Tour Day 2 – Immanuel Southern Baptist to Kings Way United Methodist

Hey everybody! If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m Joseph. One of my contributions to tour is writing these blog posts every night.  It is kind of a nice wind down to the night and I feel like maybe, in some way, I get to connect with all of you.

This morning started with another powerful performance for Immanuel Southern Baptist Church where they just dumped love on us.  It was more like going to perform at a church with family (you would love them).  These guys have cemented a place in our hearts and us in theirs.

But now we are here in Springfield. Well, if yesterday was an early and unexpected explosion out of the gate, today was about recovering the core of what tour really is.  When I think of tour, I actually think more of days like our performance at King’s Way UMC today. This wasn’t the most energetic performance our singers have ever given. They were tired, it was hot, and many of the people in attendance had no idea what to expect from us. They were normal, everyday people being surprised at the gift we lavished on them.

I was talking to my buddy Katie Mendenhall, and she mentioned she felt like she just didn’t give the same kind of energy tonight.  But you know what, Katie, not every night is going to be homecoming, and the beautiful thing about what we do is that when whoever shows up to our performance, it is their first time seeing us.  When we are tired and the singers feel uncomfortable and at only 75%, to our audience it is the first time and likely the only time they will hear what we do. They are still always blown away.  That is what tour is about – a surprise injection of God’s lavish love on whoever shows up and we lay it on the table, even if laying it on the table means that night we only have 75% to give.

Charley and Lilly sing the ballad “For Good” from the musical Wicked as an informal and they went tonight, and of course it was awesome. For those who haven’t heard it yet, the sentiment is that even if you are never in my life again, I will never be the same as I was before “because I knew you”. That is New G tour.  Most who hear us in this setting will never hear us again.  We only have one performance to make an impact that plants a seed of pursuing the transformation that God offers.

Tonight a New G alum named Virgil was in attendance.  He was in the group from 1972 – 1975 – nearly a founding member.  During the question and answer section he asked the group, “New G changed my life!  How many of your singers would also say that New G changed their life?” All of them raised their hand.

The thing about New G is that whether we are friends for years, or friends for the duration of a 90 minute performance you just can’t leave with nothing. To interact with God’s love that we have worked so hard to be a vehicle for over the last 55 years is to be changed, maybe transformed, for good.