Where’s The Fire

A quote from an article in Newsmax, dated September 7, 2010, an unidentified writer said: "Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist that it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive." Wow, believe it or not, I think that is great. Don't get me wrong, I believe that the Muslim religion is a false religion, but their dedication is awesome. In reality they put Christians to shame when it comes to their dedication to their religion. The Muslims have a fire burning in them about their religion that Christians had at one time, but seem to have lost it along the way. Our Holy Book, the Bible, can be desecrated anywhere and we do or say nothing about it

Let's look back a little. One athiest woman was able to get the Bible taken out of our schools. What did we as Christians do? We whimpered and went to sit down and shut up. One woman subjected herself to the humiliation of being used to get abortion legalized, and again what did Christians do? We whimpered and went to sit down and shut up. A very small minority of our Country decided that homosexuality was just an alternative lifestyle, so once again what did the Christians do? You guest it, we whimpered, and went to sit down and shut up.

Our Founding Fathers put the Bible in our schools as a standard for text books to live up to, as a model for our morals to be taught from. Our founding documents are filled with mention of Christ and Christianity and the Judeo/Christian lifestyle. Our Founding Fathers writings clearly indicate that they intended for the United States of America to be a Christian nation. Don't take my word for it, take some time to read the early writings of our leaders who formed this Nation and you will see that it is true. They had a fire inside them when it came to not only freedom, but also when it came to the Word of God.... the Bible.

We can move from early preachers like Wakefield who lit the fire in America to preachers like Finney, Moody, and Wigglesworth who revived the fire unashamedly proclaiming the Gospel and the whole Word of God.....the Bible. Then we had preachers like Graham and Roberts who continued proclaiming the truths of the Bible. Today we seem to have watered down the message of the Bible leaving the fire behind. Without that fire there is no dedication to the Word of God..... the Bible. We as Americans started whimpering because there was no fire inside us.

We need to take note of the fire inside the Muslims that makes them highly offended when the Koran is abused or even talked negatively about their holy book.
It seems to me that the best way to ignite that fire inside us is to get as much of the Word of God...... the Bible inside us as quickly as possible.
When the Word of God....... the Bible becomes precious to us again, we will be a force to be reckoned with.

Flag Day

Every year Flag Day was a special day at our house. First, my Dad was a decorated veteran, so we were taught that the American flag was something special that stood for something more than just waving at parades. The flag stood for our liberty. Not only was I taught this at home, but I was also taught to respect the flag at school as a young boy. There was an aura of pride that surrounded the flag.
That same pride oozed from every citizen when it came to our country. Somehow, someplace, we have lost that. I think that the only hope for our great nation is to get that pride back.

There's was always another reason that June 14th was special in our house. It was my Dad's birthday. We lost my Dad last December, but today he would have been 89 years old. So today, several times
I have paused to take pride in our nation, stared at the small flag I have hanging on the outside of my door reflecting what that flag means to me, and I wished my Dad Happy Birthday. I know that he is one of that great cloud of witnesses viewing down from heaven at us, so I choose to believe that he heard me say "Happy Birthday, Dad".

Today, June 14th was again a special day.

THE Gold City - HOT!  HOT!  HOT!

I've been putting my old records and tapes on CD, which is by the way, a lot of work. I found a few cassette tapes that I wanted to put on CD and one of those
was Gold City's "Double Take". It's a "live" recording with an Emcee introducing them thathappened to be Eldridge Fox. In his booming voice he ended his introduction with "Welcome the Gold City". I found that introduction interesting, but I didn't realize how prophetic he was being. The version of Gold City performing that night was Brian Free at Tenor, Ivan Parker at Lead, Mike LeFevre singing Baritone, Tim Riley on the Bass part and Garry Jones on the Piano. Without a doubt, most people will argue that this group was the best Gold City to be on the road. While I haven't heard a bad version of Gold City, this team was certainly at the top of the list.

If you were to ask the fans which Gold City was THE Gold City, you would surely start a good argument, but the winner would probably be this set of guys on the "Double Take" record. The very least you can say about this group is that they are the ones who launched Gold City into the national spotlight. I was pretty much in agreement with this analogy until just the other night when I heard Gold City again. Now I have heard every compilation of Gold City since the "Double Take" days and by the end of the program at Eastland Baptist Church in Nashville, TN I knew that I had heard THE Gold City. This group of guys has that something special that the "Double Take" group did. There was a spring in their step as they hit the stage that I hadn't seen for a while. There was a relaxed attitude on stage that drew you in to enjoy the program. These guys were loving what they were doing.

The newest member of Gold City is Josh Cobb. What can I say about this guy, but WOW, what a Tenor. Not only was his Tenor singing just outstanding, and his blend fantastic, he had an attitude both on and off stage that spoke humility. With his warmth and talent, he had the crowd eating out of his hand. One of the finest power Lead singers in the genre today is Bruce Taliaferro. Whether he is singing a solo or singing the Lead part with the group, the dynamic of his voice takes control and leads the group in the direction it's supposed to go in. Danny Riley is without a doubt the most under-rated Baritone in the business. He has the range of a Lead singer, but the blending ability of the best Baritone in the genre. Most Bass singers tend to get better with age, and Tim Riley is no exception. While he was a great Bass singer before he retired for a while, he has stepped it up a notch and seems to hit those ultra low notes with more ease than ever. Great Piano players are in high demand, and Roy Webb lets you see why. Roy keeps the show going by keeping everybody on time without a lot of frills until it's his time to show out. When it was Roy's time to perform, I could swear that I saw that keyboard smoking. When you have Roy's instrumental talents and his ability to keep Danny and the audience on their toes with his comedic portions of the program, you have a huge hit on your hands.

This bunch of guys that I saw in Nashville are THE Gold City. They are THE real thing. They were relaxed and having fun on stage. They were in tune with what the Holy Spirit was doing in the audience. Their sound was THE sound that Gold City fans have been waiting for and it is finally here. Gold City has never put out a sound that wasn't superb, but some of the groups just had THE sound, and this current bunch has THE sound. The next time Gold City is going to be in your area, do whatever you have to do to get there, because you are about to see THE Gold City.

What happened to 2009?

While 2009 ended really bad, with my Dad, my Aunt, and my Mother-in-law all passing away in December, leaving me with a head full of brain fog, the year wasn't a total disaster.

Some things really lifted my spirit through the whole year. Facebook just added a lot of joy to the year. I loved high school. Shoot, I even loved grade school.
As a result I enjoy reconnecting with old friends from school.I met a ton of old friends from school, and even old church friends that I am now able to stay in contact with. A few months ago I got a friend request with a note asking if I was Deon Unthank who attended Wilson Grade School in East Saint Louis, IL back in 19XX. I replied that I was and low and behold my old friend David, whom I haven't seen or heard from in probably 50 years had made contact with me. Wow, did we shared some memories. I found an old friend from jr. high school who dropped out of school at her sophomore year and I hadn't seen or heard from her in 46 years. I found a lot of high school friends and I love to hear how their lives turned out. Some have gone on to be as successful as I thought they would be, and I'm sure that others thought, "Gee, I thought Deon would be much more successful than he is". The best thing is that I have more hair than some of those really good looking guys from high school. I found the first Tenor for the Sunday Edition. I found a high school friend who is really in to showing pure breed dogs. I thought that was really interesting. Some of the girls from high school still look pretty good, but some of my old girlfriends make me really appreciate the wonderful woman I married. Facebook has been great.

2009 was a fairly good year for the Sunday Edition because we were busier than the year before and I think our sound has matured a little. We stumbled upon Glen Bates last year as a song writer. I knew Glen, but not so much as a songwriter. Well, Glen took an interest in writing some songs for us and all I can say is WOW. Thanks Glen for listening to God about writing, and about writing some songs for us. Glen was a true blessing to me in 2009.

In 2009, I discovered the Food Channel. Since Susan can no longer make her way around the kitchen, I am the cook in this family. I have learned so much about cooking from the food channel that I am just having a ball experimenting. Susan may not be as happy about some of my experiments, but the dogs love the leftovers.


As bad as 2009 ended for me, as I look back and see that the year wasn't a total waste. Thank you Lord for your blessings on me. (Now that would be a good song)

Indulge me one more time

If you will indulge me one more time to talk about my Dad's passing, I promise I will be much cheerier next month. It's nothing morbid I promise.
Most of you know that I like to talk about my dog, Winston, in my blogs,so let me start with:

While I was out walking Winston on the day after I learned of my Dad's passing, a voice as clear as if I were talking to you say, What if this is it? What if everything your Dad taught you about the Lord is wrong? What if he has just entered into nothing and there is no Heaven and no life hereafter. To lay a little ground work let me say that I was saved when I was 8 years old, so after living a life of faith for 54 years and the devil is still trying to convince me that this whole Christian thing is not real and I'm just wasting my time.

You can always count on ole slewfoot to attack you at your weakest moment. I just lost my Dad, I was depressed and very sad, so what a time to hit me with those thoughts. I have to admit that I thought about it for a few moments. That thought did enter my mind, what if I am wrong, what if there is no hope.
Thank goodness those thoughts lasted only a few minutes, for the Holy Spirit welled up within me and filled my mind with another thought. Paul said in 1Cor 15
;19 says "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.". As usual that ole devil was giving part of the truth. If I and my Dad have lived this Christian life and he died and there is nothing else, then we are surely miserable. Think of all the fun we could have had, all the money we could have made, and all the wild drunken parties we could have shared in. Isn't that what the world calls fun and success? If we lived this Christian life following as best we could the example of Christ then wouldn't some people see our lives as a waste.

My mind then started to thinking. I know that is usually dangerous, but this time it was OK. It occurred to me that I can choose to believe what the devil said and live life with as much gusto as I can for as much momentary pleasure as I can find. Then when it's over, I just go into the ground and that's it. Wow, I should be depressed. However, I can choose to believe in Christ who offers me hope of not only a good life here, but an eternal life after this one ends. I can choose to believe that my Dad is rejoicing on the streets of Glory as I write this blog. I can choose to believe that when it comes my time, I will enter into Heaven to join them. That ole devil forgot to tell me the rest of the story. He forgot to tell me that because Jesus defeated death, I don't have to fear where I will go after I die. He forgot to tell me that when Jesus faced death he cried out in pain and agony so I won't have to.

I choose to live by faith where I have hope of better things to come.

A time to reflect

As I sit here at my keyboard, fighting back the tears from the news that my Dad will not be with us much longer, I find myself reflecting on the past events of my life where my where my Dad was involved. Though he will never read this, I want to say it before he makes his move to Heaven. Please bear with me while I share some very private thoughts.

As far back as I can remember my Dad has always been a man's man. He weighed 122 pounds in high school, yet was on the boxing team. He was a Ranger in World War II. He was very private about those war days and even when I would press him, he just wouldn't go in to it. He said it was too personal. Dad was a painter and paperhanger for most of his life, though I can remember him talking about working at a grocery store after he and my Mother were first wed. He made 25 cents an hour back them. He took work wherever he could get it, but painting would be his life's work. He started helping my Grandfather paint houses at 12 years old. He worked painting water towers and smoke stacks, up 250 to 300 feet in the air. In the end, he settled down working for my Grandfather along with his brother. When my Grandfather passed away, my Dad ran the business keeping it in my Grandmother's name, while he just took an hourly wage, allowing my Grandmother to keep supported by the company that her husband founded.

I just wanted to lay a foundation of the type of man that my Dad has been. While he ran the business for my Grandmother, he still physically worked painting and only got paid for the actual hours he spent holding a brush in his hand. To keep the business going, he would bid on jobs after he put his 8 hours a day in and never took a dime for that. As you can tell he was a man putting in a lot of hours. I say that, because when the church doors were open, he was there. Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. If there was a revival going on, he was there every night. Oh, he never went alone. My Mother was always with him and they drug me and my two sisters to church every time the doors were open too. He didn't just send us to church, he TOOK us to church.

Not only did he take us to church, but whenever there was a school program for us kids, he was there. I begged and pleaded for him to sign the papers so I could play Khoury League baseball and he finally gave in. Maybe he resisted letting me join the baseball league, because he know the commitment that it was going to take. You see, he didn't just sign the paper to sign me up, my Dad took me to every practice and stayed there until we were done, and then we would take home three or four of the guys whose Dad didn't come tho their practice. He didn't just go to my games and practices, but he was out in the yard playin catch with me, so I could improve my game.When I joined the band, he made payments on my trombone so I could play it in the band, and then he would attend every program we did. Then I had to play football. I started in Junior High School and he was at football practice as soon as he got off work and again, we would take home soe of the other kids. He was at every game, even though he's have to take off an hour early from work to get to the game. I was first string in Junior High and I think he was proud of me. As a Sophomore I dropped down to second string, but he was still there, watching me sit on the benchf for a good portion of the game. As a Junior in High School I dropped yet again to third string, but my Dad was still htere at practice and the games watching me sit on the bench a lot more. Finally, my senior year, a miracle happened and I made first string again. I was the starting center, and again my Dad was there cheering me on.

My Dad did much more than that. He didn't let me get away with much. He kept a tight leash on me, but as a result, I was never in trouble as a kid. I was never hurt as a kid because I was in a place where I shouldn't have been. The few times I did stray, my Dad knew how to use a belt on the place where it can be used for discipline. Yes, my Dad spanked me, no he whipped me, and I think I am the better man for it. He taught me not to lie or steal or cheat. In business, he taught me to do and give more than my customer is paying for. I have tried hard to follow that advise. My Dad took the time to teach me the trade of painting and wallpaper hanging. It's not easy training your son to do a real job. I'm sure that I tried his patience many times, but when he was done, I could walk into any painting company and work without any problem. Before I retired from painting, there were many times that I wished I could have picked my Dad's brain on tricks of the trade, but dementia had already taken that away.

Still further in my life, I saw my Dad praying. I saw him praying at home, and at church. I saw him giving what talents he had to the church. When the church needed painting, my Dad would donate all of his labor to the church. When hard times hit, I can remember him and my Mother taking food or money to the Pastor's house, just to help them out.

I'm hoping you can see by now the huge model that I needed to live up to. Unfortunately, I haven't done as good as my Dad. I only know my failures because of the light he has shown me live by. While I made most of my kids games and practices, there were times that work got in the way and I didn't make it. I joined the Air Force and sat behind a typewriter for 6 years, so that's not quite like being an Army Ranger.

I can only pray that when my end of time comes that my kids will be able to say that they saw Jesus in me, as I have seen in my Dad.

This bothers me

In light of the terrorist shooting last week at Fort Hood, One thing is being said that really bothers me. Don't get me wrong, I believe that this was an act of the Islamic war against Christians, and I believe it's only going to get worse. This man is a dedicated Muslim and unfortunately the part of the Muslim religion that says "kill the infidels" does not work well in a nation built on Christian/Judeo principles.

I said, one thing bothers me, actually there is a lot of what the liberal media has said about this that bothers me, but the one thing that really bothers me is coming from the conservative media and website discussions.A business card was found in the shooter's room that has three letters on it, SOA.
SOA stand for Soldier Of Allah. Now while this certainly identifies him as a fanatical Muslim, we must be careful in what we are saying about this.

Three Bridges had a song a few years back that put them on the map. The song went all the way to number 5 on the charts and was the number 1 song played on radio for that year. Southern Gospel fans got excited about this song, and every time I have seen them perform it, there is a standing ovation and they have to do several encores. I have not met a Christian who did not identify with this song. The name of the song? "I Am A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord". I still remember the children s song taught to me in my Sunday School classes that said "'I'm In The Lord's Army".

In our era of political correctness, we must be extremely careful that we don't give the secularists in our country ammunition that can be used on us later to make us look like we are no different than Muslims who would like to destroy everything we stand for.

FaceBook - don’t be a snob

I've had several people who are just fans of SGM tell me that they feel snubbed by some major artists on Facebook. It seems that their friend requests are denied by some artists. I think a couple of things need to be addressed about this issue.

First, Facebook is a great place for networking. I've reacquainted myself with many old friends from my earliest years in school to my earliest years in Southern Gospel Music. I've made many new friends who have come out to see us in concert. I've met new friends that I have gone to see in concert when they came close.
Other than taking up too much of my time (according to my wife), I have found Facebook to be very positive. Do I have Facebook friends who I do no know, and may never know on a personal basis? Sure, but what does it hurt, especially with the possibility of making a booking in the future, or selling a CD or two. I think we can agree that for networking, Facebook is a pretty good thing.

So the second thing I want to address is, why would artists, no matter how big or small want to offend any fans. Artists need to be careful that they are not insensitive to the people who just love your music. When they are rejected as a friend by their favorite artists, they take it very personal. You, as an artist, may not know them, but they have seen you at concerts, probably spoken to you at your product table, and those fans feel that they know you. I say let's be as polite on Facebook as we would be at the product table. Just because they are not standing right in front of you at a concert does NOT mean that they are not STILL you fans.

It’s my dog again

I'm amazed that I am constantly learning spiritual lessons from my dogs. What's with that? This time it involves his new leash.
Winston is our puppy that my kids got us for Christmas last year. Winston is a Boxer/Great Dane mix, so while he was only
10 months old at NQC, At a mere 95 pounds he can be a handful if you let him get in control. He's probably the most people
friendly dog I've ever had, so the handful is not his personality, but his size and strength.

When I take him out for walks, I keep him on a 6 foot leash and he walks very close beside my, plus I use a pincher collar,
so he is very easy to control. Just a simple tug with my fingers on the leash is enough to get my message to him. I normally
use a heavy duty 16 foot leash to take him out to do his "business". I also bought him a 26 foot leash for training purposes.
As fate would have it, just before we left for NQC, his 16 foot leash became frayed, so I took the 26 foot leash instead. Big mistake.

I guess by now, your wondering how this taught me a spiritual lesson. Well here it is. Even though I'm, well over twice the weight
of Winston, by the time he trots out 26 feet ahead of me and sees something interesting (like a bug) that he wants to investigate.
it feels like he is about to separate my arm from my body. As I'm putting my arm back into it's joint, the thought hits me. I should
have brought the shorter leash, because he is so much easier to reign in with that leash. Then my brilliant brain went to me and God.
When Winston is at the end of 26 feet, I have to really yank on that leash, just to get his attention. Now I'm sure that this is at least
uncomfortable and maybe even a little painful, not to mention that it takes much more effort on my part. Just how much of a pain am
I to God when I stray to the end of my spiritual leash.

If I'm walking close to my Master, just like being on a short leash, He doesn't have to raise his voice or yell at me, and a gentle tug
on the leash gets my attention and I follow Him with no struggle and no pain.In fact, I can look up at my Master and see His smiling face
and recognize that look that says He is proud of me. I have found that after I have walked Winston for a while on that short leash, I can
drop the leash altogether and he continues to walk right next to me, telling me that he enjoys the relationship between us walking so close
together. On the other hand, if I am walking at the end of my leash, as far away from God as I can get, when He has to pull me back in line,
either because of danger, or because I've gotten way out of His will, the force of that tug is much stronger, sometimes even hurting.

Before I get to hard on myself I have to remember that God has put trust in me to let me out on the long leash. He wants me to enjoy
as much of life as I can. I also have to remember that there is another one out there who seeks only to temp us, kill us, or destroy us.
The reason God has to tug so hard to get us back is that our attention is no longer on Him. When I am out on that long leash my back is
usually away from Him, so I am easily distracted by the bugs of life.

“...Through The Rockets Red Glare…”

It's July 4th, right after some thunderstorms had passed through and I heard a large number of pops and bangs coming from outside. I stepped out the door to see a brilliant display of fireworks set off as people were trying to use the window of time between storms to shoot off their fireworks. It was a beautiful sight. The first thought that crossed my mind was the I had seen a similar sight on the tellevision a few years before as our planes were bombing Sadam Hussein's military forts at the beginning of the Iraqi War. My mind was also taking me back to the times through the past 233 years that our brave men and women have fought to keep our freedoms in place.

I thought that this must have been what Francis Scott Key was seeing as we were declaring our freedom from England and what a beautiful sight it must have been to him. No wonder he wrote the words, "through the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof to the night that our flag was still there". What a beautiful sight it must have been to the Iraqis who were dreaming of having their own freedom. Nothing in this life worth having is really free. It cost somebody something, and when it comes to freedom, it most always costs brave citizens their lives.

So, making a long story very short, watching the fireworks in my neighborhood really made me stop and think about how blessed we still are as a Nation. We spit ion God's face with our acceptance of homosexuality, we stick our thumb in His eye with our acceptance of abortion, we rub it in His face that our leaders can't even say that we are a Christian Nation, and He still loves us and blesses us. Because of the fact that God still loves us and still blesses us, we can all still say that we live in the greatest country in the world