Retired Nebraska Pastor Sings “Good Old Country Gospel”
By Carolyn Gibbs
December 2007
Ministry can sometimes take on a new melody. Retired Pastor John Cox can testify to that. Cox was a Pastor in the Eastern Nebraska Baptist Association for 23 years, including Bethel Baptist Church in Lincoln, First Baptist in Papillion, Millard Baptist, and Faith Baptist in Falls City.
When he retired an earlier love resurfaced. He picked up his guitar and became part of jam sessions and festivals. Before long Cox joined Bob and Pam Ashby and Terry Webber in the Heartland Country Band. Their primary venue is family oriented festivals, country gospel concerts, churches, and Senior Centers. As Cox explained, “Country Gospel is country style music with Christian lyrics.” According to Cox through playing for senior centers in the area, churches heard the group included a retired Southern Baptist pastor, and churches wanted the group for concerts. Those concerts are usually Sunday evenings.
Cox’s love of country music and country gospel came out of his childhood. His parents had the only radio in their farm community, north of Old Glory, Texas. “We didn’t have electricity then. My folks bought a battery powered radio and we’d have neighbor families in on Saturday night to listen to the Grand Old Opry,” Cox said.
When he was 12 or 13 an uncle gave him a new guitar from Sears and Roebuck that he ordered through the mail. In his 20s, pursuing a career in barbering, he gradually played his guitar less and less. While barbering in Lubbock, Texas, one of his clients was a young, Buddy Holly.
At 13 Buddy was playing country at that time, and often went to Cox’s house where they would play guitar together. Eventually God called Cox into ministry and he laid his guitar aside for the next 35 years. After Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Cox also attended Colombia Southern University, and Ebert Professional Institute. He has been a pastor, Christian counselor, and on the board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Now that he is retired, he can merge his love for Christ and his love of Country Gospel music. He attended his first National Traditional Country Music Festival in Avoca, Iowa in 2000. Song writing came next and was well received by his audiences. A Nashville publishing company published his first song. He said being a writer as well as a performer opens a lot more doors. “Someone nominated me for the Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame. Traditional is the key word. There are no electric instruments. They are all acoustic,” Cox said. Other artists inducted with Cox this year were Mel McDaniel, Jim Ed Brown, Stonewall Jackson, and Lacy J. Dalton.
Traditional country groups record all at one time and there are no electrical enhancements. In addition to country gospel, he does the old country tunes of Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, and Hank Williams. “We’re trying to turn the clock back,” he said. Cox no longer preaches in a traditional pulpit, unless he’s pulpit supply or an interim, but he still ministers to his audiences. He lets the music be a testimony. When he introduces the song he wrote, ‘Jesus Lifted Me,’ he tells people they may have circumstances they are devastated by. They may wonder if they have a friend.
“The song talks about needing a friend to carry the burden and that friend is Jesus. I say this song seeks to lift us out of those low places in life and Jesus lifts us from those places,” he said. “Songs aren’t profound in theology, because they are about someone’s experience. They are testimonies of what Jesus has done in a life.”
Cox ministers now through those lyrics and introducing the songs. “Our concerts are just that, but we still minister through our music. It’s a way of worship and a way of testimony.” He added that “we can quote scripture when witnessing, but it’s more about what Christ has done in our life. People can say they don’t believe the Bible, but they can’t refute what happened in my own life.”
Subscribe to Updates