God's Light Tour Homepage

We’re on our 5th day of tour and I finally just now got to do a post. There’s quite a bit to catch you up on.

The first night was uneventful, just the bus ride up to Hopkinsville, KY. The wi-fi at the hotel wasn’t cooperative, but there wasn’t much to say anyhow. On Friday we drove to our first worship service, at Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, KS. There were a few bobbles, but overall it went very well for a first concert. There was a good turnout, and we were fed well. They even had an ice cream social for us after the concert. A few hours of sleep later we were back on the bus to head to Mitchell, SD, home of the one and only Corn Palace. It is a small civic-center-like building with a basketball court and a stage. Every year they decorate the outside of the building with corn cobs of different colors to make a mosaic. Some of them are really creative! This year’s theme was rock and roll, so they had a mosaic of Elvis, one of Willie Nelson, and several others. It sounds pretty cheesy, and in truth it *is* pretty cheesy, but it’s still fun. We’ve gone to the Corn Palace every time we’ve made the trip to Mt. Rushmore, and it’s become a tradition to try to convince the newcomers that it’s a really important landmark.

Quite a few of our group decided to walk the couple of blocks from the church back to the Corn Palace at 9p to see what they call the “light show”, when they light up the turrets on the building. It was fairly underwhelming as a light show, but a success as a social event. Caleb Thome, in a moment of genius, brought his trunk-or-treat costume, an outfit that looks like an ear of corn. He wore it to the Corn Palace Light Show and was an immediate hit. He also wore it for warmup at the church yesterday, and even got props from the minister for wearing it.

Yesterday morning the choir sang for about half of the service at Mitchell First UMC, our hosts. They were a late add to the tour schedule, and their pastor was great about working with Kim on short notice. He was equally nice in person, as were all their members.

On Saturday night I was walking back from dinner and stopped to talk to a man who was sitting outside his apartment across the street from the church. We wound up talking for more than half an hour. He grew up in Mitchell, but had lived in some other places too. He told me a lot about the other religious denominations that are prominent in the area, and about the UMC in that part of the world. He recommended a book to me, “The Heart of Christianity” by Marcus Borg, and I made a note on my phone so I could go check it out. We were loading the luggage yesterday and I felt someone tap me on the back. It was the same gentleman, handing me the book that he had recommended. I’ve just started it, but it seems well worth the read so far.

Yesterday we rode up to Custer National Park for some touring and group time. We didn’t see much wildlife on the way into the park, but that all changed later. There’s a private company that will truck you back into the park on hay wagons and feed you a chuckwagon dinner when you get there. On the ride up, which took about an hour, we saw a lot of buffalo, prairie dogs, deer, and even a turkey or two. They even had a bluegrass band for dinner, whose members led singalong songs on the way up and imparted info about the park and the wildlife. While we were eating dinner, 7 or 8 buffalo wandered up right across the road from where we were. One even ventured into the woods about 80 yards from where were were eating. The guides said that the buffalo don’t normally hang around there, so I guess we were lucky. It was amazing to see them that close up!

We ate and socialized and danced a little bit and then headed back down to Keystone to the hotel. It was only about 10p MT when we got to the hotel, but our bodies thought it was midnight. Everybody I’ve talked to so far today slept well. It is very quiet up here, which helps.

We’ve got some free time this morning and then we’re headed up to Custer National Monument, to Rushmore Cave, and then finally to the amphitheater at Mount Rushmore to sing this evening. We’ll hang around there until they light up the mountain tonight and then head on back to the hotel. It’s always nice to be in the same hotel two nights in a row so we don’t have to pack up in the morning. Tomorrow we’re back on the road to tour the Badlands, stop at Wall Drug, and head to Chamberlain to sing.

So with time to sleep and reflect a bit, I’ll take a few minutes to write one last blog post about Choir Tour 2016.

On Saturday we came from Frederick, MD down to Lenoir City, TN, below Knoxville. As I mentioned in my short post on Saturday night, the Westmorelands flew home to Atlanta and then turned around and drove to Lenoir City so Gavin could finish up with us! It was a great treat for all of us to have him back with us, looking as good as new. He still has some more tests coming in Atlanta, but everything is very positive for him so far.

Central UMC in Lenoir City was our last-night stop last year also, and they’ve already asked us to come back next year if we can. They have a beautiful facility with a lot of space for sleeping and a sanctuary with a large altar area that works well for our choir. It was great to see a lot of friendly faces.

The trip home to Atlanta went fine, save a little traffic on 75S once we got into Cobb County. Traffic is how you know you’re back in Atlanta. The Homecoming Concert was among the best I’ve ever heard! But then if you’re reading this, you probably know that because you were there. It’s always great to see the alumni who come back for homecoming.

Here are some of my observations from tour:

• New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Eastern Canada are some of the most beautiful parts of God’s creation that I’ve seen. Portland, ME is exactly how you would visualize a New England coastal town in your imagination. If you have a chance to visit New England and the Atlantic coast of Canada, do it.
• Your kids make an unbelievable impact on the congregations we worship with. From the folks at Twin Towers, Mohawk Reformed Church and Central UMC in Lenoir City, all of whom hosted us to the second year in a row; to the Canadian border guards, who asked the choir to sing for them; to the wonderful management at the Hampton Inn and Residence Inn in Portland, who bent over backward to help us out when Gavin took ill, they all rave about how polite and well-behaved the kids are. Yes, I know they don’t behave that way all the time, but they *can*. That’s my point. And they definitely represent us well while they’re on tour, and not just when they’re performing.
• The community of Christians can be an unbelievable force. A.J. Jackson is one of the bus drivers, and he found out about 2 days into tour that his sister had pressure on her brain and needed immediate surgery. We raised her in our prayer concerns every day while on tour. (She is recovering well, by the way). When Gavin had to be taken to the hospital, the first thing A.J. did was call his sister to ask for her prayers also. He wanted to make sure the kids knew that he and his sister were praying for Gavin. A.J. was a great comfort to me personally Thursday afternoon when we were all so shaken about Gavin’s condition.
• Kim and Leslie are a great team. I’m not objective, of course, but ask the kids and the other counselors. They’ll tell you the same thing.
• The power of prayer is real. Anyone who saw Gavin after he rejoined us can attest to that. Zack Atkinson posted a very moving statement on Facebook to the same effect. Zack was there when Gavin collapsed, and was in the ambulance when they were working on him. I think only he and Shirley Westmoreland can truly understand what a turnaround Gavin had. From the moment he collapsed, we were all praying for him non-stop. Prayer is a powerful thing, and I hope that those of you who were not on tour don’t have to go through what we did to appreciate that. (Don’t take that wrong. I know that many of you were grieving for Gavin and praying for him as we were. You know what I mean.).

I think it will take a long time for me to process everything that happened on this trip, but I certainly won’t forget it.

So on to next year, and another trip to Mount Rushmore, and I’m sure a whole bunch of incredible moments to add to my 26 years of choir tours.

As always, thank you for your support and prayers for this group.

Jeff

Nancy wrote about the Frederick performance already, and all we did today was ride the bus down to Lenoir City, TN, but it’s the best day of choir tour, because Gavin Westmoreland is back with God’s Light! Garry, Shirley and Gavin flew from Portland, ME back to Atlanta, then drove up to Lenoir City so Gavin could join us for our last night of tour festivities! It’s great to have the family back together.

I arrived in Frederick about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and took the chance to walk round downtown. Amy Cook Trim, who’d organized the Frederick stop, works right there; hadn’t seen her in probably ten years. And yet, it’s nifty how easily we can pick up on shared experience and shared knowing people and chat uninhibited.

Baker Park is large and beautiful. The Band Shell, where the choir sang, is right on the edge closest to town. The choir went through some brutal traffic on their way south from Maine–we tossed the Frisbee as we waited and enjoyed being outside. (Perfect weather. Last spring evening of the year. God is good.) After long hours on the road, the choir arrived and did one of their notorious 15-minute set ups to sing a service. The usual small number of local family members stuck round for it, and a handful of passersby stopped for short or long whiles.

And did they sound fantastic. I’d not heard God’s Light in a number of years since I was usually off at camp or living out of state. Y’all, as Andrew sang “Light of the City” (which we first sang eleven years ago), it was as though home came to me. To hug these counselors who meant so much during my growing-up years. To hug Kim, who pours herself into teenagers year in and year out. To hug these people who have literally known me from infancy–it’s a brief moment of being at home. All the wee children who sat in Sonshine Singers eight/nine/ten years ago are now tall and grown looking. Many were in 2nd grade Sunday school with me. A few were even my campers. I’d forgotten, how lovely it is to be with people who know you, and whom you have known, for ages beyond measure. At the end, Kim called us up to sing Amazing Grace and Closing Prayer.

There’s my piece of God’s Light 2016 tour stop in Frederick. Through the struggle and weariness, God is strong. Being there last night was an encouragement to me, and I’m thankful for the faithfulness of the students, counselors, and Cal (oh, yes, so wonderful to see Cal who has faithfully taken Bus 1 on 27 tours) for pushing through some real tough things this trip. Thanks, y’all, and come back this way some time.

Hey. It’s been a while. The last time I wrote was 6 years ago—since then I’ve been to college, Scotland, moved to DC, finished half of grad school, and revisited tour stops from ten years ago (New York City, Boston, Annapolis, Philadelphia). Finally, too, I’ve got the perspective to understand just how amazing the God’s Light choir experience is, and how my six years in choir shaped me. I’ve been chatting about it to my friends here, and one of my dear ones wrote back “What an absolutely wonderful experience for a teenager. It almost makes me wish my grands were Methodists!!!!!”

And oh, was I excited last week to learn that God’s Light would be stopping near me! See, there are people who commute into DC from Frederick, which means it’s kind of like calling Rome, GA, “Atlanta”. After a bit of surreptitious facebook research and cross-state grapevine via a text from Mom relaying what she “heard at the pool just now,” I determined when, how, and where to show up. (Gotta love it. No matter how far you go, you can never. escape.) I’ll be leaving work shortly to escape the worst of traffic on 270; you think traffic on 285 is bad (which it is), come drive round the Beltway any time between 12 midnight on a Sunday and 11:59pm Saturday. I plan to hang round downtown Frederick for a while, maybe find a bite of supper or a secondhand bookshop or a Goodwill to drop off the things in the back of my car (a chore I’ve put off for two weeks now).

Last I talked to Jeff a little after 1pm, they were somewhere near Hartford, CT, 6ish hours out. Happily, I’m not 🙂

All right. I’m so keen it’s hard to wait, and I’ll be off now. Will finish writing later tonight once I’ve seen everyone and have something to say beyond I’M SO KEEN.

Yesterday we left the Admiral Digby Inn and drove to see a couple of historic churches. The first was Eglise St. Marie, which is the tallest wooden church in North America. We heard the history of the church and sang a couple of songs in the beautiful acoustics before taking the short ride to St. Bernard Church. St. Bernard is a stone church which is also very beautiful. We sang there too, just to compare the acoustics (they were both great).

From there we went back toward Digby, to Annapolis Royal to eat lunch and explore. My group ate lunch in a little sandwich shop and then went to explore Fort Anne, a beautiful Canadian National Park that is, as the name would suggest, a French-Canadian fort. It is a beautiful setting with stunning views of the sea. The weather was perfect so it made for a perfect day, all in all.

From there we went back to the ferry for the trip back to Digby, and then took the short drive on the buses to St. Marks church, the church that hosted us on Monday night. They were gracious hosts once again, and very complimentary of our performance. They had taken all of our Thank You notes from Monday night and posted them on a bulletin board in the front hallway!

This morning we left for North Pennington, VT, but God had another plan.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Gavin Westmoreland had a bad seizure at lunch, and had to be taken to the local hospital, where he was then flown to Maine Medical Center. I’m happy to say that, as I write this, Gavin is responsive and talking, his pulse and blood pressure are good, and he’s breathing on his own. Kim chose to cancel the concert tonight so that we could stay in Portland near Gavin until we know what his status was. Kim called Tasha, the manager of the Hampton Inn in Portland where we stayed on Sunday night. They did not have enough empty rooms to take us there, so Tasha called several other hotels until she found one in the area that had enough room for us, and made all of the arrangements for us! She has been nothing but complimentary of your kids since the moment they showed up at her hotel. She not only made all of the arrangements for us tonight, and negotiated a better price, but she drove down here herself to check on us after we arrived! Tasha said that she has read through the Thank You notes four times, and she even got them out of her car to show to the hotel managers tonight!

We have been nothing but blessed on this trip, by your kids, who have earned all kinds of compliments for their performances, politeness and hard work, and by God, who has watched over us, even in the face of challenges like the one Gavin and the Westmorelands faced today.

Tomorrow we will pick up our tour again, as we head out early in the morning for Maryland.

By the time we got to Digby, the fog had mostly burned off, and it had turned into a beautiful, sunny day. After leaving the ferry, we drove to a lighthouse to walk around and explore. The tides here are the highest in the world, averaging 25-30 feet of difference between low and high tide. The result is some spectacular erosion in the rocks and cliffs on the coast. We spent a couple of hours exploring the little shops and buying souvenirs before convening for a group lunch at a large seafood restuarant. The food was wonderful!

After lunch, we checked into the Admiral Digby Inn and had some more free time. Most of us took the opportunity to nap a bit before the evening concert.

The concert at Digby Baptist Church went very well! We had a full house in the small church, and they were great! They were really into the music, and offered us many praises after the concert.

Tomorrow we do some more touring around in Nova Scotia, and then head back to the ferry for the trip back to St. Johns.

Yesterday we spent some time at the Portland Head Light before we left Portland. It’s one of the oldest lighthouses in the US, and sits on a rocky point above the Atlantic Ocean. The view is everything that you imagine when you think of a New England coastal lighthouse. I got a couple of pictures that I’ll post when I have a chance.

After we left Portland Head we bussed it up to St. John, New Brunswick to St. Marks United church. Even though we pulled in a bit late and had to set up in a hurry, we were well received. They were really into the music, and they fed us great! Wakeup was very early this morning as we had to leave before 7 to catch the ferry across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, Nova Scotia. The good folks of St. Marks made us breakfast bags to take on the bus with us. It was a short ride to the ferry, and now we’re headed across the bay. It is quite foggy, but I’m hoping it will burn off later.