The Bells of Christ Church Update Day Five

The Bells of Christ Church

Outreach Tour to Appalachian and the Carolinas

June 20-27, 2010

The Bells of Christ Church “Home Concert”!!!

3:00pm, Sunday June 27^th

At Christ Church Savannah on Bull street

Please come and support our youth bell choir as they share the gospel through scripture, song, and testimony.

Day Five (June 24^th)

Take a guess and you would be right:  I had to go wake up one of the boys rooms this morning.  They were sound asleep and after knocking on the door for a few minutes I heard them whispering to each other.  I am gonna assume it was a conversation about who was going to answer the door and not a debate over whether to ignore me and just go back to sleep.  Once again they proved they have the ability to go from asleep to awake, packed, breakfast eaten and on the bus in about 5 minutes.  I find that quite an amazing feat.  Once we were on the bus we did our count off, and found that Jonah Hughes was missing.  We waited for about 10 minutes and Mark mentioned that Jonah has never been late to anything, and we sent someone to find him.  A few minutes later Jonah came slowly dragging to the bus.  It seems that Jonah had gotten sick the night before and still felt pretty bad this morning.  Being a typical guy (or bro) Jonah decided to muscle through it rather than ask anyone for help.  Jonah finally made it to the bus and after a bit of Tylenol, Pepto, and a long nap on the bus he seemed a bit better.  We had a two hour drive, and the exhaustion was noticed as the entire bus was in silence.  Most of the students had just woke up a hour before, and they were already for a nap. 

Historic Colonial Salem

Around 1:00 we made it to Historic Colonial Salem, and we were let loose to see the town.  The town was an old historic town with homes and businesses set up like they were hundreds years ago.  Our group spent most of the day putting the phrase “Historic Colonial Salem” in front of things we saw:

• The Historic Colonial Salem fire hydrant, putting out fires since 1777.
• The Historic Colonial Salem Honda Odyssey, driving your kids to soccer practice since 1786.
• The Historic Colonial Salem electric company, serving your electricity needs since 1762.
• The Historic Colonial Salem park bench, giving you a place to rest since 1765.

My group’s first stop was the gun shop.  The gun smith lost a lot of creditability when he made a joke at the expense of the University of South Carolina’s football team, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  First he showed us the type of wood that a person would need to start crafting their Historic Colonial Salem gun.  Next he showed us a gun that he had carved the basic shape into.  Third he put the barrel into a gun that had the groove cut out for it, and finally he talk about how a person would finalize the gun by smoothing the edges etc.  It was really neat, and I was a bit impressed at how much a few of our boys knew about guns.  Our next stop was an old Inn.  We saw the bed rooms, the manager’s quarters, and the Historic Colonial Salem kitchen.  After that we headed to an old barn which seem to us to be exactly like a new barn, but we aren’t farmers so what do we know.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the “Barn Tavern” and most of us had the Historic Colonial Salem burger with fries. My wife was sitting with a group of girls at another part of the restaurant and when I realized that she ordered the chicken pot pie I decided that I wanted a bite of her food.  Instead of asking her like a normal person (I sure she would have said “yes”), I instead sent Matthew Robertson to ask to speak to her privately.  When Heather followed Matthew a few feet away with her back to the table I ran in with a fork and a appetizer plate and sliced off a good portion of her lunch.  Matthew ended his conversation with her right after I ran back to my table.  I have to admit it was a very good slice of Historic Colonial Salem chicken pot pie.

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting hat shops, toy stores, touring homes, and sitting around in the Historic Colonial Salem park.  Donovan even brought out a hammock and tied it off between two Historic Colonial Salem trees and took a nap.  While resting in the park Matthew Robertson saw two people dressed in Colonial garb and claimed that they were Ben Franklin and his wife Aretha.  He then spent the next 5 minutes laughing by himself at his own joke.  Soon after it was time to leave so we back and loaded up on the Historic Colonial Salem charter bus, (taking church groups on bell tours since 1754).

Concert #4

We took a 15 minute drive to Ardmore United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, NC.  This church was a great host for us.  They publicized the concert, they made sure they had nursery workers, and they fed us a fantastic spread (fried chicken, BBQ sandwiches, tons of fruit, desserts, and a good salad).  Almost 160 people attended the concert, and they brought with them an enormous amount of energy.  The Bells of Christ Church fed off of the energy in the room, and it was by far their best concert yet.  I would argue that it was the best concert they have given, and that includes the 2009 tour. 

During the concert Hallie Worthington gave her testimony.  Hallie talked about growing up in a Christian home, and going to a Catholic school.  She was in 10^th grade when she decided to take her faith serious.  She joined her friends Cole and Anna in a CCSM (Christ Church Student Ministry) small group, and she began going to our youth group.  As Hallie began to grow in her faith through the small group and through the Bible teaching on Sunday evenings, she said she found a true community, people who supported her and accepted her.  During the ski trip in 2008, she watched Matthew Robertson make a profession of faith, and she was moved to see him take it so seriously.  Matthew’s dedication helped her to take her faith deeper.  It was the next year at the 2009 ski trip that God decided to move in her life, and she committed her life to Jesus Christ.  As Hallie put it, she gave up control and let God step in to direct her path.

After the concert we headed back to the hotel, played cards, and (most of us) went to bed and got some sleep.  I’d need to add that after the day was through Sharon Mays made the decision that she is gonna move to Winston Salem and her husband will be a doctor in town, they would live in one of the Historic Colonial Salem residential houses, and her children would attend the school in the middle of Historic Colonial Salem.  There are a few other details, but you’ll have to ask her.