Statements

Mission

Music for the Soul's mission is to transform lives through the healing power of songs, videos, and stories that resonate with lived human experience and reflect the redemptive, compassionate love of Jesus. Research shows that trauma is stored in the right hemisphere of the brain and that melody is processed primarily in the right hemisphere of the brain. Meanwhile language is processed primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain. These facts combined make a song the most powerful way to communicate a healing, life-changing message to someone carrying traumatic memories. Also, because melody and rhythm are both memory devices, healing information delivered in song remains with the listener much better and much longer than information that is read or spoken.

Our "Big idea" is to create breakthrough and help set people free from long-held trauma through targeted resources - songs, videos, and discussion guides - that use music to 'speak' to right brain trauma. Professional therapists, both locally and around the country, confirm the efficacy of our materials. At Music for the Soul we minister with food for hearts hungering for peace, understanding, self-worth, acceptance, and wholeness. We've achieved tremendous success working on issues like abuse, addiction, grief, and chronic disease. Therapists use our work with "astounding" results. The most important thing people need to know when they are going through a difficult time is that they are not alone. Our resources help the listener to feel known and understood - by others and by God.

Background

Music for the Soul was founded in 2001. Our history is one of miracles. The testimonials we've received from those using our work continue to affirm the need for our unique mission and catalog of life-giving resources. Our award winning multi-media content has earned endorsements from Christian therapists, clergy, recovery authors, and parachurch ministries across the US and abroad. The music and visual recordings we create combine songs, interviews, poetry, scripture, and personal stories. The topics we've covered include adoption, breast cancer, caregiving, depression, eating disorders, grief, help for struggling marriages, incest, living with chronic disease, miscarriage or stillbirth, natural disasters, pornography addiction, PTSD in Police officers, raising a special needs child, remorse over abortion, separation due to military deployment, sex trafficking, substance abuse, and suicide grief.

We've performed for 10,000 police officers at the US Capitol for the National Peace Officers Memorial Association following the President on the program. We've performed for the National Religious Broadcasters Conventions in Orlando & Nashville. We've performed for the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM) Conventions in Atlanta and San Diego and 4 times for the American Association of Christian Counselors in Nashville. We've been featured on 184 radio programs, including 37 syndicated national network features. We've also been featured on 41 TV programs and 15 podcasts. Stories have appeared about us in several magazines and newspapers (including the Tennessean three times), and on literally hundreds of websites. We've created music for the Special Olympics, The Chanell Wright Foundation (Sickle Cell disease), homeless shelters in Cleveland, OH and Milwaukee, WI & women's shelters in Alabama, Florida, & Oklahoma. We've created theme songs for 3 Nashville based organizations - YCAP, Pure Passion, and Girls Against Porn - and for the national radio show 'Doing Life Together.' We've been featured as speakers, exhibitors, and musical presenters at conference such as Someone Cares, The NRB Innovation Exchange, Smart Marriages, the AACC, and many more. As part of our She's Somebody's Daughter initiative we posted a billboard above the Hollywood Hustler on Church Street in Nashville that was in place for 21 months. This initiative raised awareness regarding the connection of pornography to sex trafficking & resulted in birthing a separate 501(c) (3) in 2014

Impact

THE TOP FIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS FROM THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS:
# 1 - In November 2022 we debuted our new podcast weekly Music for the Soul: Where Music, Hope and Healing come together! Every episode features a guest and a healing song from our catalog.
#2 - We recorded a song entitled She Loves to Move in partnership with Dance Awareness.com. The song is designed to promote healthy dance for young people. A nationwide contest to choreograph the song resulted in thousands of people learning and dancing to the song. The winner will be announced in September 2023.
# 3 - We partnered with June Hunt's ministry Hope for the Heart for the release of a multi-topic devotional & music series for counselors, life coaches, and caregivers. Each package contains 5 songs and 5 devotions written by Music for the Soul.
# 4 -Production of a new song and series of devotions on suicidal ideation. Scheduled release is September 2023
# 5 - The addition of a Social Media Manager and an Outreach Director to create increased engagement with our content.

TOP FIVE GOALS FOR THE COMING YEAR:
# 1 - Our consulting counselors tell us that anxiety is the number one issue they're seeing in their practices. Our goal is to complete a new recording project with 12 new songs we have just written on the topic of anxiety. It is called 'Overwhelmed.'
# 2 - Continuing production on a documentary for survivors of child sexual abuse entitled 'Innocent Child'
# 3 - Completion of a devotional book and music project for Veterans dealing with PTSD entitled 'Anonymous Man'
# 4 - Bringing on board a Director of Development
# 5 -Finding a partner congregation in the Nashville area to do on site local events

Needs

1 - Middle Tennessee based board members who have a passion for helping those suffering from deep emotional pain. They should have faith in Christ and a love of music. We are also need more diversity on our board!
2 - A Development person to add to our team
3 - Donors who want to create a legacy of healing

CEO Statement

"People have been telling me I was an innocent child all of my life. But I never believed it until I heard you sing it today." A sexual abuse survivor spoke those words to me in 1990. Since then I have heard and seen the power of a song to comfort and encourage hurting people; even heal people from the deepest, darkest pain in their lives. People build walls of defense and denial to protect themselves from pain. Music has a way of seeping through the cracks in those walls and softening the heart. Once that heart is opened it is ready to hear the truth shared in a way that can ultimately bring hope and freedom. Language is processed on the left side of the brain and melody is processed on the right. Therefore, music touches us on both a cognitive and emotional level. In other words, both mind and heart - the whole person.

Additionally, trauma is stored in the right hemisphere of the brain. Music can help unlock traumatic memories, helping people to begin the healing process. Finally, the memory power of melody enables the listener to remember things they would forget from simply reading or being told. One study said that people remember 10% of what they are told, 40% of what they read, and 90% of what they hear in music! The uniqueness of our ministry lies in is its power to create receptivity in the listener. Once that has been accomplished we can convey to the listener that they are not alone; that other people understand what they are going through - and that God understands. In this way, we help people move beyond guilt and shame to a place of hope - a place where they can open up their hearts so healing can begin to take place.

Dr. Deforia Lane, a well-known music therapist puts it this way. "Music has the power to move a person between different realities: from a broken body into a soaring spirit, from a broken heart into the connection of shared love, from death into the memory and movement of life.' At Music for the Soul we are committed to creating affirming, life-changing music resources - as well as videos and written support materials- that speak truthfully to our listener's particular struggles. By partnering with therapists, pastors, and those who have lived through and recovered from the issues with which we deal we'll continue to help set people free and put them on a path towards healing and wholeness. For a more in depth description of our work please visit our website and read The Healing Music Guide.

Board Chair Statement

Music for the Soul is a very unique ministry. We create resources that incorporate musical content, but we're not a music company in the traditional sense. People's music purchasing habits have changed in the new digital world. This offers both a challenge and an opportunity. Since a majority of people are now finding their music online, we've upgraded our website to create "a listening station" in every home and worked with a search engine optimization firm to help us achieve higher rankings. Once people find us in this environment we have an opportunity to educate them as to the content of our resources.

Secondly, since our content is designed to also be a tool for Christian and pastoral counseling professionals, we're developing a growing network of churches and counseling centers who trust our resources to help them serve those in pain from difficult emotional issues. Though our recordings are designed to track recovery throughout the healing process we're aware that the public is becoming more used to purchasing single songs. As such, while we make our full-length projects available in a "download the whole CD" format, we now also make all of our songs available for individual streaming and downloading. We also make several of our tracks available through I-Tunes, Amazon, Spotify, and several other streaming services.

Finally, we are developing new packaging to present the music in conjunction with non-downloadable resources. For example, our release "Before We Said Hello: Finding Hope after Pregnancy Loss and Infant Loss is packaged as a devotional book. When people get the book, whether in a physical copy or ebook format, they automatically get access to free downloads of the songs on the project. Our grief CD Drink Deep comes in a beautiful condolence card.

We don't shy away from confronting controversial or uncomfortable subjects. We are committed to being at the forefront of speaking truthfully on the most difficult issues of the day with resources that have the power to transform lives - and to develop new resources (sixteen so far with more on the way) to serve church, counseling, and ministry partners in the US and around the world.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Religion- Related  - Christianity
Secondary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Music
Tertiary Category:	Mental Health & Crisis Intervention  - Counseling

Areas Served

Music for the Soul is based in Davidson County in Middle Tennessee. The majority of our recording takes place in Williamson and Davidson counties. Many local Christian counselors utilize our resources. Bethesda Workshops in Nashville uses our resources with every client they see! However, through our packaged resources and the internet we are able to serve churches, counseling centers, schools, hospitals, and ministries all over the US and around the world.

National