They Looked Wonderful Tonight

After two weather delays, tonight "Cupid's Cafe" was finally held at Trinity -- ironically and appropriately on the Day of St Valentine. Conceived as a missions fundraiser and patterned on a similar event at one of the local Lutheran churches, it was the vision and labor of love of Liz Osborne, one of our members. A fondue supper, subdued lighting, roses, couple photos, and musical acts mostly by the youth from two churches made up the night.

We were joined by couples from two other area churches, one of which has an annual St Valentine's Day night out, usually at a restaurant: they just did it with us this year. Consequently, the Fellowship Hall was packed. Elizabeth and I sat at table with the pastoral couple from one of those two churches, and with a Trinity couple who had just done the "Weekend to Remember" marriage enrichment event -- and who were clearly highly enriched by the experience. We were enriched in turn by the continuing glow in our conversations at the table.

It was a fun and uplifting night. The kids were great as coat checkers, maitres-d', waitstaff -- and of course, talent. Kenny VanDuzer and Sarah Osborne were the MC's, with a humorous touch: Kenny, as the consummate straight man, was the ideal foil to Sarah's blonde-with-attitude impishness.

There was more than 90 minutes of music, perfectly calibrated to leave us satisfied but not sated, with a 10-minute intermission for last-minute shopping at the silent auction (all proceeds going to World Vision and/or summer youth missions work). The main adult act was a father-son barbershop quartet, crooning a humorous version of Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" -- except the words were changed to be about someone's toupee that "blew by you". It brought the house down.

But delightful as that was, it was the kids who made the evening magical. It's impossible to name them all, or to know what was the most stirring. Alex Cooper's singing and playing Mark Schultz's "Walking Her Home" nearly brought tears to my eyes. Audrey Whelan's confident and beautiful rendition of Taylor Swift's "Untouchable" and Jessie Baroniak's solo of "Praying for Time" by Carrie Underwood betrayed a talent that seemed beyond their years. Jessica Park wowed me on the violin: she is a middle schooler who handles third-position fingering with a fluency I wouldn't expect in anyone younger than an collegiate undergrad. And Kenny VanDuzer's smooth vocals on Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", backed up by Andrew Nalls (guitar) and Nick Harrell (keyboard) were pure romantic class.

A high point of the evening was "Lean on Me", Bill Withers' classic, sung by Kenny backed up by all the young people as a chorus in front of the band. As they were singing, video of World Vision projects and stills of youth missions played on the screen. It made us excited and proud to be part of the evening -- and associated with such a great group of kids, and a terrific church family.

It's easy to imagine the pride of parents, grandparents, and friends. I was one of them.

We closed the evening holding our special person's hand, as well as hands around the tables. The energy sweet and strong, all look forward to fulfilling the promise of tonight being the "first annual" such event, as young Mr VanDuzer announced early on. I look for highlights on the website, and a CD of the evening's highlights has been suggested. That would be a good use for a stack of CD's. God has blessed us with some talented and visionary people, and an awesome program.

Whether it was for one unique occasion, or truly will become a regular part of Trinity's calendar, one thing is for sure. We have some young people who are not only talented, but who "get it" when it comes to putting that talent to work so as to benefit others.

They looked wonderful tonight.