FFH
"We don't feel like an overnight success. It just happened to be God's timing to open up the boundaries of our ministry. We've been recording and performing for several years, and this was just the next step. Granted, it was a pretty big one."
--Jeromy Deibler, FFH
For a group that's been around the block a few times, recorded nine albums, played over two hundred dates a year, and had some of the highest charting "indie" singles in the history of Christian radio, FFH is about as close to an overnight success story as you can get. Their major label debut on Essential Records, I Want To Be Like You, has shipped over 135,000 units in under five months, making them the best-selling debut Christian artist of 1999.
The project's first single, the soaring, acoustic rock track One Of These Days, quickly became a No. 1 multi-format hit. The intense, melody infused follow-up single, I Want To Be Like You followed suit and reached #1 in a matter of weeks. In the midst of all that, FFH wrote and recorded a song used in a Coca-Cola national radio advertising campaign that aired on over 4000 radio stations, and were selected to perform live as the special musical guest at the annual press conference announcing the 1999 Gospel Music Association Dove Award nominees. Heavy press attention, including a Release Magazine August/September '99 cover feature, introduced them to a whole new audience, while the increasing demand for their live performances quickly pushed their roadshow into overdrive, sending them zigzagging around the country to play 250 dates this year. At a recent mall appearance in Dallas, FFH pulled in over 3000 fans, outdrawing even the group N'Sync.
"The early success of this record really took us by surprise," admits Jeromy, the group's co-founder and principal writer. "I don't think you ever expect to have so much attention all at once. FFH spent six and a half years playing to small audiences of fifty, or thirty, or a hundred. All of a sudden, lots of people are coming to our concerts already having bought our record and knowing our music. It's very humbling to realize how God has expanded what we're doing."
Seeing the increasing platform for their brand of vocal-based acoustic pop as both an opportunity and a responsibility, Jeromy and Jennifer Deibler, Brian Smith and new FFH member Michael Boggs have deliberately structured their lives and careers in such a way as to further the calling they believe has been entrusted to them.
"We've always been blatant about FFH's goal as a group," Jeromy continues. "Our goal is to reach as many people as we can for Jesus as quickly as possible. But we always have to be careful that that goal doesn't get lost in the details and pressures of writing, recording, and touring."
"We used to sit and worry over how our bills were going to be paid," adds Brian, FFH's bass vocalist and other founding member, "But over the past few years God has given us faith to know that he'll provide for those needs. Now we're suddenly trying to learn to deal with the pressure o having so many people watching us and tugging at us from different directions. Our main concern now is making sure we all stay grounded, making sure we're in the work of God, making sure we're spending time in prayer, making sure that the family integrity we have on the road stays intact."
Describing their touring entourage in terms of "family" isn't' just a metaphor for FFH. Not only is Jeromy's wife, Jennifer, an integral part of the group's vocal chemistry, but her father and mother travel everywhere with the band in the roles of "road pastor" and merchandising supervisor. Brian's wife Allyson also works for the group and travels with them, as do three additional friends.
"What's amazing to me is that ten people can go on the road and be together all the time and still get along," says Jennifer. "There's no way that can happen unless God puts it together. You just have to learn to be with each other constantly and to give and take a lot."
"We all share a common purpose," adds Jeromy, "though our responsibilities are different. Everyone's role is important. When I jump on the bus and say "Hey, our song made it to #5!," everyone on the bus feels like their song made it to #5, not just the four of us who sang it. And when Jennifer's dad finishes his counseling ministry after a show and tells us "We won fifty people to the Lord tonight!" all ten of us share in the joy of that together."
The strong current of family togetherness is channeled through FFH's music as well. Originally an a cappella group, FFH's sound gradually evolved into a harmony driven, acoustic pop hybrid that broke new ground creatively without sacrificing accessibility. Combined with a worshipful longing expressed through their lyrics, FFH's music reached across standard demographic lines and began to bridge the tastes of two, sometimes even three, generations.
"It's nothing that we've done deliberately," says Jeromy, "we don't have a formula for it. But God has blessed us with a musical expression that brings people together. We've gotten responses from people saying things like 'We listened to your CD on our ten-hour family trip, and it was the only one we could agree on with our kids.' We've had pastors use the song 'Big Fish' in their sermons, and we've had a vacation Bible school use it as well. We feel like God's given us our 'cross-generational' sound as a way for us to help draw families together in a culture that splits so many apart."
The underlying worship aspect of FFH's ministry is obvious, too, from a passing glance at their lyric sheet. While the musical styles vary, songs like Little Change, Wholly To You, Take Me As I Am, and I Want To Be Like You, are all approached as heartfelt expressions addressed directly to God.
"We want to make music that people can sing back to the Lord," Jeromy explains. "We want to write songs that people can hear a couple of times and connect with as a prayer from their own heart."
"I'm always in prayer for Jeromy when he's writing," adds Jennifer. "I pray that God will give him words that people need to hear, and that God will speak through Jeromy to someone who needs to hear God's voice."
Holding a firm conviction that it is not only the lost who need to hear God's voice, FFH expends considerable energy focusing on the needs of the church as well.
"One of my prayers whenever we go into a church is that we can ignite them," says Brian. "We want to encourage them and stir up the fire of God inside them so that they can go into their community and stand up for what they believe and be salt and light."
"We want people to take ownership of the great commission that Jesus gave to all of us," adds Michael. "We don't just want them to get fired up for a couple of hours during a concert."
"We know we're just here to serve them," says Jeromy in conclusion. "After all, the hundreds of people who come to one of our show can reach a lot more individuals in their community than the four of us ever could traveling on our bus from church to church. If God can use FFH to fire them up, then they can go out and do the kind of fingernails dirty ministry that can change a whole town. That's our vision."
[Found a Place] 2000
When I Praise
Found a Place
Why Do I
Lord Move or Move Me
Daniel
Your Love is Life to Me
Because of Who You Are
Be My Glory
I'm Not Afraid to Love You
It's Been a Long Time
Every Now and Then
[I Want To Be Like You] 1998
One of These Days
Take Me as I Am
Fall to You
I Want to Be Like You
I'm Alright
Big Fish
Wholly To You
So is His Love
Only You
Breathe in Me
Little Change
Power in His Blood
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