Return to River Valley Community in Grant's Pass

Last weekend was kind of a celebration for us as we headed down to Grant's Pass, Oregon to River Valley Community Church to sing in services on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, along with a full concert on Sunday night. The reason it was a celebration for us is because River Valley Community played a big part in Jason's development as a musician and it gave him a real hands-on education of what it is to work in ministry. About 12 years ago Over spent a couple of summers at River Valley as an intern/assistant for their Music/Worship Pastor, Dave Hastings who, according to Jason, was an incredible influence in Jason's decision to pursue music full time.
It had been about 9 years since RESCUE had last sung for River Valley Community. As we arrived and the weekend began to take shape you could just see Jason's gratitude to this wonderful congregation. They were so welcoming and kind to us and their talented Worship Pastor, Michael took care of so many details with an incredible servant's heart. It was SUCH a joy!

Over was very blessed to be able to stay with a family who he had been very close to when he was in town during his internship. On Saturday evening we all had the pleasure of having a barbecue dinner out on a deck overlooking a river with both of the wonderful host families. We ate and laughed and sang crazy barbershop tags until they were probably sick of us! It was truly one of those golden moments.

The worship services went very well for us and we enjoyed the pastor's preaching on the life of Noah. On Sunday night the house was full and the people were ready for a concert! We felt so at home and comfortable with this responsive and energetic audience. One very delightful moment for us happened when we asked the congregation to join us in singing the popular congregational worship song, "How Great Is Our God". Now, when it comes to vocal music, you can only harmonize as well as you can hear each other.

Toward the end of the song the crowd was singing so energetically that Over and I were having a hard time even hearing ourselves, let alone each other!

That was COOL!

After the concert we got packed up and headed home, chatting and laughing all the way. I caught myself many times this weekend just drifting away in thought thinking of the marvelous way that God has brought these five guys (including our incredible friend and sound tech, Will) together along with the tremendous support of many others. At various times I looked at each one of the guys with such admiration and respect and my heart just welled up with thankfulness.

After the long drive home I fell into bed at about 2:00 AM, knowing that I was getting up at 6:30 AM to go to my other job...

Gladly!