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‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ artist coming to town
Charlie Daniels Band concert will benefit Mexico mission

The Charlie Daniels Band will be in concert Nov. 18 in Columbus, and special tickets for churches and military personnel go on sale Wednesday. The concert will be at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts. General public tickets become available Sept. 1.

The concert isn’t on Daniels’ regular touring schedule but is a benefit for Laughing Child International, a ministry in Mexico to sick children.

Columbus native Shane Clark, who has also worked with Habitat for Humanity International and with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, oversees Laughing Child. Clark and Daniels have been friends for about a decade, when Clark worked for Habitat and Daniels performed for Habitat fundraisers.

“We want to introduce churches and volunteers to the ministry,” Clark said on a recent visit to Columbus. “Charlie is allowing us to use his celebrity to draw attention to these children.”

Daniels, 72, is known primarily for his No. 1 country hit, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry early last year.

Camp Laughing Child in Mexico is for children with HIV-AIDS. Worldwide, 2.3 million children are afflicted. Clark said it costs $30 to send a child to the camp.

Two new homes are planned for the Camp Laughing Child campus, outside Mexico City. The first, a boys’ residence to be completed by the end of the year, will bear Daniels’ name. The girls’ home will carry the name of his wife, Hazel. That one should be built in 2010.

Clark has ministered in Mexico for 2 1/2 years. He has done similar work among poor children in South Africa and in India. In 1999, he published a photographic book, “When I Grow Up,” for which Mother Teresa wrote the foreword. (The famous nun died in 1997.)

A musician as well, Clark’s latest album, “Deep Blue Hymns,” features a duet with Daniels.

Through the mission, Clark seeks long-term engagement between congregations and individuals and the children his ministry serves. He has a saying: If the Church will learn to cry, the children will learn to laugh.

“The answers are not more organizations or more institutions but healing relationships,” he said.

In his own book, “Ain’t No Rag,” Daniels has high praise for his friend Clark: “I am completely amazed by this young man. He has given up his whole life to be in service to the poor of this world. He spent years in India with Mother Teresa caring for the hungry and the dying, serving mankind at a level which few humans ever understand, much less aspire to. The stories he tells are heartbreaking. The number of destitute souls on this planet is absolutely mind-boggling. The need is so great and the resources and workers are so woefully inadequate.

“It would seem to be a losing battle, an insurmountable task, but to people like Shane it’s just another mountain to climb and they sacrifice any semblance of private pleasure or personal comfort to take just one painstaking step at a time.”

Clark is a graduate of Asbury College in Kentucky and completed master’s-level study with a mentor, Sam Kamaleson of World Vision International. He’s had one year of Ph.D. studies in Oxford, England.

The fall event will also feature a lunch and silent auction beginning at noon in the RiverCenter lobby. Clark is soliciting items (or vacation spots) of at least $200 in value. All bid winners will be able to meet personally with Daniels on Nov. 18. In addition, there will be a raffle for one of Daniels’ autographed fiddles.

Columbus-based musicians Jonathan and Lisa Moore will open the concert that evening.

Tickets range from $39-$79. Seniors, students, teachers and civil servants receive $3 off each ticket, and the military receive a $5 discount. Beginning Sept. 1, tickets will be available through the RiverCenter box office and at Tickets.com.