Through It All- the Sonrise Years

In 1973, while I was at Northwest Nazarene college in Nampa, Idaho, I had an opportunity to attend a concert which changed my impression of Christian music forever.

This was neither the church music nor Jesus Freak coffee-house rock which I was familiar with. It was black gospel, full of amazing harmonies and instrumentation. Their leader played chords on the piano that mesmerized and excited me at the same time. The group was named after its founder: Andrae’ Crouch and the Disciples.

As I have mentioned before, one of the songs he performed was titled “Through It All.” A song about how God is with you through every situation. By knowing that, you can learn to trust him through the good and the bad in your life.  The song made such an impact on me that I listened to it over and over from an album I purchased. I could not stop listening and I went to the music building and learned to play and sing the song from the piano. Inspired by what Andrae’ could write, I also started writing gospel music and was delighted to have a music publisher purchase my first song. Unfortunately, that was the only song that found a publisher.

In 1975, believing that nothing was impossible, I began to think that I too could make a gospel singing group. I knew kids my age who were excellent singers, so I began asking to see if they would join me. The first year we numbered 14. We called the group the “Sonrise Gospel Team.”

Though I never got close, I envisioned myself as an Andrae Crouch with the Disciples. I played the piano and was lead singer. We had a sound man, and the rest were background singers and soloists covering all the vocal ranges.

The first year involved buying sound gear and learning cover songs. My dad had a step van which I commandeered and painted blue. We put signage on the sides and used it to haul our equipment and singers to concerts.

We would practice for three months and perform for four. Each week we met together on Tuesday and Thursdays to learn lyrics and instrumentation. I must admit that there is a learning curve, and I made a lot of mistakes both with the group and with the concerts themselves, but everyone was forgiving, and we made it through the first year.

As the years went on, I purchased a 44 passenger Bluebird bus. We removed the back eight seats for equipment storage and we took off on the road for concerts in the regions of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. Although we did weekend excursions where we camped out, most concerts were on Sunday evenings with Monday beginning a school or work week, so after the concert while I drove home, the group slept.

Sonrise was also a family affair. Cheryl who is now my wife, was my soprano. My sister Tricia played keyboards and sang, and my mother Patty ran the sound system. My brother-in-law Tom, who was a bass singer in the group, excelled in auto mechanics and more than once, as the bus sat on the side on the road, laid on his back in the mud repairing something broken under the bus.

Each year we grew and became better at presentation. The membership and the numbers in the group changed. I had the belief that I could write music for our repertoire and as new music was produced, the cover songs went away. In the end, I had written over forty songs and our concerts were 100% Sonrise music.

I want to note now that my songwriting was a gift and not a talent. I can no more write a song, than I can jump off a cliff and fly. We, as a group, would pray for new music and sometimes would go weeks with nothing. And then in one night, God would give me three new songs. It would happen this same way each year.

I was very lucky to have the talented singers and musicians that shared their lives with me each year. It was their belief in the group and their willingness to give countless hours of their gifts and talents that Sonrise happened at all. In total the Sonrise Gospel Team lasted seven years playing over 200 concerts in churches, coffee houses, prisons, crusades, youth rallies, military bases, high schools, and weddings.

I learned that there was only one Andrae’ Crouch and God will gift each person as he chooses. My dream of being a professional performer was not meant to be, even though music songwriting and performances still happen with me to this day.

One thing that I will always remember and carry with me through my life, though my days be good, bad, joyful or sad, is the Andrae’ lyric the that started me in gospel music way back in 1973:

Through It All, through it all,

I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,

I’ve learned to trust in God.

Through It All, through it all,

I’ve learned to depend upon his word.

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