October 21, 2002
RANDY TRAVIS:
'Work in progress'
___By Trennis Henderson
___Kentucky Western Recorder
___LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) -- Early in his career, country music superstar Randy Travis never would have imagined singing in a Baptist church.
___After dropping out of school in the ninth grade--"I had gotten so far out of hand, they were very happy to let me leave"--Travis rushed headlong into a life of alcohol, drugs and brushes with the law.
___At 16, when he won a local talent contest in Charlotte, N.C., Travis faced possible jail time on charges of breaking-and-entering and automobile theft.
___Lib Hatcher, who owned the club where he was playing, urged the judge to give the teen singer one more chance.
___The judge said: "I'm going to let you go one more time. But you come before me again, bring your toothbrush, because you're staying."
COUNTRY MUSIC sensation Randy Travis turned his attention to spiritual songs after accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior a decade ago. Although his conversion had a profound influence on his life, he makes no claim for perfection. "I'm ... a work in progress," he admits.
___"That got to me," Travis recalled. "I heard that loud and clear."
___Travis became a regular at Hatcher's club, spending the next five years performing there. He moved to Nashville in 1981 and Hatcher, his manager and future wife, began managing The Nashville Palace where Travis sang, cooked catfish and washed dishes.
___After signing a record contract and being named the Academy of Country Music's 1985 Top New Male Vocalist, Travis racked up dozens of major music awards over the next few years. In the process, he recorded more than 20 No. 1 country hits, ranging from "Forever and Ever, Amen" to "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart."
___Fast forward to 2002: Travis has recorded more than 15 albums, including his second gospel album, "Rise and Shine," which was released Oct. 15.
___Travis, who became a born-again Christian a decade ago, shared several songs from his new album during a recent concert at St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.
___During an on-stage interview with Pastor Les Hollon, Travis told the capacity crowd of 1,700 people his Christian conversion was "a very gradual thing."
___"I went to a Baptist church a very short time as a kid," he recalled. "It didn't take, that's for sure.
___"When I got into my early 20s, I started just reading the Bible to go to sleep at night. I started reading, and I was really surprised. It was just like a calming effect. It made me seem to mentally feel better.
___"From that point till I was actually baptized, it took about 10 years, so you can see I was a little bit slow. Since then, knowing that even though I'm far from being perfect--a work in progress and always will be--there's a wonderful peace of mind knowing that those things I have done in the past, as bad as they were, they are forgotten and forgiven."
___Describing his singing talent as "a God-given gift," Travis told the crowd: "I like what I do. I'm fortunate. I'm not a trained singer. Why (God) decided to give that to me, I don't know."
___Recalling the impact of "Inspirational Journey," his first gospel album released two years ago, Travis said, "Things started happening with that CD that really got to me in a way that I'd never really expected."
___He told about a woman whose son was using drugs and alcohol but came to church to hear Travis because of his country music fame. After hearing Travis' gospel music and testimony, the young man became a Christian.
___"When you hear that, you know you're doing the right thing," Travis added.
___Reflecting on the change in Travis' life, Hollon said: "The gospel can happen in so many ways. This is a night to celebrate how Randy Travis has been impacted by the gospel. I think we leave with our own inspiration to be real in following Jesus."
___
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