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I was sitting in church the other Sunday listening to a guest speaker, and as I was listening, it seemed that everything he was saying was hitting me, as a Southern Gospel artist, right between the eyes. So, before anyone gets too defensive, this article is speaking as much to me as it is anyone else. Our guest speaker said that we pitifully try to harvest, when we haven?t done much planting. We just had a big discussion on this web site last month about sinners in the church. The fact is that one of the main places sinners should be getting saved is in the church, but we don?t seem to be doing a very good job of getting sinners to the church. This same principle applies to us as artists as well. We tend to get a booking and just expect that when we do our part of ?showing up,? then the rest of the world will do their part and ?just show up? too. One look at just about any Southern Gospel concert will tell you that this just is not happening. Very few groups can be counted on to draw enough people to pay their flats, let alone pay for any of the other expenses involved in promoting a concert. I have said before, when I put on my ?promoter hat,? that it isn?t fair for the promoter to be struck as the only one responsible for the success of a concert. If Southern Gospel artists want to benefit from the rewards of the concert, then they should do their fair share of making that concert a success. Crowds do not happen on accident. People don?t just show up at concerts. I do believe that promoters have the responsibility to do everything they can to bring a crowd in. Advertising in newspapers and radio are always effective. However, I have seen promoters do everything they can to get a crowd, doing all the right things, and still not have enough people show up to pay the group. Because of that, I want to look at what the groups and artists can do, and should do, to help carry their portion of the concert. Just about every concert I go to, I put my name on some group or artist?s mailing list. I have often wondered what they do with these lists when they get them home. Do they make good kindling for the fireplace? Do they make good wallpaper in their living rooms? They must be doing something with these lists, bcause I very, very seldom receive any communication from these groups when they are about to be in my town. In fact, I can?t count the number of times that an artist or group has been in my town and I didn?t knows about it until after they had already been here and gone. I know, it costs 22 cents to mail a post card. I cannot help but think that it would be a very wise investment for groups or artists to send post cards to people on their mailing lists, informing them that they are coming to perform in a concert near them. Surely the people liked them and would come to see them again, if they went to the trouble of putting their name on that groups mailing list. Most promoters use a mailing list, but how much more personal it would be to receive an invitation to the concert from one of the groups going to be there. One more thought about what groups and artists can do to help promote any concert that they are about to perform on, is to call the radio station in or around the city where they are about to perform. When I was on the radio, my listeners loved to hear interviews with the artists. They especially loved the spontaneous interviews, when an artist was in town that night, and took the time to spend just a few minutes with the audience. What was even more impressive was when an artist would drop in at the radio station. I would get calls for an hour after the artist had left, with people still wanting to talk with them. You know, a phone call, and ten minutes out of your time could reap you a much larger attendance at your concerts. We have been expecting a harvest, when we haven?t planted any seeds. We have expected to just show up and have a harvest. Talk to any farmer and you will find out that getting to the harvest is a lot of work. Psalm 126:6 says ?He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him?. If we want the harvest, we have to do the planting. We can?t just continue to go to the field and expect to see a harvest, when we haven?t planted any seed. Remember, the more you plant, the more you will harvest. I recently heard a very wise man in the Southern Gospel industry say that when he quit depending on other people to promote him and started doing all he could to promote his group, the concert attendance grew rapidly. I am throwing this challenge out to every artist and group that is traveling. Start doing all you can to promote yourself and see if your concert attendances don?t start increasing.

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