ST. THOMAS — For a uniquely entertaining evening, consider the Friends and Family Concert and Live Recording night, featuring world-renowned gospel artist Daniel Johnson, at the Assembly of God Church on St. Thomas from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Jason D. Jordan, pastor of the Love of Christ Fellowship Center and founder of the St. Thomas-based 5-2-1 Studios, hopes to see Virgin Islanders with an interest in hearing – and making – good music to come out for the concert featuring music created, produced and performed by local talent and recorded for worldwide consumption.
The event is free of charge to everyone.
“Music is one of those things that attracts all ages,” says Pastor Jordan, leaning-in to the conversation with a visitor. He’s talking about his passions: music and using his own blessings to give back to the Virgin Islands community.
“Friends and Family: This is something for everybody, but especially our young people. We have a lot of talented youth, but not a lot of outlets for their talents and skills. We are really trying our best to reach out and meet that need, to be the outlet for those talents,” Pastor Jordan said.”We focus a lot on helping youth who are trying to develop themselves, trying to learn, trying to discover themselves musically. That is what this is really all about. A labor of love. We are to utilize everything we have to give back to our community.”
That is the genesis of Saturday’s event. You see, Pastor Jordan himself is also a Grammy award-winning producer. He’s a musician, and teaches karate at the dojo he founded on the first floor of the 5-2-1- Studios, tucked away in a two-story building on the industrial reaches of St. Thomas’s west end.
In recent years, Pastor Jordan has brought St. Thomians of all ages together to learn and create music with the help of accomplished gospel artists, including Mr. Johnson, who will perform with the Friends and Family concert musicians on Saturday.
Aside from Mr. Johnson’s global reputation as a gospel singer, he has recorded several albums as a member of the Andrae Crouch Singers. He was a background vocalist on Israel Houghton’s “Real” album and, later, a member of the Israel and New Breed band.
His sultry sound puts him alongside such recording artists as Martha Munizzi, Chris Tomlin, and Darius Rucker, and other numerous others.
“My Friends are people well known in the gospel music industry and the music industry in general,” said Pastor Jordan. His Family is comprised of Virgin Islanders whose paths he has crossed, musically and in fellowship. “This event was a way to reach out to them to come out and help my Family to reach the next level.”
Saturday’s event is, essentially, the live recording of gospel music written locally and performed by the same local talent. They’ve practiced at the 5-2-1 Studios regularly for the past few months, with an occasional gospel or other recording artist dropping by to inspire, and be inspired.
“Just because we are on 32-square-miles does not mean that we cannot make significant impact on the world. Our local talent is good enough to compete on a world stage,” Pastor Jordan said. “That is the heart of Friends and Family.”
The Assembly of God Church is located on Crown Mountain Road on St. Thomas. Friends and Family will start at “7 p.m. sharp” on Saturday, Pastor Jordan said. “Oh, and did I mention that it is free to everyone who choose to come?”
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