Salt & Light The Final Tour

WAITSBURG - A youth choir that has brought many Touchet Valley teens together for a positive purpose is embarking on its last tour after 15 years.

Pastor Mike and his wife Melissa Ferrians of the Waitsburg Christian Church have turned 15 groups of local teens into a singing sensation.

The final tour of the Salt & Light Music Ministry embarks June 15 and ends with a home performance on June 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Christian Church.

"There's something about kids and music and getting them up there having a good time singing," Melissa said. "We've been doing it for 15 years. It was not an easy decision (to end it). The kids love it and we love the kids."

The kids are in fact the reason Mike and Melissa began the youth choir. Fifteen years ago, Melissa said the community had a bunch of junior high school students who were musically inclined. She and Mike decided to organize the teens into a singing group that would perform a show called "Salt & Light," a vocal piece by Amy Grant.

It was important that the community have a youth choir because there weren't many options for music education all those years ago, Melissa said.

"They didn't have much in the way of music in the community other than in the schools," she said.

With 12 kids, the group worked all year on the music and went on a four-day tour to share their talents. Melissa said they couldn't tolerate the idea of practicing for so many weeks and showing off their hard work only once.

The tour and the program became an annual event and the group raises $7,000 to $10,000 a year to cover the costs.

Mike and Melissa truly know a lot about music and provide a great musical education for the kids. Mike studied music performance in college and had experience leading a youth choir. Melissa had been in a youth choir and had played wind instruments growing up.

"God gives people gifts and we put people to work," Melissa said with a cheerful laugh.

The kids memorize the Christian-based music and have even created and performed their own skits as part of the tour.

On the first tour, the group made its way to Seattle and stopped at churches along the way to perform and stay overnight. With only a couple of borrowed vans and sleeping bags on the tour, the students bonded as a family and learned their music could really make a positive impact on others.

"It really changed their idea of how God could use them," Melissa said.

After that first year with 15 kids, Salt & Light kept growing. Teens at the Waitsburg Presbyterian Church and even kids from Dayton got involved. And while the group had originally been meant for junior high kids, Mike and Melissa opened it up to high school-aged kids as well to keep them involved in music. The group has continued to evolve and has had college students and kids from Pomeroy, Dixie and Prescott as well.

"We really wanted to make it a valley thing," Melissa said.

This year, Mike and Melissa have 25 teens.

At choir practice on Sunday, the sound of voices in melody resounded through the sanctuary at the Christian church. The teens, very obviously good friends, giggled and teased each other. Mike clapped out tempo and Melissa directed. The group went through the different songs, practicing melodies and learning how to harmonize. There was no competition and no animosity - just a family gathered around a piano singing on a Sunday evening.

Keisha Phillips, a senior at Dayton High School, has been part of Salt & Light since she was in seventh grade. Some of her friends had been part of the singing group and she felt compelled to join in the fun.

"I really liked singing and the people here are so nice," Phillips said. "After you've been on one or two tours you really get to know (all of the kids). It's another family."

Their tour this year will take them south to San Francisco. The group went to San Francisco to mark its 10-year anniversary and they thought it fitting to return. On the way south, the group will stop in Bend, Ore., Redding, Calif., and then will spend 2.5 days in San Francisco. On the way back up north, the group will perform in Silverton, Ore. Melissa said the Silverton performance will be at a church's community dinner that typically draws 300 to 400 people.

As the group continued through the years, the show has evolved. There used to be a drama component, but now the show is all music and scripture reading, Melissa said. This year the tour is called "Journey of Faith" and will last about 60 to 75 minutes. While they still sing a song or two from the original show, most of it is new contemporary Christian music. Many of the pieces were even written by Mike.

"We really want to provide that connection to experiencing music," Melissa said.

The reason for the end of the tour seems logical. Melissa said kids are now busier than ever and it's hard to get them to rehearse all year long. Also, she and Mike are working more and keeping up their new house. But, Melissa wants everyone to know it's not because they don't love it anymore. And after a year's break, the couple will evaluate and make a final decision on the youth choir.

"It's not about not working with the kids," she said. "It feels like it had come full circle."

Through the years of touring, Melissa has seen for herself how uplifting and healing music can be for those performing and for those listening. She has especially seen a change in herself. Over 15 years, she and Mike have taught about 200 kids who they have treated as their own.

"They do a lot for us," Melissa said. "They're a real blessing in our lives."

For Phillips, she said she has become more open and secure around other people after participating in the youth choir for so many years. She plans to study at the University of Washington next year and she hopes to find a choir there so she can continue singing.

"But I don't think (another group) will ever compare," Phillips said. "(Salt & Light) is not something you'll ever forget."