Jesus Loves Me from a Six Year Old

I am in charge of the children's choir at our church. We don't have a lot of participation, especially at this time of the year. At most, we have 6 kids: 5 girls and Bear. Because of the small number of people, the kids learn the songs really quickly. A few weeks ago, we had finished practicing and had a few minutes left, so I decided to let each child sing a solo with the microphone, which is BIG FUN for kids. When Bear got up for his turn, he said he wanted to sing Jesus Loves Me, and since this is so familiar, I asked him to try it a new way. I began playing it in 3/4 time rather than 4/4 time. I sang a few words with him and then he said he got it. The next week I taught him another verse and then we practiced the whole thing. The other kids each took turns practicing their songs too. This past Sunday the children's choir sang in church. After they finished singing Thy Word, it was Bear's turn. The preacher handed him the microphone, he stood in the middle of the front of the church, and he was ready. Prior to this service, I had brought him over to the sanctuary early from Sunday School to practice, and he didn't want to. No matter what I said, he just would not change his mind about practicing. Apparently, he didn't need it, because he began singing and did an awesome job. When he sings, he really concentrates and gets into it, not in a dramatic, fake way like he's copying someone from TV, but in a real, genuine "I'm into this" kind of way. After he finished, everyone stood up and clapped. In the car, I asked him if he had gotten nervous, and he said no.

Next week is another girl's turn, and then the week after that will be Teency's turn. I don't think she enjoys it quite as much as Bear. She'll do it willingly, but she doesn't seem "into" it like her brother. The song she is working on is Amazing Grace.

Last night at children's choir practice, it was Bear's turn with the microphone. We started working on Meeting in the Air, an old PaPa song. When he first stood up there and held the microphone, he said, "I love doing this!".