Contemporary Christian acoustic singer/songwriter Justin McRoberts will
perform live in concert on the campus of Bluefield College, Tuesday, April
16. The McRoberts, part of BC¹s Coffeehouse Series, will take place in
the Student Activities Center of BC¹s Shott Hall at 9 p.m. The event is open
and free to the public.
McRoberts¹ Bluefield College stop is one of many in 12 different states
on his 2002 tour to promote his third CD release, an untitled extended play
of worship music. Among the singles he will sing on the collection of nine
devotional songs is “Learning to Need You,” “Make Me Like You,” and “How
Great Thou Art.” The songs on the worship CD, McRoberts said, are for
worship and devotion, and they tell the story of his relationship with God.
“My songs are a window to my relationship with God,” McRoberts said. “My
hope is that by telling my story, even as it happens, my community would be
challenged as I am challenged, encouraged as I am encouraged and broken as I
am broken.”
McRoberts will also sing releases from his first two CDs, “Father”
(2000) and “Reason for Living” (1999). His first album, he says, was a
journal about his years as a staff member of Young Life, a Christian youth
organization. The songs from “Reason for Living,” he said, are about
ministry experiences and relationships.
“Songwriting has played an increasingly important role through each
phase and event of my life, working as a journal for me,” McRoberts said. “I
have found it helpful to clarify the messiness of life and relationships. I
never intended to do anything with my music professionally, but God is
seldom interested in my own plans.”
In the singles from “Father,” McRoberts¹ second album, he shares his
feeling about his father¹s battle with depression and eventual suicide.
Writing “Father,” he said, was his way of dealing with the pain.
“It was a source of healing for me,” McRoberts said about writing the
music for his second CD. “I was able to deal not only with the actual event
of [my father’s] suicide and my pain, but also with the issues surrounding
his decision and how those issues play into my life today.”
McRoberts’ sound has been compared to likes of Bebo Norman and Andrew
Peterson, award-winning contemporary Christian musicians, and his
songwriting has been likened to that of Eli and Jennifer Knapp,
critically-acclaimed Christian songwriters. His musical style is acoustic
pop with a hint of folk, but most importantly it¹s a source of inspiration
from someone who sings from the heart.
“McRoberts is a simple man who wants to share from his heart,” said the
music critics from AboutChristianMusic.com. “His songs talk about deep,
penetrating matters of the heart with a most sincere honesty.”
For more information about McRoberts¹ Bluefield College Coffeehouse
performance, please call the BC Office of Public Relations at 276-326-4212.
