Along with co-founding member, Marty McCall, Gary Pigg was founder of the popular 1970s band Fireworks which was one of the pioneering Jesus rock bands of that era. Gary has toured with Amy Grant and been a vital part of Nashville’s Christian music scene. He also serves on the planning committee for the 40th Anniversary Koinonia Family Reunion. Here are some of his thoughts about Koinonia Bookstore .
As a young 20-something, newly relocated to Nashville, Tenn., I found myself making music with incredibly talented writers and singers. Most of what we were writing and singing about was our faith, our authentic selves, that happened to be written in the style we were most familiar with…rock music. Jesus Rock was a “sign of the times” for good reason. There literally was a deeply spiritual movement going on in that time period.
Koinonia, the coffee house/bookstore where this music found fertile soil to sow its seeds, was in turn watered and nurtured by the “fathers” there and wound up being the genesis in Nashville of what the music industry has come to know as CCM. But let me be clear, this was not about a concert, a record deal, a showcase, a stepping stone – not a “gig”…it was simply a way of life.
The music and songs shared there weekly had more to do with a crowded perspiring audience who sat on carpet scraps during hot humid summer nights listening for guitars to strum and harmonies to hum – but for the purpose of hearing a message they were desperately hungry for. Listening carefully for truths they perhaps had never heard, while others listened for a guiding light of some sort to help them through the mixed or confused messages they’d heard from previous more routine pulpits.
This process, though faithfully facilitated by visionaries, seemed much more orchestrated by someone far beyond what humans could devise or design.
As so many life experiences change and alter who we are…the season of Koinonia Coffee House / Bookstore has proven to be one of the most significant seasons in my life. Hearing and creating music that has continued to be part of the core of who I am, as well as cherished friends and relationships that I will carry on with me throughout eternity.
Find out more at: 40th Anniversary Koinonia Family Reunion Planned
Also see: http://www.garypigg.com/
