Bio – Kenny Bishop

For nearly twenty years Kenny traveled with his dad and his brother in one of Christian music’s most popular Southern Gospel trios. The Bishops garnered several industry and fan awards including the coveted Dove Award as well as numerous number one and top ten songs. The group made a name for themselves appearing on television and stages all across America. Their songs were constants on most every radio station and program that featured Southern Gospel music. After thousands of miles, more than two dozen recordings and hundreds of songs, the Bishops, as a group, retired in 2001.

Now, after several years of quiet reflection away from music, Kenny returns with his debut recording that features songs reflecting his renewed spirit, his refocused mission and his determined devotion to God’s redeeming love. The success of his return record has made headlines with a surprise GRAMMY nomination and two GMA Dove Award nominations.

Recent feature articles in major, main-stream music publications have brought added notoriety to Kenny’s story of success and struggle in the Gospel music industry. This attention, coupled with a new understanding of God’s love, has allowed Kenny to take his message of grace-beyond-limits to many who considered themselves unwanted or neglected by God. They are learning of their worth in God’s heart, and coming to the true understanding that God’s grace is either for everyone, or for no one. His writings and podcasts are popular stops on the Internet.

Kenny has defined his ministry with a stated mission and purpose based on his understanding that everyone, without exception, qualifies for grace.

kennybishop@aol.com
www.kennybishop.com

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Mission Statement – Kenny Bishop

It is my mission to:

Honor Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior as an individual and as a member of his body.

Submit myself to the leading of the Holy Spirit and God’s will as it is revealed to me, through divine inspiration, the study of the Scriptures, pastoral teaching and wise counsel.

Reach out to every person of every background and every understanding of faith and life, without exception, to convince them of the love and plan God has for them.

Pursue any avenue for ministry that God would make available and go anywhere the call would take me whenever possible.

Strive for professional and sensitive production and presentation knowing it is a reflection of God’s character and abilities.

Work as a reconciler between those who feel they’ve been wronged or treated with contempt or without dignity by the church or representatives of Christ.

Encourage those who profess a relationship with Christ to love as he loves; without condition, prejudice or exclusion. And to practice his model of love in pursuit.

Live grace, show grace and present grace in my thoughts, words, motivations, actions and treatment of others.

More than anything else, I want to know the heart and mind of God. My desire to be ready and able to express the power and wholeness of His great love to the rejected and the rejoicing who work, live and worship among us. It is indeed true that as He becomes more we become less.

I’ve promised Him that I will walk through any door of ministry opportunity that He makes available – even those that are not easily understood. My example is Christ. As he stood, I want to stand. As he went, I want to go. As he walked, I want to walk. As he risked, I want to risk. And as he ministered, I want to minister to whomever, whenever, wherever.

Just as surely as grace was offered to one like me, everyone, without exception, is able to enjoy its freedom – no one any more and no one any less.

Can we start over? Can we forget everything I’ve said and done up to this point? I’d like to erase, delete and disregard all of the minutes of my past now please. I want my next step to be my first. Can we start over?

One of the big movies of the holiday season features Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button. Ben is living life backwards. He’s starting at the end and working toward the beginning. It’s an impossible thing of course, but the idea is weirdly interesting. The movie’s synop says it’s about a man who is “born under unusual circumstances” and he’s unable to stop time. Who among us is?

I wasn’t born in my current place, in this present time. It’s taken me a while to get here. Like you, I was a user. I went through my share of diapers and bottles and cradles and grades and birthday cakes and library books and diplomas and jobs and speeding tickets and arguments and parties and dentist appointments and sermons and setbacks and on and on and on. Whether we’ve been fortunate enough to stumble into it, (Although I prefer to think of it as God getting me here even while I ignorantly made it more complicated than it should’ve been.) or we’ve worked our tails off, it took some time, stubbornness and sweat to get to where we are.

So, thinking about it, if we could, would we really want to start over? I don’t want to do school again. I like being able to read, write, articulate, cipher, and drive. I don’t want to do the career ladder thing again either. I’m pleased with where I am, and I like the connections I have, and I’m not about to go back to my starting salary. I’ve worked hard to gradually trade up to a better place. Most things in my life are the culmination of strategy, patience and dedication. I don’t think I’m prepared to start all over again.

I’ve done a few things I’m ashamed of and some I’m very proud of. I’d truly like to forget some of the embarrassing stuff, but only if I could keep the lessons learned. Some memories make me angry or sad, but some of my accomplishments pump me up. It’s all a part of who I am now. All the marks, whether they’re scars, wrinkles or medals, combine to form the tiny pieces that make up all my parts and form my person, for good or bad.

Now, ask me if I’d like to go back to when my kids were young and I was thinner. Offer me the opportunity to rock my babies to sleep and I’ll jump right on it. Tell me it’s fashionably safe to pull the old suits back out and I’m a new man. Allow me to go back to the days of less stress, lighter loads and simpler solutions and I’ll buy a ticket. But tell me what it costs first. I’d hate to lose the memories.