Savannah at Octoberfest 2010

It was beautiful weather at the 2010 Wonderfall Octoberfest in down-town Palestine. This was Savannah's first time to march in a parade. They looked and sounded great and we had a great time.

Homecoming 2010

Here are some pictures from Westwood's Homecoming 2010. Savannah is in her full band uniform. They did great! They performed music from Star Trek.

Chris Tomlin Concert

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the Chris Tomlin concert in Tyler Thursday. David and I went. It was at The Oil Palace, which is a pretty big place, and it was just about full. We were pretty far back, but David moved up when Chris took the stage.
Chris knew his audience and never strayed from what he is known and loved for. It was amazing to hear the whole crowd sing every word of every song with him. He took the stage with all of the anticipation and enthusiasm of a mega-star (which he is, since we all sing his songs every Sunday in church), but he channeled all of the praise to Jesus without flinching.
The sound was excellent and the mix was spot on. When Chris spoke, you could see right to his heart that he loved what he was doing. He quoted scripture throughout his remarks and even prayed for us. He put all of the lyrics on the big screens (most people didn't need them, but it showed that this was a worship event). He was funny, saying that an outsider coming in would think this was a big karaoke event, but he sang and played his heart out. He told us over and over how much it meant to him to be "home", since he was born in Tyler and grew up in the area.
I hadn't felt the way I felt during and after the concert in a long time. I felt the way I did when I was at Pineywoods Camp, back in the 90s and Chris led the singing and Scott Crenshaw spoke. I remember Chris sitting on the stage with me in the afternoons, teaching me the songs he was singing at the time. He came to my church one time and led worship. He even sat with my youth group at a Newsboys concert. Back then, he was just one of the guys. An Aggie like me, and a humble worship leader, although we all loved him. What's amazing is that he is still humble! Even though he's probably had more of a musical influence on the country than anyone since the Gaithers in the early seventies.
David got a t-shirt and put it on. It has a verse that Chris sings "and if God is for us, who could ever stop us." It's a great-looking shirt, and Chris wore one just like it on stage, which just added to the coolness for me.
At one point, Chris said, "I'm going to sing some songs you all know and I'm going to do some new ones, from our new album." He knew that we all knew his songs. He knew that we sang them in church every week. He knew we had his CDs. I thought to myself that that must be a wonderful feeling. At one point, the piano player played an introduction to a song and before Chris could even begin singing it, the audience started it. Chris just kept playing and let us sing. It was truly amazing.
And speaking of amazing. He said he was approached to add a new verse to Amazing Grace. At first he wouldn't do it. He said he didn't want to be the "punk" who ruined the world's best-known anthem. But then he found out that the last verse, "when we've been there ten thousand years..." was added a hundred years after John Newton wrote the song. He said "some other punk already added to it", so he wrote an incredible new verse. I can't wait to get the CD so I can hear it again.
It was a truly worshipful, wonderful experience. I'll never forget it and I hope he comes back to our area soon. I'm glad my son made us go. He's the bigger fan. Well, maybe before the concert. I'm not sure Chris has a bigger fan than me now.