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| John Michael Talbot |
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Nomination: For his role as American Musician, Composer, Author and Educator
John Michael Talbot asked God, “What am I suppose to do?” And God responded, “Play your music and I will open and shut doors.”
Talbot believes that sacred music is sacramental and from an arts perspective, both reflects and guides the faithful. That music, based on faith, can take the listener on a closer walk with God, actually taking them into the heart of the Lord. “It brings out the mysterious and speaks the unspeakable, bringing to light that which is beyond human reason. Furthermore,” he says, “the role of music and prayer fulfill a prophetic function. Not that musicians are prophets,” he notes, “but they do have an obligation to lead.” Acknowledging that obligation, Talbot has produced more than forty recordings over the years with sales around four million albums. In 1982, he won the Dove Award for Worship Album of the Year, “Light Eternal.” Four years later, he became one of only nine artists to receive the President’s Merit Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and, in 1988, he was named the No. 1 Christian Artist by Billboard magazine.
Talbot has also authored fourteen books, written numerous magazine articles and performs up to fifty concerts a year. In fact, Talbot has shared his meditations and music not only with concertgoers, but also with such Christian luminaries as the late Pope John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
In 1978 he took a gigantic leap of faith and built a hermitage in the woods and fashioned a monk’s habit from used army blankets. Inspired by the life of St. Francis of Assisi, he sold everything he owned and joined a secular Franciscan order. “At first, I planned to live a life of quiet meditation as a hermit,” he recalls, but as I studied the history of the Church, I saw that community had always been a part of it.” As a result, he founded a house of prayer called “The Little Portion” to share with others his love of Jesus.
By 1982, he answered the call and founded his own community. He moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and built “The Little Portion Hermitage.” He laughs, “I had sold everything, but no one would buy the twenty-five acres of land I bought in the Ozarks while on tour with Mason Proffit. It seemed that God had a special purpose for it.” His community today has more than forty members living at the monastery and five hundred members in their own homes worldwide. They are called “The Brothers and Sisters of Charity.”
In 1992, to support his prolific writing, Talbot formed a record label and named it what people have been calling him for years, “Troubadour for the Lord.” Talbot not only records his own albums but he also works with other Christian artists.
“I think Christ is the conductor of the orchestra,” he says. “The faithful are the players following His direction and the notes on the charts. Great players are able to take those notes and make beautiful music. But, the whole orchestra must also be on the same page and play the very same notes. If anyone decides to improvise, rather than following along, the symphony will become chaotic.”
On a global scale, Little Portions Hermitage is a major supporter of Mercy Corps International, an organization that, in 1999 alone provided more than $93 million in emergency and humanitarian aid to people in 24 developing countries including Africa, Afghanistan, and the former Yugoslavia. Talbot himself has traveled with Mercy Corps to the Middle East, Central America and the Philippines.
John Michael Talbot reflects on his life and all that has been accomplished. He sighs, “Jesus has been good to me. He’s offered me salvation and a way to help others. In fact, the more I live this life, the more I see our job as a community is to simply be faithful to what God has given us. In that way,” he concludes, “We will be living, nothing more or less, than the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Excerpts from the writings
of Bernard Baur
For more information on
John Michael Talbot
visit: www.johnmichaeltalbot.com
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