Greetings from the road! The Singing Echoes have started the year off and have been in some great meetings already. I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. People have made their new years resolutions, and many may have already forgot them.  The Christmas stockings and trees have by most accounts been either taken down or thrown away. I start to wonder what God has in store for us in 2011.

 I have begun a study in Psalms as we start the New Year, and I am looking forward to it because its one of my favorite books in the Bible. Its not a resolution but I have the distinct feeling that God has brought me into this study. It may take me all year it may take a few weeks. Being the backwards fellow that I am, I went the last chapter last week to the 150 chapter of Psalms. It makes the statement to praise God in his sanctuary and in the firmament of his power. Where has our praise been? It seems absent from our sanctuaries. We have been in many services in the past year and had great services, but things have changed in our churches. We have been in many different regions of the country and it looks the same. Has the depression of watching the media and the overabundance of radicalism restricted our hearts from the concentration of praise? I ask where is the praise? What have these times of war, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine, and destruction done to us as Christians? This should be a time of praise because we are separate from the world’s theology. We have a sheltering arm from this radicalism. There was a period of time in 2010 in which the Echoes listened to 3 preachers in two separate weeks and not one sermon was preached with a scripture being read. I have already seen this same thing happen again this year at a church very close to my heart.

 I know what some may be thinking by now. How is this an “On The Road” with the Singing Echoes? This seems more like a rant or rave. Well I might have to agree with you by some accounts but it is a concern to me. We are known in the Southern Gospel realm as perhaps the most exciting group in Gospel music. Many people may confuse this statement with the thought that we “put on a show”. The Singing Echoes are not “On The Road” for your entertainment. We set our focus on Praise! It may look exciting to most people because we are having fun. Some may not know how to praise anymore. It is amazing to leave a service knowing that you have felt the presence of The Almighty!

 When I first started traveling with the Singing Echoes I can remember people talking about “old fashioned” meetings and “old fashioned” services. I knew in some since the Church had changed. I see more now and understand more now than I ever have. There are churches so discouraged by everyday operations they can’t concentrate on praise. It’s more evident than ever that some have lost focus.

Let us refocus our attentions and our hearts. This year it wouldn’t just be a feel good story if we all refocused. It would not just be a change in our churches. It would not only be a change in our communities. It could revive this world. We are in world that needs resuscitation, built with the Gospel.  I don’t know about you, but I am sick of the controversies. I am tired of the imbalances. I am at my last straw with lawlessness. Our refocus would change our lives, church, nation, and have an everlasting effect!

This isn’t a time for he said, she said, he didn’t, she didn’t. This is a time for us to focus individually, undivided and unending! Let’s start right now. I hope to see you “On The Road”. Matthew Epperson