Day 2
Our youth choir represented First Baptist Easley so well this morning. The church in Louisville was very receptive to our youth not only from a musical standpoint, but also their personality, their manners, and their faith. Several people in the church commented on the way they radiated the messages they were singing.
It was a beautiful church inside and out. We heard a sermon on Psalm 100. The church was just beginning a five week series on the Psalms. We considered it an affirmation of our place on choir tour to be there with that series beginning. Our blessing all week uses a hymn tune called Old 100th, the tune to which we sing the doxology.
We were blessed this morning with two Easley friends in worship with us. Jonathan Smith, a former Easley resident and member of our youth group who now lives in Louisville, attended worship and came by the hotel last night for a visit. Vicki Perry, daughter of Bill and Betty Perry and sister of Susan Whitlock, was also with us last night at the Louisville Bats game. She too, attended worship with us and ate lunch with us as well. Marsha Robertson also had a cousin who attended our worship service this morning, Jill Visitor. She lives here in Louisville. It is always good to see familiar faces when you're away from home.
The host at the church this morning helped us surprise Addison and Adam Ballew with a birthday cake at our meal after worship. They had taken the time to have Addison and Adam's name written on the cake, one of their favorites, marble cake with cream cheese icing. Adam and Addison are is 18 years old today.
Second Presbyterian Louisville allowed us to receive an offering for our adopted mission project this year, International Justice Mission. The church gave $1085 toward our goal of $6300. We were so impressed with that offering. It was a great way to start our journey toward reaching this goal.
Rick Baumgarner and Rick Roe were able to reunite with an old college and seminary friend, Paula Roberts, the interim music director at Second Presbyterian. Rick Roe was in school with her at Carson Newman college and Rick Baumgarner was in school with her at Southern seminary in Louisville. They are big university of Louisville fans, but finally worked up the courage to ask if we might help them find Clemson football tickets to a Clemson home game sometime this fall.
After lunch, we took a few photographs, changed clothes and loaded the bus for Indianapolis. We are scheduled to sing at second Presbyterian in Indianapolis tonight at 6 PM. This will be the first presentation of our musical, "This Changes Everything."
Our day ended on Sunday at one of the most beautiful churches in which we've ever song: second Presbyterian Indianapolis. The building you see on the photographs Cathay and others took was built in 1965. It is a beautiful place for worship. We were told the church has a membership of 4000 and yet does not have a youth choir. The pastor there was especially happy to have other South Carolinians in his church. He is from Columbia South Carolina and one other staff member is from Sumter South Carolina. Apparently they really were happy to see you Southerners since they served fried chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. We felt right at home.
We had to make some quick adjustments to the blocking in our musical because of the limited space in the chancel area. This made us all a little bit nervous. The kids were wonderful in the way they adapted and still presented such a strong gospel message in the musical. Again tonight we had family connections in the worship service in Indianapolis. Hannah Ison's cousins and great grandfather were there. Also, Emilee Batson's mom, sister, and a family friend were in the service as well.
One aspect of the trip that you might find interesting is that we have a team that goes throughout the church before we leave to clean and make sure we leave the building and at least as good a shape as we found it. This takes a little longer, but really works well. The music director, Michelle Louer, told us yesterday they get hundreds of requests each year and typically say no to 95% of them. She said after doing some research about our group, the musical we were doing, and our church she felt this would be a perfect fit. We were so honored to represent our community, our church, and our Lord in this way. After the service I promised the congregation that when they get their youth choir together and ready to tour, Easley First Baptist would happily reciprocate by extending them the same hospitality we had experienced there.
We arrived back at the hotel at 9 PM. Ella Hennessee began our devotion devotional time by leading the group in several choruses before the devotion that Caroline Myers lead. They both did a wonderful job leading our devotional time together.