SISTERS JOY will be here Friday night, and we don’t know when we’re going to be able to get these delightful young women back. So, call some friends and come on down to Post for a great gospel music concert.
SISTERS JOY could be singing anywhere in America today … they are that good. We have them around here for now, thanks to kiddos still at home to raise. These talented gospel performers squeeze in concert dates between football games and the constant activities they participate in with their families. Friday at 8 o’clock they will be on stage here at Ragtown Gospel Theater, and you don’t want to miss it.
Saturday I get to roll out a couple of new tunes, along with some old favorites in our 7 o’clock show. Of course, Glenn Polk portrays Simon Peter in PETER THE ROCK both nights, and words just don’t do his performance justice. You have to be there and see this for yourself.
Every day I get calls from people who “just now heard about” RAGTOWN GOSPEL THEATER for the first time. In virtually every instance, it is because someone has come to see our production of PETER THE ROCK and the Ragtown Gospel Singers, and gone home telling everyone they see how wonderful their experience here was. Now, is that not a blessing?
We are so thankful for the word of mouth advertising we are receiving. It feels as if we are being discovered by people from all over the South Plains, and even beyond. Attendance is still well below what we need, in order to flourish, but as I said in our recent e-newsletter, we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and it looks like maybe it isn’t a train.
I want to share something that came to me last week, after a conversation with Teresa Parker. Teresa is Ivan Parker’s wife, and she is just a terrific person. If you don’t know, Ivan is one of the headline performers in all the Gaither Homecoming events. He is a marvelous singer, with a genuine heart for the Lord, and for everyone who attends his shows.
Teresa and I were talking about the way Gospel Music touches people, and she said, “So many people are hurting.”
That phrase just sort of stuck with me, and one morning last week I took some time to ponder it. I have been praying to understand this recent part of my life. When the Lord gave singing Gospel Music to me, making it the desire of my heart, it completely changed everything.
People are so incredibly generous with their appreciation and praise of what I am doing, and I truly do not know how to process such kindness. More than that, I find that the music touches people in so many different ways. They tell me about their parents, a lost husband or wife, about fond memories that the old songs I sing seem to rekindle. It is an intimacy that I am so flattered by, but I haven’t understood completely. It is obvious that what happens is not merely entertainment, which fulfills our hope.
Teresa’s words made me realize that we all carry around wounds. Grief, fear, disappointment, lonliness, shame, and other reasons for sadness. We have been enabled by the Lord to cope with it, but it is there, and not far beneath the surface. We’re told so often that this special place gives respite and comfort to so many who come here. The music seems to cut through the crust to lift up and reassure folks that they indeed have a friend in Jesus. They can rest in blessed assurance. And even though some of our trials are hard, if we can back away and glimpse things from the perspective Jesus has…we’re only passing through, and we can be comforted by knowing who holds tomorrow.
Then, PETER THE ROCK shows so clearly that we are so completely acceptable in our Lord’s eyes, regardless of our own denials and shortcomings in our behavior. We are okay in His book. Loved and liked, and our names written in that book in blood.
Please pray that people will continue to discover RAGTOWN GOSPEL THEATER, and we can continue to be good stewards of the opportunity we have been given.
Bless Y’all,
Chip
Recent Comments