The Heavenly Journey Blog

Well, the 2010 Jubilee is now over. Everyone had a great time and we’re looking forward to doing it again next year. Next year, our co-hosts will be Looking Above Qt and New Destiny. If you haven’t already put it on your calendar for next year, mark June 10 & 11, at the Attala County Coliseum in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

We had another laptop give-away this year, and the man who took it home was Bud McCrory, of McAdams, Mississippi. Congratulations, Bud!! Hope it gives you many years of great service.

Be looking soon for pictures to be loaded onto the website.

If we didn’t see you this year, we hope to next year! May God bless each and every one!!
Heavenly Journey
Tim, Karen, Patrick, Jonathan

The 2010 Mississippi Gospel Jubilee will be here before you know it! We are now just a few weeks away from the biggest gospel singing in the state, June 11 & 12 at the Attala County Coliseum in Kosciusko, MS. This year, you’ll get to hear Joy Card, Bill Monaghan and Blake Cooley, soloists. You’ll also get to hear Southern Image Qt, Chronicle, Capstone Qt, Long Way to Go, Joyful Noise Qt, Looking Above Qt, Little River Trio, New Destiny, Kinsmen, New Genesis Qt, Wells Brothers Qt, Psalms Trio, Heavenly Journey, Chosen (fm Natchez), and a brand new Jubilee All-Star Qt. And back by popular demand - the Creative Arts Team from Choctaw will be performing again on Saturday night. Don’t miss them!! PLUS! A special treat this year for the Friday night Kick-Off program - ANDREW ISHEE, formerly with Palmetto State Qt, Dixie Echoes and the Kingsmen. You ain’t heard piano playing til you’ve heard Andrew! Wow!!

AND!! THIS YEAR IT’S FREE!! Due to the state of the economy right now, we don’t want anyone to NOT come because they can’t afford a ticket. We will take up a love offering both nights instead.

PLUS #2!! This year, after the regular singing is over on Friday night, we have added something new - The Friday Night Free-for-All. What is this, you ask? Well, this is a open mic event. If you are in a ministry which is not singing at the Jubilee, or if you are a soloist/duet/trio/ensemble at your church, and you would like to participate, bring your singers, musicians and/or track music. All music should be on CD format. During the regular singing Friday, come by the booth and sign up to sing. The number of songs allowed will be limited based on participation.

This year, concessions will be provided by Howell’s Restaurant of Yazoo City. And we know everyone who eats from the concession stand will enjoy their food. Grady Howell has the best restaurant in Yazoo City! Grady is also with the Kinsmen who will be singing on Friday night.

Emcee this year will be Gary Shelton of CedarValleyLive on Saturday.

After many months of planning, the Southern Gospel Music Association of Mississippi finally became a reality on January 16, 2010. The initial formation meeting was held at Howell’s Restaurant in Yazoo City. Eleven ministries were represented that day to form this new association. A constitution was written, officers were elected, and then we had a singing. It was a great day and night! The officers for 2010 are Tony Birmingham (Looking Above Qt), President; Tim Hendricks (Heavenly Journey), Vice President; Randy Hill (New Genesis Qt), Treasurer; Dawn Waldrop (New Destiny), Secretary. These officers all jumped right in and got to work. We had our second meeting in Tupelo, MS and it was a big success. More groups and people joined, so the association is definitely growing! Our next meeting will be at Grace Baptist Church in Mendenhall on July 10th, and the final meeting for the year will be October 9 at Hope Indian Baptist Church in Philadelphia, MS. At that final meeting of the year, we will be having a seminar on music writing, so if you’re interested in that, come on over. There will be a charge for non-members to attend, but it won’t be too high. For more information, call 601-953-5873 or send an email to heavenlyjourney@hotmail.com.

Well, 2009 came and went!  Sometimes it seemed to drag on and on, but mostly it flew by.  Heavenly Journey was sent by God to quite a few new places this past year.  We have enjoyed all our trips, and thoroughly enjoyed making new friends.  God is SO good!!

After the Delta Quartet Convention, we sang at Sunnybrook Retirement Community, Riggs Manor Retirement Community, Deer Creek Baptist Church in Rolling Fork, saw Gold City in Wesson, MS, sang at Gore Springs again, had our church cantata, a band concert and Tim’s birthday, AND celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  We finished up the year by singing with Looking Above Qt (Tupelo) and Little River Trio (Sumrall) and several others at Old Bay Springs United Methodist Church on New Year’s Eve.

To begin the new year, we are participating in an effort to form a true gospel music association in the state of Mississippi.  This will begin on January 16, 2010, at Howell’s Restaurant in Yazoo City.  We will be meeting to write a constitution at 12 noon, then have a gospel singing there at the restaurant beginning at 6pm, featuring those groups in attendance to help form the new association.  Among those planning on attending are Looking Above Qt, New Destiny, The Kinsmen, New Genesis Qt, Darrell and Tojuana, Spirit Filled, Little River Trio and others.  Come on over to Howell’s that night for a fun-filled, Spirit-Filled night of gospel singing!!  We look forward to seeing you there!

We have already booked up part of 2010, but still have many dates open.  We would love to come and sing for you!  Or, if we can’t make it, we know lots of mission-minded groups who would love to come.  Call 601-953-5873 or email heavenlyjourney@hotmail.com for more information.

We love Y’all!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU IN ALL THAT YOU SAY AND DO IN THIS NEW YEAR!!

On November 7th, we were in Cleveland, MS at the Delta Quartet Convention.  This was our first year to attend and we really enjoyed it.  It is hosted each year by Blessed Assurance, a traditional male quartet from Monroe, LA.  These are great guys and we enjoyed getting to know them.  This event was an all-day singing.  By the end of the day, we were all very tired, but REALLY blessed.  In addition, we saw our old friends, the Laymen Quartet, from Houston, MS.  They are great Christian people and really fun to be with.  We enjoyed being able to see Bill Monaghan again, and look forward to having him at the Mississippi Gospel Jubilee next June.

We hope all of you will consider joining us next year, but before then, we will be singing at Deer Creek Baptist Church in Rolling Fork, MS, for 5th Sunday, November 29th.  The singing will begin at 6pm.  Look forward to seeing y’all there!!

Well, a lot has been going on with Heavenly Journey since June.  We’ve been to town festivals, Sherwood, been sick, weddings, reunions, band concerts, Lou’s Pavilion, Puckett…we’ve been busy!!

Back in June, you may recall, our niece Katie got married.  Well, this past Sunday, our niece Charlene got married.  She and Brad (fiance) were at our church Sunday morning (real glad to see them!), and afterwards, she asked Reverend Tim Hendricks if he would marry them.  After some thinking (about 1/2 second), he said he’d be glad to!  Sooooo, we began looking for an open date.  Hmmmmm.  Then he asked them “when would like you like to get married?”.  Char answered, “how about this afternoon?!”  Wow!!  They had the license and all they needed was a preacher!  We ate lunch at Dad & Clara’s (Clara is Char’s grandmother), then we had a wedding!  Complete with a cake left over from a funeral.  <rofl>  It was wonderful!  Be sure and see the pictures on the website.

Just the other week, we attended the Fall Gathering of the Mississippi Gospel Music Association in Ellisville, MS.  Also attending were Chronicle, Stubborn Love, Forever Changed, Little River Trio, Hearts Desire and One Way Quartet.  We had a special guest that night, also - ANDREW ISHEE, formerly with The Kingsmen, Palmetto State Qt and The Dixie Echoes.  In case anyone has forgotten, he is now a member of Heavenly Journey (non-traveling and non-exclusive) as creative consultant.  Andrew is a wonderful talent, a wonderful person and a wonderful Christian.  The singing was one of the best we’ve been to.  We especially enjoyed getting to meet members of Stubborn Love and Forever Changed.  It had been a while since we had heard our friends One Way Quartet, and boy, did they do a great job!  Better than ever, guys!

Now we are preparing for an all day revival at Forest Hill Nursing Home.  This is where Tim preaches every Sunday.  The revival is scheduled to have six preachers and six music ministries, all in one day!  The patients there are really fired up about this.  Some of them haven’t been to a revival in ten years or more.

Coming up soon, we will be singing at the Delta Quartet Convention.  We are especially excited about this since we have never been there before AND we will get to see our good friends the Layman Quartet.  Also, we are starting to get into gear with plans for next year’s Mississippi Gospel Jubilee.  In 2010 we will have a number of ministries who were not with us in 2009.  Unfortunately, that means some of the people who were with us in 2009 will not be with us in 2010.  We have a big announcement about the 2010 Jubilee, but that will wait for another posting.  Until we see you again, be blessed and keep looking up.

We hope everyone who came to the Mississippi Gospel Jubilee had a great time.  If you didn’t make it this year, we hope you can next year.  The Jubilee was absolutely incredible!  A giant thank you goes out to all the talent who made it possible.  If you weren’t there, here are a few highlights of the weekend. The C.A.T.s (Creative Arts Team) from Choctaw, MS made everyone glad they left the reservation.  Glad?  No, it’s more like enthralled!  When was the last time you saw a Christian interpretive dance team?  When was the last time you saw one receive a standing ovation?  When the young lady came out acting as death passing over everyone it was chilling.  Then, when the young man dressed as Jesus came out of the tomb in His white robe the coliseum went absolutely crazy!  Great job, guys!  When the ten and twelve year old boys with Little River Trio started singing everyone was blown away by their harmony skills.  Looking Above Qt. put on the show of the night with their showmanship and their inspirational music.  Long Way To Go showed Bluegrass Gospel CAN work on a Southern Gospel program.  It worked well enough they had to come back for an encore!  The Wells Bros. Qt. showed just how good family harmony can sound and it’s never been done any better.  Then Friday night ended with the most powerful moment of the night as the Masters Qt. finished the set. Saturday night was nothing but great.  Every group was outstanding!  The surprise came from New Genesis Qt. as J. B. Sherman (bass singer, on oxygen while singing) stepped up to take the lead on Supper Time.  The entire coliseum melted as he talked about wishing once more he could hear his mama calling little J.B. to supper.  The Jubilee All-Star Qt. started a tradition with a performance that is going to be hard to live up to.  I can’t list all the highlights, there were just too many. That laptop give-away??  Well, Eddie Gray of Sallis, Mississippi walked away with it on Saturday night!  Congratulations, Eddie!!  Hope it is a blessing and serves you well!! A special thank you to the fine people who came from Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to make this a success. Guess what!  We have already started planning for next year!  There is no rest for the weary, nor the ones who just don’t know when to stop.  I can tell you this!  Next year will have some of this year’s talent returning along with a bunch of others who are just as talented.  Don’t miss it!!!!

The Jubilee is THIS WEEKEND, folks!  Y’all come on over to the Attala County Coliseum in Kosciusko, MS and hear some great singing and awesome worship!  A total of 21 ministries will be taking part during this two night event.  On Friday night, there will be a kick-off program with the Choctaw Creative Arts Dance Team.  They will be interpreting the Bible through music and dance.  Totally awesome to see!  They will begin at 6:30pm Friday night.  Then, you’ll get to hear Joy Card sing the National Anthem.  What a treat!  And then the singing will begin.  The eight groups singing on Friday are the Kinsmen, Little River Trio, Wells Brothers Quartet, Long Way to Go, Looking Above Quartet,  Laymen Quartet, Masters Sound Quartet, and Masters Quartet.

Saturday night will feature these groups: Heavenly Journey, Joyful Noise Quartet, New Genesis Quartet, Hearts Desire, Scott Gregory, Southern Image Quartet, Tracemen Quartet, Chronicle, New Liberty Quartet, Psalms Trio, Buddy Eichelberger and the Jubilee All-Star Quartet.  This last group will feature four men from different groups getting together to sing ONE song only.  Don’t miss this special feature!

Ticket prices are as follows:

Friday night - $10.00

Saturday night - $15.00

Artists Circle (Sat only) - $20.00

Purchase of ANY Saturday ticket gets you in free on Friday!

Advance tickets are on sale at a discount.  For these prices, call 601-953-5873, or 601-953-5863 for information, or send an email to heavenlyjourney@hotmail.com or msgospeljubilee@hotmail.com.

Y’all come on over and join in!

Yep, everybody’s gonna have a wonderful time in Heaven.  But, here in two weeks, we are gonna have a wonderful time in Kosciusko, MS.  The Mississippi Gospel Jubilee is on top of us, June 12th and 13th.  We are so looking forward to being with many of our friends there.  Our co-hosts this year are Joyful Noise Quartet from Ackerman, MS and New Genesis Quartet from Yazoo City, MS.  In addition to our three groups singing, you will also get to hear Southern Image Qt., Masters Qt., Tracemen Qt., Masters Sound Qt., New Liberty Qt., Hearts Desire, Wells Bros. Qt., Looking Above Qt., The Kinsmen, Laymen Qt., Little River Trio, Psalms Trio, Long Way To Go, Chronicle, Scott Gregory, Buddy Eichelburger, The Jubilee All-Star Qt., and see the Creative Arts Team from Choctaw, MS.  It’s gonna be an incredible weekend, and if you hurry you can still get advance sale tickets for as little as $8 for Friday or $12 for both nights!

We are working really hard on our next album.  The songs have been selected, the music has already been recorded, and now we are preparing ourselves to cut the vocals.  I’m not going to tell you what songs will be on it, but I will tell you, the working title is “Old School”.  We are hoping it will be ready for release sometime in August.

A note of appreciation.  We have really struggled this year to find the right approach to singing as a trio.  We know that many of you have prayed for us, and we appreciate it.  I believe God is leading us in the direction He wants us to go.  Because of some of your responses, we have been encouraged to press on.  I believe we have the best sound right now that we have ever had.  I don’t mean that in a boastful way, but in a tone of gratitude for those who have lifted us up.  We are so grateful to all the former members of Heavenly Journey for their contributions over the years.  We thank you Mike and Pat Dukes, Chuck Schook, Dennis Perry, and Tim and Gretta Arinder.

We hope to see all of you at the Jubilee, and be ready to let out a big ole…aaaiieee.

Every now and then you have an absolutely perfect day.  Today, no this weekend was one of those times.  We sang at Lowry Methodist Church in Ripley, MS today and we have never been made to feel more welcome anywhere.  It was their homecoming, and did they ever have a good turn out.  A full house, great preaching, more food than three churches could eat, and a very receptive congregation for us to sing to.  What more can you ask for?  How about the friendliest people you’ve ever met?  That’s what we ran smack in the middle of.  Thank you all for your hospitality.

Next, when we get back home, our son Curtis accepts the position of Business Manager for Heavenly Journey.  Wow, is this going to help out!  There just aren’t enough hours in the day for us to do everything needed and take care of group business properly.  Welcome aboard Curtis, get ready for work.  So, if you are interested in having Heavenly Journey come sing, you may be speaking to Curtis initially.  We will be putting him to work very soon sorting out our e-mail addresses and putting together a news letter.

The Mississippi Gospel Jubilee is almost upon us.  The plans are all coming together.  The talent has been booked for what seems ages.  The Jubilee will be held at the Attala Co. Coliseum in Kosciusko, MS on June 12 &13, 2009.  The talent on Friday night will be: Masters Quartet, Masters Sound Quartet, Looking Above Quartet, Long Way To Go, Laymen Quartet, Kinsmen, Wells Brothers Quartet, Little River Trio, and the Creative Arts Team (an interpretive/inspirational dance team) from Choctaw MS.  On Saturday night the talent will be: Southern Image Quartet, Tracemen Quartet, New Liberty Quartet, Joyful Noise Quartet, New Genesis Quartet, Chronicle, Hearts Desire, Psalms Trio, Heavenly Journey, Scott Gregory, and Buddy Eichelburger.  Tickets are $8.00 advanced sales and $10.00 at the door for Friday, Saturday tickets are $12.00 advanced sales and $15.00 at the door with artists circle seats being $17.00 advanced sales and $20.00 at the door.  All Saturday night tickets also allow you free admission on Friday night.  To order your advanced tickets contact us through e-mail heavenlyjourney@hotmail.com or phone (601) 953-5873.

God bless all of you,

Heavenly Journey