Mission Choir to be on Stage at the Gallery Hop August 4th

The Down by the Wayside Choir will be in concert this Friday, August 4th, during the Market Street Gallery Hop, at 800 East Market Street. There will be some Gospel Preaching as Highland Baptist Friday Church officials hold their service on the Streets of Louisville for this night only. Mel Taylor, a local artist will show his art as will several Mission clients.

All are invited!

Down by the Wayside Wins WAVE 3 Morning Glory Contest

WOW! The Down by the Wayside Choir wins the WAVE 3 Morning Glory Contest after hundreds of people voted for the Mission’s Choir. The choir was voted as winner of the “Stage Performance” category by the three judges and with the addition of the emailed votes that counted as 30 percent of the contest, the choir was pushed into 1st place. Mom’s Music will give the choir 10 hours of recording time for their prize. Hopefully we will be able to produce a second choir CD. I love to listen to the choir’s first CD which helps me to prepare for work at the Mission each day. The first song I listen to is “Jesus is Love” followed by “The Battlefield”. Both of these songs help to lift my spirit and focus on the tasks of the day that must be confronted.

I heartily congratulate Virginia Taylor, the Mission’s Recovery Program manager and choir director, for pulling the choir together for a number of rehearsals that helped their performance. The choir member, most of who are in the recovery program, got dressed in their uniforms at about 2:30 AM and arrived at WAVE 3 just before 4:30 AM then was on the air at 5:00 AM. Many of the member report that singing Gospel Music and having the fellowship of the choir members helps them in their recovery from drugs and alcohol.

Operation White Flag Helps to Save Lives

This week has been a very difficult one for those who find themselves homeless. The hot weather made it extremely difficult, exaggerated by the ozone alerts. Many of the homeless are just not prepared for these extremes. The Mission participates in Operation White Flag, a program of the Coalition for the Homeless. During Operation White Flag a flag is actually positioned on the front of the building signaling to the homeless that the Mission is participating in the program. We relax the rules during White Flag. The city allows us to use overflow space to house people and the Good Samaritan Patrol is on the street daily looking for those caught off guard by the weather. With God’s help we are able to accommodate many more people in need of our services.

If you were up at 5:00 AM this morning you might have seen Wayside’s “Down by the Wayside Choir” competing on Morning Glory, a Gospel choir competition sponsored by WAVE 3 and Mom’s Music. If you go to www.WAVE3.com you can link to the Morning Glory page and VOTE for the Mission’s choir. You can also see a short video of the performance. If we win the choir will get 30 minutes of TV coverage and 10 hours of recording time at Mom’s Music. The choir is a great witness for the power of Christ in the lives of people.

All week we have had several groups of young people working around the Mission helping with several projects. Passport, an ecumenical youth mission project, has supplied hundreds of young people to work on a number of projects at both Market and Jefferson Street locations. The French Speaking Baptist Church of New York arrived Tuesday and worked in the kitchen serving food to our guests.