We had another recording session here at “Studio 61” Recording Studio in Leland, the closest town of note to Brownspur, with members of the Mississippi Kairos Prison Ministry Music Team. We added a bass and tenor line to the vocals and instrumental tracks we’ve been working on a couple of months.

I got to the studio a little early to find Eric Fowler, the owner, busy recording “Strawberry Wine” and “Long Black Train” by a little girl with a BIG voice: Peyton Pierce from Vicksburg was accompanied by her mother and Godmother, and they were then headed for Tupelo to enter her in the Colgate Country Showdown competition.  

The proud mother, April, who was an old friend of Eric’s, was confident that God has something great in store for her 9-year-old daughter, and they were putting feet to their prayers as God seems to be opening a very special door for their family.

Rusty, the tenor, arrived just as Eric finished the CDs, and we wished them well as they went on their way.  I told April that they reminded me of my favorite poem, which was stuck by a rusty knife to the mess hall wall at the Woodstock Hunting Club.  

It goes: “He was a very cautious man, he never romped or played; he never fished, or played baseball, or even kissed a maid. And when he up and passed away, insurance was denied: for since he hadn’t ever lived – they claimed he never died!”

The point being that sometimes you step out on faith that God has opened a door, or given you a talent or gift that will bless others, if you have the courage to go ahead and start the journey. You go, Girl!  Watch for Peyton’s CDs, soon.

The Mississippi Kairos Music Team stepped out on a similar journey of faith over three years ago.

I’ve led the music for dozens of Kairos and Emmaus Walk weekends over twenty years, but the Music Team for the CMCF Men’s Kairos No. 16 is the first one to stick together. We’ve played for concerts in several states as fund-raisers for Kairos, and last year when Studio 61 had its Grand Opening, Eric recorded our live performance and we released it as a CD in November, strictly as a Kairos fund-raiser, the which it has done very well in Mississippi.

Encouraged by the reception of the songs and sales, we’re almost ready to release a second CD of Praise & Worship Music, and have had contacts from Christian Radio stations from coast to coast, literally. Who knows where this will go?  

We’ve practiced on Tuesday nights for these three years, and God has blessed us tremendously during that time.  If this’un doesn’t sell, at least Mike, Mark, Reece, Rusty, Stephen and I will have our Christmas presents covered for the next couple of years!

I lead the music at Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, and have for seven years come August, but one of the things I’ve missed the most about leading Choir and congregational singing, is that one cannot lead by singing the bass line of the songs.

I’ve sung bass in choirs, choruses, and groups ever since my voice changed: in high school, college, Navy, and several churches since coming home to stay. When the Presbyterians had a national schism forty years ago, I joined a Baptist choir for two years before I ever joined a Baptist church, so I learned all the Baptist hymns in the bass line.

Few people realize that denominational hymn books don’t include the same hymns, except for Christmas carols and the patriotic songs, so I had to re-learn Baptist hymns 25 years later when I started leading congregations.

Rusty and I were involved this day in laying down bass tracks, and I cannot tell you how good it felt to be able to sing that again! What a blessing!

We’ll finish up this P&W CD during June, and if you’d like to get a copy, you can drop your Uncle Bob a line at P.O. Box 6, Stoneville, MS 38776, with $15 plus $3 S&H, or e-mail me at unclebob_@yahoo.com and we’ll git ‘er done!

All proceeds go to the MS Kairos Prison Ministry: the guys and I don’t even get gas money out of it!  God opened the door, and we stepped through it, and He blessed this ministry with our music.  What door has God opened for YOU lately?!