We hit the ground running this morning with some wonderful classes. We had a pretty good rain this morning, and I thought, yeah, I’m pretty sure we asked everyone to bring a raincoat or umbrella, but as I walked the middlers to choir, several were suddenly my best friend, angling to share my umbrella! I got to sit through the middlers’ choir class all the way through today, and what an incredible teacher they have! His name is Phillip Shoultz III from Atlanta. I told him afterwards that if I’d been a student of his in middle school, I well may have gone into music for my profession. I found him to be incredibly engaging and inspiring.
At one point he was working with them on singing a particular phrase. He didn’t get the level of passion that he was looking for, so he had them all close their eyes and think of something they felt insecure about, and something they’re afraid of. Then he said, “Now we’re going to CAST ASIDE our fears and insecurities – and when he said “cast aside,” he threw the towel that was in his hand across the room, over the heads of the students. When those kids opened their mouths to sing, “Cast aside your doubts and fears!” next, the energy was palpable, and the sound was 100% better. He’s amazing.
After lunch, we had our porch meeting. We’re working on adding new lyrics! Here’s what we have so far, with the one line still missing indicated by question marks:
♪
♫It is porch meeting time
It is porch meeting time
And we are feeling fine
Cuz it’s porch meeting time
We’ll talk about our day
And then be on our way
???????
Cuz it’s porch meeting time!♪
♫
Some comments from the kids about their day so far:
Mary said she was so pleased with the worship leadership provided by both the childrens and adult choirs, and Tressa’s beautiful violin during the intro and children’s choir.
Deborah said she loved the ribbon exercise, and how the collective nature of it was so powerful, bringing our concerns to God all together.
William liked how the bell teacher showed how different people count, and that’s why it’s so important to pay attention to the director.
Noah closed us out with prayer, and there was one line that I think will always be with me:
Help us get through this day with vigorous happiness!
May we all get through this and every day with vigorous happiness.
— Sharon
