Shout to the World

Tonight my sisters and I had the privilege of attending the "Shout to the World!" 2005 Gospel Concert to benefit Open Arms International. The key musicians were Dan and Georgene Rice, Gerutha Favorel and Paul Greenidge.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you may know Georgene Rice as the host of "The Georgene Rice Show," a weekday talk radio show on KPDQ FM, and Gerutha Favorel as a gospel vocalist. Dan Rice is an ordained minister, bailiff, and all-around great musician . . . he played a number of different instruments and sang a bit during the evening. Rachel Gallagher commented that when you get Dan Rice at an event, it's like getting 7 people in one body because he has so many abilities.

I've gotten to meet Georgene in person a few times over the last 10-15 years (just shaking her hand at events, mainly), and have heard her sing once before. But that time I didn't get to see her performance from an "audience" perspective since I was up on the stage with her. (I was a part of the Multnomah Bible College choir at the time, which sang backup for her at a women's conference about 6-7 years ago.)

I know she has to be at least 20 years older than me, but every time I've seen Georgene Rice I've been struck by how young she looks. It's not necessarily her petite figure, long curly hair, and smooth unblemished skin. It's something deeper. She has a spark and a youthfulness that will never go away even when she grows wrinkled and grey. She literally shines.

Georgene has the eternal glow of a 16-year-old in love--in love with her Lord, her job, her music and her husband. Seeing Dan and Georgene on stage together, I almost felt as if I was getting a forbidden glimpse into something very intimate and personal. Their eyes followed each other's movements with delight and, yes, adoration. When their gaze met the chemistry was tangible. These are two people who love to be with each other. It's obvious that this petite African-American woman and the tall Scandinavian-looking guy are still crazy about each other after 23 years of marriage.

My sister has commented about the way Georgene mentions Dan on the radio, "When she says 'Dan Rice' she get this tone in her voice--she says his name as though he's a king."

The first few songs were upbeat Gospel numbers, with Dan and Georgene taking turns commenting between numbers about the songs, God's love and call on our lives, and Open Arms International. I especially enjoyed This Moment by Danny Bell Hall and You Can Count On Me--both songs had the audience clapping, finger-snapping and toe-tapping along as Dan fired up the guitar and Georgene let her voice flow in lively variations on the tunes. I clapped along too, until I realized that even the baby in my belly was keeping rhythm better than I was. I'm not good at syncopation or other unusual beats. :)

Then Dan moved to the piano and the mood changed. Georgene sang He Knows My Name . . . and infused the song with such sweet tenderness and longing that it brought many of us to tears. I've heard the song before, but never as beautifully and as evocatively as she sang it. The feeling and message in that song set a tone that carried through even the more lively music during the rest of the evening.

Then she moved into I Go To the Rock and her voice went through all kinds of whoops and trills to land solidly as she sang, "I run to the mountain, and the mountain stands by me."

Then came the highlight of the evening--a duet by Georgene Rice and Gerutha Favorel, accompanied on the piano by Paul Greenidge. Both women have amazing voices with incredible depth and fullness, like two rivers flowing deep with music. But when their voices blended in His Eye is on the Sparrow I had the sensation of a rushing waterfall sweeping me away. It wasn't the volume level, but the sheer velocity and richness of the harmony. Their voices combined in a way that made it hard for me to believe it was only two women singing--the sound was so complex and the melody so palpable and complete in the way it filled the air that it almost seemed nothing else could fit into the room.

Other musicians joined them--Gerutha's daughter Richelle and friend Lisa Hart, bass player Ron Dunagan, drummer Chuck McCool, guitarist Steve Phelps, and vocalists Joan McGruder (tenor) and Tracy Harris Woods (alto/soprano/tenor--you name it, she can sing it) and the music built on itself.

By the end of Gerutha and friends' first song the audience were on their feet, applauding wildly. Although the audience wasn't large, it was obvious they were enjoying themselves--clapping along, swaying and shouting "Amen!"

Gerutha and Georgene took turns as lead vocalists, and even though they are both great gospel singers and they meld well, their styles are quite different. Gerutha is the more flamboyantly expressive, bouncy, hair-flipping, shouting-out-to-God type ("I get a little carried away sometimes"), with a lot of depth and power in her voice. If Gerutha is a trumpet, Georgene is the saxophone. Georgene's voice soars and vibrates in a sustained flexibility that carries all the glow and sparkle which also shines out in her face. As she sings, she breaks into a grin so big it would almost split her cheeks. Gerutha is "one of the NorthWest's premier vocalists," but the combination of all the musicians was really something special.

Songs included Jesus, You're the Center of my Joy; Don't Worry; Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty (a rendition I'd never heard before); and the blood-stirring African drum beat of Praise the Lord All Nations. Several of the songs were illustrated with pictures on the overheads showing the work and ministry of Open Arms International--poignant pictures of men, women and children in various countries.

During a break in the music, we saw a DVD about Open Arms International and heard directors David and Rachel Gallagher speak. I've been to a lot of missionary presentations, but I was unusually impressed with this one. The Gallaghers seemed to have a very good grasp of not only what the needs were in the areas they were reaching, but also what was unique about their particular ministry. They were able to explain it well.

They do a lot of the same things other organizations do--bringing medical and practical help, love and the Gospel to hurting people. They work mainly in short-term trips, taking teams of people to give help in various areas where it's needed. But one thing that stands out about them is that, similar to the Apostle Paul, they try to build an ongoing relationship with particular churches and areas. Rather than going to a new place each time, they visit the same places again and again so that they really get to know people and build longer-term relationships. For example, they've taken three trips to a particular area of Rwanda this year.

What really impressed me, though, was this: just as he was starting to get into his planned speech, David Gallagher laid his script and his agenda aside and went in a completely different direction. He said that he had a strong sense that there were a lot of hurting people there tonight who needed to be touched by God, and to be reminded that He knows their name and cares about them. He decided to talk about that instead of what he had planned. David Gallagher's words went directly to the hearts of many in the audience.

Quoting a few lines from the song Georgene had sung earlier in the evening, he took time to pray for the people sitting in the audience and to give them opportunity to get prayed for personally by looking up and catching his eye. It wasn't a blatant "altar-call" type of thing . . . just a few minutes of acknowledgement that there were hurting people present who needed God's comfort and voice in their lives, and a general praying for them.

David Gallagher ended his speech, not with an appeal for support for his ministry, but with an offer of help and comfort to those present--making himself and the others available for anyone to talk to, ask questions of, or pray with after the meeting. He had just a few short minutes to tell us about his ministry and recruit support, but he laid that aside to minister to the people in front of him. That is the type of person I would want to support in ministry. It's that type of attitude that will really make people want to hear about God's love and how He can touch their lives.

Then the music started again.

The musicians weren't just singing; they were having a party. Several of them laughed aloud during the course of the evening--sometimes in the middle of a song. They were dancing and shouting, praising God and celebrating. Dan Rice was banging on the cymbals with whatever percussion instrument he happened to be holding at the moment, and it sounded great. At the end they worked their way into a jam session that was a fitting finale to the evening and left us humming on the way out the door.

Here's a link to the Open Arms International website . . . I'd encourage you to take a look and consider learning more about their ministry. Dan and Georgene Rice and Gerutha Favorel are going with Open Arms on a trip to Rwanda in July. I'll be praying for them and will try to find out if there's a way to get e-mail updates about the trip.