Although I didn\u2019t want to make a big deal out of it, it just won\u2019t leave my mind.\u00a0One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is to meet artists and performers who are sometimes world-renown and yet you find out are just like you and me.\u00a0 Case in point: J. Mark McVey.<\/p>\n
This past Saturday night, the Niswonger hosted \u201cInspiration of Broadway.\u201d\u00a0 It featured Ernie Haase & Signature Sound as well as Mr. McVey.\u00a0Ernie Haase & Signature Sound is one of the most dynamic and well known of the contemporary Southern Gospel Music quartets.\u00a0Mark McVey, on the other hand, has made his mark in the entertainment world through Broadway.\u00a0 Although he has performed many roles in Broadway shows, the one he is most known for is Jean Valjean in Les Miserables<\/i>.\u00a0 He performed 3,268 times as the lead in this blockbuster show.<\/p>\n
Until I heard Mark with Signature Sound this past Saturday, I felt this was an awkward marriage of two artists and artistic styles: Southern Gospel and Broadway.\u00a0 For those fortunate enough to hear the concert this past Saturday, I think we all became believers.\u00a0And this leads me into J. Mark McVey.\u00a0 Mark is a believer on many fronts.<\/p>\n
After so much success on \u201cThe Great White Way,\u201d one might think McVey would be caught up in himself and his gifted abilities.\u00a0To the contrary, I found Mark to be very personable and very approachable.\u00a0 His father and a family friend traveled from Charleston, West Virginia, Mark\u2019s hometown, to see his son perform at the Niswonger.\u00a0After visiting with them for a while, we ended up sharing a post-concert meal at our local Bob Evans Restaurant, which by the way is now staying open late for our concert nights.<\/p>\n
Here we were, eating and talking about music, entertainment, and life with Jean Valjean and his father in Bob Evans Restaurant.\u00a0 After sharing stories, one thing led to another and this guy who has shared the stage and TV with some of the biggest stars of today, agreed to come to church the next morning and even sing for our congregation.\u00a0 The Inspiration of Broadway was coming to First United Methodist to share in music and message.<\/p>\n
Mark explained to my wife and me that he had found Christ through his experience of performing the lead role in Les Miserables<\/i> 3,268 times.\u00a0 I can only imagine that one would become that person after so many performances.\u00a0He explained that the message of Les Mise<\/i>rables is one of love and redemption, and one that spoke deeply to his spirit.\u00a0 He now loves to sing and share his testimony in churches whenever he can.\u00a0It was obvious that he also just loves to worship, as he was an active worshipper in our service.\u00a0 What an inspiration he was to those attending First United Methodist Church!\u00a0 What an inspiration he was for those attending the Niswonger on Saturday night!\u00a0His signature song, \u201cBring Him Home\u201d was absolutely entrancing and emotional, especially for those familiar with the story of Les Miserables<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It is always a pleasure to get to meet performers who are nice people.\u00a0It was a pleasure and an honor to get to know the real person behind Jean Valjean.\u00a0Nice people do finish first!\u00a0 And in my book, J. Mark McVey is first-rate in many ways.<\/p>\n
FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although I didn\u2019t want to make a big deal out of it, it just won\u2019t leave my mind.\u00a0One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is to meet artists and performers who are sometimes world-renown and yet you find out are just like you and me.\u00a0 Case in point: J. Mark McVey. This past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 16:51:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}