Jordan Smith Could Be 'The Voice' but Faith Is First - CBN News Charlene Aaron

Jordan Smith Could Be 'The Voice' but Faith Is First

12-11-2015  CBN News Charlene Aaron

NBC's "The Voice" hasn't crowned a new winner this season, but many agree that contestant Jordan Smith is already a star.

The 21-year-old college student from the small town of Harlan, Kentucky, managed to knock Adele from the top spot on iTunes after singing Queen's "Somebody to Love," during the semi-finals Wednesday night.

Jordan Smith's rendition of "Somebody to Love" on NBC's "The Voice" knocked Adele off the top of the iTunes charts. Watch his performance here.

In an article for People Magazine, Smith's coach Adam Levine said, "I don't need to say anything at all because that's one of the best things I've ever seen in my entire life."

When Smith sang the Christian hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" on the show a few weeks ago, it also topped the charts on Billboard and iTunes.

Click here to see Jordan Smith sing the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" on NBC's "The Voice."

Smith said church is where his love for singing began. His parents are both musicians and raised him in the church choir from a young age in the congregation of House of Mercy in the town of Wallins Creek, Kentucky.

"I love to lead worship and my parents really encouraged me to sing in church," said Smith. "My faith is who I am and I wanted to share that with the world," he said in a recent online interview with djchuang/"Spinning Up Disruptive Ideas."

Smith, a senior at Lee University, is also a member of the Lee University Campus Choir which points to the role faith plays in his life. Lee is a Church of God school in Cleveland, Tennesee.

He said he chose the college because of its Christian focus.

"My faith is the thing that gives me strength and that I find joy in. At the end of the day with my problems and concerns, I can turn to God and I can have peace in my situation. That's been the main thing that's carried me through this. My relationship with God has kept me grounded and has been my foundation through all of it."

Regardless of how "The Voice" turns out for him, Smith said he's not worried about the future.

"This platform has opened so many doors for me and has allowed me so many opportunities to make music in lots of different ways," he said.

"At this time, I'm just waiting prayerfully and doing my best. Whatever happens, I know I will continue to make music and lead worship wherever I go. While my future is unsure at this moment, I know who holds the future, and I will continue to move and trust in God's plan for me." 

Love Song - "A Love Song" & Their History

When Chuck Girard, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax and Fred Field first stepped out onto the Calvary Chapel stage one evening back in 1970, it's not likely that the few hundred people gathered there had any idea they were about to witness the beginning of a new era in gospel music. 

You don't usually think in those terms when you hear a group for the first time. Now, had you been there, you probably would have come to the conclusion that these four young men who called themselves Love Song were pretty good. Exceptionally good. They played soothing, intensely personal music that spoke to the heart and echoed the timeless themes of God's love. 

At the same time, it sounded very much like the music the professional rock and folk rock groups were playing.

Calvary Chapel - 1970

That was perhaps the most intriguing part of it. Music like Love Song was playing had formerly been reserved for the pop airwaves; it had, at that time, no place in the Christian scheme of things. But here was this group, weaving a tapestry of close harmonies, pulsating rhythms and intricate guitar patterns, all tied together with an undeniably clear gospel message.

The audience felt something vibrant, something fresh, something uniquely positive about this music. For the moment, it was beautiful praise music befitting the atmosphere; beyond that moment, the newly conceived sound was to become the forerunner in contemporary gospel music.

That's quite a statement, but consider the facts: two years later Love Song's first album would be released. Sales would catapult the record to the top, where it would remain for more than a year as the best-selling gospel album in the nation.

Today the album, along with Love Song's second release, "Final Touch," is still a best seller. And between the albums, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have witnessed the group's dynamic live performances


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Uploaded on Oct 23, 2011

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In the early 70's, during the beginnings of what became known as the "Jesus Movement," a group of young, long-haired, bearded musicians, desiring to express their new-found faith in Jesus Christ through music, formed a band called Love Song. Using a mixture of folk, rock, pop, and country, Love Song's music was entirely new and unique for the Christian music world.

The music was fresh, sometimes radical, and yet, truly inspirational for a generation of young people searching for truth and it blazed the path for what we know today as 'contemporary Christian music.' Many called them the Christian "Beatles" at that time and their 1972 debut album is now considered a true classic, voted the #7 contemporary Christian album of all time by CCM magazine. - (one-way.org)