NewSong is known for founding the Winter Jam tour and making music for more than three decades. Among the band’s extensive repertoire are the songs “One True God,” “Swallow the Ocean,” and “The Christmas Shoes.” On Oct 12, NewSong made a return visit to the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, N.C., for an intimate evening of dinner and music attended by close to 400 people.
There are still eight An Evening at The Cove events planned for 2014. Tickets are also available for much of the 2015 concert lineup, which includes Brandon Heath, Laura Story and Selah.
To get to know each of the Evening at The Cove artists a little better, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has been collecting questions via the BGEA Facebook page. Below are five questions for NewSong with answers from the band.
Q: NewSong has gone through a lot of changes over the years, with various members coming and going at different times. How do you stay cohesive through change and keep the band’s identity in tact?
A: That’s a great question. Our band has gone through some changes over the years, but we’ve seen God use them to refresh the band for another season of music and ministry every time.
Q: As the founders of Winter Jam, can you give us an idea of what to expect on the 2015 tour? Is there anything you’re especially excited about?
A: We’re really excited to be kicking off Winter Jam west this November. It’s going to be great to have Hillsong United out with us as well as Francesca Battistelli, Jeremy Camp, Trip Lee and so many other phenomenal artists. This tour will make a way for our East Coast leg starting January 2015 (artists and dates to be announced on 10/27/14). And as a band, we believe and know that Winter Jam is God’s tour. He started it and we’re thankful to be a part of what He’s doing through it!
Q: Do you find it harder to reach the youth of today with the message of Christ, given the current condition of our society?
A: Winter Jam provides a great platform for us and the friends we have to share the Gospel to tens of thousands of students. We try to keep our music as relevant as possible and we make every effort to have artists on our tours that understand younger generations, know how to grab their attention, and boldly proclaim the Gospel to them.
Q: Would you talk about how you use CD sales as an evangelism tool?
A: Sure. Over the years, we’ve done various things to get our music out there to share the Gospel. We’ve included Gospel tracts in our CDs; printed Bible verses and included various ways to get in touch with us for outreach opportunities; packaged our CD with a copy to give away, so fans could give a CD to someone they wanted to reach out to; and we’ve done a pay-what-you-can CD, where people can pick up a copy by paying what they can. That could be $10, $5 or $1.
Q: What’s on your iPod(s)?
A: We have so many friends in Christian music, and we try to support all of their music, but one of the albums I recently received was Lecrae’s new project. Plus we’re working on a new album, too, so we’ve been listening to a lot of great worship music lately.
Check out more upcoming concerts with Fernando Ortega, Cliff Barrows, Point of Grace and others.
