Book Excerpt

CHAPTER I

Toledo Tour
God Delivers Again

Standing there at the Red Sea God’s people began to complain
Soon Pharaoh and his mighty army will take us in bondage again
“Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord!” Moses cried
Then God parted the waters and they crossed to the other side
“We won’t bow to your idols,” the Hebrew children proclaimed
And so the king gave the command “throw them into the flames”
Then the king said,
“Did we not cast three men into the furnace bound
I see four men loose in the fire unhurt and walking around”
God delivers again! God delivers again!
When it seems all is lost He reaches down His hand
Then all the forces of evil have to flee at His command
Just when things look hopeless, God delivers again
—Michael Payne
(Used with permission)


OHIO 1 Leaving home, we turn left onto National Road (U.S. 40) and continue west driving through the city of Vandalia, also known as the Crossroads of America. The fog was so thick we could not see any of the airplanes at the Dayton International Airport. While passing through Vandalia, I’m reminded that this was home to Paul Mullins and the Bluegrass Gospelaires. They started singing in the mid-1950s and continued to minister into the 1970s. One of the members, Talmadge Clark, also played with John Burke and the Layman Trio for about two years. He is currently with a group from Kentucky called the Soul Searchers who recently did a television concert on Kentucky channel, WLJC.

Also from Vandalia is a group called the Christian Family Singers. Mitchell and Wilma Jackson formed the group in the 1960s. Wilma’s mother, Marie Lawless, was also one of the original members, and they remained primarily a trio as they traveled throughout the Midwest. They have performed at a camp meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and as far away as Colorado. Their five children Tina, Denise, David, Mitch, and Mickey were all part of the group at some point in their lives. The group continues today as a duet consisting of the original founders, Mitchell and Wilma Jackson. On the cover of their first album is a picture of Christ sitting down. The person portraying Christ is none other than the well-known Kenny Shiveley and the man kneeling is Mitchell Jackson.

OHIO 2 Continuing west along U.S. 40 (Ohio Scenic Byway) we cross Englewood Dam, one of the five dry dams constructed by the Miami Conservancy District as a result of the Great Flood of 1913. Crossing the dam we turn right onto SR-48 and enter the city of Englewood, with its unique brick crossings. Englewood is the home of the Shepherds.

Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, Ernest DeWaters was exposed to music at an early age. Chatting ladies would sip ice tea while their kids leaped off to one side of the porch, chasing one another in and around the house. The men gathered off to one side, usually picking, strumming, and singing of life’s pleasures and woes. Before evenings end, all were drawn to join in on the singing, which usually ended with old gospel hymns.

In high school, he was lead singer for the Shades, a sock hop group out of Dalton, Georgia, and performed solo during his senior year in Dumas, Texas. While serving in the air force, Ernie performed with the Electras, a group from Abilene, Texas. He was transferred to Vietnam and, after returning from Vietnam, spent time in California performing solo with a group called Bob and Cecil. Ernie then moved to Dayton, where he found Christ. This transformation of his heart also brought a change in his music.

In 1990, Ernie began writing for, and singing with, the Shepherds, a southern gospel quartet in Englewood that is no longer together. In 1997, Ernie formed a group called Ernie DeWaters & Spiritual River, who ministered regionally and even appeared on Christian television in Ashland, Kentucky. Their ministry continued through 2005. Ernie continues today as a soloist in Seattle, Washington.

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The Gibbons Family, also based in Englewood, was formed by Dale and Gayle Gibbons. Gayle (Livingston) Gibbons was born in Dayton on June 20, 1958. She possesses a strong gospel heritage as her father, Norm Livingston, also loves and has promoted gospel music for many years. He plays both the banjo and the fiddle and even played for Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs years ago. Norm later exposed many big-name groups to the Dayton area, including the original Looper Trio. After concerts, the groups would often stop by his house for refreshments. Gayle remembers some would even spend the night, and her mom would always cook them breakfast. Once they were having a tent meeting and singing at the Livingston County Fairgrounds in Kentucky. One of the special groups for the event was Coleman Looper and the Way Travelers. Dale Gibbons was playing piano for the group at that time, and that is where Gayle met Dale.

Dale Gibbons was born on June 21, 1955, in Pineville, Kentucky. Dale remembers, “My grandmother use to sing all of the time, but she just sang, you know, out on the front porch with no music.”

He came from a musical family, and his first encounter with music was singing for years with his mother in church. All self-taught, he learned to play the piano by ear. Someone gave them an old upright piano, and although some of the keys didn’t work, Dale banged away on that old piano. At this time, his family was attending the Pontiac Missionary Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan, and some boys at the church, using a guitar, taught him when to switch chords on the piano. He nearly drove his parents crazy, but he finally learned to play that old piano.

After living in Michigan, Dale’s family moved down to Ozone, Tennessee, where they attended the Ozone Missionary Baptist Church. This is where Dale’s singing took place and where he became acquainted with Coleman Looper. Once while Coleman Looper was visiting the church, he heard Dale play the piano, and the next thing you know, Dale, still in his early twenties, was at Coleman’s house practicing and soon started playing for the group. Dale tried to sing with them but just couldn’t fi nd his harmony part, so Justin, Coleman’s son, took the baritone part. Coleman’s daughter Cheryl joined the group, and they became a trio.

Once when Dale was with Coleman Looper and the Way Travelers, they sang in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Civic Auditorium with the Happy Goodman Family—one of Dale’s all-time favorite groups. He remembers when he met Howard and Vestal for the first time. He thought they would be “way up there,” but they were really pleasant, and he considered it an honor to be on the stage with them. Vestal kissed him on the cheek, and he vowed never to wash his face again.

Not all his memories are this good. While driving Coleman’s bus one day, Dale had a very bad experience—the air tank blew up! His mother was with them, and she thought somebody had shot them. After traveling with Coleman Looper and the Way Travelers for four years, the group sang at the Livingston Fairgrounds in Kentucky where Dale met his future wife for the first time.

Married on August 9, 1980, they lived in Tennessee for about six months. After taking a Florida vacation with Gayle’s family, they decided to pack their bags and move to Ohio. Giving a two-week notice, they rented a U-haul trailer, packed their stuff and, in January 1981, headed to Dayton. Dale was soon playing piano for the church and took this time to begin to develop his own ministry. On their early projects, Gayle would do recitations and their daughters, Stephanie and Ashley, would sing at least one song. Later Dale started singing some specials with another couple in their church, Roland and Tina VanWinkle. One night in 1999, after hearing them sing, a man from Cincinnati asked them to sing at his church. This was their very first appointment and the beginning of the Gibbons Family.

After Roland left the group, Gayle started singing since then the group has remained a trio. She was nervous and didn’t feel that singing was her calling or her forte. She soon learned that God doesn’t always call the equipped, but will equip the called. Gayle says, “Of all the songs we sing, I still love to hear those old hymns. And we try to pick a hymn for each project like Page 333, ‘I’ll Fly Away’ and Page 110, ‘Heaven’s Jubilee’ or that great old hymn on Page 50, ‘Amazing Grace’ as they really go over well.”

Once they were singing at an outdoor event in the parking lot of an open strip mall. They had already sung and were just lingering around until it was time to leave. Gayle noticed a dollar store, and she loves to shop—calling it “retail therapy.” They would be home the next morning, and Gayle remembered there wasn’t any coffee at home, so she ran over to the dollar store to get some. Taking her time, she browsed around in the store. When she got to the counter, the lady who had just checked out opened the door to leave the store. About that time, Gayle heard Dale’s voice from the stage, “Has anybody seen my wife?”

She looked at the cashier and said, “That is my husband. Can you check me out in a real big hurry?”

Rushing over to the singing area, Gayle slowly worked her way to the platform. When she was on stage Dale said, “Darling, where were you?”

Dale knew where she had been, but he wanted to embarrass her. So again he asked, “Darling, where were you?”

Realizing there was no way out, she said, “I was at the dollar store.”

Their oldest daughter married Rusty Wysong, a drummer. Ironically, Rusty’s dad used to play drums for the Southern-Aires. Their youngest daughter married one of the musicians with Eddie Lee and Anointed in Virginia.

In 2006, the group was booked for twelve consecutive weekends, many of them out of state. Gayle became ill very suddenly, leaving Dale to carry most of the equipment. Gayle and Tina could help some, but Dale, having to load most of the equipment by himself, began to question if they could continue another year. Then during their camp meeting, the Lord reacquainted them with some old friends named Ed and Vicki Wright. Ed called Dale indicating God had spoken to him and told him that he wanted him to be a part of their ministry. Ed helps manage the equipment and drive the bus. Vicki manages the product table.

Once they were singing in Springfield in a small church, and the place was packed. The group sang, and Dale also preached for the service that evening. The group had already experienced a difficult day, and when no one came to the altar, Dale questioned in his heart, Lord, surely in a crowd of this size there is somebody here that needs to know you. About that time, a gentleman on the very back row got up and walked down the aisle. He had on a pair of bibbed overalls and had a very long beard. When the man knelt down at the altar, Dale knelt down with him and questioned, “Sir, is there anything I can help you pray about?”

The man raised both of his hands up to heaven and said, “Lord, save this old sinner that I am.”

The man (Brother Elmer) was seventy-two years old.

Before they purchased their present bus, they traveled using a van and experienced some rough traveling. As the equipment barely fit in their van, they always had to drive two vehicles. If they stayed overnight, to avoid the cost of two hotel rooms, they would often sleep in the van on the seats, or the floor or wherever they could find room to lay down.

When they first got their bus, they parked it at a friend’s farm near Tipp City. Later while preparing the bus for an upcoming trip, they had lifted up one of the bay doors. Unaware that their friend’s cat has entered the bay, they closed the door. Then on Saturday morning as they headed down the road, they stopped in Franklin for fuel. Some of them were in the store buying food and getting things situated for the trip. Remembering they had some bottled water in the bay, Gayle sent Dale to get the water to put some on the bus. When he lifted the bay door the cat, having been locked in the bay for almost fourteen hours, jumped out right in front of Dale’s face and nearly frightened him to death! After recovering, he realized it was their friend’s cat. Entering the bus, Gayle asked, “Did you get the water?”

Dale responded, “Well, I got two things to tell you. One, there isn’t any water down there, and second, the Collins’ cat is riding with us today!”

Quickly exiting the bus, they began their search to find the cat. On his hands and knees, Dale chased the cat through the maze across the parking area running under, through, and around several semitrucks. Finally, they caught the cat and put it in the bathroom of the bus where it would have to stay for the rest of the trip. While traveling down the road, they listened to the continual screeching sounds of the cat. During their stay at the outdoor singing event, Roland’s son put a leash on the cat and walked it around like a dog.

They remain very active in the ministry, working full-time jobs and traveling on the weekends. As part of their ministry, they produced a television program entitled Dayton’s Gospel Music Connection. The program provides quality gospel music in an effort to keep gospel music alive in the Dayton area. In addition to their singing ministry, Gayle has been a professional real estate agent for almost eighteen years. Dale, after working in the medical field at Grandview Hospital for twenty-five years, recently transferred to Southview Hospital.

OHIO 3 Leaving Englewood, we turn left onto Union Road and travel through town to SR 49 where we turn right and head north soon merging onto IR-70 west toward Indiana. As the sun rises higher in the clear sky, the fog begins to dissipate. Passing Brookville, our view is still limited. Continuing west through farmland, we

drive under the beautiful Ohio Archway entering Indiana. After traveling a short distance, we take the first exit making a huge curve to the right and while on the exit ramp we enter Ohio and continue to National Road (U.S. 40). We follow U.S. 40 east to SR-320 where we turn left and drop back into the fog as we wind through some wooded terrain and continue to New Paris, home of Rodney Griffin.

Rodney was born in Newport News, Virginia, on December 16, 1966. When his father was saved in 1970, they moved west to Somerset, Kentucky. His dad started attending Cedar Creek Bible School in Pineville, Kentucky. They later moved to New Paris where his father became pastor of the First Baptist Church. Rodney lived in New Paris from the fourth grade through he ninth grade where he spent a lot of time playing football with his friends. Growing up in church, he developed a love for southern gospel music. He started attending National Trail High School, but at the end of his freshman year, the family returned to Kentucky where he lived until he left to attend Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.

After graduating in 1988 with a degree in biology, Rodney moved back east to Newport News, Virginia. He took a job working on aircraft carriers and submarines for the navy at the Newport News Ship Building in their Nuclear Quality Department. Shortly after arriving in Newport News, he started attending a great church, and having a heart for southern gospel music, he was soon singing with the Galileans, a local group in Chesapeake, Virginia. Soon Rodney had left his good job and returned to Ohio to pursue a full-time singing career.

Moving in with his parents, Rodney took a part-time job at the Pizza Hut and started singing with a local group in Hamilton called Higher Dedication. The group only lasted for a couple of months until they disbanded, and he was able to go full-time with a group from Russellville, Arkansas, called the Brashears.

Rodney enjoyed traveling with the Brashears, but after just six months, he attended the 1991 NQC and was offered a position with the Dixie Melody Boys. He moved to Kinston, North Carolina, and remained with the group for two years. In the fall of 1993, he joined the group Greater Vision, singing with Gerald Wolfe, former member of the Cathedrals. Rodney has been with Greater Vision for almost fifteen years and is really enjoying this ministry.