Booking Information - Gail Bliss

Gail's Testimony

I grew up attending a small church about two miles from my home near Grants Pass, Oregon. On Sundays and Wednesdays I would hop on my bicycle and race myself across the creek, past the store and the grange hall, past the cut-off for the swimming hole at Griffith Park, and just around the next bend, there it was…… the church, the steeple, open those doors, and there stood all the people!

The pastor at Shan Creek Community Church wore a string tie and cowboy boots. Martha was the piano player for the congregation of 100 or so, and if I learned the most bible verses in Sunday school, I might be given the privilege to ring the church bells for that Sunday morning services. Needless to say, we were “country.” It was in this church that the Holy Spirit first put his arms around me and also where I had my first opportunities to sing in public. (Of course, I was always given the elbow in the side for singing so loud! That still happens even today. Gee Whiz. I’m a belting alto. What can I say?)

I praise the Lord each time I think back to that time and place, remembering Mrs. Hubbard and Mrs. Ford, and the Sharp family for having invited me and my sister to church. As the years passed I continued to attend one church or the other. Through college at Oregon and Montana State Universities, and then into a flying career I went, and with each location, a new church was visited. As I saw more of the world, I saw less of the church. My budding singing career had me performing regularly in blues clubs and theatres across the country. From Los Angeles to Toronto, Canada I sang of life’s woes and follies. One marriage ruined by the music business and derailed dreams left me wondering what was missing.

Finally, as God would have it, I landed in Nashville, Tennessee and in a pew at Two Rivers Baptist Church. Evangelist, Ken Freeman, was speaking that Sunday night about relationships; men and women relationships; Father and daughter relationships; husband and wives, and how we benefit when Christ is in the center of these unions. And as I sat there, next to my fiancé’, listening, I realized what was missing in my life and in my relationships. It was February of 1999 that I began a relationship with Jesus Christ and also gave Him back my voice and the music he had ingrained in my heart. After years of rock n’ roll, I now sing in churches instead of honky tonks. Actually, I’ll sing wherever God wants me to. I am so thankful for God’s saving and amazing grace and feel content now letting him direct my steps. They’re still baby steps in many regards, but being a Christian is a walk; a long walk; a life-long journey that I am happy to be on.

My most recent recording, Where Love Lives, is a testimony of my life and my music having come full circle. The title song tells my story about growing up in that country church and how one day, when we rest in Christ’s arms, we can look back and realize how our life’s journey, and the friendships we are blessed with along the way, are just as God intended. For he knows our every step before we take it. God is love, and he is where love is.