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Saturday, July 5, 1997
by Nancy Kennedy July 8, 1986, WAS the worst best day of John Steed's life. His brother, Gerald, had dropped him off at their parent's house, telling him, "I'll see you in the morning." Steed went upstairs and picked up his guitar to practice his heavy metal music, trying to drown out the words his brother had been telling him for months. John, You're heading down the wrong road. You need to get right with Jesus, man.
The coroner said it was an accident, but if you ask John Steed, he'll tell you it was God's appointed time, both for his brother's death and his own final surrender. "When my uncle called to tell me Gerald had been killed in a car crash, I immediately ran out into the front yard and wailed uncontrollably," admitted the lanky cowboy from Floral City. "Then I crid out, 'Forgive me, God!' Gerald had been trying to persuade me to get back into church, but I knew all the preaching in the world wouldn't have turned me around. It took his death to really drive home the message - to get off the fence, so to speak. God didn't take my brother just to pull me back, but he did use this circumstance to get my attention." From then on, Steed changed his music and started singing about another One who died so other may live. As a fourth-generation Floral City native, Steed has country music running through his veins. With his band, Cross Road, he travels around the region playing in churches and wherever he's invited, sharing his songs and lifting up Jesus Christ - and getting a good response, too. He said often after a concert, the alter is flooded with folks wanting to rededicate their lives to the Lord. That, he said is better than all the applause in Nashville. Steed knows about applause in Nashville, the Mecca of country music. Several months ago, he attended a national country music seminar held at the Opryland Hotel where he shook hands with some of the biggest names in the industry as well as disc jockeys fron radio stations all around the country. While he was there, he got the opportunity to sing at the Bluebird Cafe, The premiere songwriter's club (where some of the big names, such as Garth Brooks, are signed). "There it's just you and your guitar," Steed said. "It's all raw. If they like you, then they put your name on a list and call you back again another night." That night he received a good response from the crowd, plus praise form many of the 60 other artists also there to play for the producers and record label people. But did he get invited back? Steed laughed, then admitted, "I didn't stay to find out. I just did it to do it - to have the ultimate Nasville experience. Besides that's not what I'm all about." Not that he doesn't want to get his name out, because he does. The way it works, everybody wants to write country music, and everybody wants the big artists to record their songs. However, the record companies won't listen to you unless you have a "name," and you can't get a name unless they listen to you. It might be a frustrating situation, except Steed has connections - a heavenly connection, to be specific. Currently, he has one song playing on the radio, "Good Hands Now," a song about his brother being in God's good hands. As it gets air play, the ones who write the contracts listen. The rest, Steed firmly believes, is up to the Lord. Meanwhile, the singer is waiting and watching for open doors, both for his career and his ministry. "I'm on a mission," he explained, "a mission to the cowboys out there. Some people just won't listen to any type of music other than country. What I'm wanting is to give the coutnry music listeners good music, but with a Christian message."
Steed recalled one "roughneck who drank, fought, then bragged about it," who listened to the song Steed wrote about his brother's death. The man had lost his father and the song caused him to break down sobbing right in the barber shop. "That's when you know you're on the right track as a songwriter and a musician," he said. "If all the people hear is the music, then it's just feeding the flesh. But if the message touches a heart so the Spirit can grab a hold, then you're doing what God called you to do." Steed believes God called him to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ through his songs - without compromise. When he was in Nashville, he met a guy who told him he could be a star. "Think of all the attention, all the women - you could be right there," Steed related. He told the man if he were to sing regular country music, he'd have to take a step down from what he's doing now. "I've got a higher calling," he said. "They're out there entertaining the world, but I'm entertaining the Creator of the world and all of heaven. And if you want to know the truth, I'd much rather tap the toes of God any day than tap the toes of man."
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