On The Other Side -- Candy Christmas

[Music] today's guest grew up among what could be called the royalty of gospel music her grandmother's siblings were the happy Goodman family and her parents the hemp Hills are one of the most well known names in gospel music even her name sounds almost too good to be true candy Christmas has been singing since she was 13 and has a significant gospel music career in her own right but music isn't the only thing that puts a twinkle in her eye candy welcome to full circles hi thank you so good to have you now before we get to your book and all that you're doing now I'm going to talk a little bit about your family but especially I'm going to land on your name for a minute people must ask you all the time is that your real name yes I think that's the most common question when I meet someone oh you made that name up or that's a stage name right and it isn't a stage name it is a German name and it's it's actually my husband's family name and they were German immigrants who came to America and they were not well received so they took on the name of the holiday on which they landed which was Christmas so when I met him I was already candy Hemphill and he was Kent Christmas and so I told him that I would marry him in spite of that crazy yeah if he if he weren't so cute taking that one so for the fun of it we named our son Nicholas Christmas and we named our daughter Merry Christmas there is a Nicholas but there is no Mary our daughters Jasmine I just wanted to see what I could get away okay no talking about your family the happy Goodman's everyone is I mean many people are so familiar with the happy Goodman's right well my grandmother was a Goodman and she traveled and sang with the happy Goodman's years ago and she married my grandfather they gave birth to my mother the marriage didn't last so my mother was brought back to the Goodman home when she was four she was raised traveling and singing gospel music with a happy Goodman family they visited a small church in Louisiana where they were holding revival and Vestal was singing and my mom was singing all these people and then Howard was preaching the revival so there was a real handsome guitar player on the platform who was about seventeen and my mom's I caught his and six weeks later they were married and so they became the hip hills Wow okay and you grew up I mean you just grew up eating living breathing gospel music yes I did were you born on the bus well I decided that I needed to learn to sing or I was going to be left with a babysitter the rest of my life so I started singing when I was 13 years old we released my first single when I was 13 and so it became a way of life and I was home-schooled when homeschooling was not cool and not fun and not popular and we came to Canada many times as a kid and I was sharing with you earlier that my first trip to Canada you know my brothers and I we were enthralled by seeing people eat french fries with gravy on it or vinegar I mean you just did not do that in Louisiana we might eat a crawfish but we weren't eating french fries with vinegar and the people were so warm Canadian people as opposed to people in the United States they are somewhat stoic and and don't show their emotion but their emotions runs really deep and they loved and strong and I fell in love with the Canadian people and when we got back home my shoes were dirty they had Canadian dust on them and my mom wanted to brush off my shoes and I wouldn't let her take off the Canadian dust here you are you have awards you are living the dream of a southern gospel I would say Queen Wow I'm just saying you know you've got the fame and accolades but somehow and all that you you got depressed I want to see that kind of connection because for a lot of people it's like you've got it all and you're a Hemphill and then you actually went into some kind of depression yes yes I did I went to see my doctor my weight had plummeted to a hundred pounds and I was severely depressed and could not eat and and my doctor wanted to hospitalize me and I think that I later have read a doctor's report that says that one form of depression probably not all depression but one form of oppression is anger turned inward and I think that when you are groomed to please a crowd and to be success triv inand you know we were trained that you know people buy a ticket they own you you please them you can get them out of their seat and make them stand and you're gonna bless them and you know and so that's the depression it is a lot of pressure for a 13 year old child and and not at all in a negative slant on gospel music or my parents I loved it gospel music is a wonderful chapter in my life and I have to say it was a great way as a child to be raised okay but I think that because I had experienced success but not to the apex that I had desired Grammys are are more number one songs or what not that that my anger turned inward and I started cannibalizing on myself as far as I'm not successful enough I'm not thin enough I'm not wealthy enough I'm not well-known enough I'm not enough and so I became more and more depressed and I went to the doctor and he says you know you in pretty bad shape which I knew that or I wouldn't have been in his office and he said why don't I hospitalized you medicate you and we'll work this out well before my parents sang gospel music my dad was a pastor and I for me from a young child was taught the gospel of Jesus Christ Isaiah 9:6 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given his name shall be called wonderful counsellor the mighty God everlasting father and who the Prince of Peace well okay so he is or he isn't everything that I've taught been taught as a child and growing up when the rubber meets the road is he really the Prince of Peace and so I had to find a place in Christ for myself to know Jesus in a more personal way that he is my everything that my success or lack of it was not my peace but Christ is my peace so I don't mean to take an hour answering this question but I when I was growing up everything was a demon spirit if you had trouble it's it's the devil right and so I took time off from from I cancelled all my concerts I was on the road full time with the Gators and I told my doctor I said I'm not going to be medicated I'm not going in the hospital I want to find a different way my walk with Christ to to be my way my answer and so every day I'm in my prayer closet and I'm finding spirits right devil I find you what I bind on earth is bound in heaven what I loose on earth is loosed in heaven and I'm quoting scriptures and sweating and you know and and working to bind the devil and day after day I'm getting more and more depressed and it's just not working so one day I'm in my prayer closet and here I go with all my scripture quoting and boy I'm praying and finally I just stopped and I looked up and I said you know what God this is not working this is not working what is it what is the root of my problem and I'm almost 50 years old okay my next birthday I'm 50 and I've walked with the Lord for a long time and I found out something about God that if you ask him a question he will answer now you're gonna have to get ready for the answer but he will answer it might not be what you want to hear but he will answer and the Lord spoke to my heart I didn't hear an audible voice but the Lord spoke to my heart and he said your will is fighting my will and when your will comes into submission to my will then you'll find peace because if you're fighting with God you're never gonna win you know somebody's gonna win and it's gonna be him and so I said okay God and that day I came to a place where I told the Lord that if living in a tent in China and handing out brochures and gospel tracts on the street corner is what God has called me to do Jesus Christ will be enough for me no success nothing else Christ will be enough and can I tell you that Christ is enough he is my all and all in him I live I move and I have my being and he is my peace so did I answer your question you did God wants to redirect your life he has to arm-wrestle you to the ground first oh wow you know whatever he has to break your will so that you're willing to do what he wants and he knows what it's gonna take and sometimes it circumstances right right well my will was flying private and going all over the world singing Christian music and you know my face on Christian television or whatever that's my wheel making lots of money yeah right it has to be God's will right you know what's nice like that the world is waiting but God's will knew that there were beautiful people living under a bridge in Nashville and he wanted to prepare my heart for some of the most beautiful people that I've ever met in my life and I I can tell you that I didn't know where God was leading me I was on a journey but I could have never imagined it this good and you would say that those people who are homeless have done more for you than you have done for them absolutely no doubt about it the little boy got confused he's quoting scripture and he goes oh the Lord works in mysterious ways and I've about this time when I resigned to follow God's will whatever you wanted for me there was an older gentleman a lay minister who was roasting hot dogs for homeless people under a bridge in Nashville Nashville has 11,000 homeless people on it streets 4,000 of those are children they don't again 11,000 homeless 4,000 of them are children yes and a little known fact about Nashville is that other cities will buy bus tickets for their homeless people and send them to Nashville because they know there's care there I want to get to that because there are a lot of stories in your book on on the other side it's all about under the bridge and you brought some pictures with you actually I want to see the first picture I think is of you and your husband Ken yes Kent is on the right hand side there and micolash is in the center and he's also in the book and Michael Ash had a death experience and Michael ash in the center there is an ex homeless man who is living for God he's a member of the husband my my husband's church that he pastors in Nashville and has a tremendous testimony and you just see some of these dear ones yeah restored to community law you away with them you services you sing with you feed them would you say yeah what is the ministry that you do okay we literally have church under a bridge and we set up chairs and sound and light system have a couple of mobile kitchens but I feed them freaks to give them a hot meal first I've never been an advocate of ministering to hungry people I just can't do it and a lot of your homeless ministries will make a homeless person sit for an hour and hear a gospel message and then they'll feed them so we feed them first and they we have a tremendous worship service under the bridge then after church we unload the trucks and we give them non-perishable items whatever we have groceries to last them throughout the week we give away new sleeping bags this bicycle a bicycle yeah yeah yeah but we're talking 500 people on a Tuesday night is that right that's exactly right I think one of my favorite quotes in your book and I think it's a real challenge for me and for us on the couch where you say the ministry is we want people to know that the last chapter in their lives has not yet been written yes that is hopeful for anyone who said that that was a smart person yeah no I I don't remember saying that but yeah it is this is not the stop in place from for many people up you know we see so many people give their hearts to Jesus Christ okay let me stop here and say yes I believe in counseling I believe in rehab sinners I thank God for good Christian counselors and whatnot but it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that will change the life and so I'm a fisherman I was I learned to fish before I went to school okay because I was raised in Louisiana and my parents put a fishing pole in my hand and just you know I cast that pole just on the other side of the boat and I learned to fish early I've never been fishing without the bait yes I want to feed the poor yes I want to clothe them I have a 20,000 square-foot warehouse right now full of clothing and blankets and groceries and all that but that's the bait to get them there because I know that if I can give them Jesus if they can get a hold of it then Christ will change their lives and change their story and change their story that's good just like he did he changed your life candy you know you found yourself just in the darkest deepest darkest pit surprising I'm sure to those around you who wouldn't have even thought that you at candy Christmas would be suffering with such a debilitating depression but God met you there and God said candy this is not the last chapter in your life I've got the best is yet to come and I just want to share with you that if you're you know resonating with candies story this is not the last chapter in your life either no matter what you're going through right now God is there with you he loves you he's gonna reach down and pull you close to himself if you'll only allow him to I just want to remind you that we do have prayer lines that are available 24/7 any time holidays weekends she needs someone to pray with please give our prayer lines a call and you'll find God will make a difference in your life too just as he did candies can you better do the PS on the back to the music scene here oh that's right you are back on stage singing yes but now all the proceeds go back into the homeless ministry can I give a website absolutely bridge ministry dot o-r-g our candy Christmas com so alright and again this is your book on the other side life changing stories from under the bridge CD of the same name and where can people get a copy of the book books a million borders are Amazon candy stores yeah great candy Christmas thank you for being with us angel circle thank you

Channel: 100huntley

Views: 104,002

Rating: 4.8677354 out of 5

Keywords: discussion, fullcircle, jan-14-11, HS8762, 100huntley, christian, singing, family, depression, anger, pressure, gospel, being, not, enough, success, peace, christ, is, homeless, nashville, journey, church, under, bridge, worship, poor, poverty

Id: vhdDlxfb31U

Length: 16min 15sec (975 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 14 2011