Mark Bishop
Singing News Articles
The Singing News
Magazine is the country's largest Christian music publication. The
first issue was published in May 1969 and has given Southern
Gospel Music Fans up to date information on every facet of our
industry, including concerts, conventions, banquets, new
recordings and the latest chart action.
Since 2002, Mark has been a columnist
for The Singing News Magazine, sharing his thoughts, insights, and
observation not just on Southern Gospel Music, but life, and the
world around him.
Here are some of Mark's articles.
We hope you enjoy them.
If you do not subscribe to The
Singing News,
CLICK HERE to learn how you can have it delivered to your
home each month.
March 2008
It is still very cold here in
east-central Kentucky. Most of you will be reading this in late
February and into March so you may still be in the middle of cold
weather too. Unless of course, you happen to be some of our good
friends from Florida or some other southern climate. We see you
smiling. Don't rub it in.
Actually, I do not begrudge you your warmer climate. I have always
enjoyed warm weather too. Who doesn't? Sunny skies... warm
temperatures... sandy beaches... it all sounds wonderful. But I
have to share with you, something you may not believe...
February 2008
Carolyn and I have two daughters,
ages nine and sixteen. I couldn't imagine loving anyone anymore
than I love these three human beings. Carolyn and I will be
celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary later this year.
She is the love of my life. Happy Valentine's Day Carolyn!Our two
daughters, Courtney and Haley, give us so much joy. We love them
both very much. We love them though we cannot always understand
them. We love them even though sometimes they seem to be from
somewhere other than planet Earth...
January 2008
Well, after months of putting it off, I finally had had enough
and I decided that I should do something about it. My wife had
been telling me that I should just go ahead and get it over with,
but you ladies know how stubborn us guys can be.
December 2007
December has typically been the month
when many of the traveling Gospel Music groups and artists take
some time off the road to enjoy some time at home. After a year of
traveling to and fro, across the country and back again, this
time is much needed and well deserved.
November 2007
The fact of the matter is this. If
you are reading this article in this magazine at this moment, you
are blessed in ways that many, many other people are not.
Let me tell you why you, and I, are blessed above others and why
we should be thankful during this month of November. November
being the month of Thanksgiving, of course.
October 2007
Anybody that has met me knows that I
am a country boy through and through. I have never had a
conversation with someone and left them wondering if perhaps I was
from up north. No one has ever asked me if I was from "Jersey".
I was born and raised in the heart of Kentucky. Right where the
bluegrass meets the mountains, that's where my upbringing began.
September 2007
The Southern Gospel Music family will
be having a very big reunion later on this month in Louisville,
KY. Many people know it by another name, but for the many people
who work in this field, who love this music and who live this
music, it is a family reunion.
August
2007
I wish that I still had all of those
baseball cards from when I was young. We didn't realize back then
that someday, they would be worth a lot of money. My only goal
back then was to collect as many of the Cincinnati Reds as I
could. There was no collector market to speak of. There was no
E-Bay... no internet community of baseball card collectors. There
was just me, the corner market where baseball cards were sold, and
my friends who gave me someone to trade with.
July 2007
I was sitting at the dentist office,
waiting for Haley to get her teeth cleaned, when I noticed a penny
on the floor. I watched several people look at the penny as they
passed by, but none of them would stop to pick it up. For some
reason, it made me think of how the times have changed. I'm sure
there was a day when that penny would have made some child's day.
June 2007
Although I did it for about 17 years
with the group, I no longer travel around in a big touring bus.
After becoming a soloist about six years ago, I just couldn't
really justify any need. I suppose it would look nice, but for me
as a soloist, it would just feel impractical.
May 2007
Hopefully, by the time you read this,
the feeling of Springtime will be in the air. We have just
celebrated Easter and the wonderful promise that Jesus
resurrection holds for the Christian, and now we leave the cold
winds of winter to embrace the new life of Spring. Isn't it
wonderful how God has things worked out?
April 2007
I once told Les Beasley that whenever
I hear The Florida Boys sing, I can smell bacon.
I didn't tell him that because of any new cologne that one of the
guys was wearing. I don't think they've manufactured a "Le' Pork
Perfume" yet. No, I told him that because my earliest recollection
of gospel music was of the Gospel Jubilee on TV every Sunday
morning. There were many, many Sundays that I woke up to the
sounds of the Florida Boys harmony in my ear and the smell of
bacon frying in the kitchen.
March 2007
It was recently discussed on one of
my favorite radio talk shows about how Americans are the most
giving people in the world. According to an international study,
our country gives a higher percentage of it's available resources
than any of the others. I think this probably comes as no surprise
to many of us in the United States. Unfortunately, we are also not
surprised when we hear that some other country has run us down or
criticized us for not doing enough.
February 2007
We live in an age of over-the-top
political correctness. Regardless of whether you consider it or
not, someone has placed you in a kind of category. It could be
based on your religion, the color of your skin, your politics or
your economic status. The nightly news is filled with folks who
have been transgressed against by some other "side" of whatever
category they have been placed in.
January 2007
There is a little church that sits
beside the road, in the small railroad town of Irvine, Ky. When I
say it sits beside the road, I mean that literally, because the
front door of the church is about six feet from the blacktop. The
parking lot is not paved. When you sit in the church pews, you can
hear the crunching of gravel as someone pulls in.
December 2006
Can you believe that we are quickly
approaching the end of another year? If you are like me, then you
are asking yourself "Where has the time gone?" I had been told
that, as you get older, time moves more quickly. I don't know if
Einstein had an equation for it but, I'm starting to believe that
it is true.
November 2006
There are many, many things in life
that bring me joy and happiness. The time that I spend with my
wife and kids is perhaps the greatest. I also enjoy some quiet
time. It's during these times that the Lord is most likely to
inspire in me a new song to be written. Some other things that
bring me happiness are backyard barbecues with friends and family,
quiet evenings on a front porch swing and getting a goodnight kiss
from my two girls before they go to bed. I also enjoy when I find
myself at home on a Sunday, and I get to go to church with my
family. It's such a normal thing to do but I don't take it for
granted because I don't get to do it as often as I'd like.
October 2006
Well it seems like another summer has
gotten away from us. We've asked it a million times but, where
does the time go? It seems like Carolyn and I just got the flowers
in the ground! I guess I have always believed that time passes in
relation to how busy you keep yourself. This summer, along with
the singing and traveling that is always busiest in the summer, we
took on some ambitious projects around the house. Couple that with
Courtney (my 15 year old daughter) and her softball games
throughout the summer, and we hardly took time to enjoy those
flowers we took great care to plant.
September 2006
"Rain, rain... go away... come again another day..." That is the
song I've been singing all day today. I would much rather have
been outside working on some outdoor project than cooped up in the
office today, but alas, it isn't meant to be. It is coming down in
buckets and we are all stranded inside.
August 2006
I really enjoy going through old
photo albums. It's the sort of thing that we don't really slow
down for, but when a special occasion rolls around like a holiday
or a family get-together, it's a great way to bring back warm
memories. At our house we have stacks and stacks of photo albums,
boxes and envelopes, filled with pictures. We only go through them
a couple or three times a year. It always evokes a laugh or a
smile and sometime throughout the process, you'll hear "Look at
that hair!".
July 2006
You have to be an ambitious person to
pick blackberries. They don't offer themselves up as easily as,
say, strawberries or blueberries. No... to pick blackberries,
you'll have to wade through some tall grass and some thorny brush.
Then when you are finished, you might ought to check your self for
ticks.
May 2006
One of the morning talk shows, I
can't remember which one, recently had a segment entitled "What
makes you happy?" They asked this question to several
people who were walking down the street, and of course they got a
lot of different answers.
April 2006
As I sit here at
the computer in my office, preparing to start writing this months
Singing News article, I can't help but notice the twisty-spaghetti
conglomeration of wires and cables that run across the back of the
desk. Each wire and cord leads to and connects another similar
electronic marvel and gadget. It reminds me of the little can of
entwined earth worms that I take when the girls and I go fishing.
March 2006
I have very fond
memories of growing up. When I remember what my boyhood was like,
I recall some very happy times. We weren't well-off but I don't
remember being aware of that as a kid. I guess I do remember that
some kids had more "stuff" than we did but I don't remember being
envious.
February 2006
A few years back, before Haley was
born and when Courtney was little, Carolyn and I lived in a little
brick house over on Possum Run. I'm well aware that that's not the
way to spell "opossum" but that is the way they spell "Possum Run"
in Irvine, Kentucky, where I come from. Anyway, this is not point
of the story.
January 2006
There are some things that are
very important to me. I must admit that I don't spend a
lot of time worrying about global warming. I don't think often
about saving the whales although I have nothing against that.
Many people devote their lives to these causes. They are
important to them and perhaps they should be important to
everybody.
