Texas Music Journal » Christian and Gospel

Music at The Bridge

Tue, 11 May 2010 01:36:10 +0000

Recently, David Schechter of WFAA reported on efforts by the City of Dallas to battle chronic homelessness and highlighted The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center. Musicianary John Tracy is excited to be a part of a group of musicians and singer-songwriters who share their gift every Tuesday during lunch with the homeless population visiting The Bridge. He will be there again on May 11 from 11:30 to 1:00 and finds that his participation in this project really keeps his life and mission in perspective and provides an outlet for him to give to a community who might otherwise be overlooked.

Organized by John Fleming, Senior Pastor at Buckingham United Methodist Church, this program seeks to share the message of hope through music and provide a break in the every day routine of the chronically homeless that frequent The Bridge.

For more information on this music program and the artists who participate, contact John Fleming at revjohnf@verizon.net. For more information on musicianary John Tracy, visit www.johntracymusic.com.

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Jesus Team A, Jesus te ama!

Rick Matos — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:34:48 +0000

One of several musical highlights of the recent University of Dallas Ministry Conference held October 23-24, 2009 was Jesus Team A (JTA), a band with soul and talent to spare.

The name “Jesus Team A” is a play on words: “Jesús te ama” means “Jesus loves you”. But to tell you the truth, I think the feeling is mutual. Just like its names, JTA’s music displays a kaleidoscope of influences ranging from Rock, Soul, R&B, Latino, Jazz, and more. I’d be pulling your chain if I told you that I could actually pick them all out, but I’d be downright lying if I told you I didn’t enjoy their show.

JTA’s music dares to be different while at the same time universal. Its rainbow of melodic variations, chord progressions and syncopation is complemented by relevant original lyrics that tell you something, something you’ve always known, something you’d long forgotten, something you’ve yet to learn.

JTA is headed up by Vince Lujan of the Vince Lujan Project (VLP), and various of the members of JTA are also members of the VLP. While both bands have a crossover of influences and musical styles, each retains its own identity. Vince’s songwriting and guitar playing skills match his vocal presentation and make for a memorable performance.

JTA has released a CD album entitled, “In the Hands of My Father”, and the VLP has released a CD album entitled, “Echo Lab Revisited”. Needless to say, I purchased both of them and will be reviewing them in the future.

To find out more about JTA, check out their websites at:
www.jesusteamaband.com
www.myspace.com/jesusteamaband
www.facebook.com/pages/Jesus-Team-A…/101011205129

To find out more about the VLP, check out their websites at:
www.thevincelujanproject.com
www.myspace.com/vincelujanproject
www.facebook.com/pages/Vince-Lujan-Project/20937800018
www.garageband.com/artist/vincelujanproject
www.winamp.com/artist/the-vince-lujan-project

John Tracy joins Squeaky Wheel Tour

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:49:40 +0000

John Tracy joins an exciting event in its fifth year. The Squeaky Wheel Tour runs October 17th – November 4th. It is promoted by the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation and is a 19 day grassroots effort by artists to FIND missing people. John Tracy is really excited to be part of this event this year as the mission of the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation (to find missing people and bring families together) ties closely with the mission of his music (to build relationships, strengthen families and bring purpose and meaning to listeners’ lives).

During the Squeaky Wheel Tour, GINA artists use their platform as musicians (the stage) to make some noise about a local missing person. They ask attendees to take flyers to post throughout their community. People are FOUND every year. To date, since Jannel Rap founded the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation after her sister disappeared after a gig in October 2000, over 450 people profiled collectively by GINA artists have been found.

For more information on John Tracy’s Squeaky Wheel Tour dates, please visit www.411gina.org/squeakywheeltour.htm#tx.

For more information on the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation, please visit www.411gina.org..

For more on John Tracy and his music, please visit www.johntracymusic.com.

Performance Opportunity for Christian Musicians

John South — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:00:48 +0000

Event Name: University of Dallas Ministry Conference
Event Date(s): October 23-24, 2009
Event Time(s): 9AM to 7 PM

Event Location: The Dallas Convention Center

The University of Dallas is soliciting applications from performers, either as individuals or in bands, to provide Christian music in 30-min time slots throughout the two-day conference, the musical climax of which will be a concert with John Michael Talbot on Friday evening. Given that the projected attendance is expected to be about 3000, this is a great opportunity to perform in front of a good-sized audience.

In consideration of the valuable role the performers will play, the university will provide them with:

Publicity on the Conference website, including the Band’s bio, a photo and a hyperlink to their website.
Recognition on the Conference program book.
A 2-day pass to the conference for all band members, including admission to the John Michael Talbot concert.
Access to the exhibitor’s lounge for all band members throughout the two day conference

Do not miss this opportunity, apply now!
Online application www.udministryconference.com/music-performances.htm

IGNITE 2009 – An Awakening

Rick Matos — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Main Screen

In the midst of a stormy day, swine flu scares and school closings, the music and speakers at IGNITE 2009 lit a fire in hearts of the Christian masses. Some nestled beneath umbrellas or ponchos and others standing in the rain, one security volunteer described the attendees, “Come rain or come swine, the Christians are here to stay.” The sky was thundering but the music was thunderous.

On May 2, 2009, CW Festival hosted the “IGNITE 2009 Passion for God, Compassion for people & Justice for the oppressed” event at Burleson, Texas with the main purpose to awaken in each of us the spirit to make a difference now. The event, through major sponsors like the Student Discipleship Ministries (SDM), featured notable performers and speakers that lit the crowd into a blaze of praise.

Sanctus Real

In the beginning, there was Sanctus Real… a Grammy-nominated and Dove Award-winning Christian rock band from Toledo, OH. Matt Hammit (guitar and lead vocals) started the day with Chris Rohman (lead guitar), Dan Gartley (bass), Pete Prevost (guitar), and Mark Graalman (drums). It was an empassioned beginning despite the rain.

Then, the sky opened up, and the cleansing waters poured out upon the crowd. We were divided into two groups and directed to seek shelter in an adjacent gymnasium and stadium to wait out the passage of a first of several storm cells.

After we gathered again, Bethany Hoang of International Justice Ministries shared a heart-wrenching story of Elizabeth, a 12-year old victim of child slavery (human trafficking), sold by her parents to a brothel to supplement the family income.

Bethany Hoang

Even through all the torment, sexual abuse and disgust, Elizabeth believed in the grace, mercy and compassion of our God. The workers who rescued her from the brothel found inscribed on her bedroom wall the passage, “The Lord is my light and salvation. Whom should I fear… Though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.” (Ps 27) A truly powerful witness of unending faith and trust in our God.

Zach Hunter, a 17-year old slavery abolitionist and founder of “Loose Change to Loosen Chains” spoke and shared words of encouragement urging people young and old into action. There is no age limit to discipleship or to responding to God’s call within each of us.

Zach Hunter

Flyleaf turned up the pace and volume with a mixture of pounding rhythms (James Culpepper on drums), fiery guitar (Sameer Bhattacharya) and bass (Jared Hartmann) riffs, screaming vocals (Lacey Sturm) and pained sorrowful lyrics. The teen crowd responded to the music and lyrics with screaming cheers and rousing applause. Though Lacey confessed they were not accustomed to performing in Christian music concerts, some of Flyleaf’s songs were truly worthy of recognition.

Flyleaf

Then, the sky opened up… the second of several storm cells. Rather than merely wait out the storm, Billy Beacham of SDM gave those in the gymnasium the opportunity to listen to Pastor Francis Chan’s (Cornerstone Church) message on the need to respond immediately to God’s call to action, to not let ourselves be calmed, to rouse the boldness within us to be better disciples and apostles for Christ. Following a trashcan duo, we gathered outside again.

Kirk Cameron

Kirk Cameron, a.k.a. Mike Seaver of the television series “Growing Pains” and Buck Williams of the “Left Behind” films based on The New York Times best selling novels of Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, shared his message of strength of will, trust in God and real commitment to a Christian life.

David Crowder Band

Billy Beacham introduced The David Crowder Band after sharing a testimony of his daily struggles with the many hidden challenges to a Christian life. DC-B stirred the crowd, which appeared to be about 5,000-6,000 strong, with high intensity songs into a thunderous praise choir overshadowing the storm cell coming over the horizon.

Francis Chan

Finally Kari Jobe joined Chris Tomlin in a moving song that showed us the depth of her faith.

Kari Jobe

Pastor Chan gave a reprisal of his first sermon before the entire crowd and set the tone for Chris Tomlin and his band to take us through the waves of passionate and intimate praise of God our Father, Jesus Christ His Son and His Holy Spirit. We sang with Chris. We sang for God. We sang His praise.

Chris Tomlin

IGNITE 2009 will be remembered. We were awakened. SDM fulfilled its mission. I look forward to the next event hosted by SDM. Operated by Billy Beacham, SDM is a non-denominational ministry that provides Bible-based evangelization and discipleship resources.

Join the “Bzz” in Christian Radio

Rick Matos — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:28:01 +0000

Join the Bzz in Christian Radio

In case you haven’t heard, there is a new sound on the horizon. KBZZ radio (www.KBZZradio.com) is a new Internet-based Christian radio station in Quinlan, TX that is scheduled to begin broadcasting April 21, 2009. Owned and founded by John Porter, KBZZ will initially be broadcasting streaming-feed music and interviews and, soon afterwards, live features of all kinds.

John has repeatedly seen The Hand of God at work in this new project. From the healing of his wife and child to the donation of bandwidth and resources, the support of local churches, and even the use of terrestrial towers for soon-to-come worldwide broadcasting.

John started the radio station after feeling a strong call by God (thanks to his wife and others for being a pipeline for the message) to set up a Christian music based radio station to help churches, individuals, new performers, new singer/songwriters, bands, choirs and other Christians get The Word out, because he believes “The Church is the people.”

KBZZ plans to broadcast all types of Christian music, interviews and events. They are asking all Christian groups or individuals looking for airtime to visit their website or call (903-356-6230). They offer the opportunity to upload files for them to screen and air, so be ready to fill out the web-based form, include a bio, and send a picture along with your recording. On top of that, KBZZ radio is looking for experienced persons to serve as radio personalities.

In order to keep this going, KBZZ will need your support. Businesses, churches, organizations, bands and individuals are welcome to contact them to obtain advertising information.

If that wasn’t enough, John has decided to turn the tithing model upside-down. Rather than keep 90% and tithe 10%, John’s long term plan is to keep 10% and tithe 90%!

So, get to it and join the BZZ!

Christian music record labels in Texas?!

Rick Matos — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:30:35 +0000

Ever wonder who “The BIG Players” in Christian music record labels are? Ever wonder if there were or are any “players” in Texas?

The “size” of a record label can be measured by the number of singer/songwriters under contract with the label, the number of copyrighted songs administered in the label’s catalog, the number of “top tier” performers/groups under contract with the label, the volume of albums or songs sold, the net worth of the label, etc. So, while one label might lead under one measure, another label might lead under another measure.

One thing that is certain, the higher a label rates in each of the categories, the “bigger” the label is and the more successful the singers, songwriters, performers and groups of that label become, the “bigger” the label becomes.

Over the past ten years, there have been many changes in the Christian music industry. Labels seem to be bought and sold faster than you can pen a Christian song. One major thing that has happened, though, has been the continuing acquisition of the smaller record labels by the bigger mainstream record companies.

For example, Warner Music Groups (www.wmg.com) owns a majority of Word Entertainment (www.wordentertainment.com), which owns Word Label Group (www.wordlabelgroup.com), Word Publishing and Word Distribution (www.worddistribution.com), and Word Label Group owns Word Records (www.wordrecords.com), Fervent Records (www.ferventrecords.com), Myrrh Records (www.myrrh.com) and Canaan Records (www.canaanrecords.com). EMI Christian Music Group (which includes Sparrow Records (www.sparrowrecords.com), Forefront Records (www.forefrontrecords.com), EMI Gospel) is owned by EMI Group Plc, which was purchased in 2008 by Terra Firma Capital Partners. Provident Music Group (www.providentmusicgroup.com) is owned by Sony Music Entertainment (www.sonymusic.com). BMG Music Service (www.bmgmusic.com) owns Columbia House’s Power and Glory and BMG’s Sound and Spirit. All of these “big” record labels have helped the Christian music genre hit the main stage.

You might be surprised to know, however, that some of these “big” record labels were built upon the foundations laid by some “small” record labels that came from…… You guessed it, Texas!

The Christian record label known as Word Records was founded in Waco, TX in 1951 by Jarrell McCracken, a sportscaster for a local radio station. McCracken started with the pressing of a limited number of copies an album that included a single radio broadcast about a fictitious football match, entitled “The Game of Life”, between the forces of Good and Evil. The match was broadcast by the fictitious radio station “WORD”. The rest is history. Word Records now represents artists such as Point of Grace, Randy Travis, Nicole C. Mullen, Building 429, Meredith Andrews, Mark Schultz, Diamond Rio, David Phelps, Salvador, Stellar Kart, Remedy Drive and others.

In 1972, Myrrh Records was founded by Billy Ray Hearn, also in Waco, TX, as a division of Word Records. The label helped build a large following for Contemporary Christian Music. About four years later Hearn left Myrrh to form Sparrow Records. The Myrrh label was dropped by Word Entertainment in 2000, but five years later they re-launched Myrrh Records to focus on Praise & Worship music. Myrrh represents or has represented artists such as, Pocket Full Of Rocks, Women Of Faith, Worship Team, Amy Grant, Barry McGuire, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Randy Matthews, Nancy Honeytree, Mike Warnke, Malcolm and Alwyn Petra, GLAD, Billy Preston, Richie Furay, David and the Giants, Mark Heard, Steve Archer, Randy Stonehill, Leslie Phillips, Crystal Lewis, The 77’s, Salvation Air Force, Benny Hester, One Bad Pig, Phil Keaggy, Steve Taylor, The Choir, Cliff Richard … You get the picture.

And just in case you were wondering, there are about 80 independent Christian music record labels registered with the Texas Music Office (http://www.governor.state.tx.us/music/).

Texas can proudly claim its stake in the Christian music record industry!

You too can be a Christian music writer

Rick Matos — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:00:21 +0000

Some wonder whether or not they have what it takes to be a Christian music writer. What does it take to craft a Christian song? What inspires Christian writers? The answers vary, but the themes are the same: faith, surrender, life, commission and Grace.

Faith is the mortar that holds all Christians united. Each of us is a building block for the foundation of the Kingdom of God on earth. A Christian music writer crafts the masterpieces of his or her art upon this faith foundation.

Surrender is openness to God’s designs in our lives. We lay upon His mantle our plans with full knowledge and acceptance that His plans will change the roadmap we follow. Surrender opens our eyes, minds, hearts and souls to His touch. The Christian music writer surrenders to the will of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Their voice is the guide to his or her music.

To basic human perception, life is the sum total of our experiences on earth and the force which keeps us in motion. It is the period of time during which we occupy physical form and use our free will to follow the roadmap of our choice. Life is the time during which we rise or fall. The Christian music writer lives life as all do, sensing, observing, choosing, acting and listening and places these experiences into song.

We are all commissioned by God to act on His behalf. Many of the works of God are carried out by human hands. The common usage of this term suggests that we are to receive compensation or remuneration for fulfilling a commissioned work. Music of the soul is the work God has commissioned of the Christian music writer whose most important compensation is recognition that His music has touched or will touch the lives of many.

Grace is the salvation freely given to all who choose to follow in the footsteps of Christ. It is the gift that allows us to transcend from an abbreviated physical life into an eternal spiritual life. The Christian music writer sees Grace at work in life and captures its love and power in song.

In short, the Christian music writer recognizes God’s commission and freely chooses to surrender to His will by creating Grace-filled music about life.

Look about you and see life through new eyes. Be inspired. Be open. Surrender. Accept Grace freely given. You too can be a Christian music writer.

Christian music. What’s that?

Rick Matos — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:31:49 +0000

Did you ever wonder what Christian music most Christians actually listen to? Over the years, I have conducted brief (very non-scientific) surveys of some Christian friends to ask that very question. Here’s what I found out.

Among other things, Christian music is music about Christ, His teachings, or Christian living, and Christians, of course, profess a belief in Christ. So, you might expect that Christians listen to “Christian music”, and we all know what Christian music sounds like, right? That’s that. Not so fast. First of all, what IS Christian music?

Christians are a diverse group of people united by faith yet divided by religion. While each Christian religion professes faith in Christ and His teachings, each has its own unique combination of doctrines, dogma and practices. And, the stories and messages of Christian music are as varied as human nature itself, because Christian music is more than just songs preaching a particular life or faith. It is a collage of colors, shades and textures painted by individuals on an ever-changing canvas called life. Christian music reveals or promotes a Christian truth, sometimes by telling a story about life and other times by telling a life story. It promotes the good even though it may tell of the bad. It gives us a better understanding of who we are as individuals, societies or even as a race. Christian music, however, does not teach against Christ.

Not surprisingly, then, the spectrum of subgenres of Christian music available these days reflects the beliefs of the many different Christian religions. The songs are painted with the brushstrokes of cultural and ethnic diversity and include styles such as acoustic, folk, contemporary, alternative, gospel, praise & worship, pop, heavy metal, dance/techno, punk, hip hop, rap, rock, R&B, and more. As far as I know, Christian teachings or messages are represented in every type of music known.

So it is that, I and many of my friends, and maybe you and yours, own MP3 players loaded with songs that might not be classified as “Christian music” per se but which nonetheless reveal Christian truths. So it is that, we own songs performed or written by questionable characters not necessarily recognized as Christian. So it is that, we justify our continued ventures into the many genres of music in hopes of identifying new Christian music and performers.

I invite you to continue on your Christian music journey and share your thoughts and ventures with us at the Texas Music Journal on-line. I hope to hear from you.

God bless.