Praise, Inc. & Brian Free and Assurance Concert

You know how sometimes you look forward to something for so long and the anticipation is sometimes more exciting than the actual event?? That DIDN'T happen here!! We finally made it to October 20th and the Praise, Inc. Anniversary Concert and it was everything we had hoped it would be and more! God just keeps blessing beyond our wildest dreams!

We were admittedly a little nervous, (and more than a little honored) to be included in a program of all fulltime professional Gospel singers.

First up, Patsy Bellington, who was beautiful as always and sang her heart out. You would never expect such a tiny little pretty woman to belt out "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" so strongly and with such fire!

We were next on the program and gave it our all with "How Great Thou Art" being our opening anthem for the night. God was with us and we enjoyed ourselves so much! (Life more abundantly, People!!)

Next up was the group of the hour, Praise, Inc. Wow! We can truly say we have never heard Praise, Inc. sing so smoothly and with such obvious joy! What a great blessing to be able to celebrate 3 years in His service. Steve Sams has stepped out on faith and is doing the work that he believes God has called him to do. There is no doubt to the effectiveness of this ministry. Last year Praise, Inc. was able to see over 200 souls come to know Christ through the efforts of their concerts! Praise God! THAT is what it is all about! It is hard work, you are gone from your family more than you like, you spend hours on the bus, or in the van, but if ONE person will spend Heaven in eternity because of the small effort you make, you KNOW you have a small part of the rejoicing in Heaven!!

I also believe that Steve Sams is an encourager. Some of you may find this hard to believe but sometimes there is a spirit of competition between groups when you have more than one on a program. (What?! Say it isn't so! lol) That does not happen with Praise, Inc., and that did not happen on Oct 20th. If God is your focus this will not happen!!

The last group of the night to take the stage was none other than Brian Free and Assurance. Wow. I don't even know how to describe the ministry that we saw take place. There was such a confidence in Christ and in their message! The boldness with which they sang was such a blessing and invigorating all at once! I have to say that I was impressed not only with their so very obvious God given talents but with the humbleness and humanity in which their ministry is delivered. I will never forget standing in that sanctuary with arms raised to God hearing "For God So Loved" and KNOWING that we were in His presence. If Brian Free and Assurance are ever in your area please make an effort to see them and support their ministry. You will not be disappointed. I want to also thank Mr. Free for his kind words of encouragement for New Day.

Ricky Free was not able to be there because of his studio work obligations in Nashville. We missed him but we get to hear him every day! He was the drummer on our last CD "Soul Searchin'", and if we have any say about it he'll be the drummer on our next project, too!

Charlie Campbell from 90.9 radio in Dallas was the M.C. for this event and what a great time we all had! On a side note I need to apologize to Mr. Campbell for giving away his personal property. You see, there's a very good explanation. I was so excited about this concert and like any good concert there were some drawings for free CD's. Well, there was a stack of CD's next to me on the pew and when they asked where are the CD's to give away, I naturally assumed they were the CD's just sitting there all by there lonesome selves. But.....No! Those were actually the personal property of Mr. Charlie Campbell, for his radio program. Oops. Well, Pam wouldn't let me get up and leave but she did have a great laugh! Later in the night, Mr. Campbell kindly informed that his CD's had been replaced, (thanks Bob) but to keep my little hands off of them! LOL

We also got to meet Paul Hughes from KKGM face to face! What a blessing he has been to our ministry so far and we're looking forward to growing that relationship even more in the future! We're blessed to have these two wonderful men sharing our music in the Metroplex and we sure don't take that for granted!