Chad Hailey

My life started on March 6th of 2002. It was early that morning when I submitted my life to Christ. Instantly, God began to work in my heart to help me realize that the life I had without him was sinful and lonely. I decided to leave my band, dirtyhelen, despite the fact that we were working on national tours and building our own recording/rehearsal studio. I didn't completely understand why I was leaving, but I knew in my heart that God wanted me to remove myself from the life that I was living; so with very little explanation to my friends and family, I left. I left my band, and the music that I played and loved all behind me. I put my instruments down and decided that I needed to spend time pursuing Christ rather than the world.

I spent two years seeking God, learning about the Bible and Jesus, and exploring a Godly relationship with the woman who would become my wife. Immediately after our wedding, Kenalea and I moved to Japan to pursue a job opportunity. There, we found ourselves exploring all kinds of new ground in our lives -- marriage, jobs, a foreign country, and so much more. God had definitely infiltrated us as we had to seek him constantly for counsel and support. I definitely felt that he responded when just over two years after he asked me to put my instruments down to pursue him, he asked me to pick my guitar up again to glorify him. In my enlightened ignorance, I knew nothing better than to follow him, so that's what I did. I found that as I responded to God, he continued to bless me even more with music and ministry. I began writing in my journal as an avenue of praise and God started forming lyrics from my writings. Melodies followed, and before I knew it, I had written a dozen songs of praise for my King who is so amazingly merciful that he would deliver me from myself and into a loving relationship with him.

Upon my return to the US in 2007, I immediately began writing music with some old friends and continuing my pursuit of God's will for me. In the midst of my writings, God gave me a revelation that the opportunities that would be presented to me would lead to a ministry not yet imagined by me. I affectionately gave that idea a name: The Post Tokyo Parade. To me, all the music that pours out of me is a celebration of God's work in me and my life. It just so happens that, my experiences in Japan were the springboard, so I celebrate all that has happened since then! My prayer now is that God would continue to use this band as a conduit for song and praise; that we would be a light to help the lost; but most importantly that we would glorify God with all that we do.