More Stories From the Road

After writing about my experiences on the road, and putting Wes Turner's thoughts about some of his experiences on this blog a few weeks ago, I was delighted to receive this short memoirs of the road from Road Dog, Keith Wilson. Keith traveled with a group out of Pensacola, FL which performed 350 shows a year. This group, like Truth, spent it's time in churches. These words, again, reflect so many my experiences.

Our group did the vast majority of our concerts at churches, and we stayed in people's homes 95% of the time. We came to refer to those as either a "Mansion Experience" or a "Missionary Experience." That should be self-explanatory, but I'll give a couple of quick examples:

Staying in the home that was clearly used in the filming of Gone With the Wind: Mansion Experience

Staying in a home where, before going to bed, we were given a Chamber Pot: Missionary Experience

The Road for me meant getting up at 5:00 am in order to get back to the bus, with our sack lunch in hand (provided by our host). I didn't know until we got on The Road that the only sandwiches anyone ever made were ham with mayonnaise or pimiento cheese!

The Road meant meeting with the senior pastor or music minister prior to a concert, and talking with my Assistant Road Director about using the "Skateboard Entrance" that night, and how we might handle the dove release in that auditorium. Now, we didn't do any of those things, but it helped break the monotony to joke with the ministers that way. It's amazing how few of those ministers had a sense of humor.

The Road meant "Band Up/Vocals Down" or "Band Up/Vocals Up", depending on how the church's stage was built.

The Road meant a label on an empty channel on the sound board that read "DRUMS". Anytime anyone from the church complained about the drums being too loud--just pull that fader down and everyone was happy!

The Road meant repairing mic cables on the back pew of the church while trying--sometimes unsuccessfully--not to let the soldering iron slip and burn through a pew cushion. It meant a lot of very small churches--and the same for the Love Offering. It meant great devotion times with your road-mates, and some very moving concerts where the presence of the Holy Spirit was clearly felt. It meant fantastic memories and making lifelong friends. The Road also meant having to choose between buying the new Toto cassette or new guitar strings---or have dinner that day.

But perhaps most of all, The Road meant my life would never be the same again. (I still get nostalgic whenever I smell diesel fumes!) And I will always be grateful for every moment I spent on The Road.