Last Saturday evening (12/5/09), I was privileged to attend a rare, ‘professional’, Southern Gospel concert in my home town of Burnsville, NC.? The concert had been advertised for weeks, so I made sure that The Edwards Family was not booked anywhere on this evening.? The concert was held at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church where my friend, Bro. Davy Shelton, is the pastor.? What should have been a packed house was deterred by a small skiff of snow.? I suppose that everyone was afraid that the roads would be dangerous, which lead to the attendance being very low (probably around 80-100 people).
This was my first time seeing The Perrys in a church setting.? I have seen them at the NQC which is by far NOT a church setting.? This was also my first time hearing the group live with their new baritone, Troy Peach.? I was excited to see the group, but I was more anxious to see how God would work through them.? The Perrys have a reputation of being not only a Top-Tier, professional Southern Gospel quartet, but also being one of the more spiritual professional groups….which I love!? This was my reason for wanting to be with them in a church/worship setting.
My church had taken a bus over to the concert, but due to the weather, only about a dozen came.? Fortunately, they were able to all get seats at the front of the church and my friend, Steve Stamey, saved me a seat on the front row with him, so we were ready to have church.? Bro. Davy introduced The Perrys at 6 PM and the singing began.? Here’s a quick run down of the song-list:
- Gentle Shepherd
- I Love To Tell
- Still Blessed
- Prior To A Prayer
- I Know It Was The Blood
- Did I Mention (That I Love Him)
- I Rest My Case
- Intros
- If You Knew Him
- Almost Morning
- Trust & Obey (Invitational)
- I Wish I Could Have Been There
Troy Peach is one of the best things to happen to The Perrys in recent years.? His stage presence and presentation of the gospel through song is simply delightful.? Joseph Habedank has really matured into a fantastic lead singer, while Libby Perry Stuffle remains among the elite altos in gospel music.? Tracy Stuffle is a highly underrated bass singer, as he is as capable of carrying melodies and hitting the deep notes as most other basses in Southern Gospel.? Bryan Elliot amazed the audience with his piano skills, even though there were some minor technical difficulties with the sound during his piano solo (not listed in the above song list).
God really met with us during the service and I believe I was more blessed by The Perrys in a church setting than any other full-time, professional group I’ve heard.? Not only do they throw out their program when the moment calls for it, they are sensitive to the crowd and adjust accordingly.? The atmosphere in the church was more serene and worship focused, so The Perrys cued in on that and sang songs that simply fit the service.
I learned a couple of years back that if I attend a concert only to report on it, almost always I come away from it feeling empty and disappointed.? When you try to take notes to remember everything, you can’t really focus on the moving of the Holy Spirit….or at least I can’t.? (I only took notes during the intervals in between songs when the service slowed a bit to record the song list or I never would have remembered them :-)!)? I talked with Joseph and Troy briefly before the service to introduce myself and Joseph asked about me being a critic.? I explained right away that when I’m in church, I’m there to have church.? I’m not going to focus on critiquing the groups singing….I’m there to worship; and I did!
I came away from the singing completely energized and blessed….not just entertained.? Events like this keep me falling in love with Southern Gospel Music over and over again.? I had been a little discouraged with gospel music, having not been able to attend a singing/concert unless my family was singing in it.? What a thrill it is to know that there are groups still on the road today that are in love with Jesus, not just $$$ and popularity.
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Below are some of the songs that someone else in attendance recorded and posted on YouTube.? Hope you enjoy them.
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