West Tennessee and East Pennsylvania

March 6, 7 & 9, 2010

Saturday, March 6^th was a beautiful pre-Spring day and we drove to west Tennessee to Community Grove Methodist Church where Jo Nell Copeland pastors the congregation. It was a fun evening, including the moment when, Faith, who was sitting with a couple of grandmas a couple of rows behind me, began screaming during one of her daddy's songs. When Bobby finished his song he asked what the commotion was about. We told him Faith had encountered a lady bug in her seat and when it began to fly around her it scared her. Bobby came back with, “You know, if God can use a squirrel in Pascagoula, Mississippi to start a revival, He can more than likely use a ladybug in McKenzie, Tennessee. I don't think a revival started but I think it did wake some folks up.

We drove home that night to sleep and we were up early the next morning ready to drive to White Bluff, Tennessee where pastor Gary Riley pastors Cross Roads Church of God of Prophecy. This young and thriving congregation meets in a beautiful new building and they are a delightful and loving group of people. We had a great worship service and continued in worship when Bobby began singing. The interesting thing I learned after the service was that Pastor Gary is a brother to one of our very own Cornerstone ushers, Glen Riley!

Following the church service we found a great mom and pop restaurant just a couple of miles down the road called Abednego's. Then it was on to Trenton, Tennessee for the evening service.

Hickory Grove Baptist Church is set off the road at the end of a long tree-lined driveway. The building itself is nearly 150 years old and if the walls could talk, I'm sure it could tell of many revivals services, victories won and tears shed. Pastor Jason Martin is a young man with a beautiful wife and 2 small children.

After the service, we enjoyed some refreshments in the fellowship hall and then Pastor Martin stayed by our side until we had loaded equipment, changed clothes, made sure everyone had used the bathroom, loaded the wheelchair into the trailer and made beds for everyone in the van. He allowed our children to climb all over him and then just before we drove off he asked if we could join hands and pray as he knew we were planning to drive from Trenton to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. What a blessing this young man of God was.

Bobby drove to the Kentucky/West Virginia line and then I got behind the wheel. The road was rough and I couldn't use the cruise control as the hills were too high and frequent, so Bobby didn't rest long before we stopped for breakfast and the folding of the bedding ceremony.

We arrived at Chet and Anna Mary Stolzfus' house around 3:00 p.m. It had been 6 and a half years since I'd seen them. I first met Chet and Anna Mary and their 5 children back in the mid 1980's when I traveled with The Schwartz Brothers. Two of my mother's brothers and her baby sister sang together for years and when I was 16 they asked my parents if I could travel with them and play the keyboard. After a year or two my Uncle Merlin left the group and I began taking his place in the trio.

Bobby met Chet and Anna about the same time as Chet was a promoter and had many Gospel groups come to the area. It was a great place to sing back in the day. Bobby loved it when those Amish girls would scream over him. (oh boy) I found out later that Anna Mary, way back then, had the slightest notion of introducing Bobby Bowen to Becky Troyer but that never happened. We never sang at Chet's Gospel Barn at the same time or she may have succeeded in her intentions. Another time Bobby and I “almost met” was in 1990 when my sister, Mary and I had driven north to attend the Mennonite Softball Tournaments in Fort Wayne (to see the boys) and the following Saturday my Uncle Merlin and his family had planned to promote a concert in our home town of Sturgis, Michigan. When Merlin asked me if I'd be coming to the Mid South Boys Concert the following Saturday, I told him I wished we could but it wasn't feasible to drive to Michigan 2 weekends in a row. There was one other time mine and Bobby's paths nearly crossed but apparently the time wasn't right. We didn't know about each other but God knew us and He had a plan.

Chet did have a role in mine and Bobby's future. He was the one who introduced me to the music of Mid South. The Schwartz Brothers were singing at the Gospel Barn one weekend and as we all climbed into Chet's suburban, he pops a cassette into the player and said, “Hey listen to these guys!” My response was, “Wow, I like that. They're singing Christian lyrics but it's not Southern Gospel...it's COUNTRY!” And that, my friends, was the beginning of Christian Country Music.

Chet and Anna Mary's oldest daughter, Rosa, contacted Bobby last year to sing at the benefit for the Christian school her children attend, Linville Hill Christian School. So we stayed in Chet and Anna Mary's big house Monday and Tuesday night, while the concert was Tuesday night. The benefit was well-attended, the huge banquet room was full with approximately 500 in attendance and a great sum of money was raised for another year of education and ministry to the children.

Before our departure Wednesday morning, Anna Mary fed Gracie one more time and painted her

nails so she was good to go. She was such a blessing to Grace and I think Anna Mary received a blessing too. She and Grace hit it off pretty good. Just as Hope and Rosa's oldest daughter, Jasmine became fast friends. As a matter of fact, Hope went home with Jasmine and her older brother, Chad came to his grandparent's house to spend the night with Landis.

We enjoyed our time with Chet and Anna Mary so much and tried to get in as much as possible in the short time we were there. Anna Mary and I jogged around the big pond in their back yard on Tuesday morning before she went off to her cleaning jobs and then we took about an hour and a half to do a little shopping in the local Amish-owned shops in the afternoon. She and Chet and Bobby and I sat around for about an hour after the concert and talked like we used to do after our own concerts, except this time we sat in the den instead of the kitchen where we used to chow down on sweet bologna and a variety of cheeses.

I guess I was worn out because the following morning I slept in well after 9:00 and jumped out of bed shaken that I had managed to sleep through kids waking up and moving about. Anna Mary and I had planned to walk again but when Bobby realized that the Washington, Pennsylvania we were singing at that evening was 4 hours away instead of an hour and a half, I decided to fore go the walk and get packed up.

We said our goodbyes to our dear friends and high-tailed it for Western Pennsylvania.