Hoping the message resonates: Quartet will be featured at southern gospel convention

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GREENFIELD — Jim Thompson and Richard Luke huddle by the laptop, trying to turn up the sound on the music to accompany their singing. After bending over the computer, Thompson kneels facing it. Sitting nearby, the minister in this southern gospel quartet approves.

“It’s good when we can get gospel singers on their knees,” quips the Rev. Ken Gates, who sings baritone.

Blessed Truth, the quartet the three men form with tenor Norm Sill, knows how to turn up the volume and draw a crowd.

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They’ve done so for those passing by the Subaru Tent at the Indiana State Fair. They’ve done so on a ship, after a cruise director who missed their concert saw them in their matching suits; they sang a cappella for him and filled a stairwell with those gathered to listen.

“We had a bigger crowd coming around then” than in the actual cruise concert, Luke said.

Later this month, Blessed Truth will turn up the volume again as one of the featured musical groups at the Indiana Gospel Music Association’s Fanfest, which takes place June 21 to 23 at East Columbus Christian Church.

The three-day showcase concert is part of the annual convention for the association, made of up southern gospel artists from Indiana and adjoining states. Organizers have booked Soul’d Out Quartet of Ohio as a well-known group to anchor the final night, but the rest of Fanfest is largely devoted to Hoosier acts who are part of the association.

Members of Blessed Truth, who rehearse at bass singer Luke’s house in Buck Creek Township, are working on at least three new songs for the 13.5-minute time slot the group has been given in the June 21 concert. It also anticipates singing in the June 23 concert.

Blessed Truth has sung since 1994, with different men being part of the group over the years. Thompson, who sings lead, is the remaining founding member. The group received IGMA’s group of the year award in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

But members say the music they make is not about awards, not about filling seats for the sake of it. The same group that will sing for thousands of Riley Festivalgoers in October also performed a series of concerts at Crestwood Village senior communities in March.

They talk about times when they’ll get a congregation singing along to “The Old Rugged Cross” or another popular old hymn. “It helps us build that bridge,” Gates said.

Other times, they’ll sing a song such as “Knowing What I Know About Heaven,” and looking out over the rows of faces, they’ll see eyes welling.

“You’ll see the tears,” Luke said, and know “that hit home.”

The song, recorded by Guy Penrod of Gaither Vocal Band fame, is about missing a loved one but not wanting to bring the person back to earth and away from heaven. Listeners frequently share after concerts how meaningful the song was, often mentioning the loved one who recently died. The men of the quartet can relate; two of them have lost wives to cancer.

In those poignant moments, Gates the minister knows how to respond, whether that’s to select an appropriate next song or welcome people to pray up front at the altar.

Those are the moments, the singers say, that are why they do what they do. Connections made. Hearts touched.

“We’re hoping that … if you’re not with Jesus Christ, at least you leave with him,” Luke said. “It’s not about us. We’re doing it for him, hoping we’ll bring more people to God.”

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Indiana Gospel Music Association’s June 21-23 convention features seminars for musical artists and nightly concerts. The music begins at 6:30 p.m. June 21 and 22. The June 23 concert begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 per day for $15 for all three days. Learn more at www.ingma.com or 317-847-1018.

Find more concert dates for Blessed Truth and other IGMA artists, including 4 The Light Quartet of New Palestine and Westward Road of Pendleton, at www.ingma.com/calendar.html.

Another option is gospelgigs.com, which lets users search for concerts by zip code.

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