I would personally like to say “Thank You” to Associate Pastor Scott Shields and the church staff for a wonderful evening with the Kingdom Heirs at the North Asheville Baptist Church. For more information about this wonderful church, here is a link to their website:
http://www.northashevillebaptist.org.
Please pray for this church as they are getting ready to expand to a second campus for church services. They already do 2 services on Sunday mornings and they have a need to add another location to accommodate all of those attending. Our God is truly amazing!
Alright, back to the concert.
The concert started at 6 PM. After group introductions by Pastor Scott, The Kingdom Heirs took the stage. Here is a song list from the evening:
1) I’ll Be A Friend (from their Series 1 project)
2) Let’s Go To That Land (from their Gonna Keep Telling & Series 1 projects)
3) Mighty Deep Well (from their Going On With The Song project)
4) The Day Before He Saved Me (from their Give Me The Mountain project)
5) We’ll Soon Be Done (from their Series 1 project)
6) God’s Word (from their Give Me The Mountain project)
7) Sea Walker (from their Off The Record project)
8) My Anchor Of Hope (from their Give Me The Mountain project)
9) Goodbye World, Goodbye (Band Instrumental)
10) I’ve Got That Old-Time Religion (Piano Solo)
11) I Don’t Wanna Go Back (from their Give Me The Mountain project)
12) Pray For Me (from their Give Me The Mountain project)
– Intermission –
13) Move That Mountain (from their Off The Record project)
14) Nicodemus (from their Off The Record project)
15) I Know He Heard My Prayer (from their Off The Record project)
16) Forever Changed (from their Forever Changed project)
17) Invitational by Steve French
18) How Great Thou Art (from their Feelin’ At Home & Series 1 projects)
I knew it was going to be a good evening when the crowd response on the very first song prompted a turn-around on “I’ll Be A Friend.” The crowd was very response for the entire concert.
Jeff Chapman kept the crowd going with “Let’s Go To That Land.” His voice keeps getting deeper and stronger every year that I hear him. I just listened to a recording of Jeff when he was with the Anchormen in 1994 (Spirit Live – 1994 VHS) and it is amazing the difference in the quality of his voice between then and now. He was also very impressive on the Kingdom Heirs hit song, “Mighty Deep Well”. In fact, vocally, it was one of Jeff’s better song performances of the evening.
While I’m on that song, let me say that IMO, Billy Hodges was far better on the tenor than anytime I heard Jodi Hosterman sing that song. Not that I didn’t like Jodi’s voice, but Billy has a higher range and therefore fits the song better.
Jeff continued singing with the Rodney Griffin song, “The Day Before He Saved Me”. Again, Jeff was top notch the entire evening. What a powerful song!
The classic song, “We’ll Soon Be Done”, from the red Church Hymnal was next. This song drew more response from the crowd than any other song from the first half of the concert than any of the other 11 songs.
“God’s Word” was the next song. I’ve never been a big fan of this song. To be honest, I’m still not after hearing another live performance. Vocally, it was good. I’ve just never liked the feel of the song.
The Statesmen classic, “Sea Walker”, was next. Good performance, but it wasn’t one of the highlights of the evening. It seemed like more a filler song for the concert. But then, they go from kind of “Blah” with “Sea Walker” to the most powerful song of the first half of the concert, “My Anchor Of Hope”.
Billy Hodges was spectacular on this song and the crowd was eating this song up. It was great to see hands uplifted to Heaven during this song and people getting a blessing from the lyrics. Although this song was great, the most powerful song was yet to come. More about that later.
The next two songs were instrumentals, “Goodbye World, Goodbye” (featuring the three band members) and “I’ve Got That Old-Time Religion” by Joseph Cox. The Kingdom Heirs have the reigning “Band Of The Year” in Southern Gospel and they did not disappoint with their musicianship. Joseph seemed to be a great fit, but that is now a moot point with his departure from the group the day following the concert. I guess he didn’t fit as well as it seemed.
Two more songs completed the first half of the concert. “I Don’t Wanna Go Back” was next and it was another one of those “Blah” songs to me. But then, Arthur Rice unloaded on “Pray For Me”. Being in his hometown, Arthur was feeling at home…….and that was apparent in his vocals for the evening……then again, I’ve never heard Arthur sing when he wasn’t at the top of his game.
After a thirty minute intermission, the Kingdom Heirs were welcomed to the stage once again and they began with three consecutive songs from their “Off The Record” album:
? “Move That Mountain”
? “Nicodemus”
? “I Know He Heard My Prayer”
The first two were good vocally but didn’t pull much response from the crowd. That all changed when the Kingdom Heirs sang “I Know He Heard My Prayer”. The crowd really got excited with this song and that Spirit of excitement grew exponentially when Arthur sang “Forever Changed”. This is one of the most powerful songs that I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing the Kingdom Heirs perform.
Steve French gave a good invitational with several people coming forward to the altar for prayer. This was probably the sweetest service that I’ve ever been in with the Kingdom Heirs. Steve really did well during this time of prayer.
Arthur Rice finished the evening with “How Great Thou Art”. Arthur showed us with his vocals on this song why he is one of the best lead singers in Southern Gospel music today. This is becoming one of his signature songs, mostly due to the amount of time that he holds a note in the second verse of the song. He held the note (and stayed on pitch) for around 30 seconds. It’s pretty amusing to see how many shades of red he turns while he holds the note. What a way to end the concert!
Overall, it was a great evening with the Kingdom Heirs.
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