W e have all heard it said in the real estate market over and over again, Location, Location, Location, is what sells real estate. Well then, what sells Gospel Music and its related ministry? It is Relationship, Relationship, Relationship!
As an Independent Gospel Artist, ministry has always been our first focus. We have never seen, in our minds eye, Greatly Blest on the top of the world’s music charts. So, quite simply, we were not striving for that. We had dreamed and desired that God would find us a useful place that we could minister to His people, and if that be full time, we were willing. But, that first required a relationship with God the Father.
The traditional music business is often centered around a great song, a catchy tune, superb talent, and maybe even sometime luck of being at the right place at the right time, but ministry, well that is about relationships.I first met Tami Rowbotham in social media. Reading her many inspiring post on Facebook, I was just a distant observer, just a reader, and occasionally acknowledging her postings, but I got hooked. I realized quickly that Tami and I had a lot in common. Could there really be a company out there that believed as much as we did that Christian music should be a ministry? Little did I know that Tami was also reading my post, my efforts at being inspiring, my efforts at being uplifting, and my efforts at ministry. Tami contacted me one day and simply asked if we could be friends. Little did I know at the time, this was going to be the beginning of a great relationship with Incubator Creative Group.
Tami saw my desire for ministry, she saw the hunger for ministry, and she saw my struggles at making Greatly Blest what I knew God wanted it to be. She told of their programs and materials, and how she felt that her and Nate Sakany (Incubator's Founder and President) could help. Then came the kicker .. relationship. They wanted to know more about us, what we thought, what we stood for, what were our goals and our dreams. Had we really been approached by a company that wanted Greatly Blest to succeed, instead of, a company that want Greatly Blest to help them succeed with record sales? This seemed to us almost unbelievable.
Through relationship, we learned that our values matched their values, and our dreams matched theirs, and our desire for ministry matched theirs as well. They began put us through a long application process, telling us that God had a unique purpose in our calling and together we needed to find it, nurture it, to build on it, and the magic word, build a relationship with our audience and our fans and friends. Relate to them what God had done for us, what He had brought us through, and where through His calling He wanted us to go. To be vulnerable and to be honest. We are just like the folks we sing and minister to. We are not way up here with no problems and no trials, we are not on this stage because our life is perfect, no, we are here to let you know that you too can make it, God loves you, just as He loves us.
Incubator, Nate, and Tami have all been an absolute Godsend to us. When they offered a chance to be a Roster Artist, it really was a no-brainer for us. We knew we had found a company that believed in us and us in them, a relationship that was solid, someone that would hold us accountable in ministry, someone that would guide us and steer us through the mysteries of the music business. Someone that didn’t really care if our next song was a hit as long as we stayed true to the ministry that God had put before us. Incubator’s knowledge will keep us viable and help us avoid the often costly pitfalls that many Gospel ministries face.
Greatly Blest feels that most all gospel music artist start with a desire for ministry, but far too many get gobbled up in the finances and over their head in a music machine world, that only gets out of them what they can before they are left wounded on the side of the road, bleeding and dying, waiting on a “Good Samaritan” like Incubator to stop and bind their wounds, put them up in a safe place till them are ready once again to face the world with a message of God’s love and determination to never falter again in the face of opposition.
Our connection to Incubator is simple .. it is all about relationship.
