Friday, June 15, 2007

The Heart Warming Story of Britain's Paul Potts

My family and I enjoy watching "American Idol." We particularly have fun cheering for people who strike us as humble, ordinary individuals who have been gifted by God with an extraordinary talent.

Great Britain has their own show called "Britain's Got Talent," produced by the same Simon Cowell of "American Idol." A young car phone salesman by the name of Paul Potts recently auditioned for the show. He has now become all the rage of Great Britain. The first video is his initial audition; the second video is his stellar semi-final appearance where he sings one of the most spine tingling performances of "Nessun Dorma" you will ever hear.

“It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.” Charles F. Kettering

Enjoy both videos.



16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Wade,

What a wonderful reminder just before I pillow my head... "That there is always one more thing to know about a person" (Oswald Chambers, I think). God has placed so many "gems" in our lives and we should make sure that we do what ever we have to do to encourage each of them to "sing" the song God has given them.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely incredible!

A voice like Groban's and Pavar0tti's combined.

Bill Scott said...

Wade,
I didn't know Peter Lumpkins also lived under the alias of Paul Potts in Great Britain. I knew that guy had a double life!

Debbie Kaufman said...

I'm blown away. He has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard.

Anonymous said...

Wade,

In case you missed my pastoral blogging piece, you can turn off the "surf" function that pops up after the playing of the video by adding

&rel=0

to the end of the embed code. That way, no one can surf to things with which you might feel uncomfortable while still on your site.

Or not. Great story.

Art Rogers

wadeburleson.org said...

Thanks Art,

I'll fix that.

Wade

Anonymous said...

Excellent post, Wade. Thanks a lot for sharing it.

What a heartwarming story. It's obvious he has struggled with self esteem in his life and it's genuinely refreshing to see him sing, smile and be accepted with open arms.

Wow! What a talent.

Now, I wonder what he would preform on "Country Music Night."

:P

Anonymous said...

Wade, thank you so much for sharing! He made me cry. Imagine if he had stifled his talent trying to "fit in" in an attempt to feel better about himself. What a great lesson for us all, to just be who God created us to be.

BTW, do you think we will see a gospel album by Melinda Dolittle in the near future? I sure hope so!

Kay S.

volfan007 said...

wade,

this guy has major talent. what a great story too! i just wish that he'd sing "song of the south" or "freebird."

david

wadeburleson.org said...

Kay,

If Melinda does a gospel CD, count me at the register. :)

Marty Duren said...

You can count me at the register no matter what kind of CD she does.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Wade for sharing this wonderful story. I think most of us have some Paul Pott deep down inside us...a little shy...no self confidence.

I am speechless.

Kristy said...

Wade,
Thank you for this post. I listened to Paul several times and each time he brought tears to my eyes and also to my husband. And I'm normally not a fan of opera. By the way, I checked the show's website this afternoon, and Paul won-he's the grand prize winner and will be singing for Queen Elizabeth and making a CD! What an awesome talent!
Kristy from Tulsa

Robin Foster said...

Wade

Let me say that I am in 1000% agreement with this post!

And to think, it took a pop show to bring us together. :-)

Anonymous said...

Dang...Becca was telling me about this guy. The Sanders household loves American Idol as well. I am a huge fan of Chris Sly and his band. I am particularly fond of him because he got himself kicked out of Bob Jones University, which isn't hard to do.

Here are our little American Idols
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG7V7sP473U

They made their debut last Christmas.

Great post Wade!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the reminder that beauty and grace can show up in unlikely places.

-Barbara E.