Moody's Church is absolutely beautiful. It holds several thousands of people, and it was packed for Monday night's session which was the kick off for the week. The acoustics of the church are probably the best we've ever heard and when Wayne Watson sang, it was awesome!

The opening night, Joseph Stowell, President of Moody introduced Wayne by saying that Wayne was to have been the musical guest the year before but had a skiing accident, jokingly saying it was a "lame" excuse. The crowd enthusiastically welcomed Wayne who began with Almighty, followed by There Goes Sundown, Growing, By Any Other Name, For Such a Time as This, Home Free and he ended with It Is Well where he asked the audience to join in. It was beautiful! Dr. Stowell was the speaker that evening.

The next morning session, Wayne sang Walk in the Dark, Friend of a Wounded Heart, and Would I Know You. I loved watching James Dillingham as Wayne sang Would I Know You as he has said this is his favorite Wayne Watson song. He just closed his eyes and listened as Wayne played the piano and sang.

The speakers that morning were Michael Rydelnik, Professor of World Missions and Evangelism, from Moody and Crawford Loritts, Associate Director, U.S. Ministries Campus Crusade for Christ. Both of them delivered powerful messages. Dr. Rydelnik talked about "dark times" and that in dark times, when the lights are out, to trust the voice of God and not the voice of the enemy, that we need to trust the plan of God when we don't understand the mind of God; to trust in the heart of God even when we don't see the hand of God, and to trust the sight of God even when we don't see him. Similarly, Dr. Loritts' message was great and he, too, talked about being in darkness and finding the light, that being Jesus. Wayne's songs were perfect for the theme of the messages that day.

For the evening session, Wayne sang two songs, Field of Souls and Touch of the Masters Hand. The final session was Wednesday morning and Wayne sang two of the new songs from the upcoming album entitled Turning Into Dad and The Ones Left Standing. They are wonderful and were very well received by everyone. Dr. Stowell commented after those songs that, if Wayne had been able to come the previous year, he wouldn't have had those songs for this conference, and he prefaced the next song by saying that "Wayne I know you've been singing songs to go with the messages but we don't want you to hold back." So, next Wayne sang Wouldn't That Be Something by first saying that he had had a dream, etc. You could tell he wanted to make sure the message of that song was understood for the crowd in attendance not familiar with his music. At one point in the song, he said, "Oh, I saw some eyebrows go up for that one….," but as he sang the song, the crowd began to clap and it was very well received. He ended with another new song entitled, The Blood of Jesus which is a wonderful praise song, then A Beautiful Place and a very different rendition of Almighty that he played with James which was absolutely beautiful.

Like I said at the beginning of this review, it's very hard to say how much this week meant to us and we give thanks to God for our time in St. Louis and Chicago.

Just to let everyone know, in talking to Wayne, he asked if I would want updates on the progress of the new album, etc. in the weeks/months ahead. Of course, I said "sure." So, I will hopefully be sending out updates once a month to let you all know any news from Wayne on the new album and any other updates. If you haven't signed up for the mailing list yet and would like to be included in receiving these updates, please see the first page of the Wayne Watson Fan Page or the "What's New in Wayne's World" section of the site. Please be in prayer as Wayne begins production last week of the new album with Jerry McPherson and later in the month with Michael Omartian. From what we've heard of just a few of the new songs, it's going to be GREAT!

(See Photo Section)