I have always loved music. I grew up listening to Amy Grant, Evie, Michael W. Smith, Glad, Silverwind, David Meece - - and lots of Southern Gospel groups. Now that I'm older (like I didn't date myself with those references), I love a great song writer. Some favorites, who challenge me to go farther with my own songwriting are Steven Curtis Chapman, Nichole Nordeman, Sara Groves, Bebo Norman, Twila Paris, Shaun Groves, Kirk Talley, Marsha Stevens, Dennis Jernigan. I also love the worship leaders of our day: Chris Tomlin, Dennis Jernigan, Fernando Ortega, Ross Parsley, Bob Fitts, Darlene Zchech, Brian Doerkson, just to name a few.
While many artists within Christian music tend to direct their ministries outward, Kevin Jacobson continues to feel a special burden for the Church. “I have such a heart for the people who grew up in church because we take it for granted”, says Kevin. “Right now, I feel that I need to encourage people who are hurting or who have been hurt or maybe don’t always trust the Church in general. I want them to know it isn’t really about the people - - it’s about Jesus - - that He is always there in the midst of the times that we think we are such failures. We can always reach out to Him and He’s there waiting with open arms.”
Kevin grew up in church from the age of three months old and began singing there at the tender age of six. A self-taught piano player (with a little help from Aunt June), he began writing his own songs at age seventeen. Over the years, Kevin’s musical gifts became increasingly evident. He traveled with a musical group in college and eventually toured with The King’s Messengers, a Southern Gospel quartet, for four and a half years. Kevin appeared to be a model Christian yet there was still something missing.
“On April 17, 1989, I went to a concert and the Lord started to deal with me about my own life and about the fact that I needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. But I argued with God and said, ‘But look at everything I do for You’”. It wasn’t until a year later when Kevin heard a message on the cross that he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. “Until that day, I did everything that a Christian should do, at least on the surface, but was just as lost as anyone.” Because of his own experience, Kevin truly understands the need to minister to those who often seem to need it the least.
A couple of months after he was saved, Kevin accepted a staff position at a church in Waterford, Michigan which eventually led him to follow a friend to a flourishing Baptist church in Texas. It was this friend who really began to challenge Kevin’s understanding of worship. “During this time, I spent a year in Psalms looking at how David worshiped God. I want to be like David - - and I guess my own personal worship comes out of that. I want to be a man after God’s own heart.” In September of 1994, just before Kevin moved back to Michigan, he was asked to lead worship for a seminar given by a friend. What Kevin expected to be about 100 people turned out to be close to 1000. Upon playing a song that he had written, Kevin experienced the awesome power of worship. “I saw for the first time one of my songs really connect with people. As I heard them singing it back, it really gave me the desire to write more songs that people can lift up to the Lord. That was a turning point in my ministry.”
Because of his time spent in various churches ranging from the very traditional to the more contemporary, Kevin also began to experience a broader understanding of the ways God is working throughout the Body. “I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is that God is God everywhere. The Holy Spirit really impacted me as a result of my varied experiences within the Church. I was raised in a church that gave me a solid Word foundation, so I’m not always as accepting of things at face value as others. I want to know that all things are being done in line with scripture. When I began to attend a church that was more contemporary, they were also very Word oriented and maintained the order that scripture calls for.”
It was based on an experience at this more contemporary church that Kevin’s song “Beyond the Veil” was written. During a service there, a woman received prayer. “The man ministering to the woman said to her that she had been cleansed by God and declared worthy and that she needed to let go of her fear and help others to step beyond the veil into God’s presence in worship. That whole idea grabbed me to my core. The veil was torn in two, and the Lord is allowing us to step into His presence. I took the prayer for that woman as a personal challenge to help others step beyond the veil with my music.”
The Lord has continued to place this call upon Kevin’s life: to help bring others into the fullness of all that God has for them. A scripture that illustrates this is Joel 2:25, which is a scripture that Kevin has claimed for his life. “It says, “So I will restore the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust and the chewing locust..." There are four different kinds of locusts. One takes the flower, one takes the stem, one takes the leaf, and one takes the root - - so when they are done there is virtually nothing left. God's promise to us is that He will take us back from nothing and build us up again. That has been an awesome source of strength in some of my most difficult times."
“I want to help others to realize what the Lord is continually showing me - - worship isn’t just something we do on Sunday, it is a lifestyle and we need to lift up our lives in worship everyday.”
Thanks for the add. Now we can stay in touch with each other!
Nurturing your early stage music ministry to the thriving level! If you know a Christian singer in your church or community that might be a candidate for our music ministry incubator program, tell them about us! Full information and application information is available at Incubator Creative Group.
Tami Rowbotham Vice President, A&R Incubator Creative Group www.IncubatorOnline.com Celebrating 20 years in ministry!
You can download tracks from Justin McRoberts' newest release Deconstruction for ANY PRICE YOU WANT. Or tell a few friends about the record and get them for FREE!
Thanks for the request. It was very nice to meet you last night. Hopefully we we will see you again somewhere on the road soon. Thanks again and God Bless!
I love you, my Kevin, my heart-friend for life! Whoever gets rich and famous first, let's take the other one on a cruise where we do nothing but talk and write and eat and nap for a week! HUGS!
Hey, did you hear about Steven Curtis Chapmans daughter? It's incredibly tragic, I feel so bad for the family. I can't imagine what they must be going through.
I got this layout from topbun
