The more Randall Goodgame travels the world, the smaller it appears to him. “The body of Christ really feels less like my homechurch and more like the whole world,” says Goodgame, a 30-year-old songwriter for Caedmon's Call.
Goodgame, who lives in the Nashville suburb of Spring Hill, Tenn. with his wife Amy and their two children, shared in words and music his experiences on missions when he performed Sept. 24 at the Climbing For Christ “Share the Wealth” benefit at Hope Lutheran Church in Greece, N.Y. The concert was a fund-raising event for the Mission: Haiti church-building project. Proceeds will go to the construction of a church in Jeantilhome, Haiti, where 100 hillpeople currently worship in a thatch-walled, roofless church.
“I am thrilled and honored to be a small part of the ministry at work in the Lord for Haiti,” Goodgame says. “Climbing for Christ is responding to the call of Christ, and out of their affection for Him, His people are walking into obedience. I praise God for the people here and in Haiti that are working together as the hands and feet of the body of Christ. And I thank Him for the opportunity to join with His people and His plan to build a church in Haiti.”
Goodgame has been on mission trips to Ecuador, Honduras, India, Mexico, and many places in the United States, including Fairmont, W. Va.
He traveled to Ecuador and India in the spring of 2004 with Caedmon's Call for the album, “Share the Well.” Goodgame wrote the title song as well as “There's Only One (Holy One),” “Mother India,” “International Love Song,” “All I Need (I Did Not Catch Her Name),” “Sarala” and “Dalit Hymn.”
Goodgame has been writing songs for 15 years. He got his start by writing a song for a high school talent show.
He has been associated with Caedmon's Call for four years.
“They had an opener cancel and they called us to fill in,” he says about his debut with the group. “It went well and after I had been touring with them for a while, they asked me to start writing for them.”
He wrote “Hands of the Potter,” “Only Hope” and “Mystery of Mercy” (with Andrew Peterson) on the 2003 release, “Back Home.”
In addition to the Goodgames' singing and playing, Climbing For Christ president Gary Fallesen made a presentation about Mission: Haiti. Fallesen, his son Jesse, and Johnathan Esper were on the Mission: Dominican Republic team that the Lord took to Jeantilhome in June 2005, when we made the pledge to build a church for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in Haiti.
We come from different worlds, but missions – such as Climbing For Christ's trip to Haiti or Goodgame's trip to India – broaden horizons and shrink the space between us.
“India feels like my neighbor,” says Goodgame, “which sheds new light on scriptures like Luke 10.”
|