I have only attended two Easter Sunrise Services in my life. The first was at Carbondale Assembly of God on Easter Sunday (duh…), April 6th, 1969. The second was at the infamous church I worked at in Georgia. I find it interesting that neither one of them ever did it more than once. Once was so enough.
However, on that auspicious day in 1969, there was a lot of time in between the sunrise service and Sunday School. So, several of us younger folks were wasting time in the “fellowship hall.” Someone had found a youth choir book, so Phil sat down at the piano while the rest of us stood looking over his shoulder. Before long, we were making some pretty good sounds. All of us read music well enough to read the parts, and soon we decided we might have something. Here are the names of the five youth who formed a new ensemble that morning, in alphabetical order: Paula Hale, Roger Sharp, Phil Taylor, Jeff Taylor, and Zelinda Warnock.
We performed a few times. Once even outside of our church, but I don’t remember where that was. People were impressed, primarily because we were so young. I was 13 and the youngest. But Roger was the oldest at only 16.
Ultimately, the three of us guys got together and had a serious conversation about the future. Because we were so young and also because we had some pretty big dreams, we decided that involving young ladies in our big plans might eventually end in disaster or at least drama. (Sorry, girls. In case you never heard the truth, this is it.) So the mixed quintet became an all male trio.
My dad had been a part of a group called the “Peacemakers” for a very short period of time. They already had business cards and stationery with my home address and phone number on them. So “Peacemakers” was as good a name as any. Better than most. Plus, now we had stationery. And cards.
These three guys—Roger, Phil, and Jeff—could never have imagined what they were forming. This was an alliance, a partnership, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. And the music we would make would take us all over the world. April 6th, 2009 will be our 40th anniversary as a group. We are still performing together after all these years. In fact, we just traveled to Russia where we performed in several major cities in beautiful old “opera houses.”
Over the years, we all traveled different paths. There were even periods of years when we didn’t perform at all. But our paths have continued to cross because of the one constant in all of it—our home: Carbondale. Where we grew up, where we met, and where we continue to connect.
So, you will have a hard time imagining what a thrill it was to be asked to come home to work in the church of my childhood.
However, on that auspicious day in 1969, there was a lot of time in between the sunrise service and Sunday School. So, several of us younger folks were wasting time in the “fellowship hall.” Someone had found a youth choir book, so Phil sat down at the piano while the rest of us stood looking over his shoulder. Before long, we were making some pretty good sounds. All of us read music well enough to read the parts, and soon we decided we might have something. Here are the names of the five youth who formed a new ensemble that morning, in alphabetical order: Paula Hale, Roger Sharp, Phil Taylor, Jeff Taylor, and Zelinda Warnock.
We performed a few times. Once even outside of our church, but I don’t remember where that was. People were impressed, primarily because we were so young. I was 13 and the youngest. But Roger was the oldest at only 16.
Ultimately, the three of us guys got together and had a serious conversation about the future. Because we were so young and also because we had some pretty big dreams, we decided that involving young ladies in our big plans might eventually end in disaster or at least drama. (Sorry, girls. In case you never heard the truth, this is it.) So the mixed quintet became an all male trio.
My dad had been a part of a group called the “Peacemakers” for a very short period of time. They already had business cards and stationery with my home address and phone number on them. So “Peacemakers” was as good a name as any. Better than most. Plus, now we had stationery. And cards.
These three guys—Roger, Phil, and Jeff—could never have imagined what they were forming. This was an alliance, a partnership, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. And the music we would make would take us all over the world. April 6th, 2009 will be our 40th anniversary as a group. We are still performing together after all these years. In fact, we just traveled to Russia where we performed in several major cities in beautiful old “opera houses.”
Over the years, we all traveled different paths. There were even periods of years when we didn’t perform at all. But our paths have continued to cross because of the one constant in all of it—our home: Carbondale. Where we grew up, where we met, and where we continue to connect.
So, you will have a hard time imagining what a thrill it was to be asked to come home to work in the church of my childhood.
2 comments:
Jeff,
Really? I assumed most Churches had sunrise services? I love how my Priest always refers to it as the "Principal" service of Resurrection Sunday.
I have always loved how the candles glow in the darkness and the sun rises and first light comes through as the celebration gets going.
On a side note, my oldest son used to complain about the early hour, and my consistant response was, "if Jesus can get up this early, so can you!"
awwww... cute story.
:)
and yeah.. girls just add drama! hahaa.
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