Southern Gospel In The South

Southern Gospel Music has vastly changed it's sound, it's brand, and it's marketing appeal over the past two decades.  It's not the same music that I learned from Mama's living room piano, and it's not the same music that stirred my soul to receive Jesus as my Savior as a young boy in small town USA.  Maybe it's because I just turned "50" and the aging thing has begun to creep up on me -- but, I think I have a point here.  Bear with me.

Southern Gospel, as a musical genre, has it's roots in middle Tennessee with the appearance of the James D. Vaughn Music Publishing Company and radio broadcasts. circa 1900

Recently, the 'Gospel Giant' radio station which had broadcast to our beautiful Gulf Coast region for more than 40 years, sold to a mega-talk radio giant from upstate, and with sound fiscal reasoning given the owners' aging and health issues.  The Coopers who founded and broadcast from WOSM 103.1FM are personal friends and will very likely receive a plethora of crowns in Heaven when they meet our Heavenly Father.

Those crowns will be quietly and humbly laid at the feet of Jesus.  I have a hunch there will be thousands upon thousands of redeemed souls in Heaven alongside the Coopers whose lives were forever changed by the Gospel they heard from the airwaves on WOSM radio's broadcasts.

It is now Fall 2013.  More than 100 years since Southern Gospel was discovered in America.  On our beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast -- there exists less than a half dozen recognizable and reasonably well-marketed Christian radio formats.  Most of the 'gospel' music that permeates today's airwaves is geared towards middle-age and young adult 'soccer moms' who demand Family-Friendly programming as an alternative to the onslaught of hedonistic 'reality' TV and near pornographic Pop/Rock and Hip-Hop/Rap music.

Men and 'dads' are consumed with the ever-growing Talk Radio industry, which now fills the airwaves 24/7 with everything from 'no-spin' Conservative viewpoint blah-blah-blah to hometown rants over Big Government, to local high school sports scores, to the latest local scandal or controversy.

I must be honest with you.  I LOVE Southern Gospel Music.  And, I miss hearing that music most days.  Call me mushy sentimental.  Call me Bible-belt super-spiritual.  Call me old-fashioned.  I LOVE Southern Gospel Music.  And, I don't think I'm alone.

Recently, I asked a couple of buddies who love Southern Gospel to come alongside me and sing some of our favorite tunes for our church families and for a few community events.  We quickly realized that we are not alone!  There are still a few hundred folks like us who LOVE Southern Gospel.

I am reminded each time I sing 'the old songs' that Granny taught me as a child, just how beautiful the words and melodies were then, and how incredibly relevant they are NOW.  In an increasingly dark and gloomy world of famine, war, corruption, wicked behavior, and yes -- sin -- outright rebellion towards God -- I will declare it from the mountaintops ... I LOVE SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC!

Keep listening ... you're gonna hear more of it on your Gulf Coast!  With God's Grace, a little help from my friends, and a few hundred supporters of the cause ... Southern Gospel Music will survive on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

Governor Phil Bryant comments on U.S. education decline

Today, I commented on Facebook, regarding Governor Bryant's broadcast interview during an education forum in Washington DC.

After reviewing the videos of the interview again this evening and after re-reading the media coverage of this event, I feel that I need to clarify my point.

Governor Bryant seems to be the type of leader for Mississippi, who sincerely desires the BEST for families. I've not personally met Governor Bryant, but what I read and hear from him seems to suggest that he has deeply rooted faith in God, in the core values of family and community, and in conservative morality.

That said, I stand by my belief that the culture of our 'deep South', and specifically the attitudes of Southern Conservative leaders -- no matter their role or industry -- suggests that there remains an alarming divide between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' in our fair State.  Obviously, we all would want to agree that those who work hard, live productively, and 'do good' deserve the best of what life offers.  Right?

Well, most of us even here in the good ole USA realize that life does not always 'produce' the best for those who work hard, produce, and 'do good'.  Sadly, many in Mississippi are still living in great poverty and strife.  And, this breaks the hearts of those of us who are driven to compassion and dignity by our faith.

My sweet wife works in our fine city's public school system as an assistant teacher.  The student registry at her campus represents pretty accurately the diversity of race, economics, and culture of our city and region.  Her co-workers will attest that the children who attend our public schools are among the finest, most well-educated and well-behaved you can find in Mississippi.  We work very hard to encourage, inspire, and train our children well here.

We certainly don't suffer from extreme poverty in our fine city, but it exists nearby.  Homeless people walk our streets and invade private properties in our city.  Some of our children do in fact grow up to become 'career' criminals -- but that number is quite minimal.

Many precious children in our city go to bed hungry every night.  Most of those children live in homes where there exist tremendous emotional, financial, and yes -- moral dilemmas.  Single moms and dads work longer and longer work weeks, sometimes three jobs at once, just to keep the bills paid and the hungry mouths fed.  And, yes ... it is 2013 in America.  Shame on us for allowing these dreadful conditions to exist, if there is truly help wanted and needed in these homes.

I pray that Governor Bryant and all our Mississippi legislators and leaders are able to help us to become better at the task of educating our children, creating opportunities for success, and breeding an atmosphere in Mississippi which is conducive for such success.

There are many wonderful opportunities to succeed in Mississippi, despite the stereotypes from the turbulent 60s or the mocking and jeers of the pundits.

I was born and 'reared' in South Mississippi.  Much of my childhood experiences included living, working, and playing the 'Huck Finn' life on my grandfathers' farms.  I will be 50 years old this year, and have lived through some of Mississippi's worst history; but, I've also seen great progress and advancement in our great Magnolia State.

I love Mississippi and the 'working Moms' who made this a wonderful place to grow up, learn the truths of God's Holy Word, sing the songs of the South, and develop self-discipline and the good old Southern hospitality that people from all over the world have come to love about our little corner of the globe.

God's blessings on you Governor Bryant.  And on all Mississippians who desire to see our children grow up to be the greatest leaders in the world as we know it.

Mardi Gras Monday