Operator: New Voice from the concert at Big Canoe Chapel

Home Concert in pictures

Home Concert

We have now been home for 3 days: long enough to come back to reality, wash clothes, realize that choir tour is now over. The home concert was beautiful. Several past choir members had smiles on their faces for a couple of songs that they also had performed on tour. Kyle Smith, I believe, was reported to almost "dance" during "Witness". Glenn and Diana were presented with signed pictures for memorabilia and the choir also will send one to Josh in Korea. There was a vote to take the tour to Korea so who knows, we may get to deliver it in person. It was a glorious site to see all the former and present members of Youth Choir come together to sing "Bless His Holy Name". One thing I've learned on choir tour, in the two years I have been blessed to go, is that it *really* doesn't matter where they go because wherever they go they will spread the joy of song based in the Word of God. They will have a great time WHATEVER the destination city happens to be. They have fun all along the way in cities they have never heard of. What a great group of kids we have in this group. Their willingness to serve God and make a difference is evidence in their actions together. Their willingness to talk to their audience of strangers at a concert is refreshing and something we should all strive to do. They aren't perfect of course but they do have shining moments of greatness while still trying to "keep their cups clean". They bring the joy of the Spirit where ever they roam. Let's try to be more like them, shall we? This is the last entry for this blog for this year. Thank you again to Aaron Tomberlin, Brian Czarnowsky, Woody Gregg, Jennifer Martin, Sarah Harrell, Kirsti Slaughter,Dana Rackley, Glenn Gregg and Janice Veal especially for planning such a FANTASTIC and memorable trip! I hope to blog with you again about this time next year and that our newly graduated seniors will be able to keep up with the choir again with this and come to another home concert to sing the benediction. Bless His Holy Name!

Day 7

The day started early at our hotel with a Bible Study by Scott Harrell. His application of the Word has been easy to remember. He has given us "catch phrases" to help us remember God throughout the day. Today was no exception and was the best one yet. He gave an analogy about a "dirty cup". What does your cup look like? What does God see? Try to keep your cup clean (and remember that you carry God on your back as you go throughout your day because of what is written on your choir tour t shirts!) All through the day we found ways to refer back to "the cup" analogy so it really stuck with all of us. If we saw people from our group at the park we asked them if their cups were clean. We found that it is difficult not to "dirty your cup" if you are hurling down a steep incline on the first hill of a major roller coaster but we did do as good a job as humans could in these circumstances I believe. We tried to hold each other accountable and have fun doing so. Somehow I missed a "Day 7" report. I am not sure how this happened as it was certainly a memorable day. I could attribute the lack of information to spinning/flying through the air/hurling myself down steep hills and up mountainous inclines with Laura Becerril and Bridget Buff (who ride every roller coaster in parks). Yes, I'll go with that one. Any future lapses of memory on my part will be attributed to Cedar Point amusement park where I scrambled my brain cells beyond recognition on these rides in particular: Top Thrill Dragster, Millenium Force, Max Air and Wicked Twister. Ask your kids. It really, really was an incredible park. Kudos to the Choir Officers for picking this activity! Swimming at the hotel followed with our Examen groups before bedtime. We really like these small groups called examen. They help us relate in a small group setting to how God worked in your life that day. We talk about challenges, failures and successes. With all the screaming I was worried we would damage vocal chords but God helped us because: God is good.....all the time. All the time.....God is GOOD!

Day 9 in pictures

Day 9

Coming home!
It feels as if we have been gone forever but it is finally the last day of tour. There was plenty more fun awaiting us however because we started out the day with a hike of the Lower Falls Trail. We found an old cabin and Glenn gave a memorable story devotion about Jesus being willing to "go the extra mile". He encouraged us all to "go that extra mile". We continued our trek to the beach/pool area of Big Canoe. There was a sliding rock for fun as well. It seems we have exercised quite a bit this tour! After lots of activity Dan Whitaker and his wife Joyce joined us. Dan gathered us around and shared a story from long ago about a little girl with pretty gloves. It was a story about children's church from his days at FBC Forsyth and the story was about our own Senior, Jennifer Martin. She was quite surprised indeed. We blessed our humongous sub sandwich lunch with song and enjoyed another meal together, our last one on tour. Our bus arrived to take us back home to see the smiling faces of our families. It was a really good tour and I anticipate a wonderful home concert. I hope you will be able to come see the choir perform at 10:30 this Sunday morning. I think you will be glad you did.

Day 8 in pictures

Day 8

We had a 6 hour bus ride to get back to our great state of Georgia for a concert at Big Canoe Chapel and the church where Dan Whitaker is interim pastor. Many long-time members of FBC were excited to see him and Joyce too. Amelia’s Aunt and Uncle with kids came to visit and there was a bounty of covered dish temptations with vine ripe tomatoes, sweet tea and magnanimous deserts of all sorts to curb our hunger before the concert. It was all so good! Aaron led the devotion for the song “Psalm 47” and the choir set up for the performance. The concert was a very special one and the Seniors finally realized the finality of this being their last “tour” concert. There were lots of hugs. There is a lot of love and sentiment in this group of Seniors on tour….and there are 8 of them! We met and rode home with our host families. The mountains of Big Canoe are very peaceful, a good night's sleep was definitely in order.

Day 7 in pictures

Day 6

We started our morning out today with the Bible Study led by Scott Harrell. Today’s study remided us to “keep our cups clean” meaning watch what you say and do and correct a transgression as soon as you can. If our cups become “dirty” during the day we should wash them out by asking for forgiveness and righting wrongs we commit. It was a great message and was taken to heart and used throughout the day! Cedar Point is a famous amusement/roller coaster park. It's reputation is now legendary amongst our youth group. Names like Magnum XL-200, Millenium Force, Raptor, Wicked Twister, Max Air and Top Thrill Dragster will bring a smile and nod of affirmation that this was truly a cool park. I can confirm that the Top Thirll Dragster was indeed a "peel your skin off of your face" extreme experience and one I would have done one more time had we had another hour and a half to spend waiting for that 25 second ride of amazement. Stuffed animals were won for prizes and THANK you to Glenn for the good move to obtain wrist bands for unlimited drinks for the day! It was a fantastic day to just have tons of fun together. Everyone had a great time but probably misused their vocal chords a few times while going down that first big hill of any of these wild rides. Apparently there is an abundance of "fluff" flying around Sandusky, Ohio. We spent most of the day trying to figure out what the fluff was. It was in such abundance as to make it extremely noticeable everywhere in the park and even covered the little ponds by the attractions. Theories were proposed of birds exploding due to hitting the roller coasters, tree "dandruff", many little worlds from "Horton Hears a Who", and other thoughts were "flying" around but after consulting several local sources it was simply large amounts of an overgrowth of dandelions so it was this "fluff" flying around. We had a super time back at the same hotel for the second night so that was awesome not to have to change rooms!

Day 5 in pictures

Day 5

Day 5: We traveled from our hotel rooms (in which we resided for about 6 hours) to the United Methodist church in New Carlisle, Indiana. We had a long night of watching fireworks on Navy Pier in Chicago and traveling about an hour to our hotel we got to bed rather late. A time change and an earlier 10 a.m. service were a challenge for us to prepare for. We were very tired! We sang and experienced holy communion there and were fed a delicious covered dish lunch from this congregation who had not experienced hosting such a group before. The told us that they enjoyed us assisting in worship and we, again, left experiencing warm hospitality of God's people. After lunch we made it to Notre Dame in South Bend. We were impressed by the buildings and watched a short film about the beginnings of this Catholic University. Unfortunately, we couldn't really tour the Basilica as there was a Bacalaureate service at the time we tried to visit. From the doorway, peeking in, the paintings ornate structures were impressive. Kirsti and Brian both gave devotions today. The seniors have really helped us get a better perspective on some of the songs they are singing in concert. Our afternoon concert was for Southfield Village Retirement Community. The youth met and encouraged the residents there and sang well even in their fatigue. Our home for the next two nights was the Red Roof Inn and the pool was great! There was time to sleep a little more,finally.

Day 4 in pictures

Day 4 Enjoying Chicago!

Today began with us riding the bus to ride the elevated train to the Willis Building, previously known as Sears Tower. This trip up the elevator made our ears pop but at the top were some good views of the busy city below. After the tour we split off into groups for site seeing by interest. Some went to the Art Institute to see the impressionist works, others went to the Field Museum to see "Sue", the largest T. rex skeleton on display. A group visited Wrigley Field and saw a play while another group shopped the Miracle Mile. Emily was amazed that the mall was seven stories high. Glenn went with the group riding bikes and said Chicago has some wonderful bike trails. Deep dish Chicago Pizza and loaded hot dogs were on the menu and we ended a fun day together at Navy Pier for fireworks. Our night wasn't quite over as we still had an hour and a half bus ride to be close to our next singing destination for Sunday morning service. Sleep was a little on the low side bur we still had fun. We all agreed Chicago was a great destination city!

Day 3 in pictures:

Day 3

This morning we left Grayville and traveled to eat lunch at "Milo's on Philo". There were mixed reviews on the three selections but Caleb stated," This is the best lasagne I have ever eaten." After a huge lunch we traveled to Clark=Lindsey Retirement Community. Sarah Harrell gave a great devotion on "Coming home" and we were ready to sing to the residents. This concert went very well and punch and cookies afterwards helped the choir keep up their energy. The choir expresses that they enjoy talking to the residents to discover who they are singing to. Our bus trip today total was about 4 hours to get from Grayville to Chicago to see Peter Pan which was done in round theater form. It was very acrobatic and used high wires. The crocodile was made from wooden coat hangers. It was a very creative adaptation. Some were leery about this show but all enjoyed it quite a lot and several foam swords were obtained as souvenirs for pirate battles amongst themselves. There aren't many pictures from the play because photography was not allowed after the play began. We have finally reached our destination city of Chicago!

Day 2 in pictures:

Day 2 Grayville, Illinois

Our second day consisted of watching movies on the bus and continuing the Spades battle. It was a long six hour bus ride from Tellico Village to Grayville, Illinois. The evening concert was held at the First Baptist Church and the congregation was very interested in our handbells. They had never had an opportunity to hear a handbell performance and thought the sound was uniquely beautiful.
Tula says about the second host home family on this tour," They were really nice. They had three daughters and we played apples to apples. The family had a hair cutting shop in their basement which was pretty cool. I think having host home families are a good idea because you get to meet new people and learn about different people across the country."
Jennifer says about the second concert,"It feels like we are coming together now as a choir."

Day 1 in pictures

Day 1

We have survived the first night of choir tour in great shape! Yesterday was busy in getting acclimated to the bus. Scott Harrell led the first devotion on the hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". After our silent reflection on that theme (adults particularly enjoy this quiet reflection time) the spades tournament was set up by Brian and is an ongoing part of bus time from now till the end of the tour. Games of Apples to Apples or Rummy also occupy our time. We set up yesterday afternoon at Tellico Village, Tennessee's First Baptist Church. The concert went very well and everyone was happy to impress Glenn's former choir director! The congregation fed us well before the concert and truly welcomed us as family into their homes for the night. Interesting host home stories were shared on the bus this morning. Bridget told us that her host home family drove two cars to get our people back to their home. One car was a convertible Mercedes so two lucky people got to ride in that car. They drew blades of grass to settle who got to ride....Bridget and Emily won and were definitely smiling as they told us how cool that ride was. Some even got to swim last night or ride in boats on the beautiful lake. All the host families spoiled us well and were so gracious and hospitable. We felt quite at home. Our tour is off to an exciting start! Thank you for your prayers as we travel and bless our audiences through God's music.