Last weekend, Janet and I drove down to Nashville, paying for a car rental, gas, meals, hotels and concert tickets to watch one 3-minute song. WHY??

Well, maybe because our son Jackson was playing in that song for the 5,000 in attendance and probably a million more listening on the radio. It was the K-LOVE Fan Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry!

How in the world did “one of our own” get to do this? Jackson has been working this spring as the road manager for the Contemporary Christian group “Citizen Way.” (That group has 2 more SDBs in it: Ben and Josh Calhoun, who grew up in the Milton, Wis., church. See last year’s July-August Sabbath Recorder here.)

Citizen Way was on tour this spring with the group MercyMe. MercyMe had some songs in their latest album where they had used a brass/wind studio ensemble to back them up. They somehow learned that touring with them was a trombone player (Jackson), a trumpeter (Ben) and a sax player (Josh). So our three guys played their horns on five different songs on the MercyMe tour. Fun stuff!

Well, MercyMe found out that they were nominated for both Artist and Group of the Year in the K-LOVE Fan Awards voting. They were asked to play one of their songs at the awards show. (It was the song, “Shake.”) Wouldn’t you know that it was a song that needed horns? And wouldn’t you know that our guys were asked to play with them at the Opry?? These proud parents signed up to get tickets (and paid through the nose for some nose-bleed seats…). Worth every penny! What a performance, and a real thrill to see these guys having a blast with MercyMe!