On The Road Again: Morganton & Winterville, NC

I’m playing a weekend in my (original) home state of North Carolina this weekend. Friday night I was in Morganton, where I played at Faith Pres. The folks who brought me in asked beforehand that I involve the audience as much as possible, so I picked songs that they were familiar with (thankfully, these coincided with what I’ve been playing lately!). It was a truly sweet time of singing together, and questions during the Q&A time were thoughtful and kind. My parents drove in from the Winston-Salem area, and I dedicated “His Love Can Never Fail” to them. I got the chance to stop by their house for lunch on the way to Winterville and spend some time showing them how to use their new Macs (my mom got a Mac mini a few months ago and Dad just got a Powerbook).

Last night I was in Winterville, where I went out to eat before the concert with Mark, the guy who invited me to play. Who knew that there would be a great little Thai restaurant in Winterville? Amazing.

The concert happened to fall on the first night of a youth retreat that the church (Christ Pres) is hosting, where churches from all over NC came and brought their youth groups. I am always a little nervous about playing for youth – Will they be bored? Will they talk over me? Will they make fun of me like they did when I was a teenager? – but these teens were very cool, singing along and some even standing unprompted (a strange trait of playing in churches is that often people won’t stand unless you tell them to, so this was actually a big deal—ok, never mind, I know that sounds dumb). I played a little longer than normal because groups were still streaming in, stretching their legs from long van rides and generally wondering who the lanky dude with the guitar was.

Afterwards, I retired to my hotel room and watched an episode of The Simpsons before turning in. Tonight I travel to the Charlotte area for a house concert.

By the way, Reggie Kidd has posted a blog entry about my visit to Orlando last weekend. It’s the first time a blog post has made me blush. Thanks Reggie.

Setlists:

Morganton
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And Can It Be
Jesus Everlasting King
Jesus, What A Friend For Sinners
Come Ye Sinners
His Love Can Never Fail
Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder
Jesus I Come
--Q&A--
All I Owe
What Wondrous Love Is This
Free Grace
My Lord I Did Not Choose You
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
Be Thou My Vision

Winterville
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Come Ye Sinners
And Can It Be
Jesus Everlasting King
O Come And Mourn With Me Awhile
Thou Lovely Source Of True Delight
All I Owe
--Q&A--
Jesus I Come
--more Q&A--
My Lord I Did Not Choose You
Free Grace
His Love Can Never Fail
Arise My Soul Arise
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
Nothing But The Blood
O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
Be Thou My Vision