Territorial Vocal Convocation

So this past weekend was the first ever territorial vocal convocation. It was geared toward the adults but since I am in the songsters and Our GNY youth chorus was singing, I went. Now I'll be perfectly honest when I first heard about it I thought it was a pointless weekend. I thought that we were just going to show off to eachother how good we are. Obviously I was completely WRONG! Major Lenn Ballentine lead the weekend. He taught me so much about music and singing and how to reach the audience and different styles and everything!

Saturday night was the concert. Many different styles of music were portrayed and it was awesome. My corps songsters sang the song psalm 91 in loving memory of Normajean Honsburger. She attended Hempstead with her husband Al. Although I was young at the time they were very happy, loving people and had such hearts for God. Sadly both Normajeann and Al died of cancer. So that night we all sang it for her. I know that she was smiling down from heaven Saturday night. Many of us in the songsters who knew her got emotional.
psalm 91 says 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a] 2 I will say [b] of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.4 He will cover you with his feathers,and under his wings you will find refuge;his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night,nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge- 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Our brand new GNY Youth Chorus sang as well. Now this was our first real debut. We sang for the Christmas Spectacular but that wasn't Gavin's chosen music. We sang two of the greatest songs ever! We didn't use music and were encouraged to interact with the audience. Talk about awkward, haha but I did it. I had never had so much fun singing before in my whole life! It was such an amazing feeling! We sang this upbeat song called we are not ashamed. The chorus was - we are not ashamed, no we are not ashamed of the gospel, the truth we will proclaim. We are committed and we chose to tell the world the good news, the gospel, we are not ashamed! We also sang an arrangement by Gavin. It was a mix of We fall down and Holy Holy Holy. It was very powerful.

This weekend I realized how much of the time that I just sing the notes on the page and don't really think about the words I'm singing and who I'm singing it for. Especially with the song book. I am trying so hard to figure out how the tune goes that I don't even think about the words coming out of my mouth! On Sunday morning we did allot of singing. Allot of it was from the songbook. Instead of attempting to find the melody I just meditated on the words. They were very powerful. From the point on for the rest of the meeting I thought about the words I was singing. We sang the songs Heart of Worship and Breathe on me. I was very moved and God spoke to me in a new way. Once again, I was blessed.

Ofcoarse I can't forget about the fellowship I had with all the people that I don't see allot. I amalwayss blessed with my awesome friends from all over the territory! I love them!