WELCOME TO COMMON GROUND MINISTRIES!

Common Ground Ministries is a singing and prison ministry based in Berlin, Ohio.  Their focus is the Ohio Corrections system which includes 32 state prison facilities and one Federal Correctional Institution.  In a typical year CGM will perform around 100 prison chapel services.

They also go to churches, camps, concerts, banquets,... wherever they are invited.  Their purpose is to present the gospel through song.

CONTACT US:     email: johnschmid@wifi7.com       Phone: 330-674-9862

THIS WEEKEND

You know you're getting old when you go into a record shop and everything you like is 99 cents.  You know you're getting old when somebody compliments you on your alligator shoes...  and you don't have any shoes on!
You know you're getting old when you try to do what I did last weekend...

Friday night I sang at a company picnic in Sugarcreek.  No problem.  Saturday morning I met an out of state friend for breakfast and then loaded up my van to go to Kidron to sing for a Hostetler reunion.  When I was done singing at 2:15 PM I left them to figure out how they are related to each other and headed for Harlan, Indiana (four hour drive) for a "Singing in The Park" sponsered by Sunrise Mennonite Church. 

So far, so good.  But I had received an invitation to be at the Cy Young Days Breakfast in Cy Young's home town of Newcomerstown, Ohio on Sunday morning.  Dean Chance, who won the Cy Young Award in 1964, was the guest of honor this year and he invited me to go along!  The breakfast and the events had nothing to do with prison ministry or singing, but I wasn't going to pass up an invitation by a Cy Young winner to be at his special event.  I left Harlan at 9:30 PM and headed for home.  Just before I got to Ft. Wayne, I got a call from "Singing in the Park" coordinator, Lael Barkman. 
"Where are you?" 
    "I'm on the road!" 
"Don't you want your CDs and your display?" 
    "Oh."

Doggone it!  I was so anxious to hit the road that I forgot my CDs!  Lydia is not with me, so I forget everything.  I turned around and and drove back to Harlan and picked up my CDs and the display and all the money that came in, and then I was forced to stop at Lael's house for some great coffee and fellowship.
I finally got home at 2:30 AM and slept real fast until 5:30 AM and headed for Newcomerstown.  I sat at the head table with Dean Chance and Ray Miller and a local DJ at the breakfast.  Some of the people thought I was a former athlete.  Yes, I gave up an illustrious career in baseball to become a singer... 

At 11:00 AM the breakfast was over and I headed home because daughter, Katie, had a friend visiting her from the Portantorchas Bible School in Costa Rica and she wanted to show her guest a major league baseball game (ie. The Cleveland Indians).  I got home in time to find everyone in the car with sack lunches and sunglasses and ready for Dad to take them out to the ballgame.  We fought the traffic and the people and made our way to the next to the last row in the bleachers in center field.  Katie had a great view of her fiance, Grady Sizemore (he doesn't know it, yet).  We had a great view, albeit far away.  And when it started raining, the last two rows of the bleachers have a porch type roof over them!  We stayed almost dry.  And the Indians lost :-( .

We got home for a late snack type supper. 

And I know I'm old.  When I was younger a weekend like this was no problem.  But, here I am, Monday afternoon, trying to stay awake. 

But, hey- to quote Lael Barkman when he gave me his fancy coffee at 10 PM: 
                                                                                                "We love life and we live large!"

Allow me to paraphrase Mt. 6:34-  "Live each day as if it's your last!"  (But don't make a habit of the aforementioned weekends.)


 




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