VALDOSTA —
Given his involvement with the Labor Day Gospel Sing, many Valdostans probably think Brother Benny Daniels started the event which is now in its 22nd year.
Brother Benny talks about the sing on his radio show. He calls the press about the event. He creates fliers and posters for it. He touts it in his Cross Power News. And he’s been promoting it and helping organize the gospel sing for years.
No wonder many folks think he’s the fella who started the sing. I certainly thought so. I was reminded otherwise after running a story on the sing earlier this week.
Though Brother Benny’s involvement with the Labor Day Gospel Sing began in the 1990s, he didn’t start it.
Brother Colbert Croft and his wife, Joyce Croft, started the Labor Day Gospel Sing more than 20 years ago while pastoring Faith Chapel in Jasper, Fla.
Joyce Croft recalls people telling her and her husband that people would not attend a gospel sing on Labor Day. Hundreds upon hundreds of people proved the skeptics wrong and the Crofts right that first year. Thousands of people have attended the gospel sings each Labor Day since.
For the Crofts, starting a gospel sing seems only natural.
These are the same Crofts who have penned an estimated 5,000 songs. Numerous gospel stars have recorded many Croft songs. Brother Archie Watkins, scheduled to play this Monday’s Labor Gospel Sing, has recorded about 24 Croft songs. Gospel hall-of-famers Naomi and the Segos have recorded Croft songs. Marty Stuart and The Kingsmen lead a long list of singers who have recorded the Crofts’ signature song, “I Can’t Even Walk (Without You Holding My Hand).”
Other hits include “Flow Through Me,” “I Believe He Died For Me,” “Come Into the Presence,” and “Almost Home.”
Music brought the Crofts together. Colbert worked sound, recording the show, as Joyce performed in a music program. He asked her out. She went. They’ve been together ever since, married for 46 years.
Leaving Faith Chapel in 1998, the Crofts moved the Labor Day Gospel Sing to Valdosta. A year later, Colbert suffered a debilitating stroke. He has battled medical problems ever since. He’s spent most of this year hospitalized, Joyce says.
But the tradition of the Labor Day Gospel Sing continues Monday. With help from Brother Benny, several gospel musicians, and the hundreds in attendance each year, Brother Colbert and Joyce Croft’s dream of a gospel sing lives on. And likely will for years to come.
Dean Poling is The Valdosta Daily Times assistant managing editor.
Dean Poling
Crofts launched Labor Day Gospel Sing
- Dean Poling
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Alice W. Johnson
Alice W. Johnson, 55, of Valdosta died on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010 at the Langdale Hospice House following a lengthy illness. Services for Alice W. Johnson will be held at 4 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home with the Rev. Jay Watkins officiating. The burial will follow in the Riverview Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Langdale Hospice 2263 Pineview Drive, Valdosta Ga. 31602 or to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, 2121 SW 16th Street Gainesville, Florida 32608. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanefuneralservices.com. — Carson McLane Funeral Home
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