LOUISVILLE – Despite his five Grammy awards, 11 Dove awards and 19 radio chart-topping music hits, gospel singer Larnelle Harris says his career accolades pale in comparison to the responsibility of sharing the Gospel.
Harris, a Kentucky resident who recently was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, will lead worship at the annual Evangelism Conference Feb. 25-26 at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown. For more information on the Kentucky Baptist Evangelism Conference, go to www.kybaptist.org/evangelismconference.
“I don’t know what else I would be doing if I weren’t singing about Jesus Christ and the truths of the Gospel, and then giving people an opportunity to respond,” said Harris, who also holds an honorary doctorate of music from Campbellsville University in Campbellsville.
“I try to make certain that everything I do and sing comes from a scriptural point of view. When you sing or speak the truth of scripture, it does something to the heart. I believe that everyone should be given the opportunity to respond to the Gospel and so I sing about it. I don’t try to cloak what I am singing about.”
Local church involvement is also high on Harris’s list of priorities. A member of Maple Grove Baptist Church in Louisville for more than 30 years, Harris has served there as a deacon for the past 20 years and views his role as a God-ordained appointing.
“It is not a position you lobby for or try to drum up votes to get,” he said. “It’s a place where God calls you to serve.”
Harris revolts against the “performer mentality” of viewing on-stage performance and the rest of life as two separate categories. Instead, he said believers are Christ’s representatives in every arena of life.
“You have to do evangelism everywhere,” he said. “Whether I am on a golf course, walking down the street or performing on stage, I am a representative of Jesus Christ.”
Among the Grammy and Dove awards on Harris’s walls hangs a photograph taken in Lilongwe, Malawi, that includes Harris; Larry Jones, founder and president of Feed The Children; and several African tribesmen.
The photo commemorates a time when Harris and Jones selected a strategic location for the digging of a well to better meet the needs of the local Africans. Harris also sponsors several children through World Vision.
“It is a principle of scripture to be God’s hands and feet,” he said. “I want to be the guy that has the towel wrapped around his waist, washing the feet of those who are dirty. My act of washing those feet and loving people is my witness that I have been changed by God’s love, and that God’s love is open and waiting for them.”
Harris was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Foundation Hall of Fame Oct. 29, 2007, after three decades of performing. "I Miss My Time With You" and "I've Just Seen Jesus," are a couple of his modern Gospel classics that reached the top spot for radio singles.
Harris has also performed for former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush at the White House several times and was the featured artist as part of the Moscow Project. Sponsored by the International Bible Society and Youth For Christ, the project has distributed four million Russian New Testaments and culminated in the first Gospel concert ever held in the Kremlin.
Harris and his wife Cynthia have been married for more than 35 years and are the parents of Larnelle Jr. and Teresa.
There is no charge to attend the Evangelism Conference, and registration is not required. For more information, visit www.kybaptist.org/evangelismconference or call 502-489-3576 or 866-489-3576 (toll free in KY).
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative headquarters in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more information, visit www.kybaptist.org.
Photo available for download at: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2358/2218666189_e2dec8aff2_o.jpg
Release prepared by Garrett E. Wishall, KBC Communications |