The Heavenly Journey Blog

Last night we sang at Sunnybrook Estates retirement community.  It was an incredible night, complete with fireworks.  Well, maybe not exactly fireworks.  Actually, it was more closer to explosions.  We started off the night by blowing up a couple speakers!  The last time we set up sound was an outdoor event with our amps cranked up to the max.  I forgot to turn them down!  When we set up, we were using our small monitors.  The power came on…what can I say?  We will miss those monitors.  They served us well for many years.

Not being discouraged, we changed some equipment around and went right on with our program.  We had been to Sunnybrook before and have always enjoyed ourselves, but last night was really special.  We knew it before we even started singing.  The Holy Spirit was there blessing everyone.  First, it was more people than we had sung for before at Sunnybrook, and secondly we could tell everyone there was ready to be blessed and to bless us.  This really helped us as we were singing without Tim and Gretta Arinder.  When you sing together for several years you learn to depend on each other and when the people you depend on aren’t there, it can lead to a lot of uncertainty.  Thank you Lord, for blessing our night so richly and giving us the courage and confidence to go ahead and serve.  How did it go?  We normally do not do encores.  It’s a personal belief concerning performing and I just don’t like to do them.  Last night we were requested to do encores and, as I felt the Holy Spirit still had something to say to someone, we wound up doing four of them.  Thank you so much to the residents at Sunnybrook Estates for asking for more!  I honestly believe God spoke to someone on that last song.

Soon we will be making some major announcements, so keep checking our news page.

God bless all of you, we love you everyone.

Tim Hendricks

Heavenly Journey

Well, October has come and gone, and the State Quartet Convention with it.  We had a great time all three days!  They had two new groups join the convention this year, Blood Bought and Calvary’s Harmony.  We really enjoyed hearing both groups and meeting them.  Blood Bought was in the booth space next to us, so we really got to know them.  Both groups are from the Hattiesburg/Laurel area, so if you’re in that vicinity, look them up!  The Dove Brothers were there on Thursday night again, and GREAT as usual!  After they sang, we had a Gaither-style sing-a-long with lots of musicians on stage.  Tim Hendricks sang a solo verse on “Love Lifted Me” and did very well indeed!  We left on Sunday morning and headed back to our home church Concord Baptist, in Little Yazoo, thoroughly worn out, but also very blessed from the weekend.  Next year’s convention will be held in June, not October, and is moving to Hattiesburg.  This will be the first weekend in June, so make your plans now to come!

On November 8th, we participated in WFCA’s annual radiothon to help raise money for them.  They raised over $50,000 this year!!  There, we heard some groups we haven’t seen before, one of them being a family group with Mom sharing lead singing duties with her 9-year old son!  They were some kind of awesome!  They consist of Mom and four children, ranging in age from 13 down to 9.  The group’s name is New Destiny and if you have the opportunity to hear them, you need to go.  You WILL be blessed!!

Y’all have a blessed Thanksgiving!!  Eat lots of turkey and ham and whatever else good stuff you have.

We love all and look forward to seeing or meeting you in the future!!

Heavenly Journey

Last week, we attended the Mississippi State Quartet Convention in Philadelphia, MS.  We really had a great time.  We met a couple of new groups, Calvary’s Harmony and Blood Bought.  Calvary’s Harmony is a quartet of young men who have really great harmony.  Blood Bought is a trio who just “wowed” us with their harmonies.  They sounded like more than three people!  They’ve been singing together about 2 years now and are really incredible.  If you see they’re singing somewhere, be sure and go ’cause you WILL be blessed.  Also, saw a bunch of groups we already know, but don’t get to see often.  Got to visit a lot.  Got to hear a lot of great singing.  etc. etc.

As you can tell, we stayed busy.  The Dove Brothers quartet sang on Thursday night and then we had a homecoming style sing-along.  Tim H. sang a solo verse on Love Lifted Me and did great.  On Friday morning, Tim A. joined in the golf tournament and he and his partner, David Todd of Endless Praise, won first place.  Way to Go, Guys!!!

We had a first for Heavenly Journey.  Much to Patrick’s dismay, he had to wear a “really” pink tie along with both Tims’.  Actually, his was the pinkest!  The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and Heavenly Journey showed our support for cancer research by everybody wearing something pink.  Don’t worry, Patrick.  Next year in October, you won’t have to wear the pink tie.  We’ll just get all you guys pink suits, instead. <lol>

Patrick also participated Saturday in the Pianer & Band Jam playing his trombones, and then in the Battle of the Quartets.  He had a great time in both and is looking forward to being able to participate again next year.

The convention ended around 10:30pm Saturday night with most of the groups getting back on stage together for one last group sing-along.  As you can imagine, there wasn’t much room for moving around with that many gospel singers on stage, but everyone really enjoyed it.  And boy, did those bass singers put on a show!  What a way to end the weekend!  Tired, but thoroughly blessed!!  Thank you, Lord!!

On August 31, 2008, Heavenly Journey was one of 11 artists (soloists & groups) featured on Unity Broadcasting Network for a fund-raising night of gospel singing.  All indications are we had a large television audience.  The broadcast was also on the UBN internet website where they have a world-wide audience.  The singing went well, some incredibly talented people were there, and we made a lot of new friends!  Tim H. even found somebody who talks as much as he does.  Speaking of world-wide, we would like to thank our friends at Cedar Valley Network for broadcasting our music and the live interviews.  Recently, Tim H. had a live interview on Cedar Valley Live to an audience of approximately 6.8 million listeners.  While doing the interview, the host received e-mails from Iraq and England asking questions about Heavenly Journey.  This is quite hard for us to really comprehend!

Big News!!  Heavenly Journey will soon be putting out a monthly e-mail newsletter.  This is not going to be just a list of “here’s where we’re going to be next month”.  This newsletter will give you more of an insight into who the people of Heavenly Journey are.  If you would like to receive this newsletter, click on the “contact us” button and send us your name, location and email address.

We love you and God Bless!!

The Secretary of State’s office has been holding ‘Scam Jams’ in each part of the state during the month of August.  This year, they called gospel groups from around the state to be the entertainment at each one.  We were privileged to be asked to participate in the one in Jackson this past weekend (8/16/08), held at Metrocenter Mall.  Boundless Love, from Cleveland, also participated.  This was a great time for us!  We learned from the speakers about many ways people, especially the elderly, are conned out of their life savings, and ways to prevent this from happening.  The last one will be held at the Bancorp South Arena in Tupelo.  If you live anywhere close to Tupelo, or are going to be in that area the weekend of 8/23/08, you would benefit greatly from this.

Well, we knew a couple of years ago that God would one day lead us to a bus for the group.  This past week, He finally did.  Heavenly Journey has purchased an older bus which we will very soon begin to convert into an RV.  We’re all very excited about the prospect of having this as part of our ministry!  Of course, nowadays, everyone asks “how can you afford the gas for something that big?”.  Well, our answer is simple - God lead us to it for a reason, and He will provide enough for us to afford the gas!”  If we don’t keep our faith in God, we will lose everything.  That applies to everyone in every walk of life.  Although we see many people who don’t believe who are making huge salaries, and we aren’t, we know when that final judgment day comes, we believers will be the richest people around.  Ain’t God good!!!

We love you!  Please pray for us as we begin to convert this bus into our on-the-road home.

Heavenly Journey

We were blessed the other week to meet Bro. Gary Shelton in Macon, MS.  Bro. Gary is the pastor at Independent Methodist Church where we sang on June 29th.  Bro. Gary also has an INCREDIBLE internet ministry!  It’s called Cedar Valley Network.  To find it, type in cedarvalleynetwork.com.  Also, he has Southern Gospel music playing 24/7.  To find this, go to ubroadcast.com and click on the microphone.  A box will appear and you type in 10085, and click on JUMP.  This will take you directly to the music!  We like to pull this up and listen in the evenings while we’re on the computer.  What a Blessing!!!!  Thank you, Bro. Gary!!  Bro. Gary also has an hour long live show each night from 8-9pm on ubroadcast.com.  Be sure and listen in!

God Bless!!!

Well, we made it through June 14 and the Gospel Jubilee! We had a “smashing” time, as the Brits would say, and everyone, audience and participants, all enjoyed the evening. With 50 musicians on stage that night, I believe we can honestly say, “we raised the roof for the Lord!” Thanks to all the musicians who donated their time and talents to make this a success!! Special thanks go to Irby Ford for his help in advertising, Hearts Desire and New Genesis for being so willing to change their spots to help us out, and Voices of Faith for providing a great concession stand during the night! Thanks also to Elijah Ben for playing the keyboard during “God Bless America”. We’d like to ask everyone to pray for Elijah’s sister who was involved in an auto accident last week! With lots of prayer, and especially God’s healing touch, she’ll pull through this!!

We had a one week break after the Jubilee, but will be back on the road this Sunday, June 29. We’ll be singing at Macon, MS, at Independent Methodist Church for their 40th anniversary. We are really looking forward to this!

Remember, God loves YOU, and so do we!!

Well, we just finished up a month of heavy traveling! We’re tired, and looking forward to a break this next weekend. BUT, we are SO looking forward to June 14. This, as you know, is our 6th Anniversary Gospel Jubilee, to be held in Kosciusko at the Attala County Coliseum. Doors open at 5pm, so be sure to be there. Gospel Trivia begins promptly at 5:30, so don’t be late!

We had a wonderful time at the MGMA this past weekend. Got to meet some new groups with wonderful people and heard a lot of great singing. And on Sunday, we had just an incredible experience at Fair View Holy Church of Christ in Belmont! The people there welcomed us with open arms and asked when could we come back. Brother Kevin Rogers, the pastor, is an inspiring speaker! If you’re ever in that area, drop in on Sunday to hear him. You’ll be mightily blessed, we guarantee!!! They had a meal after the morning service, and for a small church (with a great BIG heart), they had enough food to feed a small army. And despite our best efforts, we couldn’t put a dent in it! We were also treated to members of the congregation getting up and singing special songs. One lady sang Wings of a Dove a capella. It was one of the most beautiful renditions we have ever heard! Incredible!! Several others sang and ALL were great! The spirit was moving in a mighty way and manifested itself through many testimonies.

Love in Christ,

Heavenly Journey

Well, we have a had a very busy month so far, and it’s not letting up. THANK YOU, LORD!! So far this month, we have traveled to Lou’s Pavilion in Sebastopol (great place/great people!!), Pearson Chapel in Houston (another absolutely great place with great people!), and we are getting ready to go to Holcomb to Leflore Baptist on Sunday. Later this month, we will be singing at Forest Hill Nursing Home in South Jackson where Tim Hendricks preaches every Sunday. Then, we will be singing for the Choctaw Baptist Association annual meeting in Conehatta. THEN, we’ll be going to the MGMA first annual meeting to be held in Mathiston at the Wood Institute. There will be a bunch of great groups and soloists there, so if you can come, you’ll get to hear great music, meet some great people and in general, receive a huge blessing. We know we will be blessed during this weekend. And as soon as the MGMA is over, we’ll be heading on even further up-state to Belmont, MS to sing at Fairview Holy Church of Christ. After that, we’ll be taking a one week break to get ready for our 6th Anniversary Gospel Jubilee in Kosciusko! Y’all come on over and help us celebrate!! There will be about 50 (that’s right, 50!) gospel musicians there that night - 10 groups and 4 soloists. We will also have Frank & Mike, from AFR station WSCO as emcees, and Billy Hill will be hosting a gospel trivia time before the singing begins.  Come and help us “rock” Kosciusko for the Lord that night!! 

Heavenly Journey