Tim Parton entertained us with his talents on the piano with his arrangement of Just Over In Gloryland. You could tell the early morning crowd was definitely awake by their hearty applause! Tim’s next song, Special Delivery, featured his vocal abilities, and he dedicated it to the couple who requested it. It was great to hear a Christmas song! Tim said, “I know Christmas is over, but I think Christmas is something we feel all year long.” (I agree!) He played one more piano solo, a Christmas Medley of Hark The Harold Angels Sing and It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, then turned the stage over to their good buddies, the Freedom Singers!

 The Freedom Singers took the stage and kicked off the day with an upbeat song that got everyone’s toes tapping. Simon said, “This is a Romanian Christmas Carol,” and proceeded to sing a song in the Romanian tongue…(and no, I haven’t a clue as to the title!) When the song ended, Simon stepped forward and asked the audience a question in relation to Christmas, “What would you have done if you would have been the Innkeeper? Never thought of that before, aye? We are in a similar place – you are the Innkeeper of your heart.” That alone introduced a song featuring Wesley, Come Make A Place In Me, and they let their vocals shine on the last chorus executed acapella. After that song, Simon said, “Let me tell you a little of why we talk funny…we are originally from Romania.” He went on to tell their story of escape from their homeland where they were persecuted for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without going into too many details, Simon told how he and Wesley saw God’s hand move and perform miracles firsthand. He told of a few highlights of their escape, including this one…

At eighteen years of age, Simon made the difficult decision to leave home. Traveling through the “bush” so he wouldn’t get caught, he kept the main roads in sight to navigate his journey – going to Italy to be with his brother was his first plan. Traveling across a very mountainous region, there were times when the highway would tunnel through the mountain and come out the other side. This meant Simon had to hike over the mountain so he was not seen. The temperatures were very cold and snow lay on the ground as he navigated the terrain. At one point, Simon hiked over one mountain and when he reached the other side, there was no highway on the other side. The highway tunnel through the mountain must have made a curve and came out somewhere else. Simon didn’t know if he was still in Austria or if perhaps he had crossed the border into Italy. He had the idea to search for a place where he could find automobiles, and check the country on the license plate. Simon asked the audience, “Pretty smart, aye?” Eventually he found a group of cars parked outside of some buildings in a clearing ahead. As he came closer, he realized they were all police cars! Some dogs began to bark and Simon thought they had left the dogs out, so he began to run back into the wooded wilderness to seek safety. Running down a hill, he lost his footing, fell, and started sliding down the hill uncontrollably. He began reaching out with his hands to grab onto the dirt or anything to catch his fall, to no avail…until a little “bush tree” caught under his arm and stopped him. It was just large enough to hold his weigh and he stopped rolling down the hill – at that point he could feel his feet dangling off the edge of a cliff. He explained to the audience, “I like to think that God planted that little bush there just for me. He knew how big it needed to be to hold my weight, He knew where to plant it so it would be in the path that I would tumble down.” Simon went on to say that there may be times in our lives where we feel like we are dangling off the edge, but he encouraged us to look for that little bush that God has put in our path to rescue us! What encouraging thoughts.

Simon also told about the time when they were in the shipping container (a box car) waiting to be put on a ship, and it was summer and extremely hot. Yet, everyday, faithfully, there was a rain shower at noon that cooled down the container. Simon reasoned, “Face it, in the summer heat you can’t survive in your car without a/c or the windows rolled down…but we couldn’t do that.” God’s hand was at work yet again in this journey.

At this point, Simon jumped ahead to when they were in the (freighter/cargo) ship, out of water, food and hope. He said that he and Wesley talked about home and sang songs to pass the time. “All of the sudden,” Simon exclaims, “the songs came to life! – these were no longer the songs we sung when we were young – they came to life, they had new meaning…they sounded something like this…” Then Wesley came forward and began singing Because He Lives in the Romanian language. Tim Parton played piano for them on this old hymn, and when they switched to English on the last chorus, there wasn’t a dry eye in the ballroom! We truly can face each day … because HE LIVES!

Simon went on to share that they were in that shipping container for 14 days. He said that in his time of greatest need, he was trying to get God’s attention, only to come to learn, that God was trying to get HIS ATTENTION! Simon continued, “How many of you can add two days to your life? Or two hours? If you are alive and relatively well, you are blessed. That’s why He let us live. It wasn’t because we were special, but so that we could come here today to tell you that He will take care of you.” Wesley sang the first verse of Why, Me Lord? And Simon took the lead on the second. A standing ovation and thunderous applause followed, closing the Freedom Singers time on stage.

 With the Freedom Singers story still on everyone’s mind, it was very fitting and impacting that Legacy Five’s opening song was Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Everyone knew it too! ~ It received a standing ovation. Fowler took a moment and talked about the American freedom that we enjoy and told everyone about the Freedom Singers book, The Price Of Freedom (which I HIGHLY recommend!) My Soul Is Firmly Anchored followed, along with Thankful For The Change. Glenn was featured on the very poplar I’ve Been Changed, and boy did the crowd like that one! Legacy Five closed their set with I’m Feeling Fine – everyone was clapping from the first note and continued to do so the whole way through the song! (I guess the late night didn’t affect their enthusiasm for those good ole’ quartet songs!)

Next on the line up for that morning was speaker James Ryle. He was the co-founder of the organization called Promise Keepers. He was very funny, but when he began to speak about his life, it was clear that he had only one mission – to tell people about Jesus. His personal testimony of how he was in prison, became a believer, was called into the ministry and now serves his Lord and Savior, is anything short of amazing. I just don’t have enough room to write about it all! He also has a book called “Released – from the prison my father built” (I am currently reading.) When James was two years old, his father was sent to prison for two accounts of armed robbery. His father disappeared from their lives. At nineteen years of age, James was sent to prison for involuntary manslaughter – the story is very moving and the hand of God is seen moving multiple times throughout his life. Later on, it is revealed that James was incarcerated at the prison his father had built! (His father worked on the prison crew that provided labor to build the prison)

The morning was awesome! You might notice that my title for this post is What Would You Do For Freedom? Yes, it is centered around the story of the Freedom Singers and their escape from Romania. But I also think that everyone who stood on that stage Saturday morning represented a different type of freedom all Christians should cherish. The Freedom Singers told about their escape for Religious Freedom. Legacy Five sung/spoke about Spiritual Freedom (we see this in songs like I’ve Been Changed and My Soul Is Firmly Anchored. Listen to the lyrics of these songs and it will make sense!) Mr. Ryle’s testimony was an encouragement to break free from the things that keep us from serving Christ.  The morning session really caused you to think about the freedom’s we enjoy.