June 29th article about GLIDE FOUNDATION's huge fundraiser lunch with Warren Buffett.

Hello from our blog. Hope your summer is going well. Here's an interesting article about the great success of the annual Ebay auction for lunch with Warren Buffett to benefit one of our 2008 San Francisco tour stops, Glide Memorial Church and their Glide Foundation.

Have a great summer - and feel free to send us an email. We love to hear where you're reading our blog from.

Email address: agapesingers@gmail.com

-- JEFF SMITH


Chinese investor pays $2.1M to eat with Buffett

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Chinese investment fund manager won the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett by bidding $2.1 million in the most expensive charity auction ever held on eBay.

Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund won the auction, which ended Friday evening with a bid of $2,110,100.

A spokeswoman for the Glide Foundation, which receives all the proceeds from the auction, identified the winner Saturday.

It appears that Zhao and Buffett share a similar investment philosophy. But Zhao could not be reached Saturday, and no one answered the phone at Buffett's Omaha office.

The auction will provide a significant boost to Glide, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. The foundation operates on a $12 million annual budget, spokeswoman Denise Lamott said.

"It almost feels like a miracle," Glide's founder Reverend Cecil Williams said in a statement. "We are amazed and ready to continue our work of breaking the cycles of poverty."
Last year's lunch brought in $650,100.

A group of Glide staff members and supporters gathered in a small hotel ballroom Friday to watch the auction results. Lamott said there were shouts of celebration when the bids topped $1 million.

"It was absolutely unbelievable," Lamott said.

Zhao and up to seven friends will dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City whenever the two men can schedule it. Last year's winners collected their prize only Wednesday.

Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is primarily known for his investing success. Berkshire owns more than 60 subsidiaries including insurance, clothing, furniture, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co.

But Buffett is also known for his philanthropy.

In 2006, he announced his plan to give away the bulk of his nearly $49 billion fortune over time. Most of his shares of Berkshire stock will go to five charitable foundations, with the largest going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lamott said eBay officials confirmed that this year's lunch with Buffett was the most expensive charity item the site has ever sold.

A beautiful Sunday and a beautiful Agape Singers Sunday morning back home....

What a great pair of worship services this morning at University Presbyterian Church. The Agape Singers were a huge part of the spoken word and singing during the services. Great job, ladies and gentlemen!

In my "I saw God" item, I mentioned the "clinker bricks" of the Donaldina Cameron House in San Francisco's Chinatown that were made that way by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.




I found this interesting account of the time during and after the earthquake written by Donaldina Cameron herself. It's from the "Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco" and describes her evacuating the young women and girls from their mission.......to.......the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo (our homebase for much of the week during our stay!).

Here's the account by Mrs. Cameron: click here

For more about the Cameron House and it's work, here's their site.

A reminder - to return to our blog just hit the BACK or <-- (left arrow) button at the top of your browser.

Glide Memorial .....and the Cable Car -- and our 1000th blog visitor!!

Thanks to the visitor to our blog in the last few minutes who put us at 1000 visitors since the blog first went up in March. Keep the visits coming - more new things to come -- and let's see how high we can get the hit counter!

For tonight's post, here's a quick glimpse of the visit of the Agape Singers to San Francisco's wonderful Glide Memorial Methodist Church. It's in the "Tenderloin" district of SF and has an incredible ministry to the surrounding community. Read more about Glide and it's history, mission, and outreach here.

The Agape Singers sang to a group of senior citizens at Glide that were very appreciative and touched by their music. Two of the people there stood up and did solos of their own - one in Filipino. The Agape Singers spread out and visited with their appreciative audience before we left.

We had an interesting presentation by one of the Glide staff in their sanctuary (which is huge - the ceiling must be three stories high). Several in our group said how much they'd like to be there for a worship service, complete with the Glide Memorial Choir and full band. I found the next best thing -- this short clip of the music from a service:


The Singers performed "Surely The Presence" outside of Glide Memorial, and received some applause from passersby.



From Glide, our intreprid travelers headed for the start of the famous Powell - Market Street cable car.



















And......some Agape Singers on location video from the cable car - complete with the distinctive cable car bell:

TGIF!

Happy Friday to all. I'll be posting more tonight so be sure and check back. If you're new to the blog or haven't checked in for a while, be sure and scroll down to see previous posts - they contain various written entries, pictures, and videos.

See you later with more......

Some pictures and a video from Chinatown's CAMERON HOUSE

For today's post -- here are some pictures from our visit, while in San Francisco's Chinatown, to the Donaldina Cameron House. An incredible outreach ministry and human services agency that's been around since 1874. Read more about it here. After our visit, we headed up to their incredible elevated basketball court with a gorgeous view of the San Francisco skyline.

...and....something that many in our group realized, was that the basketball court was the location for one of the key scenes in the Academy Award nominated Will Smith film "The Pursuit of Happyness":

some video from our stop at the Marin Headlands

As promised, you'll be seeing ALOT more content (writings, pictures, and videos) posted from the trip as re-entry is complete for all of us on the tour.

This morning, here's a short video from the gorgeous Marin Headlands, on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge with a panoramic view of the Pacific on your right to the Golden Gate Bridge to the city of San Francisco to the Bay. You can see the type of weather that we had most days (one of many things we're thankful for). More to come later so check back daily.....

back from northern California......the blogging goes on

Good evening. As I mentioned in the post below - we'll be adding to the blog regularly in the next couple of weeks with more pictures taken on the trip, along with videos, and more writings. As we share our pictures and other media with each other -- and of course, you, our loyal blog readers....you'll find new content here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to use our email address: agapesingers@gmail.com

Here's a group picture from yesterday (Sunday) at Portola Valley, California's Valley Presbyterian Church, where the Agape Singers were a major part of the 10:45 am service and did a 30 minute concert immediately following.



Here are the singers performing "May It Be" in the sanctuary yesterday. Wow - what a setting, with the glass wall facing out on that gorgeous Redwood grove. (my camera stopped a few seconds from the very end of the song......but most of this wonderful song was recorded)

Andy Byers, one of the Agape Singers, sends along this picture from our Wednesday visit to the Marin Headlands, right near the Golden Gate Bridge, on the Marin County side. From the summit, you have a panoramic view of the Bay, city, and the Pacific.

The Agapes have landed!

Good morning......

We're back, arriving at Detroit Metro airport today around 4:30 am coming in on the Red Eye from San Francisco. It was a tremendous trip and there are alot more pictures and videos and postings to follow so be sure and check back to the blog in the days to come. And......like the blog from the 2007 trip to Ireland - this blog will stay up and be updated.

THANKS so much to all that have been visiting our blog and keep it bookmarked. More to come.

Now your humble Blogmaster is going to get some sleep.

Signing off for now,

JEFF

Saturday night --- the eve of the final day of our tour

It's been another very long, but good day - so I'll make this pretty quick before getting to bed.

This morning, we left Santa Cruz where we stayed last night at the University Inn (owned by the University of California - Santa Cruz). We headed up Highway 1, north along the California coast to Ano Nuevo State Reserve (see more about it in the LINKS section). As we waited for our walking tours of the Elephant Seals birthing grounds and wonderful natural areas a couple of miles in -- the Agape Singers, never ones to waste any time, did some rehearsing right in the parking lot!

Then, we split into two groups, each lead by a naturalist and hiked toward the Elephant Seal area. As the light fog hung over the nearby mountains and then burned off, we saw many of the seal females and "pups" (some weighing several hundred pounds at this point in their development). They were up on the beach sleeping and just "chilling" as one of the kids said.

Read more about the Elephant Seals and this tremendous location along the coast at the website for Ano Nuevo State Reserve.

After heading farther up the coast, we headed inland to Portola Valley (near Palo Alto) and arrived at Valley Presbyterian Church. More to come about all of that in another post.....but, before heading off to home stays with members of the congregation and dinner at the various houses......the Agape Singers had a chance to rehearse a little in the magnificent sanctuary (with an all-glass back wall opening up onto a Redwood grove.

We'll all attend their 10:45 am service tomorrow (with the Agapes doing several numbers during worship) - then they'll do a half hour concert at 11:45 am for the congregation. You'll read and hear more later on that -- it's time to sign off from Agape Blog Central and get some sleep. Another full day to come tomorrow!

Saturday morning early update from Santa Cruz

Good morning. We had our first rain of the whole week on Friday afternoon here in Santa Cruz. It was a great day of weather before the rain started in the later afternoon - with the visit to the historic mission in Carmel (see the previous post for the link) and a drive along the gorgeous 17 Mile Drive pf the Monterey Peninsula. The day concluded here in Santa Cruz with a stop on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, on the ocean --- then a performance at Trinity Presbyterian Church for their Friday night meal for homeless men. A number of congregation members were also there and the church provided a nice spread of punch, cookies, and other goodies for the Agape Singers and leaders. The kids got a real kick out of that. Once again, these young people made us all proud with their spirited performance and you could see some real smiles and toe-tapping among many of the homeless men and there were alot of "thank-yous" as the group left. Here's the poster that they put together for the Agape Singers' performance.

The weather forecasts for today and tomorrow are supposed to be back to the great weather we've had ALL WEEK. This morning, we head out at 7:45 am on the bus for Ano Nuevo State Park, up the coast, to visit the Elephant Seals Birthing Ground. Here's the park's website to learn more. Be sure and click on the PARKCAST podcast for a brief audio background on the Elephant Seals and the park.

Later today, we'll head for our last stop on the tour, Portola Valley and the beautiful Valley Presbyterian Church. The minister is conducting an improvisational drama workshop for us mid afternoon, then the group will spend the night with families of the church. Tomorrow morning, we'll attend 10:45 am worship there, then perform a concert at 11:45 am for the congregation.

We head back on the red-eye Sunday night all night, arriving at Metro around 5 am on Monday.

NOTE: I discovered that I left out a letter on the email link in yesterday's post. If you'd like to email the group, just send it to agapesingers@gmail.com. I get the emails on my Blackberry and read them to the group when we're on the bus (which we will be for an hour or so this morning) or when we're in a central location. THANKS again for ALL of the many emails that we've gotten. It's really helped to reinforce with the kids how much they're a part of the extended UPC family.

I'll write more later.

THIS JUST IN - FINALLY I was able to upload a couple of videos from Wednesday's performance at San Francisco's majestic Grace Cathedral (one of the biggest in the US). Read more about the cathedral on the LINKS and in a previous post. Here's one of the two videos from there:

Friday in Sunny Cal-i-for-ni-a!

I had to pronounce the state's name like Governor Schwarzenegger would..... :)

Another sunny, comfortable day out here (George and Carol do a great job in planning these trips....including the weather)

We're packing up as I write this (7:50am) to leave San Francisco Theological Seminary and drive down to San Francisco for breakfast, near the Presidio. Then the bus will continue down to Carmel to visit the historic Mission San Carlos

Read more about the rest of the day in the post below.

I've been having some trouble uploading a couple of videos from Grace Cathedral in SF -- but will try again later and put up more pictures. Off we go again --- but let me tell you what a great job these young people are doing and bringing such spirit to their singing (and the way they act with people they meet and each other). University Presbyterian Church is served so well by the things they do (and the songs they sing).

I'll write more later - how bad was the snowfall back home?

Write us at agapesinger@gmail.com

--JEFF

Thursday 3/27 .....

Hello from our California journey where, knock on wood, the great weather continues. We heard about the 3-6" of snow that Michigan was supposed to be getting tonight - and .... we were sorry to hear that. It was another BUSY day out here - so much so that it's taken longer than expected to get updated pictures and writings up on the blog (by the time things wind down, it's
gotten pretty late each night). Tomorrow - Friday - is a day that we'll be able to get caught up on some postings.

First - let me say that everyone LOVES all of the great emails that have come in to our agapesingers@gmail.com email address. Even if we're out heading towards a performance or are leaving one or at another activity, I get the messages on my Blackberry and am able to read them to the group on the bus.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a tremendous experience as the Agape Singers performed at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. It's the third largest Anglican (Episcopal) cathedral in America -- and is incredible. (read more about it in the LINKS section to the right of the main blog page) The Singers performed and got a personal tour of the cathedral before heading to Palo Alto's First Presbyterian Church.

(below.....they're performing in the magnificent main part of Grace Cathedral)

Today (Thursday) the group visited the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. Read more about their wonderful work in the LINKS section at the right. The Agape Singers performed for a Senior Coffee Hour with many low-income adults in attendance. It brought tears to my eyes to see our wonderful kids singing and interacting with their audience, that was SO appreciative. One man got up and did a solo of a spiritual and a lady sang a religious song in her native Philipino language.

After that it was on to the cable car and the ride down to Fisherman's Wharf.

Tomorrow (Friday) we head down to Carmel the famous Mission there, one of the very earliest established in California. Then the Agape Singers meet up with the youth from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Santa Cruz.

Keep checking back here - we'll be getting even more up on the blog. We can't tell you how much we appreciate all of the visits that we're getting to it. The Sitemeter hit counter at the bottom of the page shows us where all of you are located and the kids are really getting a kick out of how much interest there is and all of the interest and spiritual support that you're supplying.

Day 4 -- Glide Memorial and Fisherman's Wharf here we come

Andrea - Peace Sign Take 2

More to come later! Have to run to Glide Memorial!

CHRIS SMITH

Day 3 (Wednesday 3/26) -- 11:55am California time - a couple of things...

It's me again --- be sure and check out the TWO postings below, which were uploaded this morning and late last night. Info on our activities today plus pictures......AND....be sure not to miss the two videos (under DAY 2) below that posting that we took at Muirwoods National Monument among the giant coastal redwoods -- it brought a tear to the eye to see and hear our Agape Singers singing in such a majestic setting.

Day 3 -- some quick things

Good morning from San Francisco Theological Seminary (our home till Friday) -be sure and check out the link for this -- and ALL our links at the right side of the blog main page to find out more about our various stops and performance places. The weather has been GREAT (highs in the low 60's - cooler near the coast --- and maybe a slight chance of rain this afternoon - when we'll be inside at Grace Cathedral performing). We head out shortly for the Marin Headlands (see the link) then into San Fran for Grace Cathedral, ending the day at First Presbyterian Church - Palo Alto (again - see the links for more info).

Here are some quick pictures from our visit yesterday to Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church, and Chinatown and the Chinese Historical Society, Donaldina Cameron House, and a wonderful small chinese restaurant that the locals told us about.

More to come later. AND - thanks for all of the nice emails from you to our agapesingers@gmail.com email address. I've been reading them to the group as they come in - so keep them coming. Everyone REALLY enjoys them. How's the weather today back home?

We'll write more later and post more. -- JEFF

Day 2 -- Muirwoods, Chinatown, and more

Hi:

It's been REAL long day (but a great one) and it's almost time for lights out (California time) .....so....I'll make this posting fairly quick. We visited one of America's great national treasures this morning.....Muirwoods National Monument, here in Marin County (north of San Francisco).
After a wonderful mile hike to the part of this ancient, old-growth forest of the tallest living things on earth, the Coastal Redwoods here, your Agape Singers performed a couple of their songs in the area known as Cathedral Grove.

We made it and what a great first day...

Greetings from San Francisco! We made it today after a very smooth 4 hour or so flight non-stop from Detroit Metro to San Francisco International. The weather when we arrived was picture perfect (60 degrees, sunny, with deep blue skies). You'll be able to see how great the weather was in the pictures and video below.

We headed right from the airport to the Golden Gate Bridge - where we walked the length of it, from the San Francisco side to the Marin County side (south to north). The bus had let us out south then was waiting on the other side. The walk was really fun and was welcome after sitting in an airplane a good part of the day. Plus - the view it provides, looking back at downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, the green hills all around, and the Pacific Ocean helped to give us all some perspective. We arrived at the wonderful San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo here in Marin County around 6:30 pm Pacific Time. Once rooms got assigned, we all walked into town for some terrific pizza. Cindy Hebner, Gwen Scott, and Mary Smith invaded the local Safeway for breakfast items and lunch fixings for tomorrow.

Tuesday starts early with Tai Chi here at the Seminary at 7 am for all - then we head out to Muirwoods National Monument near here to see the Giant Redwoods. After a picnic lunch out there - we'll head into San Francisco to Chinatown to visit the Chinese Historical Society and the Donaldina Cameron House. (please visit the links on the right hand side of the blog to read more)
More postings tomorrow and all week, so check back often. The kids love to see your comments so feel free to leave them on this post or drop us an email at agapesingers@gmail.com


The Agape Singers on the Golden Gate Bridge! (click on the PLAY button to watch the video)

I snapped this picture from the plane of the Sierra Nevada Mountains as we flew west:

The group today, before walking the Golden Gate Bridge:

Today is the day......San Francisco here we come!

Good morning. We leave right after noon for the "God's Love On Tour '08 - San Francisco" tour. If you'd like to track the flight -- click here - then enter the airline code: NW - then the Flight Number: 345. Once we depart (scheduled for 12:21 pm EST) you should see a real time map to track the flight.

Be sure and bookmark the blog and check back often between now and next Sunday to read postings from the tour members, see pictures, videos, etc. Remember, we'd love to hear from any of you by posting here (see below) or by dropping us an email to agapesingers@gmail.com

Thanks for your interest and all of your support!

--JEFF SMITH

when packing for the trip - remember the "3-1-1" rule for packing your carry on!

To members of our Agape Singers tour group --- as you're packing, you may already be aware....but here's the information that you'll need regarding how to pack liquids, gels, etc and the security checkpoints.

Here's a brief video giving you more information: click HERE

And -- here's the official site from the Transportation Security Administration (part of the Dept. of Homeland Security in Washington): click HERE

A video photo show from a San Francisco visitor accompanied by Tony Bennett's classic "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"

We leave the day after tomorrow!

As I write this I have Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" (from the video above) playing in my head and am sure getting excited to be heading out on Monday mid-day for San Francisco and the tour. From this point forward, check back often here and you'll find lots of updated content daily before, during, and after our trip.

If you haven't had a chance, be sure and visit the LINKS on the right hand side of this page. It has pretty much all of the places we'll be visiting and performing (and staying) between Monday 3/24 and Sunday 3/30. The ANO NEUVO LIVE STREAMING VIDEO of the seals is one of my personal favorites, plus the podcast that gives you some background on that area of the California coast. The site for the San Francisco Theological Seminary (where we'll be staying most of the time) is terrific -- and you'll be interested in all that goes on there, it's history, etc.

Here's a fun link to the San Francisco Chronicle's (major daily newspaper) webcam collection of constantly updated pictures from sites around the Bay Area -- click HERE

Also their excellent weather page is helpful for members of the tour group to see what the weather is currently and for the week: click HERE for that.

Finally -- feel free to add your comments to this post or any of our posts as the tour progresses. We love to hear from everyone, both right here in our congregation and others that might be reading the blog here, elsewhere in the USA, and worldwide (you'd be amazed at how many people find our blog each year).

If you have any questions about the blog, suggestions, need help -- or anything, drop me a line at
agapesingers@gmail.com

Thanks for logging on and Happy Easter to all!

--JEFF SMITH

March 9th 2008 blog update......

Hi:

Thanks to all of the friends and supporters of the Agape Singers that came to the concert and silent auction fundraiser on Sunday 3/2/08 at UPC. Our goal was $3000 and we went past that and raised $3500! Thanks very much to all of you.

Two weeks to go before we leave for San Francisco (on Monday morning, 3/24 - the day after Easter). I'll be doing alot of updating to the blog between now and then. Look for more links, pictures, etc. Remember - if you have suggestions, comments, or just want to say HI - write me here at Agape Singers Blog Central at agapesingers@gmail.com