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From the broadcast the weekend of Sept. 27th & 28th, 2008: This was a most unusual program for us in the way it was structured. But I think it was quite interesting, too — one of those programs that you'd say, "I'd like to hear that again!" The first hour (except for the Headline Update) was devoted to the works of two of today's most prolific Southern Gospel songwriters, Marty Funderburk and Twila LaBar. It's always interesting to get to know the heart of such songwriters who, through the songs they write, take the Gospel to the world. Marty Funderburk just keeps writing (usually co-writing) great songs. You heard a few on this program. But, as I mentioned on the air, a printout of his songs in our music library (small 8-point printing) goes to six printed pages! I believe one reason why Marty has been so successful as a songwriter is because of what he said on the program about the inspiration for his songs: "I'm proudly a fundamentalist... I write songs about Scripture being the Word of God. And I believe firmly that we've strayed for some of the fundamentals of the faith. I want to be a loving fundamentalist and a person who's compassionate. But, yet, who says, 'thus saith the Lord,' and this is the way it is." That's exactly what we need in this day of a "watered-down" Gospel (as a recently wrote about in my weekly e-mail newsletter). Find out more about Marty on his MySpace site. Twila LaBar is also a most interesting songwriter — and person. She's a staff writer for Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing in Nashville, TN, and is on staff as Music Director of First Church, Nashville. As you heard on the air, Twila has written (or co-written) perhaps 700 songs (maybe more). Her best-known song of recent years is probably "Orphans Of God," which was made so popular in the Southern Gospel world by the Talley Trio. That song won a BMI award last April as one of the most-played songs on Christian radio during 2007. (In had been recorded by other groups in other genres of Christian music as well.) I had forgotten about the "Family Tree" song she wrote, recorded by the Lesters. But I found very interesting her comments about why she considers this such a personal song — the fact that she was adopted. Twila, too, writes songs about fundamental Christian themes: "I write a lot of songs about the mercy of God, about the grace of God. And I write a lot of songs about the cross. And I don't want to ever get away from that. I believe that's a emssage that will never get old, will never get stale. People will always need to be reminded of the mercy and grace of God." You can find more info about Twila and the work she does here. The entire second hour of this program was devoted to sharing some of the sounds from the 2008 Singing News Fan Awards. The awards, voted by the magazine's readers, were bestowed at the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, September 13th, in the 20,000-seat Freedom Hall during the convention's concluding night. The acceptance speeches as heard here were edited for time, of course, but I tried to give you a sense of what was said. The songs were simply recorded songs by the winners. Congratulations to all of the Fan Award winners, especially the "big winners" of the year, the Booth Brothers. Well deserved. They have, in fact, the number one song for October, "Welcome To The Family." And I like a comment from Michael Booth that Singing News editor Danny Jones posted on his blog. After all the convention's excitement and hoopla had died down, Michael said, simply, "Please pray that success never poisons me or this group." And a heart like that explains why God has blessed these guys so much. Other multiple winners of the evening included Greater Vision (three awards, group or individual) and the Hoppers (two of which were individual for Kim Hopper). Here's a personal note regarding this year's Marvin Norcross Award. This is the highest indivdual award bestowed by Singing News magazine (not voted by readers). And this year's honoree was an exceptional choice — Maurice Templeton. Maurice has done more over the past two decades to shape the course of Southern Gospel music than any other non-artist. As former owner of Singing News magazine, he reinvented and reinvigorated the publication to unprecedented success. His Templeton Tours Gospel cruises, his work on the NQC board, as a former president of the Southern Gospel Music Guild and as president and founder of the Southern Gospel Music Association and its Hall of Fame — all successful endeavors — speak for themselves as to the tireless efforts (and resources) Maurice has given to Southern Gospel music over the years. And I'm happy to call him a good friend and tireless encourager. I thought it was most fitting that the Singing News, which Maurice sold a few years ago, will henceforth call the annual award the Norcross-Templeton Award. Most fitting.

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