Living Proof
We are a local church ministry out of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Texas. We desire to be a blessing wherever we go and to help bring a spirit of worship to the service. We started the group back in 2000 with one of our founding members, Rodney, being asked to write a song about the printing ministry at our church. At that time, Jonathan started picking on the mandolin. God definately had a plan. Little did we know what amazing things would come of it. Our sound is a little different than any you may have heard before but would mostly be described as a mix of southern gospel and bluegrass. There is a banjo involved so it must have a touch of bluegrass! We mainly travel on weekends to churches that invite us since we all hold down full-time jobs during the week. Recently the group went through some changes. Rodney, having surrendered to preach a couple of years ago, is now a youth pastor at a nearby church. To show how the Lord works in wonderful ways, Kathleen married Josh Parker a year ago and he has jumped right into Living Proof. He has taken up position playing the guitar and it has worked out perfectly! We are working on new songs and a new sound and God is greatly blessing. Our basic desire is just to serve the Lord with whatever talent he may have given us, and to bring all the glory and honor to Him. Living Proof consists of Jonathan Thrift (guitar, mandolin, banjo, and dobro), his wife Melissa (bass guitar), Josh Parker (rhythm guitar), and his wife Kathleen (keyboard). Jonathan and Melissa's children, Rebecca and Benjamin, are getting into things by playing the "shakers"! For more information on Living Proof go to www.livingproofmusicministry.com.