As far as Rhonda Mitchell Myers is concerned, "this is a great time for Christians."
"There's a church on every corner and we have all these products out there," says the resident of Ringgold, Ga. "We can go into the bookstore or go on the Internet and we can feed our spirit and feed our minds."
But, she admits, there's also a lot of "negativity" out there, a cloud hanging over people's minds that she'd like to see dispelled. Not that she thinks she can pucker her lips and blow that cloud away, but she's taken a step that she hopes might help.
On July 31, she launched A Front Row View, her new website dedicated to all things Christian, but especially to authors, musicians and other entertainers. A musician herself - she released "Second Chances," a CD of her own music in 2009, has written about 40 songs and is the worship leader at Battlefield Parkway Church of the Nazarene in Fort Oglethorpe - she has long believed in the power of music.
That love led her several years ago to begin writing for various Christian magazines and websites, including CCM and Singing News magazines and SouthernGospelUpdate.com and SGNScoops.com, where she was editor-in-chief. In 2012, she received the Lou Hildreth Diamond Award for excellence in service to gospel music; Hildreth is a singer/songwriter featured on several Gaither Homecoming videos and a member of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and the Christian Music Hall of Fame.
"Rhonda demonstrates her love for gospel music in total dedication to the artists and the industry," Hildreth said when presenting the award to Myers. "She has made excellent progress in broadening the interest in gospel music, our shared passion, and keeps expanding the influence. "
Until now, Myers, 48, mostly concentrated on Southern gospel music, but on A Front Row View, she plans to spread her wings and include contemporary Christian and praise-and-worship music.
"I want to keep the public aware of new books, new products, especially music, but not only music," she says. "I want to cover book reviews, information about Christian movies and TV shows and things like concerts and conferences."
For now, most writing on the site comes from her and a woman in West Virginia who's doing music reviews, but Myers wants to bring in other writers to expand the offerings.
"This is a leap of faith. I wanted to step out and do this on my own," she says.
She began putting the site together in May and had it ready to launch a few weeks ago; then the shootings of the five military men in Chattanooga happened "and it just wasn't the right time."
Currently, the site has news about such artists as Gerald Crabb, Joseph Habedank and Amber Nelon, reviews of books by author Rifqa Bary and a story on Tips for Summer Weddings. Having interviewed such artists as Bill and Gloria Gaither, Larnelle Harris and Ray Stevens, Myers believes she has the contacts to fill A Front Row View with plenty of news.
Raised in Chattanooga, Myers has been married to her husband, Eric, for 27 years and has three children - Jesse, 23, Allison, 21 and Austin, 19. Although she attended Tennessee Temple University, Myers says she didn't make a real connection to Christianity until well into adulthood.
"I went through all the Christian motions of everything," she says. "For one, I kept a list of rules: 'Don't do this. Don't go here. Don't do that,' But I didn't make a connection of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is totally different."
Then she ended up in the emergency room in severe pain. "I thought I was going to die but it was my gall bladder," she says with a laugh.
But after surgery, she decided to truly become a Christian. "I just surrendered. I told God I was ready to live life his way."
Once she did that, "I just started growing by leaps and bounds."
Contact Shawn Ryan at sryan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.