No, it's not 9/11. It's not Hurricane Katrina. It's "Western Day" at Hannaford Street Bible Church.I guess that's a bit of an overstatement - it certainly will not be a disaster. Our annual Western Day tomorrow is part of our "Fall Kickoff" campaign this year. It was planned to be a big start to September. We notified all the local media and sent out 10,000 full-color postcards to Helena residents informing them of the free western breakfast, hayrides for the kids, and best of all, a live bluegrass band in both services!
Thursday afternoon the bluegrass band canceled (due to an emergency health issue in the band). So two days before Labor Day weekend we have been frantically calling and searching for a replacement group. The result? No go. :-(
Needless to say, we're pretty disappointed. We made the decision late yesterday that there is just no getting someone in here at such late notice, so I've had to come up with a plan for worship on Sunday. Did I mention that I'm off Fridays, that I cleared the stage for Sunday's band, that I'm pretty sick with a cold? We considered just playing a DVD of the bluegrass band through the whole service, but we thought that might be boring especially because you can't really see the projection screen in daytime anyway.
So finally, I've decided on a Good Ol' Down Home Sing-A-Long. I've picked out about 25 good ol' songs from our hymn book that our people can request on Sunday. I'm sure some with really appreciate and enjoy the day! Although some in second service may not know any of the songs listed. That's okay, though. Our relationship with Jesus is far more important that the tradition of singing a few 50-100 year-old songs.
Like I said, it may not be what we intended, but Western Day won't be a disaster.
