Back from the Dead: A Tale of Professional Religion

By R. Tyler Scott

Steven Carey always knew he could sing. When he went on the road as Mark Joness worship leader, he saw a part of religion that he never knew existed. The money and adoring crowds proved more intoxicating than anything he had ever experienced. What he forgot was that when you represent Jesus Christ, youre held to a higher standard, not by man but by God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512730296

R. Tyler Scott

R. Tyler Scott was born on August 1, 1968, and born again January 19, 1976. He and his wife, Glenda, have four daughters and two sons in law. He spent thirteen years traveling and singing with his family group Bob Scott and Sweet Spirit. Since coming off the road, he has been serving as a music minister. He has published several books, including the Vince Profett series and Broken Hero. His motto is, “God does not always call the qualified, but he qualifies the called.”

Book preview

Chapter One

The Big Venue

I ’ve got to be honest, you may be the best crowd we’ve ever had. You are singing so well, and so joyously, but now I want to really hear you. You know this song. It is one of the top revival songs of our generation. It’s called ‘Here I am to Worship’ and if you are truly here to worship with Brother Mark and me, give a shout to the Lord."

The entire audience seemed to cry out with one voice as the musicians began to play, and the words came up on the screen. Steven Carey looked at the people in the audience and acted as if he was knocked back by the force of their voice. As worship leader for a national evangelist, this was all part of the program and Steven was one of the best at working the program.

The church they were in would normally seat around four hundred if you squeezed them in tight. Tonight, not only were they squeezed in tightly, there were chairs in the aisles and people were standing in the back. The crowd had to be pushing six hundred and they were all singing their hearts out. The majority of them had their hands in the air and there was a great feeling of anticipation. This was the rule not the exception since Steven had joined the Mark Jones Ministry team more than two years earlier. The crowds and the notoriety that Mark and his team were gaining were a phenomenon that few people had ever seen.

It didn’t seem that long ago since evangelist Mark Jones had come through Caseyville, Mississippi with his revival team and had set the county on fire. He was an up-and-coming evangelist from Birmingham, Alabama. Everyone in south Mississippi had heard of him because everywhere he went, he brought revival. That week, he held the greatest revival Steven had ever seen or been a part of. There had been huge crowds every night and the response at the altar call was always tremendous. Mark was able to move the crowd with his sermons like nothing anyone had ever seen, though the worship leader seemed in a world of his own. Since Steven had the best voice in the church, he had been asked to sing the special music on the second night. After he had finished, the crowd gave Steven such a large standing ovation, Mark had come out and asked him to sing another song. Steven did and received another standing ovation. After the service, Mark had come to him and congratulated him on having one of the best voices he’d ever heard. This embarrassed Steven because he did not accept praise very well—even though everyone had been telling him that he had a great voice since he was seven. He then told Steven that Rusty Lindenberg, the man who was currently leading worship for the ministry, was about to go full-time into the missionary field. Mark asked if Steven had ever considered going into the ministry as a worship leader. Not only was Steven talented, but he was charismatic and engaged the crowd easily. That talent was something that couldn’t be taught. What could be taught–and Mark said he was willing to teach it–was how to a build and make an audience do whatever was needed.

Steven didn’t know what to say. All his life he had gone to church and everyone always bragged about how well he sang and connected with the people. He had won a couple of singing competitions in Jackson and had even tried out for the America’s Voice national competition in New Orleans, though he didn’t make it past the third group of judges. This, was another thing all together. He had finished community college just a few weeks earlier, and now was the perfect time to maybe do something different. Steven was tired of going to school and didn’t really want to finish his degree in education. Since he felt like God knew this, then it must be a sign from God. Steven had told Mark that he needed to pray about it and to also talk it over with his parents and pastor. Steven did this because he thought that was what he was supposed to do. He knew right then and there that he wanted to go on the road.

That night after church, Steven had sat down and told his parents about the offer and what he wanted to do. He really expected them to be excited about him doing something in the ministry, since his father was a deacon and his mother had been teaching Sunday school and Bible school for as long as Steven could remember. Unfortunately, both his parents were hesitant because they wanted him to finish his education.

Why don’t you go get your teaching degree, and then if you want to go and travel, you will have something to fall back on, his father had said. You’ve never been on the road like this. You may not like it and it isn’t a guaranteed career.

But I will be out serving the Lord. Isn’t that what you’ve told me over and over again? It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it for the Lord. I would be singing in church every Sunday instead of in clubs and casinos. Singing is what I would be doing for the Lord, Steven had argued.

Finally, Steven convinced them that this was what God wanted for his life. His mother had not said very much and when he stood up to go and hug them, she began to cry. She didn’t say anything else, just a few tears and then she walked into her bed room.

When does he want you to go with him? Steven’s father had asked.

I guess this next week. The guy who is leading worship for him is going to be a missionary in Kenya and he said there is an immediate opening.

Have you prayed about this?

Yes, sir, I have, Steven lied.

Well, I think you need to do a little more soul searching tonight before you give him a final answer. That way you won’t be making a hasty decision. If you waited a week, it might not be such a bad idea.

But Dad, if I am going to serve the Lord, how could He tell me to do anything except that?

Steven’s Dad looked at him and put his hand on his son’s hand. Steven, for some people God’s work is not God’s will for them. You think about it and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.

That night any more praying would have been a waste of time. Steven decided that he was going to go out on the road and he didn’t care what his family said. He kept telling himself that this was what God had for him to do.

Wow, I can just feel the spirit in this place tonight. Can you feel it? Steven asked the crowd as they sang. It was such a powerful feeling to be able to take a crowd of six hundred or more people and have them eating out of the palm of your hand.

I tell you what, Steven said as they came to the end of the song. Why don’t we sing that last verse a capella. He then took his cordless microphone out into the audience and walked up to a young lady who had been singing with all her might with her eyes closed. Steven put his arm around her and let her sing into the microphone, and he thought she was going to go crazy. She began to cry and sing and hold onto Steven’s shoulders. As he looked around, everyone in the room was singing. He didn’t need to do anything else. The crowd was ready and primed for the evening. All he had to do now was make the offering pitch, let Melanie do her song, and then call Mark out onto the stage.

The offering pitch was one of the things Steven had learned early on and now did extremely well. He could get every dollar out of even the hardest crowd. Eddie, the drummer, had told someone that if he could pitch anything as well as Steven pitched the offering, he would have his own ministry. Mark himself said that the offering totals had gone up almost forty percent since Steven had been making the pitch.

As the song ended and everyone began to clap, Steven walked back up on stage.

Now before we have Melanie come out and do our special music, I want to talk to you about your place in the ministry. You see, everyone can’t go out to the world and tell them the good news. In fact, most of you won’t ever. Not because you don’t want to, but because you don’t have the contacts or the opportunities.

"Opportunities, was the cue for Elbert to start playing the piano very softly.

We, on the other hand, are going to be out there every day of every week. But we can’t do it alone. Mark had a very successful career as a music executive before the Lord called him to the ministry. He is sacrificing, every day to be out on the road, just like everyone you see on this platform. Everyone of us is willing to make the sacrifice, but we can only do it with your help. I need you to help us. I know this is a little corny, but we are going to pass the chicken buckets around. We ask you to please give as generously as you can. Not so that people can see what you do, but so that people can be touched by what we do. Then when you get to your final reward, you will have stars in your crown because you were willing to give so that others might go. Elbert, if you will play the song, ‘Give Them All,’ and the ushers will go around to receive the offering. I humbly ask you, to please give generously. If you do, then not only will you be blessed, but so will the ministry. When you do what you are supposed to do, we can do what we are supposed to do.

As he turned around to head off stage he saw the woman who he had sung with sitting down writing a check. He would have to look at the take later that night to see what she gave.

When he walked by Melanie, she gave him a high five. Just the feel of her hand sent chills through Steven’s body.

I swear, I think you could sell ice to Eskimo’s, Melanie whispered.

You don’t have to butter me up, Steven said. I’m going to listen to every word you sing.

You better. I don’t sing just anyone’s songs. This is the best you’ve written yet.

Steven looked back and saw that Elbert was beginning to put the fancy moves into the song which meant that the ushers were halfway through.

It’s only good because you make it good. Did you and Elbert get together on the introduction this afternoon? Steven had been in a meeting with Mark and the pastor and hadn’t been able to be there for practice.

Yes, we got it. Now leave me alone and let me go out here and wow the crowd.

As the music ended, Melanie walked on stage. As soon as she got there, she owned it. She didn’t have the talent and presence Steven had, but she more than made up for that with just pure beauty. Her voice was good, but her looks were what brought the house down and made people swoon, except for Steven, or so he told himself. He only saw her as a lost soul who wanted to get close to God after having fallen down into the gutter of life and was now living a changed life.

Melanie had gotten saved at one of Marks revivals in Ohio six months earlier. Her parents were very wealthy, and her rebellion had been a great burden to them. After she got saved, she had asked Mark to baptize her the next night. At the end of the week, when the revival was over and the team was getting ready to leave for the next town, Melanie had asked Mark if she could come on the road. Mark was very shrewd about these kinds of things because he had seen it all. Many people get saved and are so overcome with emotion, they immediately try to go out and do things that they aren’t called to do or prepared to do. He told her that she should see if coming on the road was where God wanted her. He told her to call him in a week and they would talk. Steven was smitten immediately and wanted nothing more than for Melanie to come with them. She was every thing that he ever wanted. She was beautiful and could sing and was now a Christian. Steven even thought that she was the reason that he had come into Mark’s ministry. It was like God was looking out for his every need.

After a week, Melanie’s father called Mark and told him that the transformation in Melanie was more awe inspiring than anything they’d ever seen. He said that Melanie wanted to give back to the world after taking from it for so long. He also told Mark that he would make a sizable donation to the ministry and that Melanie would not require a salary if he would allow her to come aboard. Usually, this was music to the ears of someone in the Christian ministry, but Mark would not allow Melanie to work for free. He said, if she came onto the team, she would be paid just like everyone else. Of course, he also took the donation. Mark Jones wasn’t a dummy.

Now Melanie was standing on stage singing the song that Steven had written. It had come to him the first week he had been on the road. He had not felt like it was a song he could sing and didn’t understand why it came to him so easily. He’d just attributed it to being where God wanted him. It was about redemption and coming back from a great falling away. Since he had been saved for most of his life and been in church longer than that, it really didn’t apply to him. Even the title, Back from the Dead, was different from his own life. After hearing Melanie sing it, he felt the song was written for her, even though he hadn’t known her at the time.

As she started on the third verse, Mark walked up and touched him on the shoulder.

Is that your song she’s doing? He asked.

Yes it is and I would like for her to record it in June when we go to Nashville. Maybe she and I could make a combined CD. She could do half the songs and I could do half and then we duet on ‘Back From The Dead’ for national release. I really believe it is going to be a huge hit.

Mark looked at the mirror he always had placed beside the stage. He wanted to check his appearance before he went on stage. Even though what he said was very important, he also knew that to some people, how he looked was just as important, if not more so.

That will be fine. Let’s talk about it tonight after we leave. Mark looked out at the audience who was giving Melanie a deserved standing ovation. Okay, get out there and call me out. If they aren’t ready now, they won’t ever be.

An hour and a half later, Steven was standing at the product table shaking hands and posing for pictures. Since he was twenty two and single, all the young pre-teen girls ran around giggling about him. He and Elbert had nicknamed them the Winnie the Pooh brigade because it was the same thing everywhere they went. During his time on the road, he had also had some of their mothers acting almost as silly. To his regret, some of them had caught him. Each time, Steven had asked the Lord to forgive him of his lack of spirituality in giving in to lust. That was one of the problems of being single on the road. The temptations were always there and it was hard to overcome them all. He did better than any of the others, but he wasn’t perfect. However, for the last six months his eyes had not roamed, and all of the advances had been politely turned away. There was someone else he had his eyes on.

Melanie was standing at the opposite end of the table selling Mark’s cd’s and DVD’s. She was getting better every week. She didn’t sell the volume Steven did, but she was better than anyone else had ever been. Everyone that came up to her tonight wanted to know where the song she sang came from and where they could buy it. When she would tell them that Steven had written it, they all gushed about how anointed it was. Of all the songs that Steven had written, this one looked like it would be better than all the others combined. Even if Melanie might be what put it over the top. Not to say he wasn’t successful with his own product. During the last two years, the sales of Steven’s cd’s had been climbing steadily and were almost as popular as Mark’s sermons.

After the last of the folks had come through and everything was beginning to slow down, Steven looked over at Melanie. She was putting a cover over the table since they would be using the same product the next night.

Where are we going to eat tonight? Steven asked.

I don’t know, but I am ready for some ice cream. I am sick of the rich dinner on the ground food. I need a milkshake and a greasy burger.

That sounds good to me. I’ll check with Elbert and see if he knows of anywhere that is still open. He has some relatives that live close by. When he was younger, he used to come spend a couple of weeks here in the summer.

Melanie walked from around the table. That’s fine with me. You go find Elbert and I will go get out of this dress. One of these days someone is going to make a dress with shoes that look good, but don’t hurt to be in them for long. My feet are killing me.

Okay, I’ll see you on the bus. The church is letting us use their van, so we will have something to travel in besides the Prevost.

Walking back toward the bus, Steven had a hop in his step. Today seemed to be going better than he had envisioned. Tonight might be the night to try and take his and Melanie’s relationship to the next level. Elbert needed to be informed that his presence wouldn’t be needed. Maybe the two of them sharing a greasy burger would be the thing that gave Steven the confidence to talk about them, if there was a them and it wasn’t something he had made up because he wanted it so bad.

Before he could get on the bus and inform Elbert about the change in plans, Mark came around and met him.

Hey man, Melanie told me you three were going to get a hamburger. I would love to get something that doesn’t have dumplings in it. You wouldn’t mind letting your boss come would you?

Steve could not tell his boss that he wasn’t wanted. That would also mean that Elbert would come too. This wasn’t going to go quite the way he had planned.

Yes, we are. I didn’t know you would want to go with us?

Mark put his arm on Steve’s shoulder.

I want to talk to you and Melanie. Elbert needs to hear this too. I saw the reaction from the crowd on your song. I think we need to set up a plan for releasing it. I thought about what you said tonight backstage and I agree. A cd of you and Melanie will be a huge seller.

When they walked up to the door of the bus, Melanie walked off. She was dressed in an Ohio State sweatshirt and blue jeans and boots. Elbert was right behind her in his favorite Gargoyle t-shirt.

I’m sorry I look so tacky, but I just had to get comfortable, Melanie said.

Don’t worry about that, Mark added. Of course one of these days I am going to catch you gone and cut up that buckeye shirt. Mark was a diehard Alabama fan and the football rivalry between he and Melanie was always something to jab each other about. I’m going to go get this suit off and get comfortable myself. Steven, are you going to change?

No, I’m fine. I haven’t done laundry since last Wednesday, so I don’t have a lot of non suit clothes, Steve said.

Okay. Mark reached into his pocket and took out a set of keys. Go around back and get the church van. I’ll be ready when you get here.

Okay. Mel, do you want to come with me? Steven asked as he caught the keys that Mark threw to him.

Would love to. I call shotgun!

As they walked around the church, Steven decided that now might be the only time tonight he would have to talk seriously with Melanie. She was walking along and talking about how much she loved being on the ministry team and what a blessing it was to be used by God and how different her life was now, than a year ago.

Melanie, do you miss being at home?

I miss my parents sometimes. I spent all my teen years making their lives miserable, and now that I’m clean and straight, I’m not there for them to enjoy it.

Is that the only thing you miss? Steven asked.

What are you asking Steven?

I was wondering if there was anyone else at home that you missed. Steven was proud that it was dark because he knew his face was turning red.

Oh, I get it. You mean is there someone special back in Ohio. Is that what you are trying to ask in your sweet southern gentleman way? When she said this, she put her arm through Steven’s and moved a little closer.

Well, I guess if that is what you construe the question to be, then that is what the question is. Steven was trying to be more impressive because he hated when people treated him like a country bumpkin.

No, there is no one back home that I am missing. I was beginning to wonder if you had someone back in Mississippi. You are a fine specimen of a man, and I have never had any trouble getting attention from other gentlemen. But you haven’t even looked my way.

I’ve looked, but never when you could see. I think you and I are a good team and I would like to see where this could lead. We are both in the Same work and there are few people who really know what being on the road is like.

Melanie stopped walking and looked up at him.

I would like very much to see where this would lead. But I have to be honest with you, I am not the Same wild girl that I was six months ago. When I changed, I really changed. God did something to me and I don’t want to do the things I used to do or be the person I used to be. Is that going to be alright with you?

Melanie, you don’t know how good that makes me feel for you to say that. I feel the Same way.

Well, I’ve seen you with some of the folks at the product table. Elbert has even told me that you are the catch that all the single and divorced ladies automatically go for. I can’t go back to that again.

Elbert needs to stop talking. I’ve made some mistakes, but it’s because I had no one else. I believe you are here for me as much as you are here for yourself. I think this is all a part of a much bigger plan.

Then, much to Steven’s surprise, Melanie leaned in and kissed him. He had heard of fireworks going off during a kiss, but he didn’t believe it until now.

After a few moments, Steven pulled away and looked down at the prettiest woman he had ever seen.

I didn’t say we couldn’t have a little fun though. Now let’s go get a hamburger. I’m hungrier now than I was before.

Chapter Two

The Recording Studio

I think that verse is fine. Come in here and let’s listen to it." Kevin Van Nought was universally regarded as the finest music producer in Nashville. The reason he was considered the best and