I was privileged to attend the Interchurch Holiness Convention, or the IHC, in Dayton, Ohio this year.  It was great to be reunited with many dear friends and experience the wonderful singing and outstanding services.  I was really looking forward to hearing Travis Johnson speak in the closing service Thursday evening, but The Holy Spirit had other plans.  The Union Bible College Choir was singing and people began raising hands, crying out loud, and finally walking and running the aisles.  After everything, including many people seeking help at the altar and testifying, they decided to skip the evening message.  I wish I could have heard Brother Johnson, but was glad for the awesome closing service.  I have a few pictures below and a link to the facebook photo album for all the pictures from the convention.

This was the organist and pianist up at IHC

This is Brandon Hilligoss – my friend from Appalachian Youth Camp.  It was great to see him leading singing for one of the morning services!

This is Martha Miller of God’s Bible School playing an excellent rendition of The Battle Hymn

At noon every day of IHC they have a scheduled fasting and prayer time

Brother Mark Mowery preaches during one of the services

Dr. Leonard Sankey, General Secretary for the IHC, with the GBS Orchestra behind him

Hobe Sound Bible College Choir

Two of the long-time workers in IHC history sang for us during an evening service

Just one of the highlights of IHC was the Building For Keeps service.  Esther Dotson was one of the outstanding speakers during the service.

Esther Dotson’s family sang while Esther accompanied on the piano

IHC is held at the Dayton Convention Center.  This picture is a good cross section of the crowd at IHC

Travis Johnson in the middle.  Hopefully I’ll get to hear him at IHC next year!

This is the closing service of the IHC.  The Spirit came in a mighty way and several were running the aisles

One of the many victories we had at the altar service that night

After the altar service the all-college choir sang!  It was an outstanding performance!!

Here is the link to my facebook album

This past weekend was a joyous time for me!  I was wanting to visit Pastor Ben, Cora, & Quintana Peak, Troy, Janel, Natalie, Allyson, TJ, & Trevor Keaton in Smith Mountain Lake area in Virginia (near Roanoke).  As I was trying to figure out which weekend to go I saw that The Collingsworth Family was coming to Roanoke.  I knew right then that this would be an excellent time to visit!  I stayed with the Peaks and had a very funny and fun time with them!

We went to Troy and Ben’s church – East Lake Community Church

They will be moving very soon to a new building that will accommodate their ever-expanding congregation.  They’ve reached the capacity of this building!

This is Quintana Peak!  I think she loves the camera.

Pastor Ben was creating a promo video for a new service called GAP.  Pastor Ben is taping with a new friend I made this weekend, Robbie Wright, and Troy’s oldest, Natalie Keaton.

Pastor Ben doing some video editing at the church while TJ, Trevor (Keaton) and Robbie hang out.

This is Quintana with Ben’s mother, Donna, at Chick-fil-A before the Collingsworth Concert

Quintana with Ben’s father, Paul

The concert was held in the Shaftman Performance Hall part of the Jefferson Center for the Performing Arts.

Troy Keaton introduces the Collingsworth Family

You can see here that The Collingsworth Family really worship the Lord at their concerts!

As part of the Special Evening Concert, legendary Southern Gospel singer Janet Paschal and outstanding songwriter and pianist Milton Smith performed with The Collingsworth Family!

Phil introduced every member of the family including the newest addition Spanky Collingsworth (held by Olivia)

This is Brooklyn and Courtney Collingsworth performing on the violins.  Wonderful Grace of Jesus is not the hymn you think of to play with stringed instruments – but Brooklyn and Courtney made it sound outstanding!

And these are the Phils- Phil and Phil Jr.!  If you can’t tell from the smile, Phil Jr. really enjoys performing in front of audiences!

If the only you heard at a Collingsworth concert is Kim playing the piano, it would be worth the trip and the price!  The two words that would describe Kim on the piano is phenomenal mastery!  I believe she is playing How Great Thou Art.

One of the highlights of my trip was meeting Andrew Graham and Rachel Shetterly!  I have gotten to know Andrew and Rachel from facebook but had never met them in real life.  It was very good to meet and chat with them!

Thanks to Andrew Graham for providing the video clips you see below!  Enjoy!

You can click here for all of my pictures on facebook

I was privileged once again to see what is always one of the best concerts of the year.  I went with Steve and Ruby Page and Jacob from my church.  It was also good to see two of Steve and Ruby’s friends as well. 

Thompson- Boling Arena and part of the sold-out crowd!

Tony Nolan was the guest speaker for WinterJam this year!  He was outstanding!

The headliners for this year was Third Day – one of my favorite bands

Some more of my favorite bands.  The picture above is Newboy’s most recent lead singer Michael Tait (one of my all-time favorite vocalists) formerly of DC Talk!

And here are the biggest VIPs of the evening – Jacob, Steve, and Ruby!

Here is my facebook album of all my photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155201&id=637210944&l=bc2115405e

It’s always awesome to hear this dear family in concert, but I’m also looking forward to seeing many dear friends in the Roanoke area including two former pastors and their beautiful families!  You’ll no doubt get to see them when I upload the album after the concert.  For now, here’s a pic of the ticket:

This is some of the gorgeous scenery here in East Tennessee.  It looks even prettier covered in snow!

We had a very nice New Years this year!  We were graciously invited to David and Samantha’s (my brother and his wife’s) family celebration at Samantha’s parent’s, Joe and Edith Hutton’s, house.  After that we ended the day at my cousin Stephanie and Brian’s home.  Below are some of the pics:

This is Joe and Edith’s gorgeous home in Knoxville!

The entry foyer

This is a good picture of my sister-in-law, Samantha, and my Mom

This is Joe Hutton with his wife, Edith, in the background

These are most of the kids at my cousin, Stephanie and Brian’s, house.  I’m thinking they were playing Mario Kart on the Wii!

My  brother, David and wife, Samantha

We took a picture of the kids before they opened some of their belated Christmas gifts

Watching football (Ohio State and Oregon) are my cousins, Scott and Randy

Libby and my Mom

This is Stephanie and Brian’s boy, Andy, performing for us!

Earlier in the afternoon the snow started falling here in East Tennessee.  It was a long (due to all businesses dismissing work at the same time) and slippery trek that saw me home at 6:20pm.  I normally get home at 5:00pm.  From Oak Ridge to the beginning of my neighborhood the snow was pretty much clear because of the traffic.  On one of the secondary routes I skidded because my tires got into the snow at the edge a little.  The skidding was no big deal because I was only going about 0 – 5 mph at the time.  The trip was quite a bit slicker when I got to my neighborhood:

I was a little uncertain whether my car would make it up this hill, but I kept it in low gear and cruised up pretty straight at about 20 mph.

I tried to back into my garage.  This was quite a bit trickier than making it up the hill.  I slid back and forth but was able to park the car in the garage without hitting the house, the concrete slab (right next to the house on the left in the pic), or the house support beam inside the garage!

For Christmas Day my Mom and I visit my brother and his family, David, Samantha, & Charles Harijot.  After we have Christmas in the morning with them, we travel to Ohio to see my Mom’s side of the family:  My grandmother Anna Lee Henson, & my Mom’s five sisters & one brother.  One sister wasn’t there, but the rest of the family was at my Aunt Donna’s and Uncle Ray’s house.  We had quite a houseful because besides all those mentioned above some of their children and grandchildren are there as well.  Below are a few pictures from this wonderful time:

This is at my brother’s house near Knoxville.  In the background is Samantha, my Mom, and Charles Harijot.  This was the big train set for Charles Harijot from all my Dad’s side of the family.

Charles Harijot playing with his train set!

More gifts for Charles Harijot

This was my gift to Charles Harijot:  big plush doggie.  I think he liked it!  My brother is in the background.

Charles Harijot was able to really enjoy opening gifts this year!

This is my sister-in-law Samantha.  I was meaning to get a better picture of her!

My Mom and Charles Harijot

One of my brother’s gifts was a compost tumbler

This is one of my gifts to David rofl!!

This is my cousin-once-removed Andy, my Aunt Jennie, & My Grandmother Anna Lee Henson

My Mom’s gift from my Grandmother

These are my two cousins, Josh (on the left) and Joel (on the right), with my Grandmother and Josh’s girlfriend.  Josh and Joel are the sons of my Mom’s only brother David.

My Mom and Joel

This is my Mom and my cousin Rachel’s baby!

My Mom and her family are awesome at cooking!!  This is the main course table.

This is one of the dessert tables (there was another candy table).  You can see the cookies in the plastic bin.  Part of the cookies are my Mom’s famous Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They’re so good, they’re practically a food group!

We traveled to Lake City, Tennessee (one town up from ours) to enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve with the family at my Aunt Susie and Uncle Al’s home.  The kids open up some of their Christmas presents on this night and we celebrate two birthdays as well (yes, they were born on Christmas Eve)!!  Here are a few pics from the evening:

Susie does an excellent job with her tree every year!

This is one of the reasons I love Christmas:  FOOD!!

This is one of the birthdays we celebrated this evening.  My cousin Randy and Sonya’s boy, Silas, gets money for his birthday.

This is my nephew Charles Harijot tearing into his big Christmas gift!

This was his gift from the family:  Mountain Rail Adventure train set!

This was another gift Charles Harijot was quite fascinated with

This is Silas with a organizer handmade by his Uncle Steve!!

This is my cousin Andrea’s little boy PJ with his grandma Susie

I could have been nice and uploaded the normal picture of my cousin Stephanie’s boy Andy.  This is more quintessentially Andy though lol!!

This is my Stephanie’s other boy, Ryan, making the fashion statement with red and black socks!!

No get-together with the family is complete without a few rounds of rook!  This is my Mom and Aunt Susie (respectively).  Judging from their expressions, I believe my Mom has an awesome hand, but Susie is not quite as pleased with hers lol!!

Here is the link to see all my pictures from the evening:  facebook album

With our schedules being free on Friday, my Mom and I went to Dollywood.  Although it was raining the whole time when we got there, we still had a good time.  To start with we ate at the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant in Sevierville.  If you go to the Smokies in Tennessee, I highly recommend going to this restaurant.  Just make sure you are very hungry because they bring quite large servings which include complimentary apple fritters (with apple butter), apple julep, & vegetable soup.  Your entree is served with mashed potatoes & a vegetable (I recommend the macaroni & cheese).  I had the Chicken & Dumplings which was awesome.  The Restaurant is on a larger complex that includes an ice cream shop, candy shop, country store, & a cider bar.  At the cider bar you can get hot (& cold) apple cider, apple fried pies, apple cinnamon donuts, & several other items.  I don’t take pictures in the rain, so just visit the link if you want pictures of the food.  Here is the Apple Barn’s website.