In Concert with Larnelle Harris

On Saturday September 6th Grace Church hosted Larnelle Harris in concert with special guests Allison Durham Speer to over 650. Allison opened the concert singing “The Promise” and “Oh My Glory”. What a great way to start off the concert! Allison is such a solid singer-always on and vocally consistant. I feel she is anointed by God and is such a tremendous talent. She connected with the audience from the first song.



Another request from Larnelle’s office was to have a choir. Our choir at Grace is now running in the 60’s, but with such a big event you want to invite others to join. I asked Randy Kinder (Worship Pastor Old Hickory Church of the Nazarene) and Marvin Jones (Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene) to bring their choirs and join us and did they ever sound great! It really took the concert experience to the next level.

From the moment Larnelle took the stage he had the congregation in the palm of his hand. He opened up with “I Can Be Glad” which the choir backed him up on and it was incredible. Other songs featured Saturday Night were Amen, All in Favor, Worship Medley, Oh Happy Day, But God, The Greatest of These among many others.

One of the highlights of the evening was Larnelle and Allison singing “I’ve Just Seen Jesus”. I know most of you are thinking that song belongs to Larnelle and Sandy Patty but Allison came in and performed it first class without a problem. The choir ended the last chorus with them, needless to say it brought the house down. What a powerful song!

Out of all the concerts hosted by Grace, I have received more comments from this concert. It will definitely go down as one of the most memorable concerts to date! After all these years in ministry, I can honestly say Larnelle never sounded any better!

Subwoofers in the Sanctuary

I think we have all at some point in time been on the road and heard subwoofers in the car beside us. How annoing! Obviously, there is more to the sound spectrum than bass booming.

In our sanctuary we have been in need of subwoofers that sufficiently round out our sound. In our situation, we could rarely hear the previous subwoofers. Recently, a gentleman in our congregation saw a need and donated a pair of 18” subs to Grace Church. WOW, I cannot begin to tell you what a difference it has made to our system. We can now hear our bass player! (Go James!) It totally rounds out the sound and becomes something you can feel in your feet, but it’s not so much that gives you heart palpitations. Sound is getting better at Grace!

PraiSing 08 Ushers in Baptist Hymnal

If you are in church ministry you know 08-08-08 was not just the opening day for the Olympics but in the Baptist Church it was the release date for the 2008 Baptist Hymnal/Worship Hymnal. It is the first hymnal to be recorded fully and also recorded digitally.

I had the opportunity to go downtown to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center this past Friday Night to PraiSing 08 which was a celebration service for the hymnal release. It started at 7:30pm and lasted over two and a half hours. Wow! What an event! Special guests included the Keith and Kristyn Getty, Buryl Red, Travis Cottrell, Nashville Praise Symphony, Camp Kirkland, and the Tennessee Baptist Men’s Chorale. The symphony did a great job and opened it up with “Jesus Shall Reign” which transformed this night into a full blown worship event.

The Tennessee Men’s Choral then followed with “We Are Not Alone” and “Praise Him” (Based on Psalm 150). This was one of the most magnificent men’s choir I’ve ever heard. They were absolutely amazing. Being a male quartet fan, I was in heaven hearing 120 men sing 4 part harmony. The evening also included lots of congregational singing from the new hymnal. Everyone in attendance that evening received a special PraiSing 08 edition in white. Not a particular fan of white hymnals, but it was included in the price—I can deal with it.

Travis Cottrell led in the “Connective Worship” part which basically was the contemporary style “hymns” section of the concert which included “All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises”, “Hosanna” (both P. Balache), and “Shout to the Lord”. By the way, the newest copyright is 2007 called “As We Go”. This hymnal has some of the latest worship choruses as well as your Gaither songs and your traditional hymns. The oldest hymn in this collection is “Glory Be to the Father”

Our church won’t get this hymnal mainly because there are few people that even use them in our congregation since the invention of projectors. I have found the best part about the hymnal is the Finale orchestration parts as well as the option to create worship services on the web interface. This will hopefully speed up preparation time (copying sheet music and cataloging CCLI info, plus much more). I am anxious to try this and see if it’s something that catches on in the preparation stages among worship pastors. If you are interested in learning more go to http://www.lifewayworship.com/

PraiSing 08 was a great evening to gain fresh ideas as well as a worship service. A big thanks goes out to Melissa Finn for getting Emily and I some tickets. It was well worth the time and money!

The Whisnants: Out Front

The Whisnants have been a group in the last few years that has received some well deserved recognition. I was in the bookstore the other day and ran across a CD of theirs entitled “Joy”. This is a project that’s been out of print for a while, I just happen to catch it on a sale rack. I recognized one of the songs that had been a chart song called “Nail it To the Cross” that not only is well executed vocally but has a great message. A couple other songs that deserve honorable mention is “Even in the Valley” and “What the Lord Has Done For Me”

At times the group seem a bit country, which I don’t particularly find appealing to my tastes, but it seems they have songs with good lyric and arrangements. The best vocalist of the group is Susan Whisnant. Her vocal seems to pull the blend together for the group. They have been picked up by the Harper Agency which has also seemed to help their exposure. Next, I'm just waiting for a label to pick them up to take them to the next level. The Whisnants are a group to keep your eyes on in the near future.

In Concert with The Perrys

My wife Emily is not the biggest fan of southern gospel music, but if you were to ask her what southern gospel group she enjoys listening to the answer would be the Perrys. I would have to agree with her they are some of the finest singers on the road today. Since the early 90’s I have enjoyed listening to their music, but I don’t think they have sounded any better than they do today.

Thursday Night Emily and I went to see them at a church close to home. The concert started at 7:00 and local group called Encounter opened up for them. They did a fine job doing a couple of original tunes (I think) then a couple Talley Trio songs and a Hoppers and Martins tune. About 7:30, the Perrys took the stage. With recent departure of Matthew Holt, Troy Peach filled in on the piano. He did a nice job and seemed to fit right in. Tracy mentioned they were going to be announcing the new piano player in a couple of days.

The song list for the evening included “The Potter Knows the Clay”, “Look No Further”, “Holy Shore”, “He Will Hide Me”, “Calvary Answers for Me” among many others.
There seemed to be some sound issues the first half but seemed to be corrected by the end of the evening. It didn’t distract from the ministry that took place. The congregation really responded to them. One of the highlights of the evening was when Tracy called Troy’s wife Katy up to sing “Who Am I Medley” Troy and Joseph joined her as it led into “He Came To Me” then “Oh What A Savior” Let me just tell you, the women can sing! It was a wonderful moment in the concert.

Tracy, Libbi, Nick, and Joseph are all great singers. I hope this lineup can stay together for a while. Not only do they have a great sound, they have good stage chemistry as well. I look forward to see what God has in store in the coming years for the Perrys.

Update: Perrys just annouced today (9/1/08) their new pianist.

Here is the press release.

GALLATIN, TN (Press Release) - The Perrys have announced that Bryan Elliott, of the Anchormen (and formerly, the Palmetto State Quartet), will be their new pianist, effective Friday, August 8, when the group appears in Conway, Arkansas.

Tracy Stuffle says, "We're thrilled to have Bryan on board. We've literally watched Bryan grow up in Southern Gospel music, and fans across the country know that he is one of finest pianists on the road today."

The Anchormen's Tim Bullins, says, "The Anchormen certainly wish the absolute best for Bryan and his family. This is a great opportunity for him, and I'm very
happy for him - and the Perrys! Bryan's a super pianist and a super young man!"