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Gospel goes country with John Schmid at the Mall Arts Centre
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Those who like their Gospel delivered with rhythm and strum may form an ordinary queue at the door of Youghal’s Mall Arts Centre next Saturday. The Youghal Baptist Group have acquired the services of American musician and singer John Schmid for what promises to be a most melodious evening of faith and hope. Christy Parker reports
John Schmid
Charity too will persist as patrons at the free gig “will have the opportunity to contribute to a local charity”, according to Youghal Baptist spokesman Mervyn Scott.
The date is one of several on a Cork tour, during which the singer will also visit Waterford in search of Irish, maternal ancestry. He will be accompanied by his 19 year-old daughter Katie.
John Schmid hails from Berlin, Ohio where, he, his wife and three children are members of a Mennonite Christian Assembly. They reside amidst the Amish community too, whose Pennsylvania Dutch dialect they also speak.
The visitor is the founder and (sole) director of Common Ground Ministries, a ‘singing ministry’ that focuses on the Ohio prison service, visiting more than 50 incarcerating institutions annually. The singer’s year also brings him to a plethora of churches, boot camps, banquets, embassies, schools, street fairs, seminars, concerts “and a fair amount of living rooms.” This excludes the annual mission trips to Central America and other overseas performances. It can safely be said that Mr. Schmid doesn’t lack for experience.
The musician’s performance blends country, folk and gospel. His physical stature, guitar-playing delivery and prison connotation immediately evokes Johnny Cash, but while the style has some resemblance, the sound travels with less gravel. He could though, be the offspring of Kris Kristofferson and Tammy Wynette, reared by Brendan Shine, which amounts to a Hell (or Heaven) of an entertainer anyway.
He certainly leads an entertaining, fulfilling life, as his online newsletter testifies, logging the power of faith and prayer through the witness of common-day experiences. Perhaps nowhere is this more articulated than in his rendition of the T. Graham Brown song, Wine into Water, where a man being battered by the demons of alcoholism pleads,
‘I’m down and I can’t fall much farther
And once upon a time you turned the water into wine
Now on my knees I’m turning to you father
Could you help me turn the wine back into water’
The prison ministry towers over his thoughts however and he makes an interesting reference on one essay when he says, “one of the cardinal rules of prison ministry is never ask an inmate what he did to get in prison.” He then explains how he broke that rule once in 19 years. Later on stage, he watched an inmate sing, pray and laugh like all the others. He knew the awfulness of his crimes however and spent his performance “wanting to take that man out and beat the daylights out of him” and worse.
John Schmid
The incident reminded him that, “sin is horrible, kills and causes suffering.” He “couldn’t handle it” in that instance but ‘God can.’ He proceeds, “I think I got a glimpse of the awesomeness of the power of the gospel I proclaim. But I won’t ask again why a man is in prison. It doesn’t help at all,” he concludes. An interesting life should make for an interesting evening.
Curtains open on John Schmid at the Mall Arts Centre, Saturday October 4th, at 8pm.
Other Cork dates/venues: www.johnschmid.com “
2 comments |
I went to hear John Schmid on Saturday night last and his performance was both entertaining and uplifting. In the style of Johnny Cash he wove a story of prison life, inmates characters and the difference it made when a prisoner accepted Jesus into his life as his saviour.
Starting off with Forty shades of Green and the Fields of Athenry John Schmid interspersed his songs with anecdotes and personal experiences which kept the audience entertained for nearly two hours. The audience loved him as he warmed to the task and shared many jokes and life experiences wtih them . It was interesting to hear him speak about the Amish community in Dunmore East and his connetion with them.
John Schmid showed that music can transcend race and creed and that it can be a very effective way of communication with young and old.
Kay Donnelly
Thanks to Kay for her kind words and as I chatted with John yesterday (Oct 6th) en route to Shannon, of the 21 concerts that he did during his two week visit, he enjoyed the one in Youghal the best! He visited the Pobalscoil yesterday afternoon and went down well with the 60 or so students who came to hear him. We invited him on the recommendation of a good friend in Bantry and we hope we can have him back to Youghal in the next couple of years. I think the main theme in John’s songs and stories is that there is no-one outside the possibility of God’s love and forgiveness. Christ came to be a Saviour and no one is beyond His ability to change lives. That to me is the essence of the gospel and John put it across in a simple style through his warm personality. On behalf of the Baptist community in Youghal, can I say thanks to all who helped promote the concert, those who came and the staff in the Town Council, who as always were courteous and helpful, even at 11.45pm at night! (Mervyn Scott)