video, but in the mean time here is their story so that you can familiarize yourself with their story.

Recently I attended a World Vision conference in Nashville, it was awesome! The theme of the event was “Use Your Voice, Do Good.” Which basically talked about how we should use our talents, skills, platform & resources to make an impact in our world for the good. God has blessed everyone of us with different abilities & resources to help others, what are we doing with them? A man said something that really stuck with me, he said people often ask him, “If God was such a loving God, then why does He let all these bad things happen to people & let little children starve & die around the world?” His answer was this, “God doesn’t let these things happen, we do.”

Well I can't believe that another year has come and gone. 2011 was a great year in many ways but was also hard in some ways due to a lot of sickness and voice problems. I experienced many great victories in 2011 and also experienced some losses as well. Looking back over the past year there's one thing that is certain and that is that I am truly blessed. I am so thankful for what God does in my life every day and how He proves Himself faithful time and time again no matter what I go through.

There were very many memorable things that happened in 2011,  many great concerts, new songs written, time with family, lots of great stuff

Well I can’t believe it Christmas will be here in only a few days, woo hoo! I’m so excited I am a huge Christmas fan, I love everything about Christmas the lights, the music, the presents, but most of all I love what it REALLY is, the celebration of Jesus coming to this Earth to bring us hope! The Grinch is great & Santa is pretty cool but let’s face it Jesus is the real hero of Christmas & despite what modern day society may say, Jesus is still the reason for Christmas!

This is one of my favorite passages of scripture in the Bible, Luke 2:10-11 "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Wow talk about great news!

Well it’s finally here, it’s Christmas time! Yay! I love Christmas it’s my favorite time of the year, I love everything about it, The Grinch, Christmas candy, the music, the Christmas cartoons & movies, doing special events with my family & all that come with this great time of year. Many say it’s “the most wonderful time of the year” there’s even a song about that, & though that is true for many, for some it’s also the hardest time of the year.

A few years ago I read some statistics that really shocked me, it said that suicide rates are higher between Thanksgiving & New Years than any other time of the year. I was blown away

This is always one of my favorite times of the year, I’m a huge Thanksgiving fan! I love everything about the holidays & this special day really kind of kicks it all off for me, plus I’m a big fan of food & because Thanksgiving gives us the reason to eat a lot of food that makes me happy too. As I think about all of what we have kind of come to know Thanksgiving to be about, you know the football games & Black Friday sales, I love all that stuff too, but I just want to stop & thank God for all the blessings in my life.

I’m kind of one of those people who tends to always focus on what’s ahead, maybe at times I

As I’m out on the road singing I have many people who ask for prayer & share their story with me about what’s going on in their life, or people will send me an email for the same reason. One thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is that people are really going through some hard times today. Sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged when we go through these times, trust me I know, I’ve been there many times myself. I think it’s because so many times our focus is on the problem that we’re facing instead of being on the one who solves our problems. I’ve found when we get our focus on how big God is, our problems start looking a lot smaller in comparison to that God that created this whole universe that is more than able to do far above anything that we could ever ask!

A few days ago I received the news that a young man, only 18 years old that I knew named Chris, died tragically in a car accident. I was shocked to find out the news about Chris, so young, so unexpected. As I have gotten to talk to some of those closest to Chris over the last few days I have realized more & more what an amazing person & example of Christ that Chris was. When I attended the layout I was blown away by the amount of people who came to remember Chris, probably the biggest turnout I have ever seen at a funeral home, & it showed what an impact he made on the lives of the people who knew him

If you ever ask someone the question “Why don’t you attend church?” You’ll get many different answers, but 2 of the biggest ones I get are, “I don’t want to go to church with a bunch of hypocrites.” The other big one is “I went to church before & I didn’t feel welcome.” I often analyze these types of things & as we travel to many different churches of all types of denominations, I’ve started thinking maybe we’ve become our own worst enemy in the church world as we know it

So I’m super excited to be working on a new album of all original songs again! This is the first time I have written any songs for three and a half years so it feels really good to get the ink flowing from the pen again. Over the last few years I’ve really been studying people & their struggles so that I could write songs that would be real to people where they are in their everyday life. I see a lot of people who deal with personal struggle & failure & wrote this song about it called “Save Me From Myself” from the perspective of how some people feel that I have talked to or read things they have posted, hope the words speak to you, be sure to comment below & let me know what you think, thanks

Have you ever read a book & as you’re reading it, it starts taking twists & turns, & you think to yourself, “this doesn’t seem to be making any sense. Where is this story going?” I think sometimes our lives can be that way too. Our lives many times are like a story unfolding a chapter at a time. Sometimes there are good times, sometimes there are bad times, & sometimes you fall into one of those chapters in your life where you say, “This doesn’t make any sense, where is this headed?”

The Bible tells us all of our days have been written in God’s book. He’s already recorded every part of your life from the beginning to the end

Sometimes in this busy society we live in today it’s easy to lose perspective on what life is really all about. I know myself, I have so often got caught up in the hustle & bustle of life that sometimes God has to stop me & refocus my mind on the truly important things in life. Seems like more & more the world we live in gets crazier all the time & it’s easy to try so hard to find the things the make us happy we forget where true happiness comes from

Sometimes we go through things in life that just don’t seem fair, you know what I mean? I often hear people say things like, “Why did God let this happen to me? I just don’t understand.” I know that life isn’t always fair, but I know that God is always fair. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28, that God causes all things to work together for our good. The key word to look at is together.

We can’t isolate parts of our life & say this is not good or that’s not good, sure parts of our life aren’t always good. In itself certain things that happen in our lives aren’t good, but remember God sees the bigger picture for our life

We often talk about what some of the major “killers” are in today’s society, things like heart disease or cancer, but over the past couple of years I’m seeing something that is becoming catastrophic to our world today & it’s suicide. I believe has become more of a problem than most people even realize, it’s not just the down & out anymore that struggle with it, it’s also the successful business person, the person with the perfect family, the teen who appears to have everything they could ask for in their future, these people have all become targets of spirit of suicide.

Doing what I do, traveling across the country singing & ministering, I have a lot of people who will come up to me after a concert or send me an email telling me their stories & struggles. Two of the biggest problems I see people dealing with today are depression & suicide

Really excited to let you all know we have began working on the new album! Yipee! We are currently in the studio recording all new stuff which is going to be different than anything I've ever released before. My ministry is getting ready to change direction in the way that we try to reach people, as well as partnering with some orginizations which will allow us to reach out to some hurting people that I feel have been overlooked & are in need of much help. This new music & ministry direction I believe will be the vehicle to allow us to do what God has been putting on my heart to do for years now

Have you ever heard someone say something like this, “One day I’ll be happy when, I get a better job” or “I meet the right person” or “when I have more money”, fill in the blank with whatever, you’ve heard these kind of things before I’m sure. It seems that as people we sometimes have a tendency to always be living for the “One Day.” I believe we all should look forward to the future & plan for great things ahead, but we have to learn to be happy where we are & live for the now.

I’d like to talk to you about breaking away from the “one day” mentality & switching your way of thinking to the “now” point of view.

Well as many of you may or may not know about 3 months ago I lost my voice & went through a terrible time of throat & vocal problems, it was rough. At the time I lost my voice I had just went into the studio to work on some new music & had to come to a sudden hault. Well finally my voice is completely healed & back to normal, Thank You Lord! So next week I will head back into the studio & get back to writing & recording new music that will be out later this year. Be sure to check back as there is some major exciting changes coming to my music & ministry, I'm really, really excited about the direction God is leading me in & believe we will be able to reach more people with the Gospel than ever before. After not being able to sing for such a long time I have learned to never take my voice for granted again!

Last week I had the privilege of doing the music at a VBS type of event called Sportscamp for about 250 kids, it was a blast! But as I have been doing more events with kids I’m starting to notice some things from the kids that we could learn from as adults. It makes me wonder what is it that changes in us & when does it occur in our lives that takes us from being one way as children to a completely different way when we’re older? Sure there are some things that need to change in us from kids to adults, but I think there are some things that maybe shouldn’t change but unfortunately do.

In Matthew 18:4 Jesus said this, “So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” I’m seeing more & more what Jesus meant.

Well this week I’d like to talk about what could be a pretty touchy subject with a lot of people, & that is what exactly is “Christian” music? We all probably have our own idea of what that is when we hear the term, or maybe what it isn’t too. I feel that as Christians we are so divided on this topic, which is really a shame because something that should unite us as believers is more often what separates us. So being that what I do for a living is “Christian” music lets take a deep look into this, shall we?

I often share the story to my “Half & Half” album, that the reason I created it was because so many pastors tell us that their church is split on the music they like, half like the old songs, the other half like the new ones & most of the time there is no meeting in the middle between the two.

Well it’s been a few weeks since I’ve gotten to blog, sorry for the missed weeks. One of the main reasons I missed a few weeks is that I was on vacation, woo hoo! Had a great time relaxing & being with family, it was a much needed time of rest.

Being on vacation got me to thinking about one of my all time favorite movies called “What About Bob?” This movie is hilarious, it’s about a multiphobic psychiatric patient who follows his successful psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin on vacation. One of the main parts of the movie is that his psychiatrist writes Bob a prescription to “take a vacation from his problems.” Even though this is a funny movie, there’s really a lot of good sense in that idea.

If you’re at all like me, life can get really stressful, even tiresome at times

Well I think the cold weather is pretty much behind us. Finally! I am not a big fan of winter time at all, but I’m a huge fan of summer time. I love everything about summer, swimming, going to theme parks, having grill outs & just being outside, I love it! There seems like there’s a time every year somewhere between February & March where it starts feeling like winter time is never going to end, but every year it does.

Maybe you’ve had seasons like that in your life. You know the one that just doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to end.

One thing that becomes more evident to me everyday in my own life, as well as through the lives of other people I talk to, is the fact that we live in a world that can be very hard & stressful place to be in at times. It is no secret to anyone that at times life can just really get tough. Doing what I do I often have people send me emails or come up after a concert & share their story with me about what they are going through in their life, & the bottom line is people today are going through some difficult times.

I’ve love to sit here & tell you that being a Christian means we’ll never have problems, but that’s not reality. However there is a great reality though & it is this, we have a loving God who goes through these difficult times with us,

Springtime is in the air, I love this time of year for so many reasons! I love the warm weather, seeing the trees & plants bloom, & just being outside feels great after a long cold winter. I also love this time of year because we celebrate our Risen Savior & King. As we come upon Easter & Good Friday in the next few days I’d like to just remind you to never forget.

Never forget what? You might ask.

Last week I went & saw an amazing movie called “Soul Surfer” which I would highly recommend seeing! This movie was about a girl who found herself facing a very tough situation, she is a surfer who’s trying to go pro, but in the midst of her biggest opportunity she loses her arm & faces a terrible set back. I realized as I watched this movie, & the girl struggled with her misfortune, she had 2 choices she could make,

Hey, Jimmy Dooley Here!

Do you ever wonder why there are so many empty churches today? Or maybe even why when people hear about Christianity they seem so turned off by it? I do, I think about these things all the time. Why is it you can go by a school play or bingo event & see the parking overflowing & then go by a church & see 10 cars?

As I have studied this very much over the last few years, I’m starting to understand it & see more clearly why this is. Isn’t it true that people want to be apart of something exciting, welcoming, rewarding & feeling that they are loved & accepted while they are there? I think so,

Hey, Jimmy Dooley Here.

Well I have officially started working on a new project! I am excited as this is the first time I have worked on an album with all original songs I’m writing in 3 years. This CD will be completely different than anything I’ve done before, which is going to be cool because I think it will allow me to reach people we’ve never bee able to reach before. The CD is just now is the beginning stages of production as we have just started the writing & planning process for the album. Can’t wait for you all to hear these songs & the new concerts that will come with the album as well, be sure to check back for updates about the project as I will keep you all in the loop on our progress.

Hey, Jimmy Dooley here!

As we all are thinking of & talking about the nation of Japan & the terrible disaster they have suffered, many of us seem to have more of a mentality in our mind of reaching out & helping others. I have heard a lot of comments made in the last few weeks about helping to “change our world”, truly this is an opportunity to do that & I’m thankful for everyone who is, but I’m realizing more & more that God gives us opportunities to “change the world” everyday & so often we miss them.

Not too long ago God started changing my way of how I looked at the world around me everyday. I use to wake up & my prayer was something like this, “Lord guide me today, open doors in my life, protect...

The Power Of Thoughts & Words

Hey, Jimmy Dooley here!

Ever heard someone say something like this, “I know it won’t work” or “They’ve always been that way they will never change”? I’m sure we’ve all said or heard people say things like this in our lives very often.

As I go through my life & say things like this myself or hear someone else say these types of things I’m starting to learn a very important lesson. The lesson is this there is so much power in our words & thoughts. I’m realizing that a lot of times in our lives good things or bad things don’t just happen by circumstance, they happen because they are a direct result of what we believe will happen & what we’re speaking into our life whether...

Well hope you all are doing well & staying warm in this frigid weather. A big thanks to all who participated in the 1st ever V-Day contest, it was a huge success, really enjoyed everyone's stories. The winner was sent to me by April Biddle, it was a touching story about her parents & how they stayed together in spite ofsome tough times, here is the story she sent to me so you can know that backgorund before you hear the song in a few weeks.

     "I am not writing this story about me or my husband but instead a couple who has inspired me. They have shown me that no matter what you can get through anything. My mom and Stepdad! Married almost 20 years. He walked into a full family he had 5 kids of his...
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Another Year Over, New Year Is Here Full Of Promise

"The Voice Of My Soul" Finally Finished

Ending '09, Beginning '10

Amazing Christmas Tour Kickoff!

Great News, Exciting Things!

Recaps, Updates & Such

Working, Working, Working

Know Christ, Know Christmas

Stress Or Trust?

All Things Will Be Great In 2008

A Very Cool Message

Recapping NQC 2007

Good News & Bad News

2006 Was A Great Year!

Lives Are Being Changed!

Another NQC Over, Recording Christmas CD

Finished New CD "That Was Then, This Is Now"

Starting out my blog