Final Cruise Pics

Sig Sound/Gaither Vocal Band

Chefs

Reggie and Lady-Love Smith

Icebergs

Glacier

Ummm a big clock

Janet Paschal

Jesse Dixon

Lounge Area

Hallway to my room

Back on Land!

I am back and am in Gresham, OR for the weekend with Bro and Sis Graves. I must say, I am glad to be back on land and have a chance to write a few goings on that happened during the Homecoming cruise to Alaska. I wish I could have written more while I was on there, but I just couldn't bring myself really to pay almost $1.00 per minute to use their service....outrageous! I started out 1 week ago and drove to Seattle, WA and left sailing about 4:00 that afternoon. The room I was in was pretty nice and they come about 2 times per day to tidy it up for you and to vacuum it. I was like....cool! That night was the first concert and everybody was packed into the stage area and auditorium. It lasted for about 2 hours each and every night of the week. There is just something about Gaither music that is really great. I know I know if somebody visits my blog and reads this, they will be like .....Gaithers? Aren't they old? The truth is, the comedy and choice of songs sang are very new but still have a southern gospel feel to them. To truly appreciate them and what they do, you have to go to one of their concerts. The concert lineup was (I think these are all of them) Gaither Vocal Band, Ernie Haas and Signature Sound, The Hoppers, Jeff and Sheri Easter, Janet Paschal, Ben Speer, Gene McDonald, Lynda Randle, Booth Brothers, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Buddy Greene, Gordan Mote, Joy Gardner, Reggie and Lady-Love Smith, and Jesse Dixon. Awesome stuff! Tuesday was kind of a rough night because it was terrible weather and the ship was tossing and turning all night long. I felt like I would never eat again. Of course that changed the next morning. Favorite parts of the cruise.....hmmm... There are many. Favorite was going into town, eating lunch and hanging out with Lynda Randle and her daughter Patience. What a blast. Lynda is such a real person and so is her family. Her Husband Michael is a youth pastor back home in Missouri and really cool to talk to. Great people and great friends! Second...I was sitting by Wayne Haun during one of the concerts and we both ordered drinks. Wayne is a Dove Award winning songwriter and producer for the Gospel music field. We got too talking about some stuff, and when the soft drinks got there Wayne went backstage got two glasses and right in front of 600 people brought me a glass of ice for my soda. I was like......cool, this guy is pretty nice. He now plays piano for Signature Sound and is their producer and arranger for their songs. Really neat to talk to. Third....talking to Bill Gaither. Bill is quiet. Not what you would expect. He doesn't say much but is a professional in everything he does. Him and Gloria are such sweet people and what an example to younger writers and artists who are coming up in the field. Nobody has done for gospel music what Bill Gaither has in my opinion. Fourth...Talking to Wes and Andrea Hampton. Wes is the tenor for the Gaither Vocal Band and such an incredible singer. Him and his wife have two boys and the third one is on the way! Such sweet people and really cool to talk to. You know how your really nervous talking to people sometimes and don't know what to say, so you nod your head and make up things like "uh uh" and "ooohhhh ya" and "sweeeett" but you didn't have to do that with them. Michael Randle (Lynda's Husband) introduced me to them and they just sat right down and started talking. I remember thinking ......wow this is so cool. There are so many other things that went on that I wish I could tell you about but for the sake of this post I think I will stop for awhile. The food was incredible on the ship. All night long there was a buffet going on. You basically got up, ate, went back to bed, got up, ate lunch, went back to bed, got up ate a snack, then ate dinner then ate your second dinner. If you have ever been on a cruise you know what I am talking about. The last dinner we had lobster tail and filet mignon. Here are some more pics.

Cruisin in Alaska

Dont have long to write, but thought I would post some pics really quick. There are alot of things going on right now that I will tell when I get a land line service but havn a great time and will be home late on Sunday.

The man himself

Ernie Haas from Sig Sound

Eating Lunch with Lynda Randle

Cooks

Ice Sculpture

Signature Sound

Singers

Captain

More Cruise Pics

Beautiful Alaska

Wes Hampton GVB tenor, his wife, and me

Mike Hopper

Gaither Homecoming Cruise

I dont have long to post since every minute is costing me $.75, but I am in Alaska right now on the Gaither Homecoming Cruise in the middle of the ocean. It is beautiful here. The cruise itself has been a blast getting to see alot of the singers and talking to them. Tomorow we should see the glaciers that supposedly are melting because of Global warming. There are alot of things goin on but I will try to get to a coffee shop tomorow where I will have more time to post

My ship the Amsterdam

Comedian John Branyan

Bass singer extrodinare Gene McDonald

Me and Ben Speer

Me and Dove Award winning producer Wayne Haun in the buffet line

Me and Joy Gardner

Infamous Gaither Vocal Band

Hoppers

Gaither Vocal Band/ Sig. Sound

Homecoming Friends

Signature Sound Quartet

Campmeeting 08'

If you want to see some great pics of Campmeeting 08' visit Steve and Debbie Saiz' blog by clicking here.

Back Home...really

I am back home and am glad. Its been a long journey and I am happy to be back here....for 5 days anyway...then I am gone again. Good services today and the church is looking incredible. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

So lets see. I drove home on Saturday morning from campmeeting and got in right in time to take a 5 minute shower, get back into my suit and go sing at Janell's wedding in Elk Grove. So needless to say, I was kind of wiped out when I got home that night about 10.

Campmeeting was great this year. The night speaker was Jerry Jones and the day speaker among others, was Bill Davis. If you have never heard Bill Davis, he is an incredible speaker who can bring things out you never would have even thought of.

The quartet sang on Thurs. Eve. and Thurs. morning. This week is Senior Camp down in Santa Maria. My sister and some youth from the church are down there right now and I guess having a blast.

Any other news?..........I don't think so.

Will post some pics tomorrow when I get a chance. Here are some pics courtesy of Shirley

Buxtons blog.

BACK HOME!....almost

I made it back to the home State. This last weekend I was in Tucson, AZ with Bro. Paul Connors at their beautiful church. I stayed with Delmon Sansom Thursday through Monday. Delmon is the Arizona District Youth President, and him and his wife are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. Friday night was youth service and was awesome! A packed out house of about 150 young people. Saturday I went over to the Connors and we all went swimming and hung out all day and did the whole eating thing. Sunday morning rolled around and I got to see their church in full view. The whole back of their church behind the platform is all glass. When you look out the glass , it overlooks the mountain ranges in Tucson....beautiful. After church we went to a place called "Famous Dave's". It was really good. The ribs were great. Sunday night rolled around and afterwords a lady got baptized!!! Awesome. After service that night was over, we went to a Claim Jumpers and then a Monsoon decided to hit. I was drenched. The next morning I said the goodbyes and headed out to Western District/SO CAL Camp meeting. I arrived at around 7 pm. I had been working on a presentation for Home Missions and hadn't finished it yet. So needless to say I didn't get to go to church that night but headed straight for the hotel to work on it. I got there and stayed up straight until 8:30 the next morning and went over to meet Bro Hill and Bro Flowers to make adjustments. We did it and I went up to sing that morning, went back down left, came back, sang again and worked all day on finishing the project up. Needless to say, I was wiped out. No sleep in over 38 hours and I was barely able to make it back to the hotel. I got in and crashed. Just got up so I am now back home and I will Post some pics of camp meeting later.

Bro Connors