Participants:
Series Code: BBF
Program Code: BBF170002S
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00:03 Hi, I'm Billy Blackwood.
00:05 Through my years in music ministry, 00:07 I've had the privilege of meeting many great people 00:09 and making a lot of great friends. 00:14 Some have been friends for literally decades 00:15 and some have been more recent. 00:19 It's my hope that 00:20 you will enjoy getting a glimpse behind the scenes 00:22 and into the real lives of my friends. 00:25 Sit back and enjoy 00:26 as you watch Billy Blackwood and Friends. 00:33 Hi, I'm Billy Blackwood. 00:34 Welcome to Billy Blackwood and Friends. 00:35 I'm so glad you've joined us today. 00:38 My guest today is my friend, Gene McDonald. 00:41 This guy, wait till you hear him. 00:43 If you're not familiar with Gene, 00:44 you're gonna love this guy. 00:46 He's just a tremendous guy and tremendous singer. 00:48 And I'm gonna ask him just to right out of the shoot, 00:50 sing one for you, a great song called 00:52 "Hallelujah for the Cross." Listen. 01:12 Up to the hill of Calvary 01:17 My Savior went courageously 01:21 And there He bled and died for me 01:26 Hallelujah for the cross 01:30 And on that day the world was changed 01:35 A final, perfect lamb was slain 01:40 Let earth and heaven now proclaim 01:44 Hallelujah for the cross 01:49 Hallelujah for the war 01:52 He fought Love has won, death has lost 01:58 Hallelujah for the souls He bought 02:02 Hallelujah for the cross 02:14 What good I've done could never save 02:19 My debt too great for deeds to pay 02:23 But God, my Savior, made a way 02:28 Hallelujah for the cross 02:33 A slave to sin, my life was bound 02:37 But all my chains fell to the ground 02:42 When Jesus' blood came flowing down 02:47 Hallelujah for the cross 02:52 Hallelujah for the war He fought 02:55 Love has won, death has lost 03:00 Hallelujah for the souls He bought 03:05 Hallelujah for the cross 03:13 Hallelujah 03:19 And when I breathe my final breath 03:23 I'll have no need to fear that rest 03:28 This hope will guide me into death 03:33 Hallelujah for the cross 03:37 Hallelujah for the war He fought 03:42 Love has won, death has lost 03:46 Hallelujah for the souls He bought 03:51 Hallelujah for the cross 03:56 Hallelujah for the war He fought 04:00 Love has won, death has lost 04:05 Hallelujah for the souls He bought 04:09 Hallelujah for the cross 04:14 Hallelujah for the cross 04:19 Hallelujah for the cross 04:36 I love that song, 04:37 "Hallelujah for the Cross." 04:39 You've got an amazing gift. 04:41 I'm excited for people 04:42 not only to hear you sing today, 04:43 but I'm excited for people to get to know your heart 04:45 because I've been around you enough to see it. 04:48 And I love who you are as a person. 04:51 And God's put you where He's put you 04:54 because not only because you're a great singer 04:57 because you've got a great heart 04:58 and that's what I want people to see today 05:01 'cause I know it's in there. 05:03 Well, thank you. 05:05 Well, tell us a little bit about career stuff. 05:07 I know you've been around, 05:08 you've sung with a lot of people? 05:10 Yeah, I started with mom and dad in '69. 05:14 We sang, we started in Southeast Missouri, 05:18 we traveled 250-mile radius Bragg City, Missouri. 05:22 And so we sang up in Illinois 05:26 and Missouri, Kentucky. 05:28 Did that for 15 years and then I sang with Jack Campbell, 05:32 guy who wrote "Jesus use me" and "I know a man who can." 05:35 Sang with him for a couple of years, 05:37 my voice changed. 05:39 Okay. Now wait a minute. 05:42 Pause right there. 05:43 Because I've found out something about you today 05:45 that I didn't know, 05:46 'cause I never heard you sing 05:48 until, you know, the last 20 years or so, 05:52 you know, this awesome bass singer. 05:54 So you were singing filling the blank. 05:57 Yeah, I sang tenor with mom and dad. 05:58 Tenor. Yeah. 06:00 And Jack Campbell until I was 16, 06:02 my voice changed. 06:03 And I heard today before the program, 06:05 I heard a recording of you singing some serious tenor. 06:09 Yeah. 06:10 I thought it was pretty good at that age, 06:13 you know, for a 15, 16 year old kid. 06:17 And that was my dream was to sing tenor in a quartet 06:20 for the rest of my life. 06:22 And then your voice changed. 06:23 And then my voice changed 06:24 and changed a lot of things spiritually 06:29 and really thought that 06:33 the Lord didn't want me. 06:35 And so it changed my thought process 06:41 and didn't think I'd ever be able to sing bass 06:45 in a quartet 06:46 or didn't think I'd be high enough 06:48 to sing baritone. 06:49 And so changed my direction 06:52 of being in gospel music 06:55 and decided to go to college 06:57 and want to sing opera 06:59 and went in and taught outside Jonesboro 07:02 and took a music-ed in opera. 07:08 And that's what I wanted to do. 07:10 And your next step was to East? 07:13 Yeah, that was my plan. 07:17 Everything changed in about 1988. 07:21 I was working on tug boats 07:24 during the summers to pay for school 07:25 and fell 29 feet into an empty green barge 07:29 and walked out of it 07:33 with one arm and one leg hurt 07:37 and went to Elvis Presley Trauma Center there in Memphis. 07:41 The doctor, the next morning said, 07:45 "You can go home." 07:47 I said, "What's wrong with me?" 07:49 He said, "There's nothing wrong with you." 07:51 He said, 07:52 "You got a quarter inch cut over you left ear." 07:55 And he said, "You're gonna to be sore." 07:57 And he said, 07:59 "But I want you to know right now that 08:01 God's got a plan for you." 08:04 And he said that 08:07 there's a guy 08:09 that this happened to six months ago 08:11 and his mother and father are afraid 08:12 they will feed him through too for the rest of his life. 08:17 And he said, don't know why he said, 08:20 but if you don't know why, you need to find out why. 08:25 And so, that was in '88, December of '88. 08:29 And I went to Stamps School. 08:34 Decided, I asked the Lord 08:36 to take a lot of my problems away from me 08:38 and went to the Stamps School 08:42 and sang and Ben Speer 08:45 asked me why I was there. 08:47 And I told him that I was there for him 08:48 to find me a job. 08:50 And that's where it all started was in '88, so. 08:54 And interestingly to me, you know, 08:56 you have a degree in music 08:59 and were really pursuing opera as a vocation 09:02 thinking that's where you were headed 09:04 and God changed your direction. 09:06 Change your paths quick. 09:08 If, you know, I mean, 09:11 I think that it took a rude awakening 09:15 for me to realize that 09:21 I wasn't in control. 09:23 You know, I think sometimes 09:25 we try to direct our own futures 09:27 and our own paths 09:29 and when it comes down to it, 09:32 we're just following the path that He is drawing out. 09:36 And it's been a wonderful journey. 09:41 There've been a lot of hills and a lot of valleys, 09:46 but it's been a good ride. 09:47 I mean, it's been fun. 09:48 And once you realized that He is in control, 09:55 and once you give up control, 09:58 you know, every morning I thank Him for everything 10:02 that He's gonna do. 10:03 And I give all my problems to Him. 10:06 And then every night I pray, 10:07 Lord, please forgive me 10:09 for taking all my problems back, 10:10 you know, because everyone say, well, I can do this. 10:14 I can do this one. 10:16 I'll give you the big things. 10:17 But when it's all said and done, 10:20 I think we all try to, 10:23 you know, just make messes of our own selves, so. 10:27 Yeah. 10:28 This next song 10:30 kind of changed the landscape. 10:36 When it first came out, 10:38 it was actually on a record by Cheryl Prewitt 10:41 who was Miss America in 1980. 10:43 Right. 10:47 And Jaron Davis wrote this. 10:51 And it just, it really did. 10:56 It took music to another place, 11:00 kind of like the old, 11:02 I don't know how many folks would remember 11:03 the old Hallelujah project by the Gaithers. 11:05 It went places that gospel music had not gone 11:08 at least in our lifetimes before then. 11:12 And this song was one of those. 11:14 And you were telling me a little bit about, 11:16 there's a neat story, kind of surrounding this song, 11:19 share with our viewers? 11:21 It was in '88 and I had wanted to, 11:26 felt like God was dealing with me 11:29 about singing again, 11:30 singing in the quartet. 11:32 And so I went 11:35 to the Stamps-Baxter School of Music. 11:38 They had open mic night every night. 11:41 You know, if you wanted to sing, 11:42 they'd let you sing. 11:44 So I was the very first person to sing on the very first night 11:49 of the two weeks school. 11:52 And I sang, we are standing on holy ground. 11:56 And so when I got done, Ben Speer said, 12:02 "Why are you here?" 12:05 And I told him, I said, 12:06 "My dad had always told me that 12:09 if you want to sing gospel music, 12:11 you need to go 12:12 to the Stamps-Baxter School of Music. 12:13 And you'd already been to college 12:15 to have a degree in music. 12:16 I'd already been to college and done everything. 12:18 And so I decided that 12:23 this was what I wanted to do, 12:24 that God, this was what God wanted me to do. 12:28 And I told him, so I told him, I said, 12:31 "My dad said, 12:32 if I wanted to sing that I need to come here 12:34 and I'm here for you to find me a job." 12:38 And so that started a friendship 12:42 between me and him 12:43 that was inseparable. 12:46 I mean, me and him, 12:49 I actually stayed in the recording studio 12:53 behind the Speer building. 12:54 I did so many demo sessions back there. 12:56 Dave Clark, a good friend 12:59 and a friend of yours is a great writer. 13:01 Dave has been one of my guests, 13:03 and he and I were sitting here 13:06 talking about the years 13:09 that we were both, you know, writing our first songs. 13:12 And many of the demos we cut 13:14 were in that little metal building 13:16 behind the Speer building there on music row in Nashville. 13:18 And Mark played the drum. 13:21 Mark played bass or drums or something. 13:22 Gary Preem and all. 13:24 Gary Preem, and all those guys 13:26 and cutting our little demos. 13:27 John Mays would play bass on, 13:30 and we'd cut our little demo songs 13:31 in that little metal building back there. 13:33 And you lived there for six months. 13:34 I lived there for six months 13:36 until I got enough money to get me an apartment. 13:39 And the rest is history. And the rest is history. 13:42 And you know, I mean, it's, 13:44 Ben didn't know me from atom. 13:47 I mean, he knew of me from family, 13:51 but again, it'd been 20 years 13:52 since anybody had heard me sing. 13:55 So, you know, I was five, eight and 16 years old 13:59 last time he had saw me 14:01 and here I am a bass singer 14:03 and six, four, 14:06 and to know that he trusted me. 14:10 I mean, within, I'm talking about, 14:12 after the singing school, 14:15 he gave me a set of keys. 14:18 I knew all the security codes to every lock 14:25 had all the keys to everything. 14:27 And he was just open-armed with me. 14:33 And I esteemed probably 10 years ago, 14:36 I said "Why did you trust me? 14:38 You know, all these years that we've run around 14:42 and hung together and all that, 14:44 why did you trust me?" 14:45 And he said, "I knew he was a good kid." 14:47 That day I knew he was a good kid. 14:49 So I mean, 14:52 Ben was just, I mean, 14:54 he was my hero 14:56 and I had a lot of good times with him. 14:59 Got a chance to spend some great time with him 15:02 and got to love him until the end. 15:06 Yeah. 15:07 I want you to sing this song. 15:10 One of the greatest songs 15:11 that's been written in the last, 15:13 I don't know how many years, 50 years. 15:15 And I can't say enough good things about it. 15:17 Geron Davis wrote this song. 15:20 It's been recorded by Barbara Streisand. 15:22 It's been recorded by tons of people. 15:24 Great song 15:25 and wait till you hear Gene McDonald sing 15:27 this powerful song, 15:30 "We Are Standing On Holy Ground." 15:47 As I walked 15:52 through the door 15:56 I sensed His presence 16:03 And I knew 16:07 This was a place 16:12 Where love abounds 16:19 For this is the temple 16:25 Jehovah God abides in 16:35 We are standing 16:39 In His presence 16:43 On holy ground 16:51 We are standing 16:58 On holy ground 17:05 And I know that 17:09 There are angels 17:12 All around 17:19 Let us praise 17:26 Jesus now 17:33 We are standing in His presence 17:40 On holy ground 17:48 In His presence 17:52 There is joy 17:55 Beyond measure 18:01 And at His feet 18:05 Peace of mind 18:10 Can still be found 18:16 If you have a need 18:21 I know He has the answer 18:28 Oh, just reach out and claim it 18:33 For we are standing 18:36 On holy ground 18:43 We are standing 18:50 On holy ground 18:58 And I know that 19:01 There are angels 19:05 All around 19:12 Let us praise 19:19 Jesus now 19:26 We are standing in His presence 19:32 On holy ground 19:40 Let us praise 19:47 Jesus now 19:55 We are standing in His presence 20:02 We are standing 20:06 In His presence 20:09 We are standing 20:12 In His presence 20:23 On holy ground 20:41 Gene, thank you so much for coming today and, 20:45 just for sharing your heart. 20:46 I thank you for giving me the opportunity. 20:49 I love the family reunion. 20:52 It's good. 20:53 Let's pray for folks that are watching. 20:56 Father, thank You for everyone 20:58 who's sitting watching right now. 21:00 And God, Your Word says that 21:03 no man comes unless Your Spirit draws them. 21:05 And so we know that if anyone is coming to faith right now, 21:09 it's because Your Holy Spirit is drawing them in. 21:11 And so, Gene and I joined together 21:13 with other believers that are praying right now, 21:16 for those who are watching. 21:17 And I just want to encourage them to just pray, 21:19 Father, I'm a sinner and I'm lost without You. 21:23 I confess that. I admit it. 21:25 I agree with you. 21:27 Father, I thank You that You made provision for my sin 21:31 when You sent Jesus to die on the cross. 21:33 In 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, 21:35 "God made Him who knew no sin 21:36 to be sin for me, 21:37 that I might become 21:39 the righteousness of God in Him." 21:40 And, Father, at the cross 21:41 the great exchange that takes place 21:43 is He becomes my sin 21:45 and I become His righteousness. 21:48 Not because I deserve it, 21:49 not because I've been good enough, 21:51 but because of Your great love. 21:53 And, Lord, by faith, I receive Your free gift of salvation. 21:57 And I thank You for accepting me 21:59 into Your family. 22:00 And just like the father in the story 22:01 of the prodigal son, 22:03 You welcome us home. 22:04 You lay out the feast for us. 22:05 You killed the fatted calf 22:07 and You celebrate 22:09 because those, that son that was lost has come home. 22:12 And there are sons and there are daughters 22:13 right now that are responding and coming home. 22:18 And we welcome them as just as you do. 22:20 Thank You, Father, for Your great love 22:21 in Jesus' name. 22:23 Amen. 22:25 If you've just prayed that prayer 22:26 and you've come to faith in Christ, 22:28 would you please call the number on your screen? 22:30 Let us pray with you. 22:32 Let us send you some information 22:33 to help you in your new walk with the Lord. 22:36 Thank you for watching today. 22:37 I'm Billy Blackwood, 22:38 my dear friend, Gene McDonald here. 22:40 And we thank you for spending this time with us. 22:43 We hope you have been encouraged 22:46 in your walk with the Lord. 22:48 And those of you who've come to faith in Christ that, 22:50 you've given us the privilege of being a part 22:53 of that journey with you. 22:55 God bless you. 23:13 My faithful Father, 23:20 Enduring Friend 23:25 Your tender mercy's 23:28 Like a river with no end 23:35 It overwhelms me, 23:43 Covers my sin 23:47 Each time I come 23:50 Into Your presence 23:55 I stand in wonder once again 24:03 Your grace 24:07 Still amazes me 24:11 Your love 24:14 Is still a mystery 24:18 Each day 24:22 I fall on my knees 24:28 Your grace 24:30 Still amazes me 24:35 Your grace 24:37 Still amazes me 24:56 Oh, patient Savior 25:04 You make me whole 25:09 You are the Author 25:12 And the Healer 25:16 Of my soul 25:19 What can I give You 25:27 What can I say 25:31 I know there's no way 25:35 To repay You 25:38 Only to offer 25:42 You my praise 25:47 Your grace 25:51 Still amazes me 25:54 Your love 25:58 Is still a mystery 26:02 Each day 26:05 I fall on my knees 26:11 Your grace 26:13 Still amazes me 26:18 Your grace 26:21 Still amazes me 26:25 It's deeper, 26:28 It's wider 26:32 It's stronger, 26:35 It's higher 26:39 It's deeper, 26:43 It's wider 26:46 It's stronger, 26:50 It's higher 26:52 Than anything 26:56 My eyes can see 26:59 Your grace 27:03 Still amazes me 27:07 Your love 27:10 Is still a mystery 27:14 Each day 27:17 I fall on my knees 27:23 Your grace 27:25 Still amazes me 27:30 Your grace 27:33 Still amazes me. |
Revised 2021-04-29