Anyway, the good news about audience numbers continues. This past weekend Frank Arnold hosted his annual three-day Winterfest in Mobile, Alabama. Long story short, his crowd was up over the past couple of years and his Saturday night crowd was one his largest ever at the venue - granted he had a good line-up, so the crowd should have been good.

Ol' Jerry Kirksey was there all three-nights, and while it is rare that he and I would be at the same concert, I popped in for a visit on Saturday night. Performing that night were Jeff & Sheri Easter, Karen Peck & New River, Brian Free & Assurance, Aaron Wilburn, the Arnolds and Gold City. Everyone hit home runs that night and because I could stand on a lobby balcony landing and watch the intermission from above, I think it would be more than OK to say that everyone had a great night of product sales.

I mentioned everyone hit home runs. Now, forbid (and forgive) me from using the word competition while talking about Southern Gospel music, but let's be honest about it: when one group does really good, that just makes the next group want to do better. That's not really competition - that's just life. After Frank and Vicki Arnold opened the program (with a little help from Karen Peck Gooch), Karen Peck & New River took the stage. Maybe she's just getting feisty as she's getting older, but she's been working hard on revamping her program and in Mobile, it all came together. A member of another group walked up to me not long after Karen started singing and after watching a few minutes of Karen's stand, he said, "Well, she just served notice on everyone that that is her stage!"

Now before anyone reads more into that than they should, there is more of a spirit of cooperation and support between the groups than perhaps ever before. Every weekend, I'm seeing more and more group members in the wings or sitting the audience cheering on their fellow performers. And most of the artists are just as excited to see another group do well as they would be for their own.

I can't help but feel that God is pleased with that.

Back to the concert..everyone was in the upper levels of their game and by the time the curtain fell on Gold City, Mobile, Alabama, had experienced one great event. And, from what I hear, there were plenty of great memories from Thursday and Friday nights, especially regarding the Dixie Echoes and the Booth Brothers.

So, will these good reports be the trend for 2008? Hopefully so. There are some wonderfully talented people on the Southern Gospel stages and as equally wonderful people in the audiences. May this be the best year ever for both.