Gospel music opens doors in Scotland
___FRASERBURGH, Scotland (BP)--A group of seven laymen from all walks of life and varying denominations believed that Scotland's Gospel Music Convention would help their countrymen tune in to the gospel.
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TEXAS gospel music artist Clifton Jansky debuts his cowboy kilt at Scotland's Gospel Music Convention.
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_Alex Duthie of the village of Boddam was among the first to have a vision for a Scottish gospel music fest, held the past three years in Fraserburgh.
___"I'm a great fan of gospel music," Duthie recounted. "Several of us had attended the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Ky., and saw what a grand meeting it was. We felt holding a gospel music convention could help reach this area for Christ, and it has. We giveGod all the glory."
___John Watt, another convention organizer, concurred. "We wanted to introduce the people here to Christ. I love music, and I believed this was a way of spreading the gospel."
___The men formed the Gospel Music Convention as a week of preaching and music. This year's gathering brought artists from several countries, including the United States.
___Clifton Jansky, whose Texas sound hit the top of this year's Christian country charts with "Heart Transplant," gained hundreds of new fans after his appearance at the Scottish event.
___"The people were so genuine," Jansky said. "My testimony is in my songs, but I also like to share the whole story of where Jesus Christ has brought me from."
___Jansky had a successful career as a country music artist before accepting Christ as Savior and turning his talents toward Christian music. He makes his home in San Antonio, where he is active in First Baptist Church of Universal City and works as a member of the Conference of Texas Baptist Evangelists.
___"A full year of prayer and preparation brought Clifton and these others here," Duthie said. "And God has blessed and used them."
___In addition to the singing and preaching events at Fraserburgh's Leisure Centre, times of prayer were slated, and teaching sessions focused on such topics as "How to Share Your Faith" led by Gary Maroney, an evangelist with God-Bold in San Marcos.
___A simultaneous children's program also was part of this spring's three-day convention, while a huge crowd of teens and young adults gathered over at the city's seaside fish market to hear contemporary Christian music and more preaching from Maroney.
___"We even got to go into the prison in Peterhead," Jansky interjected. "Ordinarily, getting permission to do this is a long process, but God opened that door at a moment's notice. One of the prisoners had heard me speaking on the radio here, and he began to pray for God to send me to the prison. Seven men prayed to receive Christ."
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