The Gateway Singers brought their brand of patriotic and Christian music to Sheridan Saturday evening to conclude Old Defiance Days. The Centerville (IA) based group is a regular visitor to the area and will come to Blockton in August. The joke is that anytime Sheridan needs rain, all they have to do is call the Gateway Singers. They have been to town five times in recent years and nearly always, the event has been moved indoors due to the rain.
The singers are Don & Vikki Hunt and Dave & Jan McSpadden. Together, they have performed for 45 years and have enjoyed 12,000 church dinners as they have traveled all over the Midwest. They know a wide variety of songs including the popular Lee Greenwood song "Proud to be an American" to old-time gospel songs such as "Turn your Radio On" and timeless classics such as "He Touched Me" and "I'll Fly Away."
There were plenty of lighthearted moments during the performance, such as "1st Jereboam Drive," a satirical look at the King of Israel who led his country to sin. Instead of going to Jerusalem to worship, Jereboam instituted what the song called easy-believism, where people did not have to make changes to their lives or do what was commanded in the Mosaic Law in order to follow God. The comparison was made to what the song referred to as drive-through churches, where people did not have to make drastic changes in order to follow Jesus.
But the service also included challenges for people to become more committed. Jeff Blaine spoke during the intermission, while the singers were taking a break. He said that the biggest problem in our society is boredom and said that we were so fixated on cell phones that when we are alone for five minutes, we don't know what to do. He noted that the reason that the creature in heaven in Revelation had eyes all over his body so that he could always keep his eyes on God no matter what he was doing.
He contrasted this with the story of Albert, a young man who fought for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. While the rest of the soldiers treated the war like it was a holiday, Albert read his family Bible knowing that a serious battle was at hand. During Sharpsburg, he was wounded and amputated in an unsuccessful effort to stop the hemoraging. During that time, as William Cromley, a chaplian, spent time with Albert, the latter was constantly focused on the Bible in an effort to find comfort and solace in those final hours. Blaine encouraged the audience to live a lifestyle of worship, not boredom.
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