Room in the inn, and room in the end.

Today is Christmas. The day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Son of God. Emanuel. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Over 2000 years ago a baby was born in a manger, a barn if you will, where all the cattle and livestock were kept. Not a very sanitary location for a baby to be born but there was no room in the inn, and there was no hospital on the corner. There was no mention of a doctor or midwife. Tho I'm sure that God provided the right person to assist in the birth of His Son. The local inn was full, I wonder if the inn keeper had any feelings for this expecting woman. If he had know this was truly the Son of God, would he have given up his bed?
The town was supposed to be crowded, so I'm sure there were plenty of people in the streets that saw this woman, who was very pregnant, ride in on a donkey . I wonder if any of the women that saw her had compassion. If they did, they didn't offer any help. No one offered to give her their room, or to share it with her.
Then in the stable there were the animals. I want to believe that they knew who this little baby was and how important this birth would be. Have you ever spent an evening in a barn? It's peaceful. The small sounds from the animals can lull you to sleep. The warmth they give is soothing. God took Mary out of the hussle and bussle of the crowded city and gave her a warm and cozy stable where the attendants therein watched in wonder at the amazing birth that was to happen. I can just vision sheep, cows, donkey and doves in the rafters watching as that little baby was born. What a glorious thing they saw and couldn't tell about it. We on the other hand can tell about it. We as Christians have experienced Christ. But do WE tell about it?
Are we caught up in our own hussle and bussle, too busy to observe the coming baby, or now, our coming King. He is coming again, have we made a reservation for Him?

Watch Night Service

Watch night services seem to be a thing of the past. Oh, you hear about them here and there but not like you use to. When I was a teenager (well maybe it wasn't so long ago, lol) you could locate a watch night service at about any church along the road. You would have to book even the local groups months in advance to get a good singing together. Most services would start around 8pm and you'd hear gospel music well after midnight. Just because the clock struck 12 didn't mean we had to rush out the door. One watch night service I remember lasted well past 1 am. The church house was full and no one was complaining. Good ol' hand clapping, foot stompin, shoutin style singings. We'd have one of the good local groups to sing, there'd be singers from the church, and usually a young group of teenagers trying to get started. We were all brought up on southern gospel like the Inspirations and the Florida Boys and don't forget the Chuck Wagon Gang, we all wanted to sing like them. Their songs were great and had a message. Listening to them is how we learn to sing parts. Harmonize. All the boys wanted to be a bass singer.
People just seem to have other things to do now days. Wonder how surprised we'd be if the Lord came back on New Years Eve and found us where we were? Guess what, He KNOWS where we are!

So are any of you going to a watch night service this year? Who is singing? Where is it? Let's get the word out and maybe instead of watching a stupid ball drop we can lift our spirits by feeding on the Spirit of the Word in song. Comment back, I want to hear from you!!!!

Christmas Gospel concerts!

Christmas is only a few weeks away and I am in no way ready! It doesn't even seem like November let alone almost December. But it's coming, unless the Lord comes back first!
So, with the Christmas season upon us we can find several evenings of great gospel singings here and there. A couple of "Gaither Homecoming" style singings in our area are as follows:
December 8th - Hopewell Baptist Church, Corbin, KY
December 12th - Knox Co. Middle School. Benefit for the Angel Tree (for the kids).
Barbourville, KY
Several groups and soloist will be at both events. If you or your church are having any kind of special singing or service let me know and I will post it for you. Whether in Kentucky or clear across the globe.
This is a holiday we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go out and celebrate His birth, support your local gospel groups. Help their causes. Share the good news about a living savior and His promise of eternal life. Go out and spend an evening or two, sit back and relax and enjoy some good old Gospel Singing.

Sinuses and singers

It's fall and the weather is changing. Eighty degrees today 50 tommorow. Plays havoc on your sinuses, especially here in the mountains and valleys of SE Kentucky. Early winter and Spring are a singers nightmare. You never know from day to day if you are gonna be struck with sinuses and post nasal drip. Which by the way leads to sore throat, hoarsness, and stopped up ears. That's what I have. Stopped up ears, itchy throat, some sneezing which leads to the drip. No hoarseness or sore throat yet thank God. I am taking claritin and xst. Tylenol. drinking plenty fluids, and have been in bed now for over 24 hours. (this is why I am up at 11:50 pm doing a blog). Anyone have any of their own remedy's they use out there? Oh yeah, and hot TANG is good. Let me know, maybe there are other readers that could use your help too. Just post a comment.

TRICK? OR TREAT?

Trick or Treat? Which will you get?

The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

All we have to do is BELIEVE.

There was information on the net the other day that Atheists were advertising on buses in England with the message "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy yourself".

How scary is THAT?


One day even the Atheists will have to bow and proclaim that He is the Christ.



I would rather live my life as a "Christian" and maybe miss it, than NOT live my live as a Christian and "MISS IT".



Will you be Tricked? Or receive the "TREAT" of eternal life that Jesus Christ has freely given you?



John 3: 16

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

Romans 5:8

Romans 10:13

Romans 10:9,10

Songfest 08

Hey, where's everybody been? Oh, yeah, I'm the one who hasn't been on here in a few days. This is a busy time of year for me with golf, basketball, school activities, singing, church, etc. So here goes with another blog if your interested.
We just got back from singing at Songfest 08 in Northern Ky, at the Pendleton County fairgrounds, at Griffin Center Amphitheater. It was hosted by Crossroads V and featured several gospel singers and groups mostly from the Cincinati area. The day was beautiful but chilly, and if you have ever had an outside singing in cool weather you know what your up against. If the equipment doesn't mess up your voice does. We had a little trouble with our sound tracks but other than that things went pretty well. Satan didn't win that one!
We met so many nice people up there. The first were the Crossroad V Quintet, Karen, Cindy, Sheri, Sandy and Diana.
The Harpers were already singing when we arrived, but we enjoyed their remaining set. We got to chat a little after they were finished. They sang early in the program because they had two other engagements that day. One of those crazy, busy schedules of gospel singers. lol
We also met Kim with Vision Ministries. Part of their group couldn't come but whenshe and Bridgett sang you couldn't just sit in your seat. Powerful! Kim is a DJ on WAIF 88.3 fm radio in Cincinnati. She has a southern gospel/bluegrass program from 5 am to 8:30 am. This is also on the web at www.WAIF883.org check it out! You might hear us!
The girls of Crossroads V had told me that they have learned a lot during this event, next time it won't be a cool month. lol. We know what you mean girls and hope we can help you out again!
Check out their myspace page, you can find it from our page or go to www.myspace.com/crossroadsgospelquartet

Heart Burn

We have been really busy the past few weeks. This is our busy time of year with homecomings, festivals, fairs, reunions etc. We eat on the run, greasy burgers, pizza, fast foods we can grab and go. We don't always eat right, or at a proper time. Then comes the Heart Burn. Thank goodness for Prilosec!
And so With our Spiritual Food. If we don't dine on God's Word in a proper manner, we can end up with Heart Burn also. A different kind of heart burn. Throught the word we are fed. We find knowledge, understanding, peace, comfort, strength and so much more. We can feast and feast and never founder. Matter of fact the more we get, the better we feel. We could never founder on God's word to us. We need to dine on God's Word daily. Hey, we don't go without food for weeks at a time do we? I'm as guilty as most of you and I'm gonna try to do better. What about you? Thank Goodness We have Jesus!

No Comment....

I know there are some people hitting this blog because of the counter. I hope that someone is reading some of it. I know it may be boring or stupid to some people and interesting to others. Hey, I'm not the only one on the web with a crazy blog page. I just wanted other gospel groups to share in their experiences by commenting to the blog and maybe we could aquaint ourselves with one another. Like, if you have an interesting venue coming up and would like to share it, or announce it, let me know and I will post it for you. Or we could discuss it. Who knows what we can accomplish here. But there is one thing you must do.....COMMENT.
Just clik on the comment and leave your name and say "hi", if nothing else. I feel like I'm out here all by myself and although I do talk to myself occasionally, it would be nice to hear from YOU, and it would be nice to know that most of these hits on this page are not by mistake only. Know what I mean?
So comment. And if you are feeling really generous, click on the adsense ads and make their day!! lol. Anyway have a great day and hopefully if I find there is actually someone out there reading this stuff, I will feel better about continuing.

Ahhh, remember those homecomings?

Well it's that time of year again.....you know, when all the singers out there put on a few pounds from all the homecomings! Yeah, it's homecoming time again and that means good food and great gospel singing! Just about any where you turn there's a church having homecoming. You don't have to look very far. And that's one advantage of living in small towns in the south. Everyone either knows mostly everybody at the other churches in the county or is kin to them. So you don't have to be invited, just go on over and fellowship!
The only thing that I have noticed about homecomings over the years that is different, is now days we start at 11, sing till 12, eat and go home. As soon as we've eaten we are in the car and gone! Gotta get back to the recliner, or the football game on TV. Shoot, we gotta get up in the morning and go to work. I've noticed several times that seems like before everyone has even finished, the women are cleaning up and packing up. LEAVE THOSE DISHES ALONE. LET WHOEVER BROUGHT EM, TAKE EM HOME AND CLEAN EM THEMSELF! Enjoy your self!
Now back in my childhood days (a couple years ago, lol ) Sunday school started at 10, preaching and singing at 11 , broke to eat, then came back for more singing afterwards. Sometimes the men played horseshoes, sometimes we ate more or cut a watermelon, then got home between 4 and 6pm. People visited with one another. This was a time of fellowship, visiting with neighbors, and friends we hadn't seen in a while and familly who came home from up north. No one got in a hurry to leave. We didn't have anywhere we needed to go. There was no such thing as WalMart. Town was closed on Sunday, we didn't go shopping. Nothing much on TV. We only got 2 or 3 channels anyway. It was more fun being with our friends. OUTSIDE!
What has happen? Do we not remember how to fellowship anymore? Are we too busy for one another? Do we just go to eat? What do you think?

I've got the gas pump blues!

Ok someone out there needs to write a song about those "gas pump blues"! On Wednesday we stopped for gas at one of our local businesses at $3.39 per gallon. We were so excited! (This time last year we would have had a heart attack at that much!) We were on our way out to the church to practice a little and said "We ought to come back and fill up the bus." But guess what we forgot to do.
This morning at 7:30, gas was up to 3.99, people were lined up at the pumps like there was no tomorrow. By noon, most stations in town were completely out, here in Barbourville. One station said that they had already had two trucks there today and were almost out again. By 4 pm gas was anywhere from 3.99/gal to 4.59.
We stopped to fill up the bus before our singing this evening, (at 4.10/gal0, and the pumps were so slow it took 15 minutes to get $60.00 worth. We needed to get on the road so that's all we got. Thank goodness we weren't on empty before we started.
The CRAZY thing about this whole situation is look around you..... the roads are full. No one seems to care how much this liquid gold cost. We are addicted to travel apparently.
The SAD thing about this whole situation is WHY? Why is gas going up, when oil went down?
Well we could argue that statement all day.
Anyway, back to my first statement. If good ole Windy Bagwell were still around, I'm sure he'd have a very funny story to tell about fueling up the bus. Cause it's highway robbery....and that's why I'm telling the truth with my hands up!!!

Dolly and Max

Have you found that as we get older, we also get lazier. Well maybe not lazy but we find ourselves not wanting to tote all that equipment in, singing after singing after singing. That's the only thing about singing that I DO NOT enjoy. Carrying Equipment!
Donnie and Lloyd have sung together for about 18 years and I just joined them about 5 years ago. Since then we have bought new speakers (light), a new spot monior (small and light), a new dolly and a wheeled tool/utility box. This thing looks like a tool box on wheels but opens to 3 large compartments. We can load all the cords, cord reels, mics, keyboard paddle, duct tape, batteries, patch cords, etc inside and still have room. I can pull it wherever I need to and presto! I love it. It's a Stanley Max and we found it at Lowe's for around $60. So I guess you could say we have two new members in the group. Our roadies, dolly and max. Now if we could only come up with something to carry ALL of Jared's drum pieces!!!!!

Why couldn't he have learn to play a harmonica? LOL

Down by the Tabernacle...

Hey check out todays video pick. The Mid South Boys sing "Down by the Tabernacle". These guys sang together back in the late 80's - 90's. They were also friends of ours. Look on the Album (that was our cd's back in the day, lol) cover, the guy in the front is Tony Turner from Kentucky. He and sang baritone with us before going on to sing with Mid South. They had a great southern country gospel sound that is so popular today. I guess you could say they were a little before their time. I miss them as a group, but God had other plans for their lives. Clik on the video and give a listen.
http://www.youtube.com/ go to Mid South Boys - Tabernacle

Paying the Dues

There are thousands of groups out there who hit the roads every weekend singing and playing for our Lord Jesus Christ. Small towns, large cities, churches, parks, fairs, etc. Most groups, I'm talking about the non Nationally known groups not signed with a major lable, do not charge a penny for their effort, some don't even get a penny. We go on love offerings and hopefully we get enough to pay expenses. Many times the fuel for the old van or bus comes out of our own pockets. But we keep traveling. We keep singing. We just love the Lord and love to sing. Then out of the blue a church comes along and give a great love offering or writes you a check that fills up the bus or pays for all your expenses and you say "Thank You Lord!"
Besides the fuel, there's insurance for the vehicle we drive, clothes to dry clean, equipment to keep up, and most of us have to eat while on the road or oft times get a motel room if gone all weekend. Most people don't even think about any of the expenses we have. It's not their fault. They just never think about it. But seems like the Lord provides to keep us going, one way or another. He is the boss you know. He takes care of His own. Doesn't He?
So the next time a group comes to your church or you go out to a gospel singing, remember, they aren't putting that money in their pocket. You are helping them to further their ministry. You are helping to spread God's word!

Hilarious Harmony.....

Harmony. That in it's self is a beautiful word. Harmony in gospel music can be so beautiful and blessing. Goose bump, hair raising on the arm harmony. That's Southern Gospel and Bluegrass music straight from the mountains of Kentucky and all the south. No, I'm not saying that you people up in Iowa can't sing. You can, praise God. It's just different. Maybe it's a southern pride in our heritage, or the echo off the mountains as a group of singers sing on the hill side of a family graveyard church service. You just gotta be there.
We were practicing this week and started singing an old bluegrass hymn. (We aren't bluegrass). But it was so much fun. I think we may try to work it up and do it. It felt right, you know what I mean. We tried to put a little nasal in it for fun.....not making fun....we got a little tickled at ourselves. God's people can have so much fun can't we? Now really, be honest, how many of you bass singers out there have tried your best to mock J.D Sumner? ALL of YOU!! Ha Ha.
Do any of you have a funny story about a practice session you've had? Let's hear it!

Favorites

I sing Southern Gospel Music. My husband and I sing together along with our friend (more like a brother) Lloyd in a group called "Change of Heart". You can find our group on the web at www.myspace.com/changeofheartministries
I also sing in the shower, I sing in the car, I sing in my sleep. There is constantly a song going on in my head. Over and over and over, sometimes to the point where you wish whoever wrote that song....didn't. But they did, and I really envy them that. I would love to write songs, and I probably could but if the Lord doesn't give it to you then it probably wouldn't be any good anyway.
Southern Gospel Music has been around many years. There have been many groups and individuals who have traveled many a mile singing those old hymns. Gospel groups over the years have given us great songs and inspired so many of us. I would love to sing like Vestal Goodman or Lauren Talley.
Groups like Gold City and Ivan Parker gave us Midnight Cry and Bill and Gloria Gaither have wrote so many beautiful songs that have blessed our hearts for years and centuries to come (if the Lord don't come before). There are old songs like "What a happy day", "God on the Mountain" and let's not forget "Beulah Land", everyone has sung that one at one time or another. You can't beat those old songs.
Everyone has a favorite group, whether current or past. Mine would have to be Gold City back when Ivan and Brian sang with the group.

So tell me, Who is your all time favorite Southern Gospel Group?