The Life of Rich Mullins Richard Wayne Mullins Oct. 21, 1955 – Sept. 19, 1997 |
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How one star he saw had been lit for me He was a stranger in this land And I am that, no less than he And on this road to righteousness Sometimes the climb can be so steep I may falter in my steps But never beyond your reach" --from Sometimes By Step by Rich Mullins
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[Rich Video - Homeless Man]
[Rich Legacy - Kid Brother of St. Frank Foundation]
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6.7.99 Unfortunately, like Mark Lowry, I was just getting to know Rich well when he was taken home. As I come to "know" the man more, through testimonies and legacy, I learn that there are some folks who really "knew" Rich and to me, they are special people. I love all of them that I have met. Most are real Ragamuffins, like Rich. I'd like to think I'm a ragamuffin too! At this time, I'd like to feature some of them, make a comment or give a quote then give you a link to their webpages. Reed Arvin Brian Williams - Webmaster of Calling Our Your Name, the most comprehensive site on the web about Rich and his music. Dan'l Blackwood - Dan'l moderates the Ragamuffin list and Mitch's list also. Ashley Cleveland - Ashley has one of the most powerful and emotive voices I have ever heard. In case you don't know, she is the one who sings the song simply titled Jesus from The Jesus Record. With guitarist husband Kenny Greenberg, you have an unbeatable passionate musical combination. DCTalk - Kevin (Mack Smith) Max sang background vocals on several of Rich's projects. Kevin and Michael Tait sing on Canticle of the Plains. The Electrics - Celtic/punk/blues/folk/rock hybrid. Either you love it or you don't. This quote speaks for them: "We could work more often, but we don't like to be away from our homes and families. We are not motivated by making money or being 'stars;' we have always been driven by what we believe. Since the start of The Electrics, we never sought a record deal. At the beginning of each year, we meet and talk about the year ahead, what kind of things we would like to do -- then we pray and leave it with God. We don't advertise or do any hype. The phone just rings -- that's it!" Brennan Manning - Author of the Ragamuffin Gospel, the book with profoundly influenced Rich's relationship with the Lord and the rest of his life. Rich and Brennan were good friends. Mitch McVicker - I love this guy. Yea, he is cute, but that smile and easy disposition is just heavenly to be around. When Mitch plays and sings, you feel like he and the Kid Bros. have invited you over to their home and are just sitting around playing for you and the Lord, from their hearts. Ragamuffins - The originals are Jimmy Abegg, Rick Elias, Rich Mullins, Mark Robertson and Aaron Smith. A Ragamuffin Band has a new CD which is features on this page. This Train - These guys are a TRIP! Mark Robertson is one of the Ragamuffins. This wild dressing cowboy type plays an incredible and incredibly fun upright bass. Their style is called "fresh" but is essentially rockabilly. Beware if you don't like loud music. They have a lot of fun and so will you!
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And when we consider Rich's music we must consider God and glorify Him. God is truly awesome. I have been trying to remember when it was that my husband "discovered" the music. It was about five years ago, but defining the time is not nearly as important as the events of the time. We had been members at a large mainstream church that I had attended all of my life. Since hubby moved to where I grew up, we went to my church. Through a series of events, we had become disillusioned with this church and believed that God was using this to show us something. We did not know what. One thing led to another and we visited other churches. We were trying to find a small group, close to home (fostering community) where the Bible was held as truth, truth was loved and believers fellowshipped in the spirit of Acts 2. This ended up being a very long tedious search. Being a new Christian, hubby sometimes felt guilty when we just did not feel like spending the energy to be disappointed one more time. It's kind if like looking for a job when your skills are very specialized--not that we felt that we were so special--but we found few people have much regard for truth. We could have been in a movie called "Desperately Seeking Jesus." The Lord gave us a good Bible teacher on the radio on Sunday morning but his church met in a city over an hour away. For a while we listened to him faithfully instead of going out to search for truth that may or may not find. God was showing us that He was about life and living--not just about a couple of traditional hours devoted to Him on a couple of days of the week. Enter Rich Mullins... we were making one of our regular stops by the local bookstores that sells CD's of Christian artists. My husband bought "Liturgy, Legacy and a Ragamuffin Band" Hubby is always finding something that is not your average run-of-the-mill stuff. I guess it is a gift he has... ...I used to think it was a curse. He kept listening to this Rich CD and telling me how much he enjoyed it. Rich has a raspy different sounding voice and I was not getting past it to the songs. I was being a "Martha" running around and it just sounded like most of the other background noise around the house. Until one day I heard the music I had never heard before. I was becoming familiar with Rich and the tunes just because hubby played the CD often. We had been on a weekend trip to visit some good friends. They were going through some of the same 'church' struggles that we were. This family lived in the mountains and the scenery on the trip was more than words could capture. Rich was in the tape deck. He began to sing "The Color Green" and I heard it for the first time.
And the moon is a sliver of silver,
"Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
And the wrens have returned and they're nesting
Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
It was a "mind picture"--a moment that was captured by the body, soul and spirit-- a moment that cannot be lived again and one that cannot be fully communicated to any other person. It was a moment that was a gift from God who was saying, "I AM, and I AM here... always. Worship Me that way." In that Sunday drive my husband and I learned a very fundamental truth about God, about worshipping Him. I believe Rich understood this well. One Sunday afternoon, we were again in our car. We heard a brief radio clip at the end of the hourly news that said that Rich had been fatally wounded in a car accident. We sat quiet and stunned--he was too young to die we thought. Another had joined David at the assembly by the crystal sea. We knew little of Rich's private life at the time of his death. But for days, then months we continued to hear the songs and the pleas--the pleas to go home where Rich knew he belonged.
And I awoke in the house of God..."
"...So I call you my country
"...The Jordan is waiting for me to cross through...
Though Rich often felt hugely inadequate (as we all do) he let the truth about his shortcomings show him the truth about our "Awesome God." Thanks Daddy, for the life of Rich. Thanks Rich, for the music.
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To Rich: "I AM the Lord of the dance!" said He. "And I'll lead you all wherever you may be." "And I'll lead you all in the dance!" said He.
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9-18-99 Tomorrow marks the 2-year anniversary of Rich's death. It seems as though it should be a little easier to pass this year, but I think it is harder. The world has shown so much of it's godlessness this year. I am thankful for the hope that we have in Christ and the reminders left in the music of saints like Rich.
I have recently been listening to TWABAIRI2. I just love that CD. Hello Old Friends recently has deeper meaning to me. Everyman Growing Young, and Maker of Noses will always deeply touch my heart. Visit Brian's Calling Out Your Name site for the lyrics of all of these songs.
Rich has been really living for two years earth time--The Lord is not bound by time, and now, neither is Rich. Someday we will all go home and I don't think it will be long... Thank you Jesus, for being "every man."
Well, he was out on a limb - he was sitting in the shade
She was caught in a sin - she knew the well was so deep
And the Lord looks down and He understands
He had nets to mend - he gave his fish and his loaves
She brought the world a lamb - and took warning from a dream
And the Lord looks down and He understands
The world draws up it's lines
But at the foot of the cross there's room for everyone
And love that is not blind
It can look at who we are and still see beyond
The differences we find
But with thorns in His brow and a spear in His side
Nails in His hand, He died for you and I
For you and I and everyman
The world draws up it's lines
But at the foot of the cross there's room for everyone
And love that is not blind
It can look at who we are and still see beyone
The differences we find
But with thorns in His brow and a spear in His side
Nails in His hand, He died for you and I
For you and I and everyman
Everyman
He'd led a hundred men - and lived alone among the graves
He had a thousand questions - and a million heartaches
He was everyman, he was everyman
She threw her last pennies in - and poured oil upon His feet
She touched the garment's hem - she had only been asleep
She was everyman, she was everyman
The world draws up it's lines
But at the foot of the cross there's room for everyone
And love that is not blind
It can look at who we are and still see beyond
The differences we find
But with thorns in His brow and a spear in His side
Nails in His hand, He died for you and I
For you and I and everyman
He had to wash his hands - and ran away without his robe
He couldn't understand - until on Damascus road
He was everyman, he was everyman
From an empty tomb she ran - for her children she would weep
In her womb a baby danced - she'd been waiting for a King
She was everyman, she was everyman
By Rich Mullins and Beaker
Scriptures referred to in the song: Matthew 4:21-22, Matthew 9:35-36, Matthew 27:19 Matthew 27:24, Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 5:1-43 Mark 14:3-9, Mark 14:51-52, Luke 1:35-45 Luke 2:1-20, Luke 2:36-38, Luke 7:2-10 Luke 8:26-39, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 21:1-4 Luke 23:27-29, John 1:45-51, John 3:1-21 John 4:4-26, John 6:5-15, John 8:2-11 Acts 8:26-39, Acts 9:1-6
It seems that Rich often spoke in poetry. I suppose it is something he concentrated on. What a gift--to use words that give great insight to humanity or allows us to SEE pictures!
Below is the text of all the quotes that come up randomly above.
"What I like about the Bible is that it doesn't make sense, which makes it more like truth than anything else I've ever read." --Rich Mullins
"A lot of people are sitting around waiting for God to tell them what to do. I think God is saying 'Do what you want!' If he wants me to express His love, I need to find a way to do it." --Rich Mullins
"He sang what he felt about God so we could understand what God was saying to us in our own hearts. "
--a friend
"Be God's!" --Rich's signature
"Secrets. That's what has drawn me to Rich's music, and it's what holds me there. Rich tells us his secrets, and in so doing he tells all of ours. He speaks the unspoken. He gives the silence a shape. Out of thin air, words come that touch us in places that we have kept hidden, even from ourselves." --Reed Arvin
"We just can't love without God. God wants for us want we want for ourselves. These basic things are not that hard to grasp. We just have to have faith, and faith is a gift. We just need to accept it." --Rich Mullins
"I am tired again tonight - a good kind of tired. Some aches are well earned. I wish I could see the sky tonight" --Rich Mullins
"These mountains rise so steeply and the grasses and trees and flowers are so rich and colorful. Nothing makes me feel as inadequate as trying to put language on what I saw today." --Rich Mullins
"Deliver us from evil - from moral duplicity and weakness, from laziness and spiritual complacency, from those lies we tell ourselves from our fear of facing the truth." --Rich Mullins
"I think I would envy me too, if I didn't know me better..." --Rich Mullins
"I like the sounds of this Friday night. It sounds like it should. I'm no idiot - I know that beyond this noise there is darkness - that beneath this laughter there is something empty. But I know that beyond this darkness and beneath that void there is a sun that's gonna rise, there is a day that's gonna dawn and that some will escape into its light. So the sounds seem ironically appropriate." --Rich Mullins
"...there's only one lamp lit in my room. The light is soft and nice in here on these blue walls and white gabled ceilings, on this paper and these sheets, soft and nice like the sound of that one dog barking half a block away." --Rich Mullins
"I did not read the Bible today. I am not very good at being religious and don't really feel too bad about not being too good. I do wish that I loved God and His creatures more..." --Rich Mullins
"Prayer is a grace through which we pour ourselves out before God and through which He calls us into His presence." --Rich Mullins
"The best that can happen is that someone can catch a glimpse of the glory you're hinting at." --Rich Mullins
"Alrightokuhhuhamen" --Rich Mullins
"If you live real good, I can guarantee you are gonna get beat up real bad!" --Rich Mullins
"As cheesy as it sounds, it’s safe to say that he changed my life--or rather God changed my life through him." --Andy Peterson of Caedmon's Call
I was skeptical about this video, knowing how even Christian music videos can be so "hollywood-fied." I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I paid $15 and felt it was well worth that price.
I think the video caught a snippet of the man--the homeless man. What a legacy to leave--to be thought of as never being "home" while in this life. We are called to be sojourners and you will see testimony of Rich's sojourn.
I found the part by his family members very touching--especially when his sister talked about him growing up. The live video clips from concerts really blessed me. I never heard him in concert. If you have never heard the Irish sweater story, Rich will tell it to you--and you will cry.
I do not worship the man, Rich Mullins, but very much praise the Lord for a strong, bold and loud testimony of His love, grace and mercy. Rich loved people and it showed. I have learned to love humanity as a result of this glimpse of his life.
The video alludes to Rich's shortcomings. But who needs the Savior most, a perfect person or a sinner who knows how great the grace that has rescued him?
I wondered why Beaker did not participate in the project. And I wondered why Mitch did not have more to say. The pain, for both of them, must have still been to great--too soon. If I'd of filmed it, I'd probably left out Amy and Smitty. From their testimonials I can see he touched these two Christian pop figures. I pray it was in a way that changed them forever--changed like a person who met the man, Jesus, in person and was changed by the way He lived.
"Profound and clueless" was a comment made about Wayne. Rich was the name Nash Vegas gave him. I have used this movie to share the legacy and love of Christ Rich has. I don't think he would have loved this video but I don't think he would have hated it either.
Rich understood the dignity and beauty of the poor and why Christ taught His followers to let go of worldly possessions so that faith could be lived to the fullest. Rich sought
to love the oppressed, and moved to the Navajo Reservation to live out his beliefs. He lived in a small trailer on a limited income, even though he could have lived as a king. He gave away his money and himself, believing that Christianity is shared by example and with love.
Rich wanted to teach music to children and youth on the reservation and to show them the love of Christ by loving them himself. Rich believed that music is the language of the soul, and Rich wanted to give the gift of music to the children.
Rich's ministry, Kid Brothers of St. Frank, was started with his best friend, Beaker, as a contemporary way of mentoring younger men and discipling them to pursue Christ and live a Franciscan lifestyle. The Legacy hopes to continue this by discipling young men and women as they grow into the next generation of Christian leaders.
To respond to these opportunities, or to be added to their snailmail list, mail your response to:
Or by email at kidbros@southwind.net
Hi Rich Fans,
Q: What is Awesome God: A Tribute To Rich Mullins?
Q: And those friends are...?
The liner notes include comments from each artist about their dear departed friend and fellow Christian musician.
"This recording is not about Rich Mullins; it's about his songs. I like that. I don't want to worship Rich or idolize him or pretend he didn't have defects. I just want to hear his music because I love it so much and because that's all there is now. I am glad that this recording exists. It proves that Rich got every songwriter's wish: his music became bigger than he was, and now have outlasted him. Michael W. Smith told me he heard Awesome God being sung in South Africa. That song now belongs to the world, not just to Rich or to me or you. I hope that it and all of his songs are recorded again and again, each time breathing new life into them. I want them to be reinvented a thousand times. I want your children to sing them, long after my silly efforts to produce them have been forgotten. When you teach your sons and daughters one of his songs, tell them
this: Rich Mullins was a brave and Christian man."
-Reed Arvin
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 10:37:05
October 2, 1997
Hey Everybody!
Things are kinda slow around here. That's why you haven't heard
from me lately. I'm doing Gaither concerts on the weekends and laundry during the week. Life is pretty routine around here these days. But, in the middle of the mundane, I lost a friend, Rich Mullins.
For those of you not familiar with Rich, he was a songwriter and
Contemporary Christian artist. He was killed in a car wreck September 19, 1997.
My most memorable time with Rich was on a Sandi Patty cruise. Sandi had invited Kathy Troccoli, Rich Mullins, Max Lucado and me. I talked Rich and two of our friends into going scooter riding when we got to St. Maartens. When we arrived, the four of us grabbed a taxi and I told the driver to take us to a scooter-rental company. We talked all the way and nobody paid attention as to how we got to this particular scooter company.
We jumped out of the cab, threw down a credit card and took off on the scooters. We only had a few hours in St. Maartens so we had to do all of this quickly. When it came time to return the scooters and head back to the ship, we couldn't find the scooter company! We looked at the map we'd been given. It made no sense. We circled the island several times. We stopped and asked directions from people who couldn't help us. We were
totally, absolutely, hopelessly lost.
We should have just gone back to the ship, given the keys to
someone and asked them to return the scooters for us. Or, called the owner and told him where we'd left them. It would have been cheaper than what happened. We missed the ship... which was at sea the next day headed for Nassau. We had to spend the night in St. Maartens, fly to San Juan and spend the night, then fly to Miami to catch another flight to Nassau to
meet the ship. None of us had a change of clothing...we didn't expect to miss the ship in the first place. Nobody had their passports...they were back on the ship with our clothes. No toothbrush. No shampoo. No clean underwear. Nothing but the clothes on our backs.
I had to smooth-talk our way in and out of customs... leaving San
Juan, entering the U.S., leaving the U.S., and entering The Bahamas. How did I do? Fine, thank you. I got us all to the ship. I was embarassed, though. I am rarely late to anything, much less miss it all together. Sandi forgave us.
Foundation
Some of the planned programs are:
If you would like to become part of the Legacy of a Kid Brother, here are ways you can respond.
PO Box 11526
Wichita, KS 67202
This Rich Mullins Memorial Web Ring
site is owned by
The Body.
Want to join the ring?
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Rich people have visited since August '98
(featured early in 1999)
Projects and concerts by Rich's friends
To answer the many questions I've received about Awesome God: A Tribute To Rich Mullins, I've compiled this FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
A: It is a Reunion Records project of Rich's songs recorded by his friends to remember him.
A: The project was produced by Rich's longtime former producer at
Reunion, Reed Arvin. The current artist/song list is as follows...
Mark Lowry shares the story of a day spent with Rich
From: marklowry@marklowry.com
Subject: [remarks-list] reMarks - 10/2/97