Unabashedly Christian, a group of Tabor-Loris Community musicians embrace rock music and modern technology in a heartfelt work they say is about ministry, not money.
They've proven that with their debut compact disc recording, available online through MP3.com. More on that later.

"We're not out to make money, just to spread the word of Jesus Christ," says band member Buddy Clontz, who dropped a copy of the CD by recently. Anyone with Internet access can get this music for free.

I was grabbed by the opening piano on the first song, the above-mentioned Jehovah-Jireh. Band leader Kenny Carter of Loris wrote this powerful song, and many of the others. Patrice Rhodes also shares songwriting credits on this effort.

Carter's CD credits include keyboards, vocals and horns. Clontz handles lead and backing guitar parts, as well as drums. Rhodes' contribution includes vocal harmonies. Erik Carter adds rhythm and acoustic guitar talents to the songs, and served as digital recording engineer.

Kenny Carter's keyboard work pulled me in on the opening song. Clontz' lead guitar playing held me as Carter's soaring voice brought the music and the message together in a way reminiscent of some of the old Maranatha vinyl recordings from the mid to late 1970s.

It Makes No Difference again highlights Clontz' lead guitar expertise with Kenny Carter's vocals blending with this smooth sound and evangelical message written by both Kenny Carter and Patrice Rhodes. Lyrics like "It makes no difference how great your sin, He'll forgive you just trust Him" define the theme and message of this musical effort.

For God So Loved the World sets Christianity's defining Biblical passage to an easy listening melody with a wonderful flute solo that takes me back to my teens and a Christian rock group I was associated with in Raeford (N.C.).

Steve Poole led the band, Civilization, and there was some wonderful musicianship from Lester Southern, Ken McDonald, Tim Strickland, and some others during the course of several years. Steve even gave me a trumpet solo on one song. My contribution generally involved setting up and running light and sound systems for the band.

I guess you would have called me a guest musician, but my favorite temporary contributor was Dawn Upchurch, who had a wonderful flute solo to a song Lester wrote. Ken, who is now general manager for The News Journal in Raeford, recently dug up an old Civilization recording and burned a CD for me. It's pretty poor quality, but a great blast from the past enjoyed best, and perhaps only, by those of us who were there then.

Quality is certainly not a problem for Sentforth. Their recording technology is first rate, and there's something on this CD, or online, for most musical tastes. I'll admit not every song is my musical cup of tea. but there's plenty of musical and spiritual nourishment here for just about everyone.