Creative Arts and the Ministry of Encouragement
Two of the things that bring me the greatest joy are music and encouraging the gifts of others. One way those two joys have intersected in my local church has been through the development of songwriters and performers in the congregation and nearby community. With their permission, I'd like to share some of the music that has come out of the Good Shepherd creative arts ministries. The downloads are free and you are welcome to share them.
If you are interested in songwriting or this kind of creative arts ministry in the local church (or any other topic!), I'd love to talk with you more. You can reach me any time in the future at my permanent address: robert.austell@gmail.com.
"Run" (live) - by Maddie Shuler
"Running Back" (live) - by Maddie Shuler
"Little Light" - feat. Tiffany Hinton (arr. Austell)
"Kum Bah Yah" - feat. Tiffany Hinton (arr. Austell)
"That's Who You Are" (live) - by Mike Slade and Maddie Shuler
"When I Get in the Way" (live) - by Mike Slade/arr. Austell
"On My Knees" (live) - by Billy Howell
"Whiskey Before Breakfast" - feat. and arr. Rebecca Stevens-Walter, fiddle
"How Can it Be" - arr. Austell; feat. Rebecca Stevens-Walter, fiddle
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| Maddie Shuler |
Maddie Shuler is a talented multi-instrumentalist who started writing and playing original, heart-felt music from a very young age, both in church and in the Charlotte community. We first started collaborating and performing when she was 10! I was privileged to work on several demos and then her first studio release. She has since released several albums and is a professional musician/singer/songwriter out of Asheville, NC. Maddie is singing and playing guitar on "Run," "Running Back," and "That's Who You Are."
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| Billy Howell II |
Billy Howell II grew up at Good Shepherd and has served as a youth advisor and worship team member. He was diagnosed a number of years ago with multiple sclerosis. He writes a phenomenal number of demos (I can't keep up with him!)... you can hear some of those on his
YouTube Channel, as well as some of the songs he has shared in worship. Billy is playing guitar and singing on "On My Knees."
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| Mike Slade |
Mike Slade served for a number of years on the worship team at Good Shepherd. Though he had no formal music training, we discovered he had an amazing ear and voice for music. "When I Get in the Way" is a testimonial song and "That's Who You Are" is a song Mike wrote that Maddie Shuler sang in worship. (Mike wrote it to go with one of his first sermons at Good Shepherd!) Mike is singing on "When I Get in the Way."
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| Tiffany Hinton |
Tiffany Hinton is a member of Good Shepherd who was a worship leader with our worship team, then served for years on the mission field (Nicaragua, then Hungary/Greece) with her family through Youth With a Mission. Her family is now back in the states working for Samaritan's Purse. On one furlough from Nicaragua Tiffany wanted to record a CD about "A Father's Love" - two of the tracks are included above and you can hear more by e-mailing me at robert.austell@gmail.com. Tiffany is singing on "Little Light," and "Kum Bah Yah."
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| Rebecca Steven-Walter |
Rebecca Stevens-Walter was in youth group in my first call and became a fine professional musician in her 20s. The bluegrass track, "Whiskey Before Breakfast," was a demo we did to showcase her fiddling skills for her website. She has toured with regional funk-folk group, Thacker Dairy Road, played locally in NC, and founded a company for artist management. In her mid-30s she moved to New York City to pursue her musical career and ended up going to seminary and becoming ordained in the PCUSA. Rebecca is playing fiddle on "Whiskey Before Breakfast."
Robert Austell - I included a few of my worship and other songs as well. All the other instruments (piano, guitar, bass, drums) you hear throughout are me.
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These are just a few of our musicians, we have a whole generation of songwriters, artists, dancers, actors, musicians, and playwrights and more that have come through the worship and arts ministry at Good Shepherd.
