Riding with the Rowletts
Happy New Year! We are heading into our third year of full-time ministry. I am amazed and overwhelmed at what God has done in our lives. I never could have dreamed that in just our second year, we would have seen so many incredible things happen. I find it funny, that we always pray for Gods blessing and then when He does it, somehow we are shocked. What I have learned, more now than ever, is that He works through relationships. The amazing friends that we have met this last year, has been so wonderful. It's so important to stay connected to one another, accountable to one another and covered in prayer by one another. I can truly say to all of you that are getting this newsletter, Gale and I love and appreciate you completely. Thank you for one of the best years of my life!
We have had a breakthrough in the actual music business side of what we do. If I can be real honest I fought within myself as to whether I wanted to be involved in "the business side" ever again. However, some wise friends in my life convinced me that it isn't about magazines and awards its about gaining new platforms to reach more people with the Gospel. Its humorous to me, that as soon as I got my priorities straight and focused on serving, then God gave me a level of success that I never dreamed. He is promoting us to new levels and bigger platforms. It's an honor to be in the employment of my Father God. This year we were nominated for ICMA Male Vocalist of the year and more importantly Music Evangelist of the year. Turn around went to number 4 on the Powersource charts and the video has received almost 60,000 views on Youtube. It was nominated for Video of the year. Our song "The Truth Is"is currently the number one song in the country! I tried so hard for so many years, back in the 90's, to have this happen and God does it in one year without my effort at all. I am also excited to let you know that we are about to release our new single "The Old Mustang" early in 2016. Also, Bishop Michael Pitts, has included this single on his new worship CD which includes artist like Israel Houghton, The Katinas and Peaches from Peaches and Herb (Linda Tavani). Its called "Heal the World". The proceeds will go to help missions in Africa and other projects worldwide. Get yours on iTunes today!
I left the best for last. In January, Gale and I began to pray that God would allow us to see and do more for the Kingdom. Bishop prayed for us that we would have more power and anointing than ever before. All I can say is wow! By the end of our first tour in March, we had already seen over 200 people get saved and over 300 people come forward for prayer to help overcome issues like addiction in their lives. I have lost count of the totals for the year but I can promise you the number of salvations in 2015 would be close to 1,000 and countless others receiving prayer for breaking chains. One highlight I remember was preaching to a triple max prison in Cumberland, MD. It felt like revival hit that prison. The Warden has since asked that I come back and offered to allow me to do a live album recording. Praise God! To Gale and I this is what it's all about and I want to make it real clear we are not out here to be famous or sell more records than others. All I care about is that God would allow us to be His conduit with a message of hope and restoration. We believe the Gospel is the GOOD NEWS and its up to us to deliver it. I use music as an avenue into their lives where we are able to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. Bishop says it like this "Love Can Not Whisper While Evil is Shouting". Gale and I are on a mission to scream from the mountain tops that God is Love! We will go anywhere at anytime to do whatever He asks, Gale has started a side ministry that I believe in and support whole heartedly. It shows our mission. We call it "Gales Hope Bags". We take a one gallon Zip lock bag and fill it with socks, snacks and basic essentials. We carry about 30 of them with us and hand them out to less fortunate people we meet along the way. Its not about whats in the bag, its about who's holding the bag. It allows us to have a point of contact to love on them. We also go to public places and set up our sound system and gather a crowd by singing. We then hand out the bags. We tell them about Jesus. At our last event in Florida we did this and about 20 people gave their lives to the Lord.
This leads me to our big announcement. We are stepping out BIG time in faith. Towards the end of this year, we noticed that our budget was being consumed by two major issues; Hotels and eating out. Therefore, we started believing and praying for some type of a coach. God has provided a 2000 34ft Fleet wood South wind with only 59k miles for about 1/3 of what we thought we would have to pay. As excited and grateful as I am, I realize the pitfalls of driving something that big down the road for thousands of miles. We know for example, that repairs are expensive as well as fuel. Please stand with us as we step out in faith and take on this major responsibility. One of the difficulties is that we have always tried to keep our expenses as low as possible so we don't ever have to say no to a church. This can never be about money. We don't currently have a set fee that we charge. We just ask for a love offering. Its our heart to be able to always say yes to anyone that would ask us to come and help them reach their city for the kingdom. Gale and I are believing that the money we save in hotels and eating out every meal, will equal out in the long run to the expenses of having a home on the road, where we can sleep in our own bed every night. Also, it becomes a fantastic tool for outreaches. I plan on pulling it up into public places and opening up the awning, starting the generator, bringing out the sound system, putting on a free concert to anyone that will listen and passing out Gales Hope Bags. Here is a pic of the new coach.
