Sunday, July 20, 2008

Stamps-Baxter at Grace Nazarene

The weekend at Stamps-Baxter has no mandatory activities, but today brought a special field trip and ministry opportunity.

The worship pastor at Grace Church of the Nazarene is an alumnus of the school, so he invited the entire student body, as a choir, to sing during this morning's worship service. Carpools and the church bus moved almost 200 people from Trevecca to the church this morning. I didn't get a chance to sit in on group singing even once last week, so I sat in the congregation, and that was actually okay. The choir looked and sounded amazing! If we can sound this good on Tuesday's recording session, we're going to have a very special CD this year.

The choir sang selections from this year's new songbook, "Heaven's Jubilee". The book is a celebration of the music of Dad Speer and the Speer Family, so you know the songs are great. Allison Durham Speer was in the audience, so the pastor pulled her up for a song. She did a beautiful and heart-felt rendition of "What a Day That Will Be", that concluded with the whole congregation singing along.

After the service, we were treated to an elaborate spread of spaghetti, sweet tea, and Southern hospitality. The whole morning was a great success, and rumour has it we're already booked again for next year.

On a personal note, I had a beautiful experience earlier this morning. I put Dante outside on his leash and he started barking. I assumed he was barking at another dog, so I stepped outside to bring him back in. And that's when I saw them - two deer walking in the grass. They had no antlers and looked young. It was so quiet, and even though they saw us, they didn't move or get startled. They sniffed the air and seemed to be enjoying the soft air and sunshine. After a minute, they slowly walked across the grass and back into the woods. The whole experience was full of peace, and I found myself very happy to be living outside the concrete jungle.

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