Over the past eight years we have had the opportunity to sing for many different types of audiences. Big churches, small country churches, county fairs, banquets, Sunday school parties, nursing homes, and television viewers, however, there were two times recently that gave us the most blessing. Both of those times we sang to only one person.

In September we were going to sing at the Van Wert County Fair. I found out the night before that a young man that is partially crippled was having surgery on his foot at the Van Wert hospital. I called him before we left for the fair to see how he was doing and he asked if we would stop by and talk to him. We arrived at the fairgrounds and set our sound equipment up. Then we headed to the hospital to visit our friend Ted. We decided to sing the song “Beulah Land” to him. As we began to sing tears began to well up in his eyes, as well as in ours. When we finished the song I explained to Ted that because he knows Jesus as his personal savior, one day in Beulah Land, he will no longer be crippled.  When we arrived back at the fairgrounds we had no time for our sound check and warm up. Normally this would be upsetting, however we understood that ministering to Ted was far more important than us feeling prepared.

Elizabeth is currently working at a nursing home; a woman that she cares for asked if we would be willing to come and sing for her. This woman was a believer, whose body was riddled with cancer. We had intended on singing only a few songs to her but sang for 45 minutes. While we sang it was clear to see what a blessing it was to her. She was crying and raising her hands in praise throughout our singing. We also were blessed by her faithfulness, that even though she was suffering she still praised her King. As we wiped away tears and left her room we had no idea that in just a few weeks she would go to her eternal home with the Lord.

Ministering to these two people reminded us why we do what we do. No matter the inconvenience, crowd size, or location; if you are willing God WILL work through you.  

November 25, 2008

    Through the years of singing there are a lot concerts that stand out. On October 4^th and 5^th of this year we spent the weekend at Skyline Church in Ft. Wayne and came away excited about what the Lord did while we were there.

On the days leading up to that weekend I felt the devil was putting roadblocks in our path to discourage us from sharing Christ’s message through the songs we sing. I wanted to get our website published so some of the new people that we would meet might be able to read our evangelism page and possibly share it with an unsaved friend. The girls had gotten some of the website set up but the closer we got to October, it became evident that it would not be completed in time. We also were having some of our normal problems getting everyone together to rehearse. With my trucking business demands in the fall and two girls sometimes working the night shift it is hard to get as much practice time as we should have. The biggest roadblock came three days before the Saturday night concert when Katie found out she could not get of work. At first I was really discouraged because of the vocal talent Katie has and I wanted to be at our best since we had never sung at this church before. I first called Jessi at college to see if she could come home, but she was tied up with her internship. After the shock wore off and much prayer I thought, we have sung without Katie before and we will just have to get my youngest daughter, Sarah to take the lead for this concert. We did have to adjust what songs we could sing with Sarah, so that meant another night of practice to figure how we could arrange each song to fit the foursome of Sarah, Elizabeth, Michelle, and me. Well, Sarah did a great job that night and even though she can’t belt out a song quite like Katie the message of each song was still the same and people were blessed.

The following morning Katie was back in the group singing lead as she amazed a lot of people with her talent as we saved most of the songs that really showcase her powerful voice for that Sunday morning. When we finished our last song “The Midnight Cry” Dr. Greg Patten gave a challenging and life-changing message. As he gave an invitation to come forward for salvation, he asked us to sing one more song. We sang our newest song “Faces”.  As we sang five people came to the alter, three for rededication and two ladies, Karen and Maggie prayed with Dr. Patten to make Jesus the Lord of their life. I was so excited to see how God worked that day in the lives of those people. Of course I didn’t know but Dr. Patten had been trying to reach those two ladies for a while. Karen came from a Catholic background and had attended Skyline a few times and this was the first Sunday that Greg could get Maggie to attend. It was such a blessing to be a part of that weekend and as I heard the testimonies of Karen and Maggie I then knew why the devil did not want us to be there that day.

I also have to say the food after the morning service at lunch was fantastic. I did not have to eat for two days. The whole pumpkin pie I ate on the way home might have had something to do with that also. I figured a $20 pie should be all mine

We sing for Him,

John Sipe