How This Singer’s Setlist Switcheroo Took Me Back to My Christian TV-Watching Days
My reflection on Lauren Daigle’s impromptu cover of “I Exalt Thee”
I wouldn’t know this song at all if not for Jeff Fenholt.
The long-haired guy in a double-breasted suit who showed up often on Paul and Jan Crouch’s Trinity Broadcasting Network back in the day.
Late ’80s and early ‘90s.
On the rare Saturday night when I wasn’t out with friends seeing bands, I might make a snack, crack open a beer and watch Christian TV.
Jeff was the anomaly. The prodigal son. The ex-metal singer using his high notes for the Most High.
He had some alleged Black Sabbath connection, and he sung the part of Jesus on Broadway in the original Jesus Christ Superstar.
I’m no metal head, but I spent more than a few nights listening to Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath covers in my teens and twenties in backyards, basements, and bars.
I was intrigued by this guy.
He could still be the metal long-hair as long as he dressed up in that double-breasted suit and shined his shoes. And sang those high notes for Jesus.
And boy, could he sing.
That same voice that did the metal justice back then, the voice that portrayed Jesus in the play. It was personal. He hit those same metal high notes, only in worship songs now.
Trinity Broadcasting Network
Paul and Jan Crouch created this huge network of TV stations. The one I watched was channel 43, a UHF station out of Indianapolis or nearby. They were like Jim and Tammy Bakker in a way, contemporaries.
Christian entrepreneurs, televangelists, big hair and swag.
Both Paul and Jan are dead now.
Their story tweaks my curiosity. But it’s not about the network.
It’s about the music.
I was touched when Jeff Fenholt sang “I Exalt Thee.” He sang it like it meant it. Like the worship song meant to be sung and sung by him.
And I hadn’t thought about him for years.
Until Lauren Daigle.
A few weeks ago I heard her song “You Say,” which really hit the Christian Contemporary spot for me. Enough to have Googled the song name and connected it with her name.
Then Sunday, up popped Relevant Magazine’s article in my news feed. Wow. Hearing that song brought up memories, fond memories. Though I was never a born again Christian, some of those songs from mid ’90s really spoke to me.
“I Exalt Thee”
It was a beautiful moment, watching the video with her and her band. No more beautiful, some have commented on the Facebook post, than any other day in their church. I even found out that Phil Driscoll (no relation to me) wrote “I Exalt Thee.”
I get it.
But I don’t get a spiritual hit weekly because I don’t attend church.
So I plugged my phone in and opened up YouTube to Jeff Fenholt’s version as I sat in my car. I waited for those worshipful high notes. They came. They brought tears to my eyes. Good tears.
Not long ago, my friend Chris was saying she and her husband were going to be hanging out with their “heathen friends.” I teased that, wasn’t I her heathen friend, too — but she said “No, you’re a seeker.”
And I think she’s right. I am a seeker.
It’s as good a time as any to reflect. To pause and consider the personal and the impersonal. The idea that we can bring the best of who we were then to who we are now.
To bring the gifts.
And to lay them down for something worthy (or at the feet of Someone worthy).
Jeff Fenholt had the vocals. Maybe now and then I’ll have the words that might soar for somebody.
(Video below is cued up to “I Exult Thee,” part of a worship service. Look how effortless he makes it look to sing this song, hands in his pockets, and chewing gum.)
Do these thoughts resonate? Check out my publication, Wave Hi to Life.
