2006

Rejoice!

Rejoice is an all female group which is growing rapidly in popularity. How did you settle on the name "Rejoice" for your group?

You might remember that when we first began this ministry in November, 1997, our group's name was "Exalt!". We were contacted by a group in Illinois a couple of years later that they had a trademark on that name and we could no longer use it. So we thought about it for several weeks, and in praying for God to finally "write something in the sky" to us, we saw the name "Rejoice!" on a cross-stitched piece at a pastor's home in South Carolina and we all three just knew immediately that was the name we would use. We like the name Rejoice! (exclamation point included) because that is what we are called to do. God said He inhabits the praises of His people. That is US, and we want to uplift the name of Christ and hope that carrying this gospel with joy and praise in our hearts will help someone to be encouraged, uplifted, inspired, or even brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Southern gospel music has had such an impact on our own personal lives, and we hope that we can get the message accross to our audience that Jesus saves, Jesus loves, Jesus forgives -- no matter where you've been, no matter where or who you are. Wow, what a great God is He!

Describe where your sound fits into the Southern Gospel genre.

Aaahhh, we are asked that question frequently, and it is hard to describe really. We are of course, a Southern Gospel female trio, and we are often compared to the Ruppes. They have beautiful family harmony, and not to compare us to them by any means, but people do often tell us we have "sister-close" harmony. I think we are inspirational southern gospel, "classy" southern! We do some praise and worship songs in our program, as well as pure southern gospel.

I can just imagine that being an all female group presents a different set of difficulties in traveling, from setting up the sound system to traveling late at night. What's different about traveling with an all female group as compared to an all male group or even a mixed group?

The obvious difference is that we are all girls -- no guys! We have traveled, just us 3 girls, all these years and it has worked out good. My husband, Mark, does travel with us alot right now, and we get spoiled when he goes along because we don't have to carry any equipment and he does a lot of the driving! We take turns driving and Maria and Melissa set up the sound system (yep, we can do it!), and I usually set up the product table. We travel in an SUV and pull a trailer and that renders plenty of funny stories right there, but we are seasoned travelers now and I can even back the trailer into just about any parking spot!

There are many dangers on the road, and God has blessed us with traveling mercies, and we are so thankful for that. We probably work our angels overtime, but really, we are so thankful for God's mercy upon us as we have traveled through these years.

Who decides what material you pick out for recording? What do you look for in a song to fit your group?

Since I take care of the office and administrative duties for the group, almost all the new song demos come to me first, and I listen to every one, then we all three listen to everything that I think might even be a remote possibility for us. There have been times when I have made suggestions to the others about songs we might do or that they might would do, but when listening to new material, it seems like we each will have some kind of special feelings for songs and when a song touches US, we feel like it will touch the people we sing to as well. That's really what we are looking for in new songs... something that will really move us, speak to us and stir us up. We don't particularly care for novelty songs, and we want to only do songs with a message that is in line with the Word of God. If it works for US, then we trust that people will be moved as well.

We often hear about all male groups having a prankster in the group, is there a prankster in your group, or is that just a male thing?

You know, we are all blonde and people bring us blonde jokes every where we go. We don't really have a prankster in our group as such, but we get in the car every week and start telling each other what "blonde" thing we have done during the past week! We have a lot of fun together and we laugh at ourselves a lot! Plus, don't you think male groups can get by with pranks and things that girl groups can't?! Oh yeah!

A few years ago, you had a song on the charts, "Joy Comes In The Morning", at the same time as the Kingsmen. That happened often in the 60s and 70s, but what was that like happening to you?

You know what, when we first found out that the Kingsmen were releasing "Joy's Gonna Come" (2002), we were very upset. Our record company at that time, Homeland Records, was very upset, too. The Kingsmen were coming off a number one song and we just knew that once their single hit the radio stations, ours would be put on the shelf. But that did not happen. It might have hurt the Kingsmen a little in the chart, but it helped us more than anything else that's ever happened!

There was a lot of talk about it, our radio promotions company was pushing it harder than ever with the radio stations, and it ended up being our first Top 20 song in the Singing News chart. The last month it was on the chart, the Kingsmen were at #9 and we were at #12. Because of all the talk and "buzz" going on about that, we got exposure that we may never have gotten without it.

Is there one certain song that Rejoice sings that has brought you through difficult times as a group? Is there one song that you feel has ministered to you audience more than any other?

There is no doubt about what song that would be. "God's Got a Better Plan" has ministered to US, and it has ministered to our audience more than any other song we have ever done. We have never received as many phone calls, letters, or emails about a song like that one. It is not a "kick over the pews" kind of song, but if you have ever gone through a storm in your life, this song will remind you that God knows what has happened, He understands our disappointment, our tears, our sorrow. When we make our plans, we can only plan based on what we know. We do not know what will happen in the next few days, weeks, months, or years. God does know, and He has a better plan than we can imagine.

When it all falls apart, we just want to fall apart with it. I've thought, "Surely you missed it this time, God." But He didn't. He just knows more than I do about what's in the master plan, and if I could only trust Him totally, completely, He will be faithful to complete the work in me that He said He would. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Who takes the most time getting beautiful before a concert? Who wouldn't be caught dead out in public without makeup on? Who could care less if your fans saw them without makeup on?

Okay, okay, I definitely take the absolute longest! Melissa and Maria can both get completely ready, shower, doing their hair, make-up, everything, in the time it takes me just to do my hair and make-up. What takes me so long?! I guess it takes a lot more work to get myself presentable than it does for them! You won’t catch any of the three of us out in public without makeup on, either. NOT! I played in the “All-Star Celebrity Softball Game” last year at the National Quartet Convention, and I wore my hair back in a hat for the game, but I still wore make-up. And trust me, you don’t want us out and about without make-up on anyway. You know the old saying… every barn looks better with a little paint on it!

What's the biggest miracle you've seen in your ministry?

The miracle of a lost soul coming to Jesus. Wow! When someone realizes their need for salvation, what a precious sight it is to see them come forward, and be humbled to ask Jesus Christ to live in their heart and forgive them of their sins. We think the best thing is for the worst sinner to be saved, and that is so wonderful, but sometimes the hardest ones to win are those who live right, who don’t do wrong deeds. We all are born sinners, and we are saved by grace. Thank God for his grace and for our salvation. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world.

Be sure to visit Rejoice! online at http://www.rejoicetrio.com and catch them at the 7th Annual Gospel Music Fan Festival, Saturday, July 29, 2006 in Smyrna, TN.

The Ruppes

Give us a brief synopsis of what has been going on with The Ruppes lately (i.e. the last year or two).

The last year or two has been about the same. We have been trying to stay busy, continuing to put out Christ honoring music, and being faithful to our calling. We have met some great people this year. The Lord is so good.

Your last recording, Sweet Forever, was critically acclaimed. What's next for The Ruppes in terms of recording?

Well, as far as I know right now, we won’t be recording a new project with Spring Hill Music Group. We have been with them since 1998, and it’s been a great journey. We will probably be independent unless the Lord directs us otherwise. We want to start a new project this fall, but the Lord will have to provide the finances. This life we live is a faith walk. We will just prepare as if we are recording this fall and depend on the Lord to do the rest.

Heather, you recently started doing some producing for the group, how does this differ from being the artist in the recording process? What kind of responsibilities are entailed when taking on such a feat?

Well, we have always made most of the decisions for our recordings, but this time most of it was left up to me. From choosing the songs, to hiring musicians, studio time etc, plus, I probably made 30 or so trips to Charlotte, North Carolina where we record. (Gat3) My good friend (I call him brother), Glenn Tabor, was a huge help to us. If there was a problem he would fix it. He also worked it out for us to have the project mastered at Abbey Road in London. (How cool is that – this is also where the Beatles recorded a good many of their recordings!) We spent a lot of time just sitting and listening and tweaking during the mix. It’s a lot of hard, time consuming work, but worth it in the end. Our vocal guru, Eddie Howard, also knows how to push us vocally. So through all the technical stuff that I don’t understand, it pays to have good people to work with.

Your current single, "The Healer", has is very personal message to you as a group right now. Explain how the song has been working in your own lives.

Well, we recorded the song in the honor of Mom and Dad’s Pastor, Dr. Dennis Carter. He was diagnosed with cancer and given three weeks to live three years ago. God is good. Little did we know then that we would be facing the same thing in our own family. In May, my dad, Leo Ruppe, was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors don’t give much hope, but we are trusting Jesus, the Great Physician, to do the miraculous in Dad’s body. Thank you Lord for the miracle. Ps. 30:2: “I cried unto the Lord and He has healed me.”

With your father currently fighting the battle with cancer, let others know what they can do to help the ministry of The Ruppes.

Besides praying with us for Dad’s healing, also pray for us individually and pray for our ministry. We have many needs. We need to fill dates, we need a better bus, we need better sound equipment, we need to make a new recording, and I could go on and on. Ultimately, God knows what we need, and he will supply the need. You can help by asking God what you can do.

The Ruppes have always been extremely ministry minded. How do you, as such a ministry focused group, approach the ministry vs. entertainment aspect of Southern Gospel?

We don’t approach it. We have never been entertainers. Mom and Dad asked the Lord 32 years ago to anoint us and to let us make a difference, and He has been faithful. Sure, we always want to improve upon what we do, but because we don’t focus on entertainment, it has hurt us in the industry. We are not a “promoters” kind of group. We don’t use a lot of hoopla to get a crowd to respond to us to see how many CDs we can sell. Our music touches hearts, and that’s better than any thing we could ever do to entertain.

How has being a female group been both a struggle and a blessing in such a male-oriented genre?

It’s a blessing just to do what we do, but it is a struggle in this male dominated industry and church world. It shouldn’t matter if we are female as long as we put out good music. This is our 32nd year in the ministry. We have been faithful to our calling. So, let me encourage anyone who has wanted to have us come, to make that call. If everyone who says they love our music would put forth the effort to have us in there church or community, we would not have to be concerned about our calendar, it would be full. And I might as well say that radio has always loved our music, so let me encourage you DJs to play and chart our music based on its quality and because it’s a great song, not on how many promoters have called. I’m just saying what’s on my heart.

Share what God has been teaching you lately.

Heather - God has been teaching me that I can’t go in my own strength. Not to try and work things out on my own. Our own strength runs out fast. With what we are facing, I’m learning to trust Him more. He is my refuge and strength. Isaiah 12:2, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.”

Valerie - The Lord has been teaching me to trust Him and to have confidence in Him and His Word. Deut. 31:8, “It is the Lord who goes before you; He will march with you; He will not fail you of let you go or forsake you; let there be no cowardice or flinching, but fear not, neither become broken in spirit, depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm.”

Brenda - God is teaching me to have child like faith. Just like a child has faith that his earthly father will take care of him, we have to have that kind of faith in our heavenly Father. Phil 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Visit the Ruppes at http://www.theruppes.com and visit them at the 7th Annual Gospel Music Fan Festival Friday, July 28 at River of Life Assembly of God in Smyrna, TN.