Q&A with Level of Grace

We caught up with the three superb girls of Level of Grace who, along with their households, are celebrating 25 years of music ministry in 2017. As an alternative of touring for the event (they’ve already completed lots of that whereas touring!), they’ve determined to throw an enormous social gathering of their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee…and also you’re invited. Because the singers put together for the jam-packed October weekend, we requested them in regards to the joys of journey and the comforts of house.

There’s no place like Nashville

The primary “behind-the-scenes” factor to find out about Level of Grace is that they’re Nashville fanatics, however not Nashville natives. Not one of the three are initially from “Music Metropolis.” After graduating from Ouachita Baptist College, they went on to win a distinguished music competitors during which they met a director from Phrase information who invited them to report just a few songs in Nashville and finally signed them. All these years later, they’re glad to have based mostly not solely their careers but additionally their lives in Nashville…growing friendships and elevating their youngsters.

When requested what they love most about Nashville, there’s a refrain of enthusiastic replies:

DENISE: “All forms of music…all 4 seasons… nice eating places.”

SHELLEY: “It’s a “little large city” that provides folks each a cosmopolitan and an enthralling small city really feel. And the folks—all the time prepared to assist each other out—are what makes it such an exquisite house.”

LEIGH: “The backdrop of the rolling hills and mountains by no means will get previous. I reside close to historic Franklin and all the time benefit from the leisure stroll to the outlets, scrumptious Ivey cupcakes and an occasional present on the Franklin Theatre. We love that family and friends come and go to very often, which permits us to discover and keep present on new adventures.”

What do you hope your visitors will take away from their go to to your hometown this fall?

DENISE: “Other than celebrating the faithfulness of God over 25 years, they’ll get to go behind the scenes of the stage and glimpse into our lives…They’ll get an opportunity to see the Opry and sing in a Nashville studio on our precise report. How cool is that?”

“We additionally take pleasure in educating our associates/followers a bit extra on what the music business entails and the way it’s modified from years in the past to now,” provides Leigh.

It appears like attendees could change into music aficionados whereas hanging out with these three gems.

On a deeper stage, the ladies go on to share their coronary heart for hospitality in welcoming followers into their lives. “The important thing to hospitality is making visitors really feel particular and cozy,”Leigh states. “We have now biblical references of Christ Himself sharing a few of His most intimate and highly effective classes within the others’ properties and across the desk.” She goes on to share about some hospitality she obtained that she’s by no means forgotten. Arriving late to the distant house of a good friend, the lady graciously ready meals for Leigh and her companions. It didn’t matter that the dinner consisted of a can of Progresso soup and saltine crackers! “The meal was excellent as a result of the fellowship was real and very caring! Our host jogged my memory of the significance of folks as an alternative of presentation and efficiency.”

For Denise, the hospitality precedent was set rising up close by each units of grandparents and prolonged household who all the time invited newcomers house for a meal after church. “They didn’t stress over whether or not the home was clear that morning earlier than church; they by some means all the time had sufficient meals. We’d pull up the piano bench to suit everybody across the desk. I bear in mind these occasions so fondly—simply laughing and telling tales. Not one visitor ever left hungry or feeling unloved. I suppose that’s my need for these coming to Nashville to spend the weekend with us.”

When requested the place on the earth they wish to reside moreover Nashville, Denise doesn’t must assume lengthy. “I can’t consider wherever else I’d need to be.” Leigh would take pleasure in dwelling on any form of oceanfront. “I discover a lot peace there.” Shelley shares she would possibly prefer to reside both in her childhood house of Little Rock, Arkansas, or alongside the Michigan lakeshore near her husband’s household. “The one factor lacking for me right here is the presence of household. I’m all the time wishing I might drop in on my mother and pop or sister, or convey dinner to David’s grandma. It’s these little issues folks would possibly take with no consideration, however while you don’t have it, you actually really feel it.”

Along with loving house, the women even have a passion for journey. They’ve traveled collectively many locations, together with South Africa. Singing at a ladies’s convention there may be the farthest they’ve ever carried out away from house. Shelley jokes of the “little style of safari” they skilled, “We’re dying to return and commune with the elephants and lions!”

Their touring profession has been a blessing throughout. Even when the weeks would add up and they’d miss household and all issues acquainted, the kindness of their followers would maintain them going. It sounds just like the group is a supply of power unto itself. It appears unattainable to get by means of a dialog with them with out it erupting into laughter a number of occasions. This type of light-hearted fellowship could make every part worthwhile. Leigh sums it up, “The folks we journey with are a hoot!…By no means a uninteresting second with Shelley round.”

What’s the most memorable expertise you’ve had abroad?

SHELLEY: “In Peru, once I met the little lady (Margie) that I sponsor by means of Compassion Worldwide, it was actually life-changing for me. So intimate to be invited into her house and actually absorb how they lived. Spending time in her small and really sparse dwelling quarters actually made me reevaluate what was essential to me and make vital modifications in the best way we spend our cash. I had all the time recognized the significance of household and experiences over materials possessions, however I turned way more conscious that our time on earth is brief and we’ve to place time into what is actually essential.”

Denise shares about her twenty fifth marriage ceremony anniversary journey to Israel. “Every little thing was in bloom and it was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The place there was water, there have been bushes, flowers, vegatables and fruits and the place there was none, it was full desert. I noticed firsthand what it meant when Jesus says ‘I’m the dwelling water. Aside from me there isn’t a life.’ He used this tiny place to come back into the world and alter it eternally. The Bible turned extra actual to me than ever earlier than—with a brand new need for the world to know Him.”