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March 2000 Table of Contents
Just A Little Talk With...
Geron Davis
The bottom line for Geron Davis is ministry-whether rehearsing with a choir, performing at choral conferences, singing in a concert, or writing songs. And music ministry has always been a way of life for both Geron and his wife Becky. Invest a few moments with Geron and you'll quickly discover that. We had that very privilege in a recent interview with Geron.
Communicator: The last time we spoke, you had just had a pretty incredible experience in finishing up It Took A Lamb. Tell us what's been happening since then.
Geron: We are working on a new album, which is going to be an artist album and unlike the choral things we have done, although there will be several choir-friendly things on it as well.
I've been on the phone planning the finish to some solos, doing some more tracking with Bill Gaither, finishing the solos on the Homecoming Praise 2 project and working on the new Lifeway project for Robby Heiner and Thomas Road Baptist Church.
And earlier this morning I played somebody a song off of the new power pack from Praise and Worship Music Network, so it's real interesting that I find myself in so many different roles all the time.
On the contemporary side, I have been talking with Craig Dean of Phillips, Craig and Dean. I have spoken with Kim Hill recently, and Margaret Becker and I have been working on a couple of songs. It keeps me in touch with what is going on over there and what we are doing on this project.
The Lifeway project that I am doing with Thomas Road is kind of a different project. It is kind of aggressive for them, and it's a little more aggressive than what Lifeway has typically done. In my meetings with them, I have gotten the sense that they aren't praying "God bless what I am doing," nearly as much as "Lord, we want to do what you are blessing." They very much want to keep their fingers on the pulse of the church and just meet the needs of people. I feel real good about the new Homecoming Praise 2. And I am involved with Bill and the Homecoming series and events. Every day I find myself in multiple situations stylistically and creatively.
Then there are situations where my son has trouble with his drums-something won't stay tight, etc. So I'm playing the role of mechanic and dad, and sometimes Becky just hands me a list and says "go to the store and pick this stuff up" and I become errand boy! I find myself in multiple roles every day and I love it. It allows me to seek different phases of the body of Christ and the music realm. But in reality what I do is not really much different than what the Minister of Music at a local church does.
Communicator: Elaborate on that thought.
Geron: Ministers of music, if they are going to successfully minister to their congregations, are going to have to put themselves in each of these roles. Because what they have to understand is there are people in the congregation that came over on the mayflower, as well as 15 year-olds who may not have been raised in a Christian environment, may be babes in Christ and are totally into contemporary music. And then there is everybody in-between. There are some who are just content to being the music director, and that simply means keeping the powers-that-be happy, job security and just "doing the Christmas and Easter thing and one new song every week and two new praise choruses a month."
Communicator: But that's not meeting needs, it's not ministry.
Geron: That's right. If you are going to be an effective music minister it requires one thing. It requires learning and knowing at an intimate level the people to which you are ministering. And Jesus said "no greater love hath any man than he would lay down his life for a friend," indicating, I believe, that we should become friends with people who we minister to. That means I have to get to know the teenagers, the middle aged people and the older people in the congregation. Probably the highest compliment that we were ever paid as serving as minister of music is that 'we did something good for everybody.' But that didn't mean that I loved all the music. There was some stuff that I did that I just personally didn't like, but I knew that there were enough people in my congregation that did like it that it was worth doing it and getting them involved in it. So I would learn enough about it to be able to do it. The good thing is people learn to trust and understand. They learned that at the end of the service everybody would be ministered to. And we wouldn't try to play the rainbow game in each service. In the course of a month I would try to make sure that on a regular basis I effectively tried to touch everyone with the different kinds of styles to minister to those people. Consequently what happened is, people who liked one particular style began to appreciate and warm up to new things.
Part two of that is making sure their congregation feels that they are accessible to them. I used to walk through the church early and shake all the old peoples' hands and look at people who had new babies and pat them on their backs and go to kids' recitals, etc.
Communicator: Sounds like a politician!
Geron: That's exactly right! It feels like you are running for public office-but you've already got the office. The key is by stretching yourself for them, then you can stretch that congregation and you can stretch those people who might not like this style or that style, but if you have become their friend. I can't tell you how many little old ladies have made pies, big ol' cakes, banana puddings, big pots of red beans and rice, chicken casseroles.and call me up and say "I've got something with your name on it." There's a lot of fringe benefits!
What happened was that I had bought myself a huge hunk of their hearts. Suddenly, those folks were not just parishioners of the church where I was on staff, they were my friends! I was their music minister. They suddenly felt ownership of me and at that point two things happened.
Number one is that they feel the right to criticize or critique anything you do.
Number two, it opened opportunity for me to share ideas about new music with them. And I effectively ministered to them by letting them know they were important to me.
Communicator: Why don't you tell us how God is working in your ministry.
Geron: God is broadening what we are doing. This new project is different than music we have done in the past but it definitely won't replace the choral! We will continue to do choir directions and praise things with Integrity. And we will continue to do southern gospel with Bill Gaither. It's just a new facet of what we see God is leading us into and it is real exciting-especially from a creative standpoint! Becky and I write songs that are choir songs. We write southern gospel songs. We write songs that are contemporary. Being able to work with artists that are of a contemporary vein has really helped us a lot, broadened who we are, and allowed us to say things about God, about life and people in different styles and ways. This allows us to minister to a different arm of the body of Christ, if you will, and that is exciting. We see what we do as a 'body' ministry, and we want to effectively touch the lives of people everywhere .
Communicator: And in your life-
Geron: Becky and I find ways that we can pull ourselves into other ministries and we support other things and to try to keep ourselves balanced-understanding the whole world and the kingdom of God doesn't revolve around us and what God is doing through us. His kingdom is big and his family is a lot of people! We are trying to stay focused and in balance and say we are just a small part and not get so blinded that we can't see the forest for the trees. We attend Christ Church actively when we are in town. We are involved in their music conference, and we help lead worship from time to time, and we are involved there as church members. But one of the most improtant areas of our lives now is the training of our children.
Our daughter is 10 and our son is 6, and they attend a great Christian school. But one of the things they learn there in addition to top rate academics is Scripture, and everything has a spiritual emphasis. Becky and I have taken on the role of instilling in our children a love of: God, His word, His kingdom and His people. Our son plays drums and loves to sing, and our daughter just finished her third kids' video with Gloria Gaither.
Communicator: Tell us about Homecoming Praise 2, and is this going to be a continuing series?
Geron: The Homecoming videos have been, and Homecoming Praise has a 1st volume, and it was a good project. While the vocals and trax were taken directly from the videos, the voicing isn't exactly what choir members are used to. Singing that southern gospel harmony, you almost have to have been raised on it to understand it, and for some, the voicing and some of the stuff is a little hard to follow.
The second thing is they lacked orchestrations. So we decided that we would make this a little more 'choir- friendly.' We would retain the sound-that warm, down-home sound and at the same time tweak it so the parts make a little more sense. So it's easier for choirs to pick up quickly. We orchestrated these things so that the rhythm section and the orchestra can follow along with the entire department. So if you didn't want to use a track, we made it a little friendlier, while still using that sound. And of course we used Russ Taff, Jessy Dixon, Candy Hemphill-Christmas, Sue Dodge, Joy Gardner, Becky Davis, The Martins and David Phelps-a whole slough of people, and the choir. So it gives you the opportunity to either bring in some of those people, or churches with trios and soloists and duets that can cover those parts can form their own "homecoming" group. It offers a big variety, and as long as the videos and music continue to do well then I think Bill and Gloria are committed to equipping the church with what they need to meet the needs of the people.
Communicator: Tell us about your ministering to Wedgwood Baptist Church.
Geron: Well, we called them when all that happened just to say we were praying for them. They got the staff around the phone and I sang to them over the phone, then Becky and I were able to go down there and minister to those folks just a few weeks after that happened. There was a lot of press there, TV, radio stations, etc. that wanted to cover it and I just said "No, it's not a media event, we're here to minister and these folks don't need more microphones and cameras stuck up in their faces." I told them, "I'll be glad to talk to you some other time, but no media allowed in this service." I think that ministered to those people, and that's what we're all about. That was a wonderful opportunity for us because you know, it was not just a concert -we were pouring ourselves into the very lives of people.
Margaret Becker and I wrote a song the other day that's going to be on the new album, and it features the Wedgwood Baptist youth choir. This song is the crux of what I'm trying to say. All of us have struggles, all of us try to wear multiple hats, and all of us try to figure out, "How do I find that balance to effectively minister to my people, keep people happy and keep everybody's musical tastes broadened?" That becomes a big issue sometimes, but that's not the bottom line. The bottom line is making sure that, as one old preacher said once, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." And one of the lyrics we wrote says:
"Fighting the fight, keeping the faith,
Standing for Jesus another day,
Taking His banner and holding it high,
with all that is in me,
I'll keep on fighting the fight."
Communicator: That's a great analysis of the Christian walk, isn't it?
Geron: That's what it's all about-whether you're a songwriter, a minister of music, arranger, instrumentalist, choir member, a dad, husband-however many hats you wear. The main thing is in all you're doing, that you fight the good fight for the cause of Christ- that you're lifting Jesus high. And we're all gonna mess up sometimes, in our attempts to be all things to all people -we're just human. But I believe if the motive is right God will help us. If we'll take one step, he'll take two. He will help make up the deficit in our shortcomings, giving us the strength we need to make it. Motive is everything, and keeping His cause and fighting the fight is the bottom line.
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