Roaming the stage -— and punctuating his speech with songs, accompanied by guitar and a Native-American drum – LaMotte challenged listeners to find ways to be of service in the world.
“Don’t write yourself off as unpowerful,” LaMotte said. The biggest obstacle to change, he said, “is our belief in limitations we don’t have.”
“To sit on our hands is not what we are called to,” he continued. “People say the small changes don’t matter. But look at history. Every single sea change in history has been made up of a series of small decisions.”
For example, he said, the success of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s can be traced back to small acts such as Rosa Parks’ decision not to give up her seat on the bus. Her action, in turn, was influenced by an earlier decision to take part in a training program for nonviolent activists, and by the action of an unknown person who invited her husband to attend a meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.
For LaMotte, the realization that he could make a difference came when he and his wife decided to honeymoon in Guatemala. While visiting a school there they learned that for only about $125 the school could be connected to a well and have running water. One thing led to another, and now LaMotte directs a non-profit organization that funds projects to improve Guatemalan schools.
LaMotte is the son and grandson and brother of Presbyterian ministers. Though he currently worships in a Quaker community, he has sung at countless Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) youth conferences, and calls the PC(USA) “a community that I proudly claim.”
LaMotte said he had been “chewing on this question of vocation” for almost 40 years. “I thought that I’d be rebellious, be a singer-songwriter — and here I am at a General Assembly. The Lord moves in mischievous ways.”
Currently on a “farewell tour” through several countries,
LaMotte will put his music career on hold next February to pursue a master’s degree in peacemaking at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
As Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly, told LaMotte following his presentation, “You may not be the preacher in the family, but you sure are a communicator of the gospel.”
The breakfast concluded with a service of morning prayers, led by members of the National Hispanic/Latino Presbyterian Caucus [www.pcusa.org/hispanic/caucus.htm].
GA News: Musician David LaMotte inspires 900 Presbyterians on ‘World-changing 101’
SAN JOSE -- Folk-singer, songwriter David LaMotte does not apologize for being an idealist. An award-winning musician with a Presbyterian pedigree as long as his hair, LaMotte told more than 900 at the General Assembly Breakfast that he had titled his presentation “World-changing 101.”
