Ministry Tours with Nashville Singer
Under The Radar, a music radio ministry from ReFrame Media, the English outreach of Back to God Ministries International, finished its first-ever tour this week with a concert given by singer-songwriter Eric Peters at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.
For the last two weeks Dave Trout, director, producer and host of Under The Radar, and Peters have been stopping at Reformed, Community Church, Lutheran and Christian Reformed congregations in the Chicago area and in Michigan as a way to promote UTR as well as the music of Peters.
In addition, every concert was dedicated to and served as a fundraiser for the work that the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is doing following the devastating earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale that rocked Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, on Jan. 12. More than 100,000 people have died in the quake. Relief efforts, including the ones by CRWRC, are now getting off the ground. To learn more about the CRC response to the disaster and to donate to the cause, visit HelpHaiti.
A resident of Nashville, Tenn., Peters' songs about family, struggles with faith and a longing for redemption are examples of the frequently ignored faith-based, largely undiscovered Christian music that UTR features on its show.
"Eric is exactly what Under The Radar is all about," says Trout. "He plays terrific, honest, thoughtful and vulnerable music and yet not many people have heard his name before."
Programming produced by ReFrame Media has grown significantly in the last few years, reaching English-speaking people of all ages. In addition to Under The Radar , ReFame Media also produces BTGMI's hallmark, 70-year-old The Back to God Hour, along with wide range of evangelistic and discipleship ministries such as Kids Corner, Walk the Way, Think Christian, Spotlight, churchjuice, and Today devotionals, says Steve Koster, director of ReFrame Media and ministry leader of BTGMI's English programming.
Each year hundreds of thousands of listeners and web-users from all around the world respond to these various ministries, but until now there wasn't a framework for connecting audiences to all the ministry opportunities. ReFrame Media is one of several ministries of BTGMI, the Christian Reformed Church's worldwide media outreach.
Peters says his songs are about healing, taking time to breathe and step outside the busyness of the world. They are also about forgiveness, anger, failure and success. His songs, he says, emerge out of the challenges he faces, as well as about the role the Lord's goodness and forgiveness play in his own life. "I am doomed without the strong and tender hand of mercy," he says on his website. "I've tasted grace in many instances where I've fallen flat on my face."
Accompanied by his acoustic guitar, Peters played 11 shows in 12 days, said Trout, following a lunch-time concert Peters gave this week at the Christian Reformed Church's office in Grand Rapids. "This tour was an experiment. This is the first time we had tried this marketing strategy."
Even before the capstone concert at Calvin College, Trout could say that the tour met and went beyond their expectations. "It was a great experience, worth every second. We've talked to over 800 people, most of whom never heard of Under The Radar or Eric Peters before now.
"The biggest benefit for us has been to build relationships with people," said Trout, whose one-hour, weekly program combines music with interviews and stories that focus on Christian artists who are making creative and thoughtful music. UTR focuses on listeners between the ages of 30 and 40.
"Unlike the pop hits of today, you could listen to Eric's songs 25 years from now and they will stand the test of time both musically and in depth of meaning," says Trout.
Peter's most recent CD is called Chrome. Released in August 2009, it is his "most honest and personal record to date," says Peter's website. He has created a podcast that takes listeners of Chrome through each of the songs in the "hope that it will help you decipher some meanings and a shed a ray of light on my cloudy brain to yours." The podcast and Eric's CDs can be accessed at www.ericpeters.net. For more information on UTR go to RadarRadio.net.
"Eric's music, and all the music on UTR, comes from a Christian worldview," says Trout. "We will continue to shed light Christian musicians who are excelling in both artistry and the exploration of gospel themes."
Meanwhile, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Ill., will be raising support for the people of Haiti through the Haitian Relief Benefit Concert featuring the Haitian a cappella group Supremacy 4 on Friday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Ozinga Chapel. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at Benefitconcert. A free-will offering will also be taken.
