danielbritt.com

Here's a video we recently shot while following Janet Paschal to Duke
University for her six-month checkup for Breast Cancer.

The video is here:

http://janetandfriends.com/2009/06/my-6-month-check-up-2/

-Daniel Britt
http://www.danielbritt.com

Here is a specially produced piece with clips from Eva Mae LeFevre's last
interview before her death this past Monday.

-Daniel Britt
http://www.danielbritt.com

Labels: audio / podcasts

Today, the news was not good...for us. Eva Mae LeFevre passed away around
7:25 a.m. local Atlanta time. She had become a good friend and encourager of
mine. I just posted the official news release to her website,
http://www.evamae.com. It is as follows:

Eva Mae LeFevre, Home at Last

Eva Mae LeFevre passed away at 7:25 a.m. on Monday, May 18, 2009, at age 91.
She had been hospitalized in April for pneumonia at which time doctors also
discovered a fractured hip.

Please stay tuned for service details as that information becomes available.

Known as the First Lady of Gospel Music, Eva Mae LeFevre became the first
living woman to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1978. Ten
years later, she was the first gospel music inductee into the Georgia Music
Hall of Fame. Eva Mae first began singing and playing the piano as a young
child at her father's church in South Carolina. In 1934, she married Urias
LeFevre and began a 40 year journey leading The Lefevres, which became one
of the most beloved groups in gospel music history. Eva Mae's trademark alto
voice and piano artistry became a defining influence for the LeFevres. The
group became staples on WGST radio, based out of their hometown of Atlanta,
Georgia. They later pioneered a gospel music television program, The Gospel
Singing Caravan, while touring as many as 100,000 miles a year across North
America.

After attempting to retire years ago, Eva Mae could never walk away from her
love for gospel music. She continued to delight audiences across North
America throughout her twilight years, both through Gaither Homecoming
appearances and solo concerts. Today, she has joined her husband in
eternity. Her spirit, her dignity, that flawless alto voice and contagious
laugh, her quick sense of humor and unshakable faith in Christ was an
inspiration to us all. She will be sorely missed.

-Daniel Britt
http://www.danielbritt.com

Labels: commentary

Labels: audio / podcasts

So this weekend brought backyard work my way. We're preparing to clear out ground covering and killing overgrown kudzu to make way for a privacy fence.

I do like power tools!

Labels: audio / podcasts

As I put pen to paper, at the radio station where I work, we have had to delete a song that has received a ton of complaints. (I did not like doing it, but the people really do have a voice.) At the risk of sounding self-righteous in my understanding of the song's meaning, and putting down people for being narrow minded Christians (certainly not my goal), I do have a few questions that are meant to be my attempt at understanding something that is so basic to the message of the Gospel.

The song is "Jesus and John Wayne," performed by the Gaither Vocal Band.

The meaning of the song, in my mind, is as follows:

-Christians are just as human as non-Christians

-we live in a fallen world, so when you get 51% right, rejoice!

-our sin is not the issue, Christ's love, grace, and endless forgiveness is the issue. We obsess so much on our sin, when Christ took care of that on the cross. It's covered! We instead should obsess on Him.

-God loves us on our good days and He loves us on our bad days

-Sanctification (the process of getting better and better) is the work of the Holy Spirit, not ours. If it's up to us to get better, I don't have a prayer.

Now, maybe they don't like the sound of the song. Maybe it's not catchy enough. Maybe it sounds elementary. Maybe it's too country. But, why do some think the song is comparing Jesus to John Wayne (it's not) or giving a brief for sin (it's not doing that either)?

"Jesus and John Wayne" is simply an expounded illustration in lyric of Paul's frustration in saying "the good I want to do, I don't do and the evil I don't want to do, that's what I do."

This quote from a Bible teacher I heard the other day, Dr. Brown, is quite profound: "The only people that get any better are the ones who know that if they don't get any better, God will still love them anyway."

That truth is freeing.

Didn't our guy say that?

"You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

So my original question: why are so many Christians afraid of that message? Why so much hatred of this song?

I'd honestly like to know. It's times like these that make me want to run! Or, to quote another line from Dr. Brown, makes me consider going into vinyl repair for a living!

-Daniel Britt

Labels: commentary

Harold Reed of the Kingsmen mistakenly sang the wrong word in "Look For Me At Jesus Feet," changing the whole meaning of the song.

The Morning JoyRide interviewed Harold about his mishap. Here's the interview, as posted with pictures by Brandon Reese of the Kingsmen Quartet:



The original performance YouTube video is here:

Labels: audio / podcasts

It's no longer a mystery or secret to keep. Tell the world! Southern Gospel programming not only survives the Sirius-XM merger, but flourishes on BOTH satellite platforms!

enLighten and its programs, including Daniel Britt & Friends and The Gospel Greats, will continue to be heard on both XM at channel 34 and on Sirius at channel 67.

In addition, the Gaither Homecoming Radio show is added to the enLighten family of programming.

Early estimates that I've seen for the combined Sirius+XM audience ranges as low as 17 million, and as high as 19 million. (The official number released by Sirius XM PR is "18 million.")

Another byproduct of this merger is the continued partnership between XM & DirecTV and Sirius & Dish Network. These satellite television services provide a simulcasted audio feed to their subscribers.

Certainly unofficial, I did a quick tabulation of subscribers to XM, Sirius, DirecTV, and Dish Network, and came up with a ballpark just under 50 million subscribers.

While that's strictly a very quick ballpark, it shows that Southern Gospel has a real chance to prove itself to an incredibly large number of people. Let us not disappoint!

Labels: commentary, news and updates