Saturday, February 02, 2008

...to the southeast...

We left St. Louis and continued to travel southeast into Indiana. There, we got to hang out with Tim's family and home church, Harvestime Temple. When we arrived, we set up and then spent some time with some of their youth. They have a program there that disciples kids into music ministry - it was a privilege to play a few songs and talk to them about ministry.

We played a concert the next night for the energetic youth group, and even got to have a tour around historic New Harmony (thanks to Sherry and the Boettchers!). It was great to get to meet Tim's family and friends and minister with them.

We traveled on from there to Tennessee. Our route took us near Nashville, so we took an extra hour to stop there and hang out. We made it to the Grand Ole Opry, and then drove around until we ran out of time. Maybe next time we can stop and do something... :)




The Biers hosted us for the next couple of days. It was a blast hanging out with them, and even though Lydia (CTI alumnus) wasn't around, the rest of the family welcomed us with open arms. Shawn, Renee and I got a tour around the area by foot, while the others played games and watched a movie. A big thanks to the Bier family for a very relaxing pit stop!







After that, we drove down through North and South Carolina to Lawrenceville, GA. The people of Georgia got a big surprise - they actually had a half inch of snow, which hasn't happened in 5 years! We weren't sure how many were going to brave the weather, but we're so happy for the good turn out - it was so neat to minister there. We did a youth concert for Grace Evangelical Church, and led worship the following day. While we were there, we had the pleasure of spending time with CTI full-time alumnus, Dale Madden. I believe at last count, we had seen 18 alumni on tour, since we started in August!

From there, we rode down to Ft. Valley, GA, to do a program for Grace Evangelical's sister church, Grace Pointe. We had a blast playing for the youth there. They actually invited 8 churches, and it's a good thing several of them didn't come - because the sanctuary was full!

Afterwards, there were 40 pizzas for us to fill our bellies with, which was more than enough for everyone there. Thanks to the Grace churches for an awesome weekend.



We finally made it down to Florida! We stopped and visited CTI alumnus Jen Auld in Tallahassee before continuing to Pensacola to stay with Christian and Jolene (more CTI alumni!). (I do have a question - whose idea was it to make the panhandle of Florida be Central Time Zone??) Christian and Jolene were so generous with their time and resources, and we are greatly indebted to them for all that they did! It was so awesome hanging out with them and resting. Thanks, guys!



Thanks again - more to come later!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Brad & Renee -

Thanks for the update! I love the tree picture and getting to hear where you've been & what you're up to. I'm praying for all of you here. Keep posting. We love to know how to pray, and have a better piture of what your tour is comprised of.
God bless,
Melody