Can a Church Really Feel Like Family?

      A while ago I went to an venue in Huger, SC with one of our soundengineers.  The instant we came we knew this event would not be the same as the recording we normally do.  

We had already been informed it was a church anniversary celebration, but it turned out it was that and more.  

The first person I encountered was a very pleasant woman who introduced herself as Keisha.  I soonfound out that Keisha and the children of the Richardson Starlight Singers was the one sponsoring this event.  

AnnuallyOn a yearly basis) the Richardson Starlight Singers hold an anniversary celebration and one of the members is responsible for planning all aspects of what will behappening that year.

initiallythere was a trickle of folksarriving, but before I knew it there were well over 100 people gathered with each other to enjoy this delightful choral group perform and honor their love of their church and God.

As I gazed around I observed that there was a car with Maryland tags on it.  Because this is a military town it is not abnormal to see out-of-state tags, but this van had no base sticker.  

I asked the lady driving if she and her two companions had really come down from Maryland.  She told me that she lives in Rosedale, and one of the other passengers live nt too far from Parkville.  It happens that this is where I was raised, so it was fun to meet someone from up there.

Every year this group of ladies make the drive down to join in the anniversary celebration.  I told her this seemed like a incrediblechurch.  That is when she explained to me that all the people in attendance were family.

Not only was this an anniversary celebration for a church, but it was also a family get-together!  This is a family that holds Christianity in high regard.  It was a wonderful vision to see!

As I discussed the event with Keisha I realized all the hard work she had done to put together a wonderful event.  

She had a jump castle for the younger children.  The screams of delight and the childrens laughter made it very apparent that it was a huge success.

She had a blood drive as well, that she invited the entire neighborhood to participate in.  The Red Cross brought their decorated bus and parked in the front of the school to attract anyone passing to join in.

Keisha explained to me that she has a blood disease (sickle cell) that requires her to receive blood weekly.  As a result it just seemed logical to do what she could to encourage blood donation.  I thought it was a wonderful idea!  

The blood drive was scheduled to begin at 12:00.  By 11:45 there was already a line to give blood.  One young man of about 16 mistook me as someone who was with the blood drive and asked if he was old enough to give and how often he could give.  This young man really wanted to give!

I was thrilled to see the outpouring of helpfulness from so many people who wanted to help the community.  Many of them were young people.  It made me proud to know that even the youth in our area had so much love in their heart.

All this time the set up for the event was going on around us.  Food was being brought in and Jerritt, our sound engineer, was going back and forth making sure that all of the sound equipment inside was set up for him to record,

The school had allowed Keisha to use their multi-purpose room for the event.  It included an area for the family to eat, a seating area to watch the choirs concert and, of course, the stage for the choir to use for their show.

As Jerritt was setting up to record the choir we had many people stopping by to ask who we were and what we were doing. There was plenty of excitement when they found out that they would have a chance to do their own recording after the concert.

The choir soon began and what a delightful concert!  As the children sang the first song the audience began to clap to the rhythm and a few began to sing along with the choir.  

Everyone was grinning (including me) and a few of us were even starting to dance a little.  This type of celebration brings so much joy to so many.

After the concert everyone was invited to do their own recording in the mobile sound studio.  Each group was brought into the studio, the truck was closed up to keep the crowd’s sounds out and each group, or person was allowed to do their own thing .

This was a different activity than most events have and it created a lot of interest.  There was a very long line of people waiting for their turn to record.

The guests were allowed to record anything they wanted.  A song, a joke, a poem, just thoughts in their mind.  Each recording was put onto a CD for that person or group to take home.  

They could even copy it to share with others or put it on the web to share with the world. Part of the fun was coming up with names so that each group would be easy to identify.  Angela became the “manager” and did an excellent job of keeping the order of when each group or person was to have their turn.  

Nearly everyone chose to sing a song.  The music (without words) had been supplied by Angela There was also a list to choose from so that it was easy to find .  The organization and attention to detail that these ladies did was phenomenal!

There was so much laughing it was sometimes difficult to hear the names chosen for each group to record under being called.  I don’t remember them all, but I will say that Antifoniq was able to record The Supremes and at one point there was a group named Earth, Wind and Fire.  One of the largest groups in line to record had names themselves BSE Entertainment.  

While everyone enjoyed all aspects of the get together, I think that the recording studio was a big hit .  It was something different from the typical activities of a get together like this one. And many people had the opportunity to be a star, if even for a moment.

Many thanks to Keisha and the Richardson Starlight Singers for allowing us to play a part in a happy, inspiring event!