Praise Feature Commentary

Singer’s Goal: Changed Lives
Faithful and Obedient, Dallas Holm Strives for 'Discipline of Devotion'

By Randall Murphree

(AgapePress) - Dallas Holm will soon mark his 36th year of singing for Jesus. It began when he gave his heart to the Lord in October 1965. "I was a senior in high school," he says. He immediately abandoned the dance halls where he’d been playing, and began writing and singing music to honor God. 

He says the greatest thing he sees in ministry is changed lives.

A Texas pastor once invited Holm to sing at his church. "When I got there," Holm says, "he told his church that 15 years earlier he’d been at one of my concerts. At the end, I had kind of prolonged the invitation and said I thought one more person needed the Lord."

"I was that person," the pastor told Holm. "I was an alcoholic. I had pretty well determined to take my life. My marriage was in a shambles, my life was going down the tubes. But God so gripped my heart that I gave my life to Jesus that night. I felt the call to ministry, then went to college and seminary. I pastor this church now. Look at all your [spiritual] grand kids."

"I was looking at 300 people who had come out of drug addiction, prostitution, living on the streets," says Holm. "Now they’re with their families, all cleaned up and worshiping the Lord." At his concerts, Holm rarely stretches out the time of invitation. But that one night, because Holm was obedient to God’s leading, one man’s life was changed, and he is being used by God to change others.

"Changed lives," smiles Holm. "You can’t top that."

A World Needing Jesus
In his 2001 tour, Holm gives some sobering challenges to believers. "A disease of our culture is that we get so caught up in packaging and marketing, even of the church," he says. "The world is not impressed with our packaging and marketing. The world needs to see Jesus. Who is the Jesus people see in our lives?"

He challenges parents regarding family entertainment. Holm says, "We have a double standard, protecting our kids in life, but not in their entertainment choices. Some of you sit in your own home and laugh at things you would have condemned 10 years ago. The moment a TV program you’re watching begins to deal with the profane, unholy or obscene, change channels. I’ve done it. You’ll have almost nothing to watch."

Finally, Holm lifts up the qualities that should mark the believer’s life -- joy, character, intimacy with Jesus, holiness. "The message of the cross is the only message that can change lives," he says. "There’s a big difference between walking to the front of a church and walking to the foot of the cross."

A Work in Progress
The Minnesota native came along before Contemporary Christian Music existed, and helped pave new avenues for the expression of Christian faith in music. He admits, "I didn’t even know what it meant to say, ‘I’m going to use my talent for the Lord.’ " But he had a clear vision and desire to sing Christian music, to do concerts, make records, and sing on radio and television.

On stage, Holm is humble by nature, mellow in style, convicting in his presence. He says, "If I can somehow through my music, invite people into the presence of the Lord, the worst sinner will be convicted of his sin. I don’t have to tell him anything. You get a sinner in the presence of God, and he knows he’s a sinner."

The focus of his writing has expanded through the years, becoming a more "vertical" experience as opposed to a "horizontal" one.

"When you first become a Christian," he explains, "you’re so aware of the marvelous feeling of being saved and forgiven. I thought the only people who really had problems or needs were sinners. Almost everything I wrote was directed to lost people." He soon realized believers still have problems, and his music began to minister to believers as well.

Holm added still another dimension to his music after being challenged by a radio disc jockey who asked him, "Where did music come from?"

He began to realize that music brings great pleasure to the heart of God. Subsequently, his lyrics began to reflect a deeper level of praise and worship. "This is a talent God has given me, and surely He delights to hear it," he says.

A Walk in Faith
Holm says his relationship with the Lord is the greatest joy in his life. "Second to that," he adds "would by my family. Everything past that drops off a little."

He speaks of his wife Linda with tender respect. The family’s faith has been tested and strengthened by Linda’s 14-year battle with cancer. Diagnosed when their daughter was 12 and their son four, Linda has endured times of extreme illness and relished periods of remission.

"The last time she went for a checkup there was no new cancer," says Holm. "I think the greatest lesson God has taught me is that, as the Bible says, His grace is sufficient, He does provide the measure of grace and strength and hope to get through the situation."

He says his greatest challenge is probably the same as for others -- to maintain a balanced walk with the Lord, a "discipline of devotion" he calls it. Reflecting on his wife’s cancer, he says, "Most of us, when the difficult moments of life come, draw closer to the Lord. Those are things that almost always build our faith. God uses them for our good."

"Rise Again," Dove Awards song of the year in 1978, may still be his best known title. Countless other songs and albums have earned him Grammy nominations, 1996 and 1997 #1 Inspirational Songs ("To the Glory," and "When We Worship Him") on CCM radio charts, and other awards too numerous to list.

But for him, accolades alone have no significance. For Holm the bottom line is first, whether he is faithful to God’s call on his life, and then how he imparts that faith to others through his ministry and music. "Changed lives," he says. "You can’t top that."

© 2001 American Family Radio - "Sunday Evening Praise"