Find Your Voice! Vocalist Keisha McFarland on How to Build Your Creative Confidence

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What do you do when you know you're following God but you just don't understand those directions that he's taking you as a creative when you're absolutely dedicated to ministry? But ministry doesn't always seem to go the way that you thought it was going to go. How do you handle it? How do you keep yourself in line with God's spirit and find yourself in different areas where you might be working in of church or maybe not working in church and doing a totally different thing with your creative gift or your music or your art? My friend.

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This is not easy, but you're going to listen to someone today on this podcast who's going to show you that you can still be authentic. Be totally yourself. Even if there's other obstacles in your way that actually have to strengthen you so that you can be the creator that God created you to be our guest today, Keisha McFarland is going to open the doors to you to see how God can lead you through different paths and still give you the same authentic voice that he always wanted you to have. This is an amazing, inspirational and a fun episode, so make sure you don't miss a moment of it. Give me just a moment to welcome those of you who are new to our podcast and then we'll get right into this amazing discussion.

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Artists, musicians and creatives of all kinds looking for help bAllencing your passion to create with your everyday life. Not sure if your faith can coexist with your profession? Welcome to a place where real artists discuss real life. You're listening to the God and Gig show. Visit Godandgigs.com for show notes, links and more information.

00:01:44
Hello and welcome to our show. Thank you so much for making this podcast a part of your creative day. If you are new to the Guiding Gig Show, thank you for giving us a chance. And let me tell you why you're in the right place at the right time with the right people. First of all, my name is Allen.

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I am the host and founder of Guiding Gigs. And we have been here for seven, eight years at the time of recording, helping you to build your best creative life from the inside out by applying timeless spiritual principles to temporary creative problems so that we can help you to become that completely confident creative that God made you to be. And that applies if you're in any creative niche music, arts, entertainment, wherever you find that intersection happening. But you also have a heart for ministry and a heart for God. Now, you may have a job inside a church or may not, but whatever the case is, you have been called to impact the world.

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And that's what we help you do in these podcasts and in our community. Definitely stay connected with us on our socials God and Gigs, on all social platforms. And of course, this podcast, which you're listening to right now. Now, our guest today is going to make you laugh, think, smile, and be encouraged all at the same time. My guest today is my sister, my friend, Keisha McFarland.

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Now, she is an extraordinary singer songwriter, performer, and music ministry leader, worship leader, raised in the musically rich city of Chicago, Illinois. Shout out to Chicago, where my wife is also from. Now, her ministry began in the beginning at her father's church, and it was further cultivated by such gospel music, greats like Walt Whitman, Smokey, Norfolk, Ricky Dillard. And she comes from a musically rich family. Her sister, Keisha McFarland, is a legend in gospel.

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But we're going to find out from Keisha how those roots did not just simply go into one direction, but how she learned to find her place in myriad ways and was able to figure out her authentic voice in times when maybe it didn't seem like it was going the direction that she thought it was going to go. Now, her ability to mold herself has led her into so many different areas. Now in Miami, Florida, where she's now serving, but it's led her to Dallas, Texas, to the Potter's House, to tours in the United Kingdom, to Japan, to performing at Universal Studios in Japan. She has been all over the world, and she has the experience to explain to you how to navigate when life throws you curves, when music and music ministry seem to be confusing. She is going to help you see how to see God's footprint in all of those things and to find your authentic voice in your creative gift.

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Now, Keisha again, just comes with the realness. I love her to death because she doesn't try to hide anything. She's so transparent, but she's so thoughtful in the way that she explains these things. You're going to want to listen to every moment because she drops so many wisdom bombs and makes you laugh at the same time. So without any further delay, let's get into this amazing conversation with my friend, singer songwriter, worship leader, and amazing person, Keisha McFarland.

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Ladies and gentlemen, when I say I'm bringing family into the guiding Gig Show today, this is like family. Even though they say brother by another mother, sister by another mother, whatever you want to call it, we still have the same father, the heavenly father. And ever since I was able to connect with this young lady, back in the old days, back when I brought her down to Richmond Heights to sing at, oh, my, was it's like ages ago. But now she's back in South Florida. For those of you who don't know, for at least as long as I can keep her here.

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And I would love to welcome Keisha McFarland to the God and Gig Show. How are? Hey. Hey, what's up? God and Gig family.

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I'm good. I'm great. I know you're great. Number one, you're out. If you're listening, you are literally flying among the stars right now in your background.

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Did you guys put that thing together? Come on. That's right. We talked about this. Jokes.

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We got jokes. That keto. So I feel in the spirit already. I feel in the spirit of the jokes and the laughter, you always make me smile every time we talk and we get deep into a lot of amazing stuff. So first of all, I know this is hard for everybody, but I have to hit you with that 32nd elevator pitch.

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But really, what I like to say, it is like this. When people meet you for the first time, what is it that you'd like them to know about you if they don't get a chance to read your bio, listen to your music, listen to you saying, what are those first few things that you want people to know about you? I want people to know that trouble don't last. All no. I want people to know, honestly, but I'm joking.

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But I feel like one of my gifts and goals of my interaction with people is to always let them know that not to get lost and stuck in dark places and there's hope and just to be alight. I feel like whatever tools I use, be it conversation, music, anything, sermons or whatever clinics that you don't have to be in a place of despondency as long as you keep getting up in the morning, you will have an opportunity to live a better life. You have an opportunity to make better decisions, better choices. So don't lose hope. I think that's me am an encourager.

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You made it all about other people. Even when I asked you to introduce yourself, your first response is here's what you want people to think about themselves. Like you didn't make it about you. You didn't say even though you are and I will fill these in. They already heard the bio, probably, but I'll fill this in.

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You are a worship leader, you are a vocalist, you are a songwriter, you're a clinician, you are an aspiring author, as I noticed a little earlier you mentioned you have all these other gifts and traits and talents, but encourager the one that you ended up with. That one I absolutely agree with 100%. I see that spirit and I felt that spirit. But tell me now, where did that come from? Where did your desire to help people?

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Whether it be through music, worship, where did it start? Well, I think for me it started because I've lived through rejection and lived through not being the preferred. And so from that, God has given me this thing to find people. I won't call them underdog because I don't believe that you're an underdog. But everybody will experience some form of rejection at some point.

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And so I feel like you can feel rejected and not accept it. You can be rejected and not accept it. Right. I'll say it that way from that. I'm like, okay, I still have value.

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I'm going to figure out my own sound, my own way of doing things. So that's where it comes from, because I've been that, I've lived that. And so along the way, I'm just picking up people, hey, as long as you keep getting up, you could change it. And God puts me in situations. It's almost like he has to get the glory.

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I know a lot of people could have helped me through whatever, but it's been in my life that God has to get the glory. I love it. Even in working out in the gym, when you get on the elliptical, you put the resistance up, but if you keep pressing, you keep going, you're actually building muscle. So I feel like I'm building muscle. I've built muscle with a lot of the resistance that I've had.

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Oh, I love it. Now, see, I love that you're right on this track. And you just said about kind of painting the picture for people because, first of all, let me see your last name. I'm sure you've dealt with that, just knowing the family, knowing the pedigree that you come with. So tell me a little bit about coming up, growing up in a musical family, how those structures, I guess you could say how that foundation helped you build the muscle because eventually you had to deal with the resistance.

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Right. But you started with a nice, I believe, even. Tell me, fill in the gaps. For me, it sounded like you started with your family, a push to say, hey, this is what our faith is about. This is what singing and music is about.

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I wish that was it. Being a pastor's daughter, just so you know, my father died when I was six. My birth father, my parents married my mother and father. My mom remarried to another pastor.

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You have an adjustment period when you're blending families and stuff like that. And so I'm number five and six. And so I don't want to say I was ignored, but I'm in between two. Like, my sister was the baby for seven years, Kim, and then me. Five years later, me.

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I mean, seven years later, me, and then five years after me is my baby sister. So I'm in between the two with that. Okay. My sister's, Keisha McFarland, she was a child in Chicago, child prodigy. She's always saying, like a grown woman, I say this all the time, but my mom never wanted me to sing.

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She wanted me to go to school. She wanted me, yeah, because I skipped the grade. Felt like it was education for me. And so she was just against it. And of course, sometimes that thing that you're against is what is the very thing that they go after?

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She felt like Satan was my sister was Kim saying, but I was smart, and so they wanted me to be a lawyer and all these kinds of things. And then I'm in the middle of her adjusting to blending a family, because I'm still in my early adolescent. In my adolescent, kim's a preach when she got remarried. And so I won't say that my mom necessarily rejected me, but she just had a lot dealing with my stepfather. I honor my mother, and I do believe that God allowed these things to happen for a reason.

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And so he's given me a particular perspective about things because I went through that. He's a great man. Anything that I experience, I love him for. It like things that I could probably say, well, he did this and he treated me wrong. Hey, it was good for me that I was afflicted.

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It helped me to grow strength and to be able to deal with all these other different pastors that I have been able to work for. And so I feel like that's one of the reasons why God has graced me, to be in different places and spaces and not make the pastors feel like I'm a guest artist or I'm an employee. I'm here to serve. Okay, so you just hit this is why when we talk, I can never predict how it's going to go because you open up so many doors that I want to just jump in and go down every single pathway. Let me start with this one, because you kind of hinted at it.

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We talked a little bit about rejection, even dealing with when people think you should take a different path, and then you talked about pastors and honoring those, right. Whether you're in a and you have grace stages, you have been on platforms, you've had to be the person that once you do find your identity in singing, in worship, right? Because many of us, as singers and musicians and creatives, we create that identity and we say, okay, well, this is how I fit in. That's what I'm getting at. Those who are listening right now who are saying, that's all they see me as.

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You walk in and you sing or you worship or you play and you sing and you believe you're giving God your best and you're honoring God, and you're honoring again, like you said, the pastor, or even your pastor's kid, you're honoring, you're trying to do it right. How do you handle it? How did you handle it when it felt like did you ever feel like that was all you were? Did you ever feel like, I just am existing to create, to sing, to worship, but people don't see the real me? Have you ever felt that?

00:14:45
Yes. Oh, if I can back that just to teach. Growing again as Kim was a prodigy in Chicago, I grew up people, when they didn't want to pay her hundreds or thousand dollars, they would call me for 50, 75, you can come and get and then again, at that time, when I look back now, I was trying to figure things out. So a door opened up. We went to Atlanta to a church which the co pastor happened to have known my birth father, and she grew up in the Baptist convention under my dad.

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And it was an instant connection. So me moving to Atlanta into a place where they didn't care, kim was my sister. They didn't care about any of that. They got to know me. And so that was the best thing, because growing up in Chicago, I kind of felt like people wanted me to be killed.

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So God sent me to a worship. Total red Christian center. Bishop Jonathan and Tony Alvarado, they were apostle at that time, sent me to a worship house. They did not care. I had to go through new members orientation.

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I had to go through all I had to go through the whole process because he would say, if James Cleveland come in here, he's got to go through the process. And that was good for me because me in those classes, me in that house and the structure of the house, because growing my family church unity fellowship, it was a Baptist church. I didn't grow up learning worship. We did worship songs, but as we know, praise and worship today, that wasn't on the radar at that moment. And so I was the leader of our youth choir.

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One of the lady who was over the young Youth young adult choir, she quit, so I just took over. I was finding my way in leadership at that time, and I will be an hour late for rehearsal. Like, they laugh at me now because I just not understanding wait, there's got. To be just kidding. But there's a lot of great see, that's a beautiful thing there.

00:17:04
There's a couple of places where I just want to pause because you mentioned the house that you were serving in, made sure that you understood the culture and the reason why you were there and who you were versus this identity. And I'm so glad. That's why I appreciate you being so open about that clash of identity between having somebody else in your family that people see as one way. So that is really eye opening for me, because I dealt with this on the opposite side, where being very honest with you, with my children and my siblings, them looking at me your dad's a musician, right? And I'm like, no, my kids are not just little progenys running around.

00:17:46
So that part really resonates with me because we each need to understand that God sees us as individuals. God sees us as who we are, souls, not just human doings, we're human beings. Right? And so what I love about what you're saying, even as you're kind of like backing it up in terms of how you came up, even in youth choirs and stuff like that, there's some grace to figuring this out. There's got to be grace maybe we're not giving grace anymore, I don't know.

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But especially in ministries, we need to give people the chance to figure things out, work things out. Who am I? What am I really about? What is this whole jesus thing about? And then graduate to leader, singer, performer.

00:18:29
I think sometimes we get that backwards. I just love the fact you went there because that's why I wanted to have you on. Because I think if we don't have these kind of conversations, you know what I mean? This is the part that people are hearing this that they might have thought it and never said it out loud, especially inside churches. Right before I moved to atlanta, I was, you know, maybe I'll speak R-B-I think I wanted to do something that didn't put me in the same category as my sister.

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But me going to atlanta, that put the seed of worship in me. It exposed me to care. He would say it all the time before I got there, you have to go through this, that and the third. And so me being there, I learned worship, taking classes on worship of the thursday. My first sunday there.

00:19:19
However, christopher lewis, he was a musician there, he's an artist. He came to me, he said, Keisha, I feel like we're going to work together, we're going to do music together. I don't know, I just feel like that's the first thing. When we first met, he said, I feel like god showed me that four years later he forgot we're working on my record. He forgot and so we're doing a record.

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But when I started doing a record, I started to study about exploring worship, becoming a worship leader, becoming a servant of the house, a levite. Like this whole intense study started as I'm being an know, okay, cool. So all I'm being developed and so as time goes on and I'm in atlanta being an artist and just being able to create on the spot, god allowed me to connect with some incredible musicians. We were all young and hungry and we were creating on the spot vibing, which is kind of what I do now, which is you can equate it to prophetic or spontaneous or the song of the lord, but that's what I would equate. We were just literally creating on spot and I wasn't have the liberty to do that in chicago.

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I didn't feel like I had it. But atlanta set took off every got it. Yeah expectation that people had and I just was able to know using my breath know breathing as a moment. Like I'm literally catching my breath and it sounds like I'm being creative just learning how to use a microphone. So when you feeling just learning myself and I was getting a lot of calls so I'm learning myself.

00:21:08
So then I go back to chicago because my stepfather, my dad has a stroke. My mom was like help. So I'm like, okay. But right before I left in 2008, January, fall of 2007, kevin Bond, I believe he was still in Newburgh. He hears about me.

00:21:30
I was singing with background for Darwin Hobbs at that time. I was doing some studio work with sorry, pastor, mr. Murphy, William Murphy. There's a tour coming up, Sisters in the Spirit. Kevin Bond calls me to come and do the tour.

00:21:46
We're backing up. Andy Strong, Adams Dorinda, kelly Price. It was a tour we started in Oakland. So Kevin connected with me. So we've been on the tour bus and Kevin would do Devotionals in the morning because he's very strong on the word of God and developing Levites and people understanding, you know, while he's doing these Sundays or Devotionals, I'm quoting.

00:22:19
I'm like, we connected. Justin Savage was on the tour. I don't know Justin. He's at the Potter's house now. He's one of the musicians.

00:22:29
I can't think of everybody else. So we're on the tour. Kevin tour gets canceled. Fast forward. He calls, he's at Greater Travelers Rest with Dewey Smith, which is now the House of Hope.

00:22:43
So he calls me to come and be the worship leader there. Kevin contacted me. So that was my first job as a worship leader. And so I was at total grace. I was never on staff.

00:22:58
I was never a set worship leader at my church in Atlanta where I learned it. But they would have me to do like the youth, the hip hop worship. I would know Murd songs. Of course you're going to do Cat and Jones if he's starting about hip hop. So I would do that and I would leave songs.

00:23:14
But I was never a worship leader there. Kevin Bon Cole. That's my first job. Wow. So, no, I was literally about to get to that.

00:23:22
I was about to ask that question about the most surprising or the most interesting kind of path that God took you onto. Which stage? And that's the first one because you just said it like I heard that part, you were session vocalist BGV and doing the thing. But again, I try to put myself in the seat of the person that's listening and thinking, okay, well, she's doing the thing and she's got her own aspirations. I guess they're kind of developing that.

00:23:48
You said you were like developing it. But my question is always to different my friends in my network and artists like you is where did it take you? Like the consistent work, the work ethic you were doing right, doing the right thing, knowing the scriptures when you run into a Kevin Bond, not being totally intimidated, but actually following through and doing things professionally. And he kept your number, right? He kept your number because you showed up the right way.

00:24:16
So then my question is like, okay, so give me a story of where that place led you that you didn't expect, where you showed up either on a stage or an opportunity that it was like, whoa, I never saw myself here, but because of what I did, then God moved me here. So I'm in Atlanta. I'm a greater travel address, and Kevin tells me after Easter Sunday of that year, four months later, that he had to let me you know, I wish I could tell you why. That's the only job I've been fired from or let go.

00:24:52
You know, he was very nice about it. And so it's still kevin is one of my mentors today. So it was not just accepted it, but I guess it was necessary because my mom was like, okay, I think I need you to come home and help me with your okay, cool. So so everybody's like, why are you leaving Atlanta? So I said, I have a great opportunity.

00:25:16
I'm in Chicago leaving out of DeAndre Patterson. He's an artist. He wrote God meaning great things in store for me. He wrote that. Okay, I'm sure you might know that Ricky Dillard recorded it.

00:25:35
So he's a pastor leaving out of church, running to another artist. She's like you back. I said, yes. He said smoke Norfolk. He's looking for he's getting ready to start a location in the city, and I'm going to tell him about you.

00:25:51
So I become Smokey's Minister of Music for his city location. Wow. How does that impact me? How did Kevin Bont leading into that? Kevin would like he was on the spot because, again, it's praise and worship at an extremely traditional Baptist church.

00:26:11
So I'm coming learning it with the tongues, with the song of the Lord, and 30 minutes for worship to five minutes, ten minutes. We're not going into all that. Kevin would be I never forget why I can't remember what song it was. He was like, Listen, if it's too high for you, it's too high for the like, immediately. And I was like, okay.

00:26:37
So I have moments I'll never forget that. So Kevin really poured into positive, like, this thing, understanding the environment and your audience and where you are and to connect with them and not necessarily feel like you're going to just bring what you know to everywhere. So I'm very big on that. Part of the reason why I'm writing the book is because as worship leaders, you don't want to leave anybody behind, or even you just leaders in music ministry, period. I believe you being transgenerational in your song selection, in your approach.

00:27:14
I did a post about it a couple of weeks ago. Sorry, my page is down for now. I'm just taking a break. But I talked about not beating up people. When you're in a traditional environment to lead them like a shepherd, invite them, meet them where they are, and then make little strides to get them to go deeper and deeper.

00:27:38
Each week. You have to make deposits and not internalize their lack of response to your presentation. So that's some of the stuff that Kevin kind of planted, those seeds, all these seeds are coming as I go. Even if you go back to my stepfather, I try not to call him my stepfather because he raised me. My father, when I first started really allowing the Holy Spirit to use me, I was preaching.

00:28:06
That Baptist pastor, he was constantly, women don't preach and you're not supposed to. That did I ask you to sing or did I ask you to talk? That's what he was saying. So while that may have been mean, it set me up for where I was going. It may have appeared to be me, but I'm glad because it made me become circumspect to my environment, to the house, to the order.

00:28:31
This may not be a tongue comping church. This might be a prophetic church. Because my most recent pastor, that's where the prophetic I learned it. I sat in there and he was very intentional. He's still my pastor.

00:28:51
Archbishop William Hudson the third powerhouse Chicago, that was like one of the smallest churches that I worked for. But I had the greatest responsibility. So we don't need to move to for it. So we have that with Kevin. So I'm coming back and I worked for when Smokey started his Chicago location because he started out in the suburbs of Chicago.

00:29:13
So suburbia Chicago is different than urban. Oh, yeah, urban Chicago is the Lord is blessing me right now and Jesus will work it out. That's urban Chicago. So I had God allow me to be able to merge. What I've learned in Atlanta is code of grace worship.

00:29:37
And especially even with doing the hip hop worship there, adding in greater travels, rest, because Smokey North was AME at the core. He's AME. I believe he's born and raised AME. So he wasn't doing the prophetic songs, any of those things in the midst of me prior to me even getting to greater Travis Rest. I was allowed I did tours in London as an artist.

00:30:02
I was going to ask because I remember seeing this and that's why I was curious, because in all these moves here's the thing again. I'm thinking like, I am a homebody, Keisha, I will not leave my couch unless I have a good reason, right? So here you are. I would say the word. I think I hope I'm on point.

00:30:22
You've been open to the moves, you've been open to serving, you've been open to, I know, London and I think at a time you were even overseas in Japan. I mean, how can I explain to someone who is that local church musician, that local worship leader? Even local know outside of church. Right. I want them to understand the things that you're saying that allows you and you just said it beautifully in terms of worship transgenerational, to be able to move in and out, figure out where you're at.

00:30:59
It's not just a spiritual skill. It's a professional skill. That's the part that I'm extracting from what you're saying. Because you develop skills to be able to be what people need you to be without losing. Like, to me, that's what I'm hearing and seeing in you, which I'm getting even a better picture of now.

00:31:17
So, yeah, I want you to continue talking about London, but that's kind of the picture I want to paint. For those who are listening, you didn't just get this out of number one. You had to say yes. You had to say, yes, I'll take this assignment. Yes, I'll go here.

00:31:30
That's the first step, right? Saying yes. And then the second step is once you get there in a whole nother I mean, this is a whole nother culture. You talk about now overseas, and now you got to adjust yet again. Yes, London, it was great, but the environment is different.

00:31:48
And they would even know you Americans. You Americans, you have something different than you over here, your experiences over there. So they were saying that, and I think it was in Chicago, there is a gutter thing that we like I hate to call it gutter, but we're going to go hard. And so I kind of learned how to do that as well as to be light and fluffy like a pastry and to be if you want to fast forward to after me being with Smokey, I'm there for, like, two years and a couple of years of my best friend, I was just like, this is monotonous.

00:32:38
And so he was like, Maybe you should just take a break and audition and go do Disney Hong Kong. And I was like, what? Now, if I'm remembering, while I was in Japan, Angie Bennett I don't know if you know who Angie Bennett is. I don't think so. She's an artist from Houston, Texas.

00:32:57
In 2002, she called me. That's when they opened up Universal Studios in Japan and they started the Blues Brothers show. She was one of the first people to have that role because she's the gospel singer. So the Blues Brothers Show, they want the big gospel sound, and gospel was introduced to them through the movie Sister Act. People know that the movie Sister Act was humongous over there.

00:33:28
I did not. Wow. Yeah. So Andy called me in 2002. Let's fast forward to 2010.

00:33:37
My friend, he said, Go audition for Disney. I looked at Disney, I missed the deadline. I end up auditioning for Universal Studios. The fans and when you sign up, they wanted you to learn a song from the show Wicked.

00:33:56
I just wanted something different. I've been leading worship every Sunday, and I'm literally singing until Pastor Norfolk comes from 45 minutes away to the city. When we first, they were like, okay, worship me five minutes. So the first Sunday, he's not here yet. Keep going.

00:34:14
So it ended up being like 30, sometimes 40. So that helped me to always be prepared to keep flowing so that it seems for the people. So I got to have a prayer life. I got to stay connected here. God, what you want to say?

00:34:28
Okay, so with that, so I'm there and then we audition for Universal Studios. And so I met the audition, the last one there. Okay? I was like, I didn't learn. They were like, okay, just think.

00:34:42
So I go outside. I'm like, Margaret.

00:34:48
He said so. I have sister. I plan to do Joyful. Joyful. Okay.

00:34:54
So this is my best friend. He's got a master's. He's a classic train master's in classical music, all that stuff. So he knows about music game. He's like, just do his eyes on Pharaoh.

00:35:09
Got the sheep used for that. So it was a white pianist. He gets it. And I told him, they're like, no, we just want to hear you sing. So I was like, here's the thing.

00:35:19
He said, we're just going to go to church. And when I got done singing it out of the Pharaoh, it was like tears, because I was literally singing, like, in my life. So the presence of God came in there so much that if I talk to the guy who was in creative department USJ, he still talked about it, the impact to God be the glory. Because I don't know nothing. This is new.

00:35:46
So I get over there, I'm the can't. I can box. I can do a shuffle, shuffle, slide. That's about all you're going to get from me. Choreography.

00:35:58
It's all the choreography. It took me forever. We had Single Ladies in the you know, it was crazy. So I get there, we do that for a year while I'm over there, connect with another girl from Chicago. She's been there teaching gospel music.

00:36:14
So when I'm done with my Universal Studios contract with singers, if I could just say, you learn how to sing your mask to place your voice so you don't get hoarse. I learned that prior to my best friend taught he sold the seed, but it locked in over know in Japan because we're doing six shows a day. Four to six shows a day. Wow. But it's music, so it's not gospel, so it's not hard.

00:36:39
A lot of people lost their voices, but because I knew how to place my voice, I never got that I couldn't perform. I'm done with the contract and it's like, what do I do now? So I end up coming back to teach gospel at soulbird Music School. Taking four month contracts between even up to 2018 was probably the last time that I did it. So I've been over about three or four times from 2012 when my contract ended at Universal to 2018.

00:37:14
I've gone back over there to teach gospel music. It's Faulburn Music School, and all I'm doing is choir rehearsal. They contracted me to come over there to teach them gospel because that's how they learn how to speak English, but because I was in Universal Studios, and I had to literally sing an entire song in Japanese, so that was like their we are the world or the greatest love of all songs. It's a heartfelt song that I learned. And so when I was singing at the school, it was the power of God and mind you, I don't know what I'm saying.

00:37:51
I could translate it back then, but I learned how to connect with the when they told me, okay, cool. I'll connect with the lyrics and sing it to the people. Yeah. Gosh, there's so much good stuff in this. Here's the part that I love about that entire story.

00:38:11
Number one, the idea that Sister Act was I'm going all the way back to that. That gospel was opened up to a whole nother culture by what we in the Christian world would not call right. Is not the Christian theme or whatever. And there was nuns or whatever, but the theme of the musical is, like you said, it's the music that pulls people in. It's the music that's like the big finale, the joyful.

00:38:37
Joyful, right. Lauren Hill and all that stuff. And then the fact that you were able to walk into these same places with the same spirit that you walk into when you walk into a worship system. This is where I'm going to draw you to. You went back I'm going to pull you all the way back to that Facebook post you said when you were singing down at the Honky Talk.

00:38:55
He called it the honky talk. I love when you said that. I said the honky talk? Who says that?

00:39:03
But I love to draw this in because that's God and gigs, right? So you just talked about, number one, you took a gig to make a living, right? Something different from worship leading. Not everybody's going to work in a full time church or everybody's going to even work as a full time musician. But no matter where you go, I mean, Colossians says whatever you do, eat or drink, whatever, do offer the glory of God, right?

00:39:24
So we have that mandate. No matter where we go, we're supposed to carry ourselves with this. Correct. So what would be your advice to the musician creative worship leader in terms of making it work inside these two areas? Because you have worked for the corporation.

00:39:40
You have worked for big ministries. You've seen it, right? So what would be your advice to them when they're like, okay, Keisha, again, I heard you. You had an amazing creative life, but I still got some bills to pay. I still got to do this.

00:39:56
And they're looking at the reality of it. That's why I love talking to you, because you come straight with the reality. So what would be your advice to someone that's, like, right at that stage of, okay, can I really make this life work as a singer? As a vocalist, especially if I think I'm called to the church. Okay?

00:40:14
For me, as I said, there are those who are called to the house of God solely levite to serve the temple. This is what I Keisha two and seven. This is what I believe. This is what my life has shown. So I am called to it.

00:40:34
But I'm not solely called to I believe because of my past. God has he opens doors because I won't say I don't lose. He's always at the forefront. Even with me singing secular songs, my song selections will never compromise.

00:40:56
I don't think songs about sex and all of that kind of stuff. It will be about love or encouraging songs. You know what I'm saying? And so with that, I'm not going to hide who I am because I'm a minister of the gospel food. I'm an encourager, I'm an exhorter.

00:41:17
So I was in Japan during Universal Studios and they had a Gaijin night where we would go into one of the local coffee houses and we would just sing whatever we want to sing. So I'm singing. Gaizian means foreigner. It totally foreigner night. Where those of us who are not from over there that we were contract because we all lived in one big building mansion, one big apartment building is where they put everybody.

00:41:47
So those of us who perform same dance, we were there that night, and so the other people were there. So I'm singing. Tell me something good. Shaka Khan. And so in the middle of it, I'm like some of you all.

00:42:01
God wants you to know that you're beautiful. I start saying something. I'm saying what God says about them next night I do where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came, right? And so I started the spirit of the Lord. You can't tell me that it wasn't Him.

00:42:22
He led me to start ministering to them. That some of you all are in your rooms at night questioning yourself. You're lost. But I want you to know that God knows your name. God has thought about you and is thinking about you.

00:42:37
You are considered it was so crazy. The people who knew God felt they understood that it was the presence of God in that room. So we may start here.

00:42:53
We're going to end up at a place of encouragement. So how can you and everybody may not be called to that, but to function dually? If I could say it that way I hear you. Yeah, exactly. But life has shown me how to pull out what win.

00:43:12
Because I'll even say I can feel your presence in the air tonight. Oh, Lord, I've done it in church. Because everything that God created is good. Yes, the enemy can pervert lyrics and can pervert the notes too. You know what I'm saying?

00:43:31
But I'll grab it and it works. We've done. Can you feel him? Can you feel it? But can you feel him?

00:43:40
Can you feel the person people stick with? I've even done. We've said, I'm not forgotten. Right. Israel Houghton.

00:43:49
Right. But I have the Single Ladies loop. That goes hard, though. Y'all can hear it. Absolutely.

00:43:58
I was driving to Atlanta, and I was listening to Single Ladies. I was so, okay. So I started doing it. So those are the things that I do just to kind of keep grab different people. Of course there are some people oh, you don't do that.

00:44:11
That made me no, I don't glorify that thing. What I know is that if God gives you a gift, he gives you he's wide enough to give you an audience as well. I can't say that my sister didn't do the things that I did. She sang with Milton Bronson. She recorded incredible staple songs in gospel.

00:44:33
So I didn't have her necessarily as a reference. I'm just my mother, she would be like, I don't know where you going to end up. You just go with the wind.

00:44:46
In 1997, I went to London with a child, Mitchell, and my mom was terrified. I was the first one of her children to go out, so she was like, I'm just going to pay your life insurance stuff. It scared me, but didn't stop me. I still went. So after I went after that, I went to Rome with Ricky Dillard, went to Israel with the Soul know, then ended up going to Japan and back to London again.

00:45:12
As an artist myself, as a tour, as an independent artist, I'm developing who I am because there was no paradigm for it. Wow. Yeah. I didn't have anybody. Yeah.

00:45:28
But I love that part right there that you didn't need. Okay. Shouldn't say you didn't need a paradigm. Didn't need a blueprint. Because that sounds like almost like he.

00:45:36
Didn'T allow it, because I would have been trying to be like other people. I think you form the blueprint as you go. He has it in his mind. But I think the key part of this is taking the actions, taking those small steps. And risk.

00:45:53
And risk. Yes. Don't be afraid of the unknown and doing what has not been done. A lot of times, what I've seen is God respond to my faith, respond to me leaping at me. Coming to Miami was a leap into the unknown because I'm settled in Chicago.

00:46:16
I was leading worship at Fellowship, one of the historic Baptist black churches in America, in the world. So I'm the worship leader there before I come here, because I left my church, started working a job. That's another story. I decided that I don't want to just do church. I'm working a full time job as a trauma counselor at a nonprofit organization, but still serving at my church.

00:46:43
And I told I stopped taking money. Don't pay me, Bishop. This is my church. I serve. So I would go there, lead whenever they needed me, but I was working at Fellowship at that time in a couple of other churches.

00:46:53
So I'm leaving everything. I know the radio, DJs, I know people in places, and most of the major, like, I have great to come here to where's Keisha?

00:47:06
So fast forward. This is how great God is prior to me moving here, with me being a trauma counselor, right? Being in the high schools in the inner city, some of the worst schools in Chicago, helping these children. I'm understanding what my pastor told me in 2004. He said, you should consider counseling because people tell you that you're easy to talk to.

00:47:30
And I'm just like, okay, cool. Comes back around. Here I am now God, even to this very day, he opened the door for me to now I decided I want to go back to school to be a licensed therapist. Haven't finished my bachelor's yet, so I have a job waiting for me at a university. I have to get my associates first.

00:47:55
This all happened within the last week. What? So he's holding this position for me to get my associate. It's crazy. I feel like I left so much to come here.

00:48:07
And losing my mom last year, I needed the space. Just some quiet time or whatever. So cool. Apostle Malone, who's been in my life all my life, my daddy was his mentor. He brings me here, and it's like, okay, I got so much time because Saturday and Sunday is when I'm working.

00:48:29
You're just dealing with a lot. So even to this, yesterday, I'm signed up for school, find out that I can potentially be done by November with my associate in an accelerated program. So things are still becoming because I always did not want to just be music. At some point, I just was like, I don't want people to just call me because I can sing. Because at this point, everybody can sing.

00:48:54
Anybody can sing what was authentic to what we call an African American folk who sound people. And then I'm with it, everybody. I'm not saying it should, but they learned it. We didn't have YouTube. We had maybe cassettes and records, but we didn't have the digital.

00:49:13
You go back, right? Even then, the people who before us, it was from Strictly. Your Aretha Franklin. Your Al Green. The people Sam Cook that create, they created the blueprint for soul, R B music, even hip hop, all of our neo, everything that they were, the authentic.

00:49:37
Because those elites of know, even with James Brown going to the like, all of that was like it wasn't because it didn't make sense. Things that didn't make sense musically. But they didn't have anything. We had them. These kids have YouTube.

00:49:57
They have everything. So you got three and four year olds coming out, just wearing it out.

00:50:08
People who need somebody to talk to, to help, to listen, and to kind of help them manage their emotions. As they're processing, becoming, being, and figuring things out. Yeah. And so this is the reason why I want to become a licensed therapist. So I'm going to become a licensed therapist not just for Chris, but just period, because my life has shown me many things, and when I was trying to go to school before, I didn't know what I wanted to do because I could do so much.

00:50:45
Yeah, that part right there, I want to cycle it all the way around because you started it with encourager. And what does therapist do? A therapist listens. And through that, encourages and a minister. And minister.

00:51:00
Exactly. And the key is, I'm going back to the scripture where it says the gifts of calling of God are without repentance. Right. God doesn't call them back. The gift, however, isn't.

00:51:10
We singers, musicians, creatives oftentimes think that gift and calling means singing or means creative when it actually is the gift of faith, the gift of prophecy, the gift of encouragement. Right, exactly. So the gifting that got put in you, even though people didn't always see it in that frame, because they either saw a singer or they saw Kim'sister, they saw whatever. God knew what he put in you. And now, even now that you said, it's a new assignment, it's a new place, but the same calling, the same calling is coming out, and it's coming out in a whole nother way.

00:51:41
Meanwhile, you still get to do your creative. It's like it's both. And that's my thing for everybody. I love the fact that Know blew away all the labels in this interview. This wasn't Know Keisha the worship leader, only it wasn't only about Keisha the singer, Keisha the author, or Keisha therapist.

00:51:59
All these things were like, it's just about thing. The one thing is encouragement. Yes. Everything goes back to that one thing. And so these different tools I use, like I said, conversation, songs, scripture, sermons, everything goes back to the one bishop.

00:52:23
Archbishop Hudson, my pastor now, he took the staff through this one thing study, and I'm so grateful for him because I was able to identify the one thing, the outlet, the expressions go back to that one thing. So that's one thing that I do believe that you as an artist, just settle down and figure out or as a creative period, because what is that one thing that could tie all of your expressions together? Perfect. Okay, so I got to finish with this last question because this has been an incredible conversation. So I'm going to take you all the way back to that young lady who was still trying to figure things out.

00:53:12
Maybe mom was not still trying to get her to be a lawyer, but there's somebody who is in those same shoes right now. There's some young lady that's listening. There's some young man that's listening. Now that you know what you just expressed, what would you tell yourself back then? That would help them get through the same way that you need someone else to get through right now.

00:53:31
What would you tell yourself as a. Young person now that you know what you know? What I would tell myself is you are completely valuable. You just as a woman, as a young girl, as a young lady, you add value in every situation you come into. You bring value.

00:53:56
How you express that is up to you. Make a choice. You have several things that you can do, but choose this one in this moment. Develop it. Take risks.

00:54:11
Take these opportunities. Conquer it. Get to this next one. You may not be able to do all of them at one time. Choose one.

00:54:23
Choose the next one. Keep conquering these mountains, but never lose your victory. Never lose the tenets or the principles that you learn from these victories and losses. Yeah. Your loss is never a loss until you stop trying.

00:54:42
You never lose. Your failure is never a failure until you just quit. Take that. If your failure is written in these little moments, they are written in pencil. You cannot go back and change anything.

00:54:56
So don't waste time on those moments. Glance at them, but don't stare. And don't get stuck in your past. Your rear view mirror, this is all I'm saying to myself. Your rear view mirror is small for a reason, but your front window in the car is huge because you have so much territory in front of you to cover.

00:55:20
So you can glance back, you can glance, but if you're going to move, if you're going to put your foot on the gas, you can't do it like this because that's when accidents happen. Also would tell myself, get up every day with new mercies. That's what Jesus died for. That's the work of the cross, receiving the full work of the cross. And what you did, it doesn't even belong to you anymore because Jesus paid for can't even you can't change it.

00:55:52
That's the future. Focus and forward. Focus.

00:55:58
And again, what you may feel like if it may not have worked out. Keep trying. Keep striking the ground. You keep striking the ground because you keep the painting. Different victories and with what may be deemed as failure, you've got some incredible strengthening moments and nuggets that you can chew on constantly.

00:56:22
Constantly, even if not for yourself. It may not always be for you, but for those that are coming behind you. And don't be afraid to share your story. When the pandemic first happened, probably pandemic started in March, April and May. I did one of the first live stream concerts.

00:56:45
I did it and I talked about having an abortion, and my mother didn't know about it. I never said anything about this publicly. And my brother was like, well, did Mama have to find out what the rest of the world? But when I got messages from men and women saying, thank you for being transparent. I experienced that and you just helped me to start the process, to get over and forgive myself for, because I have to forgive myself for that.

00:57:16
We have keys to unlock people to help people, to take the chains off of themselves, to be free. And I feel like that's one of the calls on my life is to release people. Yeah, that's what I would tell myself. Such a beautiful way to close it. It's because your spirit kind of radiates out the authenticity.

00:57:42
That's why you're my sister. That's why I love talking. That's why I would love to keep this going. But for now, we got to close it off. Now when you come back on social, because I know you shut it down to get focused on your book, how can they find you?

00:57:55
How could they stay in touch with you if they want to find out more about what you're going to be sharing either online or maybe again very soon, new music or whatever you're going to be putting out. We got music coming out. It's ready. Half of it is ready for ready for the oven. You'll catch me on Facebook.

00:58:14
Keisha. K-E-S-H-I-A Keisha McFarland. K-E-S-H-I-A. You can find me on Facebook. We're relaunching Kmaglive.com when I come back on here.

00:58:30
We'll be ready for all of that. So you'll be able to find me on Instagram. It's K-E-S-H-M-A-C keeshmac on instagram and TikTok. And then you can find me on Monday praying for you. Look, thank you so much for being a part of this podcast.

00:58:50
It's been a joy talking with you and we're going to have to do it again sometime really soon. God bless you, my sister. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Love you.

00:58:58
Thank you so much. Thanks everybody for listening.

00:59:09
My friend. I hope that did your heart good, just like it did my heart good to talk to my sister, Keisha. She is just a ray of sunshine and there was so much wisdom in every moment of that episode. I hope you'll bookmark this and save it because we dug into so many topics. From dealing with the line between working in the church and then being able to make a living outside of the church, and then everything that she shared.

00:59:38
When it comes down to sometimes being pigeonholed and put into a box that you're not made to be in and having to seek God to the ministry and how she's navigated being a praise and worship leader and dealing with all the different places that she's been and being able to stay humble and to be able to lead with authenticity. This is why I wanted her to be on this podcast. That's why I'm sure she'll be back. But until that time, make sure you're following her. She is a riot.

01:00:07
She is just so much fun on social. So you will get a laugh if you are following her and you're going to learn something and you're going to hear some incredible music as she is putting out new projects, as she said, very soon. So make sure you're following my sister Keisha and all of her links are in the show notes. And by the way, if you need more inspiration like this, you've got to stay connected with us through our newsletter, which is called the Paul Creative Services. That's where we share what's going on in guiding gigs, new projects, new blog posts, and some stuff that you never get except if you're on the newsletter subscription list.

01:00:48
So make sure you sign up@godandge.com info, godandge.com info. The link is in the show notes, in the description so you can get it right away. And that is the quickest way to make sure you always get weekly inspiration that will keep you going, just like this podcast is designed to. Well, my friend, this has been an incredible episode. Please share this with a friend who needs both the encouragement and the inspiration and the smiles and the laughter that's going to come from this episode.

01:01:18
And thank you so much for being a part of the God and Gigs community. Until next time, continue to become the creative that you were created to be. God bless and I'll see you next episode.

01:01:34
Thanks for joining us here at the God and Gigs show. Please leave us a review on itunes, like our Facebook page, or visit Godandgigs.com and tell us what you thought of this show. We'll be back soon. In the meantime, go create something amazing.