A great time in the Lord

I'm back from a singing at Freedom Baptist. We had a good turnout for the choir. None of our youth group made it, they had a wrestling tournament, but we had 15 choir members and 5 other church members who came for support.

The pastor of Freedom, Rev. Steve Hutchison (brother to our pastor), kicked things off by requesting that everyone come and fill up the choir and sing some congregational's. It was the first time I was able to sing my natural bass, since I wasn't leading, it felt really good. We sang some good old gospel songs out of the red back church hymnal. I immediately felt the Spirit and found myself overcome. Bro. Hutchison asked if I would lead one but I was crying too much to try. We finished 3 songs and then had altar prayer.

To start off the singing, Bro. Hutchison asked a young man, who looked to be about 7 or 8, to come up and be first. He sang, Jesus Loves Me, and did as fine of a job as anyone I've ever heard. Our choir was chosen to be next. There was a packed house and many folks that had came out to sing, so I didn't want to sing too many. I settled on 3 for sure and then added one more, making it a total of 4 songs.

We started out with Saved to the Uttermost. We always do very well on that song and I feel it was the perfect way for Highland to start off. The way the acoustics are in the church, it is hard to tell if you are singing loud enough or not. I way over sang tonight trying to make sure that I was doing a good job leading. My throat is paying the price for it right now. Our next song was our Christmas favorite, I'm Glad I Know Who Jesus Is, then we broke into, When the Saints Go Marching In, with Sister Carol singing the verses while the rest of the choir joined in on the chorus. Originally I was going to do, I'll Live Again, but I the Spirit of the Lord changed my mind at the last minute and we sang, Little Is Much If God Is In It. I had my back to the congregation so I don't know what was going on behind me but I could hear a lot of Amen's and rejoicing. I think it was the perfect choice.

After the choir finished, the two Linda's sang; Linda Compton and Linda Long. They are always a pleasure to listen to and their songs always have a way of touching those that hear them. They sang, New Grace, and then their bread and butter number, The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference. Again, I was drowning in tears. After they finished, my daughter, Liz, and I went up and we sang, Ready Or Not, with me playing the piano. We had worked on that song for about 30-minutes before going to the singing, so we were prepared. Then Bro. Hutchison asked me to lead a congregational and I chose pg. 68 in the red back hymnal, He'll Take Me Thru.

There were several singers after that, and lots of good Spirit. I was really glad that we went and even my 15-year old daughter enjoyed it. She was really giving me a hard time before going because I was "dragging" her to church again." I wish that I had brought my camera. I had my Blackberry with me and I snapped a few pics but they didn't come out very good. Maybe next time!