Something amazing happened in church today – a Gospel Concert.

I can’t describe it exactly because it was as much about the feeling in the room, the energy, as it was about the amazing voices singing. When I looked around the room, people were clapping and singing and swaying to the music in a way I had never seen before by the people sitting in the pews. Many people told me that they had been moved to tears, myself – I was looking for Kleenex. There was a real soul-moving experience in the music and the atmosphere. It’s hard to explain, but it was like the very timbers of the church woke up and said “Hallelujah! Here we are together in unity, in love, in celebration and in joy!”. Thank you, Joyful Voices of Inspiration, for giving this gift to our community.

“Yes, we have to do this again!”

And I was grateful that afterwards so many people said, “Yes, we have to do this again!”, but I don’t want to walk away from the feeling of what just happened by planning for the future. This was something special. Everyone was so happy both during the concert and afterwards as we went to Fellowship Hall. During the concert I looked around the sanctuary and people were smiling smiles I didn’t know could be so big, from ear to ear. I feel very connected to everyone who was in that room because they got to experience it also and it defies words that can capture exactly what happened. I don’t know what happened. Something happened, something wonderful.

We are the Lucky Ones!

There were 30 to 40 people in the combined two choirs and another 90 people in the audience. We were the lucky ones! There’s talk about having the JVOI Gospel Choir come back again, and I am sure the music will be amazing, and a new experience to be had, but I’m not sure that the same thing that happened today can ever happen again.

We indeed are the lucky ones! It seemed as if a portal was opened, and the spirit filled the sanctuary. It was filled with love and joy, and I looked around the room with people smiling smiles bigger than I knew their face could hold, and people with tears, crying from emotions you couldn’t describe, and while they’re smiling and crying, they are singing and clapping and swaying to the music. It was truly extraordinary!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the energy brought in by Joyful Voices of Inspiration!

And maybe it was just the right place at the right time and that portal opened, but I am glad I was there to experience it!

Freddie Gillespie

April 27, 2025, shortly after the Gospel Concert

Note: This was a personal exercise to capture my feelings about what just happened. I recorded my thoughts by speaking a stream of consciousness so I could capture the emotion I was feeling and didn’t want to forget. This was not intended to be a written piece, I shared it in Healthy Living on the Monday after the Gospel Concert, and everyone there requested that I submit it.