Our General Conference sessions are always filled with fun, fellowship and worship. We have every expectation that this year’s meetings of our people will be just as filled with those blessed times. This year’s Conference President, Rev. Steven James, has an exciting schedule of events planned to aid us in those pursuits as we gather at Bethel University in the Twin Cities.
One of the things that has been planned for this year’s sessions is a concert on Thursday evening following the regular evening worship service. The concert has three acts on the bill: Citizen Way, John Waller, and Graveyards to Gardens. SDBs are well acquainted with the first band on the list, Citizen Way, as two of the members, Ben and Josh Calhoun, are members of the Milton church and the entire band has played at Conference before. They have enjoyed a very successful last two years and several of their songs (“Should’ve Been Me“, “Nothing Ever (Could Separate Us)“, and “How Sweet the Sound“) have gotten play on Christian radio. John Waller has also received regular play on Christian radio for his songs, “The Blessing” and “While I’m Waiting,” and two of his songs have been chosen as theme songs for our upcoming sessions. The final band who will share their gifts with us is Graveyards to Gardens, a band that might not sound familiar to some Seventh Day Baptists.
Graveyards to Gardens (G2G) is a four man group from Judson University, including our own Aaron Andries, who was instrumental in the revival of our own music group, Stained Glass, and ministered as a part of it for several years. Their name is taken from Isaiah 61:11, and reflects their love of leading others in worship and praise to God. If you haven’t heard their music before and are planning to be at Conference, you’re in for a treat!
Graveyards to Gardens is coming to our sessions to play without any financial considerations in return, and so the Milton SDB church has set up a means for us to give tax deductible donations to the group in order to compensate them for their travel expenses, to honor them for their dedication to their craft and their willingness to travel to share their gifts with us. Seventh Day Baptists are encouraged to contact the Milton SDB church to make their donations to aid the band in their ministry to us! In addition, a free-will offering will be taken at Conference for the band. If you wish to contact the Milton church for more information, you can contact them at (608)868-2741, or you can email the church at churchoffice@miltonsdb.org.
Let’s minister to those who will be ministering to us! Thank you in advance!
