Seniors give concert tour in Vermont

Roxanne McKnight with The Meteor

A musical group from Madisonville completed a concert tour across Vermont recently.

The Gloryland Singers, a group composed of seniors 55 and older, flew to Vermont and gave seven concerts in six days. Each concert was an hour long and consisted of hymns, gospel songs, solos and testimonies.

The purpose of their trip was to give encouragement and support to the congregations and pastors. Most of the churches where they sang had few resources and were consequently most appreciative of the group’s gift of song. Besides giving the concert, the group presented the pastor of each church with a book of encouragement. Their main gift, though, is much more than singing.

“We believe that our main purpose is not to sing in churches but to visit the forgotten generation of those in institutions and nursing homes,” said the group’s director Glen Jones. “There are thousands in our state. Our mission is to bring a bright spot in these people’s day through music, a kind word and a smile.”

Although Jones is the choir director of First Baptist Church, the Gloryland Singers include members of other churches, such as First United Methodist and North Madison Church of Christ.

The group usually travels and sings at venues like nursing homes in Texas for one or two days. For the Vermont trip, Jones started planning in 2007. He worked with Green Mountain Baptist Association in Vermont to work out the details of the trip. On Oct. 6, 14 members of the Gloryland Singers flew from Houston to Burlington, Vt.

For most of the Texans it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so in their spare time, they took in the sights of Vermont. They visited Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory, the Vermont Teddy Bear factory, a maple syrup factory, a business that makes headstones of granite and Montpelier, the capital of “The Granite State.” They even took a side trip to Canada since they were so close to our northern border.

Jones invites other Madison County residents to join the Gloryland Singers. The group is open to members from various musical backgrounds. It’s more an attitude he is looking for rather than virtuoso performers.

“We go with our heart,” he said. “That’s what touches people.

“It is my conviction that anybody can do this, and no one is too old to make somebody else feel better.”