It’s been a long time coming but we’re here, now. Of the many things I am and am known for, music is one of the least known, it seems. Each week, I serve at church as Minister of Music while through the week, I work as a freelance journalist and broadcaster when I’m not in the classroom subbing.
At one point in my life, I aspired to record and release music. This was a dream of mine for many years until around 2012 when I discovered a passion for broadcasting. I’ve always loved music and Word ministry so the opportunity to merge them presented an unforeseen opportunity. SoulProsper Radio was born and with it, a life of journalism. I created shows in my home studio and reached as far as the Little Cayman Islands and Manchester, England.
Here at home, my show was syndicated on nine other internet radio networks. I never gave up the dream of creating music and continued to write and record music. I created numerous show jingles and spots for SoulProsper Radio. I even continued to write songs hoping one day to either record them or land it on a recorded project of some sort.
In 2022, I decided to submit a few songs for consideration at the Gospel Music Workshop of America. Neither song was considered and I’ll admit, I was a little upset. But there were many other great songs chosen and after hearing one of them, I knew that I had much more work than whining to do! One of the songs submitted that year was sang at the Contemporary Adult Division‘s concert. As I prepared the song for submission, I re-recorded the song, spruced it up and even added a few touches to the song.
Listen to a Preview of “YSML”
A few months ago, I got the itch (or whatever you’d like to call it), let’s call it an unction to record again and “You Are My Everything” was first up. I made preparations and began arranging for recording sessions to add extra singers to the project. All was a go until the night I pulled up to MC a church service and heard the Lord tell me to record, “You Showed Me Love.”
This song was my favorite for a while because I spent the most time on it. When I initially recorded it, I spent all night working on it. I only got two hours of sleep before church because I spent all night working on it. I re-recorded it and changed the music but like all the other songs, it just sat there. Nothing…until that one Friday night in February.
I got to work on it and salvaged what I could from previous versions and began the process of recording, again. This involved a painstaking process of weaving in and out of my world of journalism, life as a husband and parent, gospel teacher and human. Long nights were back and with it, responsibilities slacked around the house. We had been safe from this since I wasn’t writing a book, but with music, it looks like one of my desks exploded in my workspace.
I’m not proud of that, but I am proud to say that I have completed this task and now I can restore the area to some semblance of clean and organized! A few months ago, I taught a lesson that told the classmates, that that dream we have (mine of making music) may very well be an assignment from God. I viewed this as such and didn’t let up. I want to encourage you with that if you’re struggling to bring something to fruition. Ask God to help you complete it and be willing to ask for help if any part of it is beyond your scope of expertise. There’s no problem with getting someone else to do what you can’t.
This is why so much of my music has gone unrecorded or unreleased. Not any more. I have found a process and network of singers and musicians who will help me complete all that is to be completed and I thank God for them!
“You Showed Me Love” is a love song about the love of God! It feels like a love song to me and I hope to pass that along to listeners. I’m giving you this song the way God gave it to me. I pulled from some of my musical influences (Barry White, Quincy Jones and Thomas Whitfield) to put this together and I hope to be able to do more music this way. This is my sound and I’m thankful to finally be able to share it, here. The song will be available on all DSP’s within the next week!