Enlisted and The Joymasters (Rockmart, GA)
Enlisted is one of my favorite local groups. I get to see them a few times a year, sometimes at their home church, Victory Baptist in Rockmart, Georgia. This church actually has members of at least three touring groups in their membership and they love southern gospel music. For this concert, they invited The Joymasters, a quartet based out of Canton, Georgia, to join them.
This was my first time seeing The Joymasters, even though a friend of mine had loaned me one of their CDs and had been encouraging me to try to see them in concert. Well, I finally got the chance and was so glad I did. This group has been traveling for over 44 years. The current lineup includes Billy Forrester, Tim Jennings, Jeff Vinson, Eric McVey on vocals. The band members are Mike Bailey, Adam Dodd, Andrew Hart, David Phillips (who wasn’t with the group at this concert), and Vell Young. Original member Jerry Forrester is the manager/owner as well as the sound man.
Here’s what The Joymasters sang. I’m guessing at several of these titles!
- How Great Thou Art – This is always a crowd pleaser and set the tone for the concert. Tenor Jeff Vinson was featured on the verses. It’s not often you see a group with a 4-piece band, and one of their band members was actually absent or there would’ve been five! The lead guitar player filled in on the drums instead!
- I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before – Baritone Billy Forrester was featured on this classic.
- He’s Alive – Tim Jennings had the verses for this slower number.
- Thank God I’m Free - Billy was featured again.
- Living In Canaan Now – They picked up the pace with this one!
- Take Off Your Shoes - I’m sure this isn’t a new song, but I don’t remember hearing it before and I enjoyed the bass line very much!
- Going Home – This arrangement had the verses in the lead position. They performed it very slowly and effectively.
- We Will Rise Up From the Grave to Meet the Lamb - I really enjoyed this song which was another new one to me.
- This Is Just What Heaven Means to Me – This was also performed very slowly and expressively, adding one voice at a time through the first verse.
- Praise His Name – This was a very emotional end to their set and Tim stopped in the middle to give a testimony about how God has been so faithful during several bouts of cancer in his family. Very, very touching.
Enlisted includes mother/son members Pam Atcheson and Joey Saxton and Debbie & David Mitchell. Debbie & David merged their previous group, Mercy Road, with Enlisted just a few years ago. A brand new CD entitled “It’s a God Thing” was released at this concert that includes many favorite songs that Mercy Road had previously recorded. They premiered several of the songs during the evening and I’ve noted those with asterisks.
- *I Woke Up This Morning - Enlisted started out with this very lively one from the new album.
- *Trading This Old Cross for a Crown - Great old quartet song!
- *Shining Light – Joey was featured on this high-energy song!
- *That’s God – David wrote this one and is featured on it! They’ve been singing this one for quite a while in their concerts. They’ve added an a capella reprise to it now but here is a video from a previous concert.
- * Nothing Shall Separate Me - What a sweet, sweet song! Debbie was featured on it.
- It’s Not About Me – This was a song that Pam wrote and it’s funny but true! Here’s a video from a previous concert.
- Door of Grace – Pam wrote this beautiful song and a member of their church came to the stage to perform sign language for it.
- *Still Blessed – This is the song that the Perry’s did a few years ago. Pam played the piano for this one and brought up a child from the church to help sing it.
- *Nothing’s Too Hard for God – I loved this little song which mentioned so many seemingly impossible circumstances from the Bible and then brought it to the present. It was such an encouraging song to end the concert with!





