The following writing samples are a series of web and print articles I wrote for my campus newspaper based on research and two separate interviews with Michael and Lisa Gungor, one of which I did face-to-face, one which was done by someone else.
Michael Gungor on the past year’s spiritual journey
October 10, 2014 – Featured – Tagged: mariah powell – no comments
Mariah Powell – Web Editor; Torre Massie – Photographer
In an exclusive interview, MVNU professor Joe Rinehart spoke to Christian artist Michael Gungor about his musical influences and his spiritual journey over the past year.
Michael Gungor first felt his call to do music during college.
“It was scary,” Gungor said, “but it is who I was made to be.” He met his wife, Lisa, in college, and began to court her by writing her love songs. Lisa’s entry into the band was a natural thing. Gungor said that since he and Lisa were married and living together, they shared music ideas and songs, and eventually began writing together. He is thankful that they are both in the band, since they get to be together on tour.
The latest tour is based on their newest album, “I Am Mountain.” Gungor shared that the inspiration for the album came from an unlikely source: Japanese food. While eating a multi-course authentic Japanese meal Michael realized the art and detail that went into the preparation.
This “semi-religious experience,” as he called it, lent itself to one of the major themes in “I Am Mountain.”
The album focuses on the transcendent nature of existence and finding wonder and gratitude within the wandering and crazy spinning of everyday life.
“Sometimes it takes sushi to remind you how amazing the daily, mundane things of life can be…it’s all around us,” Gungor said. “I think it just takes some purposeful eyes to see it sometimes.”
Even bigger than their new album release was the entry of their daughter into the world on May 13. Her name is Lucette, which Gungor emphasized means “light”.
Lisa Gungor was induced into early labor when doctors noticed that Lucette was having heart problems. After she was born, doctors discovered that Lucette was born with Down syndrome, along with fairly serious heart defects.
Lucette went into surgery when she was only a few days old, and is scheduled for more surgery on Oct. 16.
Gungor shared that the discovery was very hard on he and Lisa. The couple was already nervous about the birth, and it was devastating to have all their plans and expectations “turned on their head.”
“In the middle of that,” he said, “we looked at this beautiful baby girl, and something in us broke.”
The couple was surrounded by supportive loved ones after the birth, and Gungor shared that while they felt pain, they were also filled with an amazing love.
When the couple was first told that Lucette needed surgery, they sat down together and Michael read from Psalm 139. Verses 13 and 14 say, “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
The Gungors cried over the bible passage, he shared, with the realization that “Life is beautiful, a gift, it’s perfect. She [Lucette] is perfect.”
Gungor says that it has been a learning, growing and painful experience, and that he and Lisa are thankful for their daughter Lucette.
Gungor’s next album—not yet released—has been heavily influenced by this experience, and the songs center around the theme of “how pain and joy and love all get tangled up together.”
Lisa Gungor explains musical change
October 10, 2014 – Featured – Tagged: mariah powell – no comments
Mariah Powell – Web Editor; Torre Massie – Photographer
Since Michael Gungor’s February blogpost “What Do We Believe?” and the release of Gungor’s album “I Am Mountain,” many Christians haven’t known quite what to do with the band.
In an exclusive interview during SonFest, Lisa Gungor explained some of the band’s style changes and intentions, as well as how the controversy has affected their interaction with fans.
Previous albums contained a lot of “church” music, Lisa Gungor said, but she and her husband Michael also performed several songs that held a powerful meaning for them but did not fit with that style. The band “did not want to say no” to their other songs just because the styles did not mesh, she explained.
Gungor’s music is always evolving and shifting, and the band “never wanted a line between secular and sacred,” Lisa Gungor said.
Many Christian music fans struggle to see the Christian message in “I Am Mountain.” Lisa Gungor explained the meanings behind a few of the songs.
“Wandering,” she said, came out of the pressure of feeling that she had to “arrive” and “have the answers” at some point in her life. The song is her response to realizing that wasn’t going to happen.
The line “I am holding on to you” held a dual meaning for Lisa of holding onto God and her husband for strength.
The song “Beat of Her Heart,” perhaps one of the most controversial on the album, is a retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus in the Underworld. Lisa Gungor said it deserved to be included because it is an intriguing tragic love story that everyone can relate to.
Lisa Gungor said their goal is to be open and honest about their beliefs, not to make other Christians follow their theology.
“We don’t look down upon anyone with a different view,” she said.
She also said that their label as a “Christian band” played a definite role in the controversy, because people have certain expectations they don’t necessarily meet.
“If we were a ‘secular’ band,” Gungor pointed out, “people would have been happy we talked about God where we did, instead of being upset we didn’t talk about him enough.”
Gungor controversy causes little concern at SonFest
October 10, 2014 – Featured – Tagged: mariah powell – no comments
Mariah Powell – Web Editor; Torre Massie – Photographer
Controversy over some of Gungor’s theological views raised concern for some faithful SonFest-goers this year, but overall feedback from SonFest was unaffected by the band’s beliefs.
Gungor fans campus-wide have been asking for the band to headline at Sonfest for a few years now, and finally the popular group was slated to headline the stage in the Grove.
But recent changes in the band’s theology and music style distressed some SonFest fans.
Angie Mannon of Huntington, West Virginia, commented with her concerns on MVNU’s SonFest Facebook page, “MVNU headlining a band who openly admits they don’t take the Bible literally? I’m surprised and saddened…”
MVNU’s James Smith, one of the events organizers, said, “We did receive a handful of emails or phone calls ahead of time expressing concerns, but we received more positive feedback about Gungor than negative.”
Youth leaders interviewed generally said they did not object to Gungor’s music.
MVNU alum Faith Taylor, a youth leader at First Church of the Nazarene in Mount Vernon, said she encouraged the teens she works with to attend SonFest.
“It’s an uplifting event and the atmosphere is great,” she said.
Though the overall feedback has been positive, MVNU did issue a statement to address possible controversy about the lineup for SonFest.
“SonFest is not intended as an official expression of the theological convictions of the Church of the Nazarene,” it read.
“The basis for our fellowship is not located in total doctrinal agreement, but our common experience in Jesus Christ.”
Although this album wasn’t actually recorded in the 20s, it’s still one of my favorites: “Hits of the ’20s” (simply named) is copyrighted 1957 by Radio Corporation of America.
Vinyl and Velvet 