The 10 Year Reunion Celebration was a great blast! Members from teams past and present gathered for a weekend of sharing memories, reliving old songs and a concert like no other.
The weekend brought everyone back to Bethany Baptist Church where much of what V2H is today began. We met Friday evening for a meal from Shane’s BBQ, playing a few ice breakers and sharing some stories of where and how people became involved with V2H. It was great hearing from people from the past teams share their V2H experiences as they talked about how mission trips, sign language, George Camps and internships changed and shaped their lives! What a blessing to hear!
On Saturday we met for a 2 hour practice to run through some of the old and new songs that had been remixed and combined. Even though this was the first time people were hearing the songs, everyone picked them up like pros. After the grueling practice we went to Lenora Park, shared another meal and hung out.
The round of disc golf ended up pitting me against Caleb. Even though many were enjoying the round, none of us were having the games of our lives. Caleb Crabtree gave me a very challenging game with both of us ending the round of 18 at -8. For our playoff hole, I ended up being about 7 feet from the hole with Caleb drastically overshooting the hole. I won the round but Caleb had a very good game!
The evening for the concert came and it was a blast! With the team of about 45 on the stage at various times, it was so cool to share the stage with all these amazing people and wonderful friends! We did portions of songs from Ignition, Get Down, Undignified, and paid tribute to Avalon, Steven Curtis Chapman and David Crowder in collages of songs. We also did other whole songs like Monster, Wonder Why and Open Skies as they are crowd favorites.
Of course no concert would be complete without our technical difficulties. The concert had about a 25 minute delay due to the computer freezing up when we got to the V2H promotional video. Thankfully Amber Griffin shared a testimony and entertained the crowd while we worked out the issues and got back on track. As the concert ended, we finished with the tribute to Steve Curtis Chapman: Facts are Facts, Dive and Live Out Loud.
Now that the concert and weekend have passed I look ahead with great anticipation for what God has next for us as a ministry but also for all those who have been part of our ministry legacy. Thank you all for making the effort to be with us for the reunion weekend and for making the last 10 years so memorable. Thank you all for the years of service and dedication to being the “sign” that God exists and that He can transform lives! I am humbled to have served with you all and I have been blessed to call you all my friends and family! We won’t wait for 10 years to gather again. The next reunion will be in 5 years! So go ahead and mark it for August 2017. If you can’t wait that long to see everyone, then make plans to join us for the WAVE Conference in Fayetteville, GA October 19-21 or in Rock City in December. Date TBD.
Until Then,
George
