Today was a very packed day of classes and activities. We began with a great breakfast and then after dropping Nathan off for his first year in the Ridgecrest Children's Choir, we attended a devotional time with Randy Vader and Jay Rouse. After that, Vader and Rouse, who are the head guys at Praise Gathering Music, did a reading session of some of the new music from their publishing house, which since last year has been partnered with LifeWay. (Incidentally, we learned also that Lillenas will now be partnering with LifeWay from this point forward as well, which I think it great news). From this session, I found one candidate for our Christmas Cantata that is worth a second look.
Travis Cottrell led us in musical worship for our morning service. He is a fantastic worship leader, and led in a couple of his favorites our own choir has worked on and/or sang at Southside (To the King, and Just As I Am). Our guest Pastor, Ben Mandrell, presented a message from Timothy dealing with fear, and how we have to make a conscious decision to trust in the Lord's strength and choose not to be afraid. After lunch, I chose to be a part of two different classes that dealt with worship leadership, one from Kirk Kirkland, and the other from Travis Cottrell. Both were very good and reminded me of some very important principles. However, Travis' class was extremely good, and I have a new-found respect for his authenticity and humility.
The afternoon brought another reading session, this one from LifeWay. Another stand-out cantata possibility was discovered in this session. Here were some of my choral anthem stand-outs:
Born on Christmas Day, a stirring Christmas ballad: http://lfwy.co/LWRFJR
Christ Has Come, a very majestic choral Christmas piece: http://lfwy.co/LWRxdk
When the Stars Burn Down, an anthem brought to us by Jennie Lee Riddle, author of "Revelation Song": http://lfwy.co/Nz9Jqq
The evening feature began with pre-service music by the Illinois State Youth Choir, who had a great sound. After that, Keron Jackson took the stage, and he was fantastic. With a huge baritone operatic voice, he performed several spirituals and inspirational pieces. Here is a link to a youtube video that shows a bit of the blessing we heard tonight: http://youtu.be/QQvMCXS3gGA Closing the program was worship leader and singer/song-writer Shelly E. Johnson, who is also now in LifeWay's "stable" of writers. I thought she has a "Katy Perry" sound to her voice (Sharon disagreed). She performed many heart-felt ballads, some coming out of the loss of her father to cancer while she was a teen. Nathan commented after the concert that he REALLY liked her music. Her website is here: http://www.shellyejohnson.com/
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