Randy Travis: "Music Ministry... Is that what you call what I'm doin'?"

Written by David Lingner


"Listening and experiencing Randy's performance was certainly all I had expected and more... but little did I expect that I would be impacted by something in a more profound way..." We had been waiting for this day for a month. Being big Randy Travis fans, my family and I arrived atrepparttar concert two hours before they openedrepparttar 126820 doors to let folks in... making sure we would get primo seats. Of course we were inrepparttar 126821 first dozen folks to get there. (This is a common Lingner practice as we wererepparttar 126822 first folks at Super Bowl XXVI when my brother Adam was playing in it.) I have always liked Randy, but inrepparttar 126823 past year this "liking" has turned into a full fledged admiration for him as he now uses his gifts forrepparttar 126824 Lord. I've plum wore out his last two CD's "Rise and Shine" and "Worship and Faith."

You have to understand that my family all plays traditional instruments. I play banjo, guitar, harmonica, a little mandolin and just about anything with strings on it. (I even "fiddle" around a little.) My oldest daughter Laura(11)plays accordian and a little fiddle, my second daughter Summer(10) plays fiddle and a little mandolin, my son Christian(8) plays mandolin and a little banjo, my son Teddy(6) just picked up dobro, Andrew(4) plays shaker... and my one year old Nathan just kinda bounces up and down while we play. We play old-time traditional tunes and hymns, thus our appreciation for Randy Travis' accoustic music, and down home country style.

They let us intorepparttar 126825 concert about an hour before show time. We talked amongst ourselves, constantly discussing our excitement atrepparttar 126826 opportunity to hear and see Randy sing. Thenrepparttar 126827 highly anticipated moment finally arrived. Randy came out, picked up his jumbo body accoustic and began to play and sing. He sounds just as good in concert as he does on his recording... his smooth voice sliding easily fromrepparttar 126828 bass register torepparttar 126829 tenor range... in that way only Randy Travis can do it. I couldn't believe it, here I was watching Randy Travis in an intimate setting, almost like he was in my living room.

Outdoor Evangelism...Hosting a successful wild game feed at your church.

Written by David Lingner


"What started out as an event, has turned into a full fledged ministry of Southeast Christian Church... We knew this was going to be successful... but quite frankly,repparttar leaders ofrepparttar 126819 Church were amazed at how many men have come out ofrepparttar 126820 woodwork and become involved.” Ralph Swallows, Southeast Christian Church.... Louisville, KY

Recently I was speaking with Steve Chapman, author of several Christianbooks for men andrepparttar 126821 outdoors. We were discussing ways to userepparttar 126822 outdoors to reach men, and our conversation turned to “Wild Game Feed” events. Steve suggested I speak with Ralph Swallows andrepparttar 126823 outdoor men's ministry team from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY who have initiated and directed a very successful ministry forrepparttar 126824 last four years...

“Our goal was to get the... “come to church for an hour and go home guy”, engaged." Statedrepparttar 126825 passionate Swallows. “We knew this church was full of men that had so much to offer... we just needed a vehicle to bring them torepparttar 126826 surface.” (Sounds a little like hunting to me...) Ralph gotrepparttar 126827 idea to do a Wild Game Feed at his church. "We began networking, rounding up a “core group” of outdoorsmen to head this thing up. We askedrepparttar 126828 men to commit to donatingrepparttar 126829 game, and to spreadrepparttar 126830 word around town." Ralph said. (The men agreed... besides, this gave themrepparttar 126831 perfect “spiritual” ammo they needed for their wives to let them go out hunting.) The results.. 460 men came torepparttar 126832 dinnerrepparttar 126833 first year, 700repparttar 126834 second year, year three 900, and they are shooting for 1500+ this year. Consider this... 30-40% ofrepparttar 126835 men attending are not affiliated withrepparttar 126836 Church.

What have they done to make this event such a success? First, they make a strong effort to be sure guests are made to feel welcome. Chris Hadley, one ofrepparttar 126837 core group members, co-ordinatesrepparttar 126838 hospitality greeters and ushers. “We do our best to communicaterepparttar 126839 love ofrepparttar 126840 Lord to every man who comes.” Hadley said.

In addition torepparttar 126841 great feast, they also provide booths for organizations like, Hunters forrepparttar 126842 Hungry, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, etc. Church member Roger LaPointe heads uprepparttar 126843 community relations aspect ofrepparttar 126844 game feed, promoting community support and involvement. “We contact local retailers asking them to donate giveaways we present atrepparttar 126845 end ofrepparttar 126846 program... That keepsrepparttar 126847 men holding on tillrepparttar 126848 end.” LaPointe added.

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