…To the Lord! … For the Lord!
We regularly receive E-mails asking that we play a certain artist, and usually a particular song by that artist/group. Although we do not have the manpower to respond to individual requests, I don’t have a problem with receiving them, as I value this as useful input for knowing what you, our listeners, wish to hear. Except when it becomes evident that it’s a staged campaign – such as receiving several E-mails from different individuals within a short period of time asking for the same recording to be played. In many of these cases, we’ve already reviewed the requested recording and determined that the singing is not up to a standard that’s appropriate for play on enLighten34. (We do not take joy in this, but find that it’s our responsibility to demand a level of excellence for everything we present on XM Channel 34.)
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were admonished to not present as a sacrifice to the Lord, an animal that was defective or blemished in any way (Leviticus 22:21). As I see it, it’s no different today. While we no longer present burnt sacrifices to God, whatever the talents or skills He has gifted us with, we should be using them to the absolute best of our abilities in all of the works that we do … especially when they are directly in His service and meant to glorify Him and uplift the hearer.
What a singer gives to the Lord, offers to the Lord should be as “unblemished” as possible as well. You do not need to have the greatest voice in the world; however, it needs to be trained and used to the absolute best of your ability – which, for most people, requires work and dedication.
Booth Brothers
It’s all about excellence … a perfect example of which are the Booth Brothers, chosen this past year as the Southern Gospel Group of the Year by the readers of Singing News magazine, and to be featured in enLighten34’s first special of the new year. Check the Programming Page for the dates and times of when Dan Dixon spends An Hour with the Booth Brothers.
As a singing group, are you committed to achieving that honor some year in the future? If so, are you actively striving to be the best that you can be? (Of course, this applies to everyone, no matter what you do and are doing.) I’ve referred to Nick Bruno’s articles in SoGospelNews in the past, and they should be read and heeded by every Southern Gospel artist who has a goal of succeeding in his or her calling of singing for the Lord. In his latest article , Nick lays out his Ten Rules For Success … which include no references for needing or not needing a bus for touring. Of course, there are a few “shameless” plugs for using his services, but there certainly are worse ways a Southern Gospel artist could spend their $$ – which will be addressed in a moment.
Likewise, if you are satisfied with your present status, your present level of professionalism, you should not be paying a promoter big dollars to get you played on radio for the purpose of appearing on the Singing News or other Southern Gospel hit chart. And, you definitely should not be sending your CDs to us at enLighten34. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be singing for the Lord . . . it means that you may have your priorities wrong!
How do you measure success? It depends on what your goals and objectives are. Read Nick’s commentary carefully, then I believe you’ll be more ready to address this issue.
Another group that I’d like to draw attention to is the Southern Sound Quartet. Although we’ve played a few selections by them all along, I was not familiar with them until David Murray did a very upbeat review of their new recording on his MusicScribe website a few weeks back. Several days ago a copy arrived here at my XM desk. And, this past week I managed to carve out an entire day for listening to new Southern Gospel recordings, which allowed me to get through quite a few recently arrived singles discs as well as full albums. Personally, of everything that I listened to, I enjoyed the Southern Sound’s CD the most. You’ll begin hearing selections from it a week or two down the road, once the XM Library folks get all of the music and required data loaded into what I call our “giant digital tub,” which holds just about every piece of recorded sound that’s heard on any of XM’s 170 channels.
Back to the Southern Sound Quartet, this recording demonstrates that these gentlemen are committed to excelling at their craft of singing. I cannot tell you whether or not they have ever had a song on the Singing News charts, but they have been invited back for what I believe is their second appearance on the NQC Main Stage.
If every Southern Gospel group would follow Nick’s Ten Rules and commit to carrying them out . . . and to achieving the level of excellence demonstrated by the two groups I’ve spoken of here before ever recording another CD, the Southern Gospel music industry would rapidly gain new strength and bring new glory to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Marlin Taylor
