(Continued from my previous blog...)

Last weekend I was invited to lead worship at the Vineyard in Augusta, GA. It kind of came together last minute, and I was glad I was available to make the trip. My mom has become a regular road-trip buddy these days (especially since my husband is a pastor he can rarely get away on weekends), so she came along for the trip.

Somewhere along the way I heard that Amy Grant was going to be doing an outdoor concert in Augusta on Sunday afternoon. The YMCA was hosting this event to celebrate their 150 years in Augusta. I guess Amy was actually born in Augusta when her dad was doing an internship there as a doctor. I had it in the back of my mind that if the weather was good and we felt up to it, maybe we'd stick around. I have never seen Amy Grant in person in all these years, and somehow the little girl in me always hoped I'd have the chance at least once.

Sunday morning went really well and we had a great morning at Augusta Vineyard. The weather was pretty overcast and windy as we left the church and headed to lunch. We weren't sure if the rain would hold off for the pending concert later that day. After lunch it seemed like the sun was trying to poke through the clouds, so we decided what the heck! The concert had a few other purposes - they were trying to break the world record for the "World's Largest Family Picnic" - so judges were there from the Guinness Book of World Records – and they were also raising funds to build a special baseball field for "The Miracle League" - which would have a rubber surface so that children in wheelchairs or who have other impairments can safely round the bases.

Just as Amy was about to come on stage, the sun broke through the clouds, and it ended up being a beautiful afternoon. Of course as much fun as it was to finally hear her in person, I tried to play it cool, even tried not to sing along though I just about knew every word to every song. LOL. We had tried to find some decent seats, and started way at the top of the hill for the first few songs. I wanted to try and get some decent pictures, so I started wandering around with my camera. To my surprise, as I got closer I realized that the guy drumming for her actually played on about half the songs on FEARLESS NOW! His name is Dan Needham, and he's been playing in Nashville a long time, and he was someone Nathan Nockels had invited to play on the record for me. Great guy, tons of fun, really nice. How fun to see him up there.

After realizing it was Dan and seeing that there was actually tons of room to sit down front where we could actually watch the band interact and stuff, my mom and I took our camping chairs and headed down the hill. Amy only sang for an hour, as she had another performance she was being whisked off to sing at in Nashville that night (some special deal for Michael W. Smith)....but it was still worth it. We happened to be sitting right where the band went on and off the stage, so I got to say hello to Amy as she walked by, and got to say hi to Dan and he came over and chatted with us a few minutes after the concert.

What happened with the world record? My mom and I had to pack up and leave before they shared the results...but here's what I found out today online: "The record would have been set with 8,000 participants, but fewer than 4,000 made it to Sunday's event, according to Millie Schumacher, the Family Y's community relations director." Bummer....ah well, still great memories!

You can see some pics from the concert at:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p233/sherilyncarr/Amy%20Grant%20Conce...

Role Models: Part 3 to come later this week!

Sheri