Today, I get to pick up two of my friends who’ll be staying with my family for a few days. Fresh off the Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise, they’ll be helping lead worship at church with my congregation on Sunday night.
Bob and Etta Britt are two of my most cherished friends and have been for over fifteen years. Shortly after arriving in Nashville, I went to see Bob and Etta play at Third and Lindsley. To a bar full of folks, Etta announced, “My preacher is here. Anyone want to hear him do a sermon. He’s pretty good.” You can guess the answer.
Both Bob and Etta served as leaders in my church in Nashville. Both traveled on mission trips with the youth as we watched their daughters grow to the women they are today. We started a ministry for singers, musicians, songwriters, and other lovers of music in Nashville that continues in various forms today including on Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beaches Cruise last week. (To see more about The Moment, go to www.momentfelloship.org.) We led Moment worship services in sanctuaries, fields, homeless shelters, and bars.
Though you likely haven’t met them. You likely have heard one or both of them. Etta was part of “Dave and Sugar” (the sweet part), and besides her solo career and two recent CDs, she has sung backup on countless recordings in Nashville. Bob has been a sought after guitarist for decades. One evening at dinner, in a rather surreal moment, we heard three songs in a row by artists Bob had performed with on stage or recorded alongside in the studio.
In this video clip, you’ll get a chance to see Bob at work. What I encourage you to notice how many artists Bob makes better with his music. In each clip that’s woven together in this short video, see how quickly you can find Bob lifting others up while often playing to the side or shadows of the spotlight.
While this celebrity status is, I suppose, impressive, more importantly to me, because of Bob and Etta, my life and the life of my family is better because they have been a part of it. The Britts have brought music, joy, and friendship each member of my family. They have lived out for us Paul’s words to the church in Rome, Romans 12: 9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Think about your life, who has made you’re time on life’s stage better? Who has helped you find the music to your song? Who do you introduce to others around you with the same joy as I share the Britts with new friends?
Look also around you. Who needs you now to lift them up, make them better, support their efforts, help them find their rhythm and song? Once you know the answer, be like Bob, and as Paul wrote to the church in Rome, love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
To see some of the artists who we’ve supported, who have supported us, or we just think are hymns for a new era in church life, go to this link: The Moment Music
To read more about Etta and Bob’s story, read Backroads & Spotlights
To hear their latest recording, check out Etta Does Delbert full of their favorite Delbert McClinton Songs.
