Days of Liberty

This has been a fun weekend for Liberty. Sunday morning, we were in Baker City, OR for a God and Country Rally in the park. About 600 or so people showed up for our performance, which featured among the many wonders of a Liberty concert, the funniest moment since I've joined the group. Those of you who have witnessed our outrageous rendition of the Jimmy Buffet-tinged tune "Contagious" will remember that Doran is an absolute idiot on the song. He pulls off dance moves which to be honest more closely resemble a siezure and yells out random comments from the keyboard. At one point, Doran screeches a Caribbean trill and Royce will usually act startled and stagger around the stage. Well, it went off like it has for several concerts, but this time with one memorable addition. To bring it all into context, you have to realize that we were singing on a giant trailer and were approximately 4 foot off the ground. In the front of the trailer were patriotic banners and streamers. Well, Royce jerked around the stage and decided to jump off the trailer. Unfortunately, he failed to think through the fact that the banners and streamers would be in his way. As he lunged forward, his foot got tangled up in the banners, tripping him. He hit the ground, hard, at such velocity that he just naturally rolled over on his shoulder. You know, all this was happening in milliseconds, but it seemed like everything was in slow motion. As he rolled over, his eyes were wide, his mouth forming a perfect "o". He got back on his feet and lumbered back to the trailer where the rest of us had quit singing and were doubled over the back of the makeshift stage. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face. I tried my best to complete the song, but couldn't. The track just finished without us. I would give big money if someone had caught that on video.

Sunday night we were at Eagle (ID) Nazarene (Royce's home church). The concert turned into an incredible worship experience with people in the audience testifying to what God was doing in their lives. Awesome!

Last night we made our way up to LaGrande, OR to Hot Lake Springs, a historical resort. Hot Lake Springs is being renovated by a wonderful Christian couple, David and Lee Manuel. David is an incredible artist whose work is internationally recognized. He has pieces in the White House, Department of Justice Building, as well as other prestigious locations around the country. For more information on his incredible artwork, visit the Hot Lake Springs website. We were each presented with a rare print. Incredible! We had a fantastic concert. Aaron Horn, Liberty's road manager, accompanied us on the trip. Actually, Aaron was on youth staff with Doran and I at Grace and is now working on a ministerial degree at Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, CO. Trey and Courtney (Doran's daughter) also went with us and had a fantastic time. They thought they were big stuff. The concert promoter had them hand out programs and take the offering. They were in the height of their glory! Below are some random shots from the evening:

We posed with our honorary road manager, Aaron. We had a blast!

Normally, this expression can be found on Dan's face when he forgets the words to a song, but this time Royce stole the expression to display his joy with the sound system.

A work of David Manuel that particularly moved me was a statue entitled "A Tenor Going Home". It's part of his "Great Men of America" series.

Courtney and Trey took time off from the free pop foisted upon them by the incredible Hot Lake Springs staff to pose for a picture. Trey's not really into hugging, but that will change.

Royce occasionally moonlights as a news correspondent for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". He delivers one of his brilliant and poignant monologues for the camera operator (me).

Doran and Royce exchange goods in front of one of the oldest trading posts in the west.

Royce practices his bass singer pose. He has quite a bit of work ahead of him.

Dan takes time before each concert to meditate. He normally uses "The Wizard of Id" comic strips as inspiration.

Doran was often mesmerized by the chickens, roosters, and peacocks who freely roam the grounds.

The peacocks were very loud and often interrupted Royce's jokes, much to our delight. Fortunately, he only crowed back twice.

We did have an incredible time of worship last night. We sang "Holy Ground" and the crowd rose as one and joined us in a beautiful time of praise.

This might be one of Oregon's most historical sites, but that doesn't stop us from doing our bluegrass rendition of "Gospel Plow". Classy, classy, classy!