2008 Jubilee at Sea, Part 1

There's so much to report, I'm going to have to do it in phases.

First, a great big thank you to Templeton Tours for hosting such a great week for fans of southern gospel music. Maurice and Jeff Templeton, and Danny DeArmus are top notch folks. Southern gospel music is blessed to have them on board, uh, if you'll pardon the pun.

We shipped out of the Port of Jacksonville, FL on Monday, 2/18. Our ports of call were Freeport, Half Moon Cay and Nassau, Bahamas.

The food was very good and there was certainly lots of it. You gotta love a place that has ice cream and pizza available 24/7. We had steak, lobster, soups, salads, desserts by the dozens. I'm pretty sure I heard my bath room scales moan when I stepped on them for the first time upon my return home.


Me and my lovely wife Bev, in the water at Half Moon Cay.

Half Moon Cay is a private island, owned by Carnival Cruise Lines. We spent all day Wed at the beach, playing in the ocean, catching some rays, playing volleyball and eating at the barbecue luncheon. Now, that's the life!


The Celebration anchored offshore at Half Moon Cay

To me however, the best part of the week was the preaching. I knew all of the preachers, although it had been a few years since I had been in service with some of them.

I have lots of favorite preachers. One of them is Joe Arthur. I got to be in two of the three services where Brother Joe preached. On one of the services, he preached himself right off of the platform and out of the room. He was having himself a time! Joe preaches at my church a couple of times a year. He will be there May 2 and 3. Come and join us.


Joe Arthur winding up to deliver a barn-burner sermon.

"Crazy" Larry Brown also preached. I call him crazy because, well...he's crazy! But that man can forevermore preach. Anytime a preacher uses the pulpit as an automatic sub machine gun, you've got some preaching going on!

TD Burgess, Ralph Sexton, JR and Jerry Goff rounded out the speakers for the week. Again, each one of them knocked it out of the park. I used to sing for Ralph Sexton, SR when he would preach in Florida in the 80s. It was good to see his son, carrying on the proud tradition of carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I wasn't expecting the crowd to be so engaged when it came time for the preached word. The rooms were basically filled to capacity and the people were hungry to hear God's word. I am talking about old time, wide open, full throttle camp meeting. Man, I'm ready to go again tonight.

In my next blog I'll focus on the artists who provided some great Gospel music and entertainment for this week at sea.

Posted by Les Butler at 5:02 PM - Send Comments - Email This Post