If you ask Pastor Rudy Rasmus, what is the glue behind the ministry success at St.

Johns United Methodist Church, he’ll simply tell you “Folks feel the love!” Such a

simple way to describe the volumes of mobilized care and compassion that embody the

Pastor Rudy experience. Spirit Rising Music takes on the challenge of immortalizing the

feeling in Volume I: Touch - a trilogy of music, video and literary work for early fall

release.

Pastor Rudy has found a way to share and regenerate the love with a cross-section of

9,000 people that make up the St. John’s United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas.

It’s a ministry that is founded and built on meeting needs; with purity in purpose and

presentation. St. John’s provides meals 7 days a week to the homeless community in

downtown Houston, TX. distributing 15,000 lbs of fresh food every week. Drug

rehabilitation, temporary shelter and social services are also offered as an extension of

compassion. Pastor Rudy uses a community network approach in establishing wholeness

in individuals and families, and the church rallies and grows around it. The worship

experience is simply an expression and celebration of the work.

“What we do on weekends is a unique - even an alternative view of church. It’s fun and

connects with folks on the fringes of organized religion, as well as with people who are

historically churched,” he says. Music often makes it easier to bridge the gap where there

are cultural and experiential differences. Volume I: Touch embraces that as an

expression and as a tool to bring all things together.

Pastor Rudy shares, “The music is a blended experience. We looked at this from a

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria perspective. Jesus told the disciples [Acts 1:8] that they

would be His witnesses in Jerusalem – where all the church folks are, and in Judea – right

on the outskirts where folks are a little bit familiar with church, and then Samaria – where

folks have no clue about church. We took the three distinct ‘locations’ of church and

brought those together in one project.” The music crosses those territories and wraps the

love in packages palatable to just about everyone.

Ron Summers delivers the contemporary choir sound with infectious rhythms and thick

choir harmonies. Worship is sweetly presented on ballad “With My Heart” and the whole

spectrum of church choir music is completed with Nikki Ross’s B-3 introduced “Peace”.

Brian C. Wilson is the voice of what has been rightly coined as “neo-sacred” – R&B

patterned vocals around songs that have religious content. “The Only Way” exhibits the

collective of Wilson’s influences - Sam Cook, Fred Hammond and Stevie Wonder. His

raspy tenor wraps around new-style altar appeal “Waiting to Turn” and easily grabs

hearts and meets listeners right where they are.

Throwing the musical rules out the window is Houston-based group Soulfruit. The more

heavily R&B infused “Celebrator” featuring Adrian Anderson of platinum trio Trin-i-tee

5:7 and balladic “Nobody” appeals to the unchurched through mainstream rhythms and

melodies. True to the Spirit Rising Music mantra, great music, great tracks to move and

bounce to, but with a great Christian message.

To bring the experience to life is a bonus DVD and later in the fall a literary release

Touch: The Power of Touch in Transforming Lives. The book outlines the

methodology and theology of Pastor Rudy – the inclusive gospel resultant of seeing each

person as God sees them. Valuing each life as He does. That’s the reason people feel the

love. Along with the audio sensory explosion of the music and the visual illustration of

the DVD which chronicles the lives of people in and around the St. John’s community,

the book rounds out this groundbreaking multi-media ministry presentation.

In Pastor Rudy’s view, we don’t need to abandon church culture, but we need to redefine

it to be more global. “I believe this is what we have to do in order to cross into the region

where the largest untapped market is – in that place where folks understand church and

have been exposed to it but have opted out of the whole church experience.” Pastor Rudy

believes we do that by touching people spirit, soul and body. Volume I: Touch begins

the outreach, and hopes folks feel the love.

Pastor Rudy’s hope for this project is also his hope for the global church “I’m hoping for

a revolution of sorts where the project reminds the church of its social responsibility. I

want this to serve as a reminder of the fact that we have missed millions of folks on the

margin. What we are saying is this is an experience everyone can feel. The project

Volume I: Touch is just a celebration, an expression of what we do.”