A Tribute to the Greats

 

Mylon Lefevre and Broken Heart in concert, sometime in the 1980s.

On September 9, 2023 we learned that Mylon Lefevre, one of Christian Music’s greatest of greats, passed into eternity. Mylon has joined Carman, Michael Bloodgood and Andre Crouch to name a few, who have also recently entered into their eternal reward.

Throughout the day yesterday, my social media feed was inundated with posts honoring Mylon Lefevre. I shared one from a friend of mine who went forward at a Mylon & Broken Heart concert in 1988, and shared, among many other things, how Mylon’s ministry that night touched his heart and what Mylon said to him backstage. That post has (at the time of this writing less than 24 hours later) nearly 100 likes and more than 20 shares from complete strangers. Why? Because they can easily remember the kind of impact his ministry and other like him had on their own lives. As successful as he was in the Christian music scene in the 1980s (among the top five Christian artists of the time), it wasn’t just his music that drew us, but it was the impactful lyrics, sincere heart and Holy Spirit that resonated through the music that most touched us. It was something different and more wonderful than what the World had to offer in secular music, even though the production was always of higher quality.

I recently shared a Youtube post of a 1986 Mylon Lefevre concert (time stamped for brevity) recorded from a VHS camcorder. Though it’s of typical home recording quality for the time period (which is not very good), you can still sense the Spirit years later.

And the same can be true of other artists whose music hasn’t been in print for decades. If you go to Youtube, Spotify, or dig out your old cassettes, CDs and LPs, you can still sense the Spirit coming through. God is still using these artists’ faithful works in such a wonderful, life changing way–whether they have passed on or just retired. Because of their faithfulness to commit to the Lord their gifts and talents, He multiplied them to reach the masses, and is still doing so to this day.

Thank you Mylon Lefevre, Carman, Andre Crouch, Kenny Marks, Rick Elias, Rich Mullins, Mark Heard, Keith Green, Larry Norman and Dana Key for your faithfulness. Even though you may not be here anymore, the Spirit is still alive at work in your past faithfulness.

And to those who have not left us yet, who are too many to name (as my father would say, it’s better to give someone their flowers before the funeral), thank you for setting aside your families and yourselves for the sake of the Call.