Chris Rice, contemporary Christian vocalist, songwriter and recipient of the Dove Award for 1999 Male Vocalist of the year, returned to his alma mater to perform one of only nine concerts for this touring season. A psychology major and a 1989 graduate of Union, Rice was introduced to the university when he came to sing at a revival. He took the opportunity to build relationships and make connections among the students. "I met some people so I already had some friends. I also had built-in roommates," Rice said. "I always thought that people would continue to use his songs, but that he would continue his work in youth and college ministry," said Tim Coleman, graduate of Union and college friend of Rice. Rather, his desire is to spend more time with the youth and college age students that he is currently involved with. He believes the best way to reach high school and college students is through initiating and maintaining relationships. "I have no question that relationships with more mature or older Christians are the best way to reach people. You can learn a lot on a day-to-day basis; and high school and college students learn more from real experience. People use words like discipleship, ministry – accountability-relationships are what life is supposed to be about," explains Rice. Rice said that he is drawn to this age group because of their "willingness to learn."
Rice is not moving away from music, but the focus is shifting. "Since I have become an artist, one of the hardest things I’ve dealt with is becoming a public person. The benefit is the more people know about you, the more they are drawn to your work," said Rice. His hope in attracting people to his work is "to get people to kind of look at God in a fresh way." Rice is obviously not your stereotypical music star. For someone on stage as much as he is, performing concerts and receiving awards, a response from him about loving the limelight and the highlights of stage life would be expected. Rice says he’s not that kind of person. "I’m a pretty shy person and sometimes it makes me feel kind of awkward when people come up to me and talk about my music," said Rice. Rice doesn’t say this because he is ungrateful to his fans, but he says he simply doesn’t know how to respond to people unless he has a personal relationship with them. Although Rice has gained much success from having six number one singles and two records with combined sales totaling more than 600,000 copies, he still doesn’t love the fame. While Rice acknowledges that being known for your music is the highest goal for most public artists, he believes that more benefit comes from "investing life into relationships." Rice sums up the theme of his work with Psalm 71:17-18: "Since my youth, oh God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, oh God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." Although Rice’s time at Union only lasted three semesters, he holds his college relationships with high regard. "Any friends I made in college, I made at Union." And judging from the sold-out concert he gave here on campus, he has a lot of them. |
"I think if you have the heart of a teacher, you enjoy when someone learns something for the first time. High school and college students are at the ripest age ever to be learning and shaping who they are going to be."