In September of 1994,  we purchased a home that had once been a dairy barn. It seemed obvious that the main large room was the perfect space for filling up with friends and worship music.  Around this time, our son David invited us to a place in Woodstock IL called The Mast House where a family used their home for monthly community sings and had an open-mic. That was the inspiration we needed. We decided to call our monthly event Second Saturday Sing so everyone would know when it was.  We had our first Second Saturday Sing in January of 1996, and continued on a monthly basis for 20 years.  We have slowed it down a bit and now have them quarterly. One goal in having an open mic was to encourage our five kids to develop their musical talents for the Lord. Many others have been likewise encouraged to develop their musical skills as they'd practice for Second Saturday Sing. 

We've literally had thousands of people in our home over the years, but the most famous was the late Rich Mullins, author of Awesome God, Sometimes By Step, My Deliverer and hundreds of other songs. By a strange set of circumstances, Rich stayed at our house for three weeks, along with Christian recording artist Mitch McViker. They stayed with us right up till the the day a tragic auto accident took the life of Rich Mullins. The very last song Rich ever wrote was written in our guest room and, thankfully, recorded on our boom box. It's called All the Way to Kingdom Come. We feel so honored to have gotten to know Rich Mullins in such a stunning way. The link below is part of a video that was taken the night Rich and his band did a concert for Second Saturday Sing. The quality of the recording is rough, but this event changed our lives.

Picture
Rich Mullins last concert on earth was performed
at Second Saturday Sing September 6, 1997.