Indie artist Brian Bates released his latest video to media outlets last week, and I wanted to share it with you because I just loved the song and footage. The song, “You Danced,” was inspired by Bates’ recent trip to the province of Bo, in Sierra Leone in Africa. “Seven of the guys in my men’s group traveled with me to Bo, one of the poorest regions in the world,” says Bates. “We got to the first village, with no running water and no electricity; I’m talking the poorest of the poor. And there are all the residents waiting outside the village to greet us with singing & dancing! I jumped out of the van and danced with the Africans! It was amazing. Amidst those desperate conditions, I couldn’t believe they had joy. They clearly share some secret with Heaven that I don’t fully understand. It’s the very secret Paul talks about in Philippians 4:12 of having contentment in every circumstance. That’s when I got the idea for the lyrics to ‘You Danced.’ As much as I thought we were going to help the Africans, it turns out they are giving even more back to me, and teaching me about the true source of joy.”Regular readers of this blog will remember Brian’s very well written and heartfelt response to both Ray Boltz and Clay Aiken coming out of the closet. His response spurred a lot of discussion both on this blog and his website.You can learn more about Brian Bates and get a free download of the song “You Danced” by visiting Brian Bates’ website.Get the Gospel Soundcheck headlines delivered daily to your email inbox. Just sign up for the RSS feed by going to the “Subscribe” box on the right hand side of this blog and entering your email address. And follow me on Twitter!