Jonathan White was born in the state of Pennsylvania and began singing with his family at age 4. Jonathan currently sings with Mencer, White and Cheney as well as having a successful solo ministry.

Jonathan's current single, "The Passion of the Christ" (listen here) is making a huge splash on radio. The song was written by Steven Cheney and the late Dan Adkins. When asked about the inspiration for the song, Jonathan sent me the following from co-writer, Steven Cheney.

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While seeing the movie “The Passion Of The Christ” it had such an affect on me that I could not watch it completely through the first time and found myself going in and out of the theater. The story of the Savior so gripped my heart that the opening line of the song that would soon be written, kept going over and over in my mind. It says … “They led Him away … betrayed by a kiss”. After seeing the movie the second time completely through … I was still captured by loves greatest story and knew in my heart that there had to be a song that would convey the great love and grace of our sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ.

While traveling up to Galion, Ohio one day from my home in Zanesville, Ohio to see a close friend of mine…Bro. Dan Adkins, I told Him what I was feeling. Of course our first thought as songwriters would be to pass on writing the idea because it would just be to difficult to convey such an awesome movie into a song. I had traveled to see Dan who was at that time doing some duplication for us and I was extremely tired from a busy weekend.

Dan and His wife Carla were always so kind and generous and so they asked me to just stay the night in their home. I think Dan knew that I was not in any condition to drive home and didn’t want me to leave for fear that I would not make it. All night I tossed and turned and could not sleep as the words kept coming back to me. It so flooded my soul that I woke up at about 6:30 am. I went in the living room to Dan’s piano and began to write. I had written down two or three thoughts and a melody line. The first verse came together rapidly. By the time I had finished it, Dan who had heard me playing awoke to the song I had been working on. We both had an idea of where the song needed to go but getting there as writers would be a difficult task. We finished the first verse and the first chorus seemed to come together very rapidly. Within about 35 minutes we had finished the song. Over the next 2 weeks we did some tweaking and a couple of re-writes in order to refine it and make it the best song it could be. Dan said as I left that next morning that He was going out to California on a revival tour of about 3 or 4 weeks. When I shared with him that Jonathan White our tenor singer was interested in cutting the song, he was thrilled. Soon thereafter Jon recorded the song and Dan asked me to send him a copy when it was done.

I believe in my heart that there are no coincidences, but divine appointments (God-Incidences). Little did I know that this would be the last song that Dan and I would ever write together. Many of you know that Dan passed away. Dan never got to hear his song on earth but I believe he was listening in on the night Jon recorded it. He will truly be missed…but I know his songs will live on.

Soon after it was cut, Jon wanted to get the song out to as many people as possible because of the power in the message of the gospel. It was released by Phillip Emery (DJ Man Promotions) our radio promotions company.

My prayer is and has always been, “Lord take my songs and use them as You please to bring glory to Yourself and to multiply Your kingdom. … and I believe that Bro. Dan would feel the same way. As a songwriter I want hearts and lives all over the world to be touched by our music and reached by the saving message of Jesus Christ. I know this is the passion of our Savior … and I am just so thankful that in God’s sovereign plan allowed me to write it in a song. Surely he came to seek and to save that which was lost … and for that I am most grateful. God Bless You!

Sincerely,

In Christ …
Steven Cheney

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If you get a chance pick up a copy of Jonathan White, Live at Chapel Hill, and listen to every song on this project, but most especially listen to "The Passion of the Christ."

For more information on Jonathan visit www.jonathanwhitemusic.com

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