BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

B V O V : 1 5 by Melanie Hemry RayGene's immediate family had transplanted from the Cumberland Gap to Delphi, Ind. His dad was a newspaper man. His mother worked as a seamstress. He and his four sisters were raised in the Baptist church. At the tender age of 13, RayGene had started singing country music. Still in school, he traveled, singing at public events. At 14, he'd given his life to Jesus. That's when his music morphed. The majority of his music was still country, but he added gospel. Lonzo and Oscar were a country music duo and members of the Grand Ole Opry. RayGene had heard them live when he was 7. Now they had a talent contest, which he entered. The winner would get a recording contract and record at the House of Cash, a music studio owned by the legendary country music singer Johnny Cash. RayGene could only hope that a 14-year-old boy might have a chance to win. The day the winner was announced, RayGene almost passed out. He'd won, and his singing career had been launched! RayGene paced the fl oor as his parents read the contract. Blood pounded in his ears. His palms felt wet and sweaty. He could relax and celebrate, he thought, the moment the contract was signed. His parents walked toward him with serious faces. "Did you sign it?" RayGene asked, breathless with excitement. "No, son," his dad said as his mother circled him with her arm. "It's not a good contract. We won't sign it." In an instant, the bottom fell out of RayGene's world. He knew better than to argue. But really? He wasn't going to record with House of Cash? Life as he knew it was over. A New Direction "Looking back now, I know that my parents did the right thing," RayGene explains. "I certainly didn't think so at the time. However, being a child, I had no options except to continue doing what I'd been doing." Soon afterward, RayGene began singing with the Bobby Helms Band. Helms had become famous after recording his 1975 Christmas hit, "Jingle Bell Rock." "Singing with his band put me on the right track," RayGene recalls. For RayGene, the "right track" meant a conversion from country to gospel music. "When I was 18, the entire direction of my life changed," he explains. "I was fi lled with the Holy Spirit and called into the ministry. I started traveling with The Spurrlows. Thurlow Spurr was the director for music on the PTL Club. We were on that show quite a bit. In addition, we performed at 350 concerts a year. We were given a week o for Christmas. I sang with them for several years. Afterward, I traveled with Karen Wheaton, who had a show on TBN." In 1984, RayGene was invited to join the Rhema Singers and Band, the worship ministry of Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Tulsa, Okla. The group was made up of graduates from the ministry's Rhema Bible College, but although RayGene was not a graduate of the school, the group needed a tenor and asked him to join, he explained. "I started traveling with Brother Kenneth E. Hagin that year," says RayGene. "I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with him on the road and at home. I was dating Beth, who later became my wife. She was a Rhema student at the time. When we weren't on the road, Brother Hagin often invited us over to play games and have a good time together. I never took that for granted. Music Creates an Atmosphere "The thing I'd learned early was that God knew long before Hollywood made movies that music creates an atmosphere. In a movie, the music will create the atmosphere for what's about to happen. "All the way back in Old Testament days, the prophets called a psalmist to inspire them. The music created an atmosphere for the

• Cover