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John Tesh Releases New CD


	John Tesh

Emmy award-winning musician, composer, broadcast journalist, and former TV personality John Tesh has a lot of irons in the fire. Trying his hand at something new, John recently released his CD, A Deeper Faith (Garden City Music), which moves away from his traditional instrumental music and delves into worship music with vocals. John also continues to host The John Tesh Radio Show, lead worship at the church he attends with his family, and publish Faith MD newsletter - a publication in which Christian leaders offer expertise on a variety of faith issues. TWC caught up with John to find out which endeavors are most important to him.

Q: You're involved in a lot of different things. Which one is your primary passion?

Driving my daughter, Prima, to school. She's eight, and I'm old enough to know that she's not going to be under our roof forever. We try to spend as much time together as possible. Every Monday I pick her up from school, and we spend the rest of the day together doing whatever she wants. Last Monday morning when she got up, the first thing Prima said was, "Hey, Dad. It's date day!" It was really cool. I've heard a saying: "You'll never remember the meeting you made, but your kids will always remember the date you missed." So I work hard to keep my dates with Prima.

Q: You seem to bounce easily between the mainstream and Christian worlds? How do you handle the delicate balance?

The bouncing's only musical - never with my heart. Recently I did a concert at a small church in Dallas, and the reaction to my Christian songs was amazing. I was so excited I went home and told my wife, Connie, "That's all I am doing - playing in churches. It's great!" And she told me, "You're not called to do that. You need to play these worship songs in a secular environment." So the next week, at a huge concert in Reno, we added a couple of worship tunes, and people stood and sang "Holy Is the Lord" right with us! It was really great.

I like to share Christ without preaching at people. My ministry goal through music is to get people to think. Maybe I should explore this Christianity thing for myself.

Q:What amazes you most about God?

The whole idea of God's grace; it's something I didn't learn as a kid. I thought there was a list of things you had to do to get into heaven. But then somebody pulled me aside and said, "No, that's not it. Once you accept Jesus as your Savior, you're bought and paid for. There's no list of things you must do. Christ paid for you with his death."

The concept of grace still amazes me. I've never been given such an awesome gift in my life. Every day I wake up and think, This can't be possible. But it is!

Reprinted from Today's Christian Woman magazine (July/August 2002), published by Christianity Today, Int'l., Carol Stream, Illinois.

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