with a message

Timm Dalman, left, is the founder and Director of New Anthem Artists, a nonprofit organization that helps area Christian musicians. Shawn Anderson, right, is a board member who also is a member of DOXA, a Christian rock band. New Anthem services to Christian artists include development and promotion.

Tammy Edwards, top, and Dee Dee Kearns, New Anthem Artists

By Julie Jensen, Correspondent Ever hear of an impresario who digs into his own pocket to keep the music going? Davenport's Timm Dalman, the founder of New Anthem Artists, does just that because he believes it's his Christian duty. New Anthem is a nonprofit organization that provides a service to Christian artists in the area, according to Shawn Anderson, a board member who is also lead singer and keyboard player for DOXA, a Christian rock band. He says, ``If churches or other groups want to hire a band or put together a choir for an event, they call Timm and he coordinates it for them. He does it all for free.'' ``I like working with small churches. That's where it's at,'' says Mr. Dalman, who hails from Chicago and has been in the Quad-Cities for 15 years.

``I went to a Christian college and toured coast to coast with Christian college-sponsored performance groups and then others as a musician, arranger, dramatic performer and writer for five years,'' he says. ``When I moved here, I was into the bar scene for a while, but I left it in 1991. I wanted to get more involved in church, and that got me involved in music.'' He helped Jennifer Sergeant, a performing arts major at Marycrest International University in Davenport, start her career as a Christian artist, and began to work with other people in 1993, when he started New Anthem. New Anthem services include improving performance techniques, helping ministry development, offering promotion and getting bookings.

Mr. Dalman finances this effort by working from 40 to 70 hours a week for Commonwealth - Edison at the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station in Cordova. Add that time to the hours he spends on advancing the cause of Christian music -- 30 to 40 hours a week -- and you have to wonder when he sleeps. ``Spending that much time takes commitment,'' he says, ``but I followed the work, and it led me here.''

New Anthem Artists' clients include the Jennifer Sergeant Band, above, and DOXA, at left. Timm Dalman, founder and Director of New Anthem, says, 'Jennifer Sergeant is an immediately likable person – warm and friendly whether she's walking into a small room or in front of thousands of people. She works in theater, TV and radio. She's not preachy, but her message is sincere. Her music is upbeat contemporary Christian pop music.' DOXA (the name means 'glory, honor, praise and integrity') is a band that has been performing for more than 10 years. 'DOXA has staying power,' says Mr. Dalman.

New Anthem became a nonprofit organization in March 1998, and during that year, Mr. Dalman produced or assisted with four large arena events and 41 other regional events, in addition to his work supporting area Christian artists. Other members of the New Anthem board of directors are Mary Jo Daly, Christian concert promoter, and Shawn Driscoll, treasurer. New Anthem offers area churches a free referral service for Christian music, operates New Anthem Artists support services for area Christian music groups, but the largest share of work New Anthem does is in event production. New Anthem produces concerts and events, or will help area churches and organizations put on their events. New Anthem will help them negotiate appearance contracts, and will help them make arrangements for concert production, sound and lights, venue rental, everything it takes to put on a concert, all within their budget. This type of support to concert sponsors allows more Christian music events to take place than otherwise could in our region. ``It's my job, and I do it as much as I'm able and as much as I can afford,'' Mr. Dalman says. ``To date I have invested more than $75,000 in the Christian arts [charity and benefit events and Christian outreaches are where most of our funding goes], losing an average of $15,000 to $20,000 a year. New Anthem has grown to be as large a one-man operation as is possible. So now Shawn Anderson will be stepping in to help, and allow us to expand our operations in the future.''

All kinds of artists

Mr. Dalman manages, produces, promotes, performs, writes and arranges for the Jennifer Sergeant Band, and he performs with JSB, DOXA, Jubilant Jazz and at times Dave & Carrie Meumann. He plays bass, guitar, drums and keyboards. New Anthem maintains four lists of area Christian artists. Their Fellowship list consists of the Jennifer Sergeant Band, DOXA, Jubilant Jazz, Dave & Carrie Meumann, Dee Dee Kearns and Tammy Edwards. The fellowship is a society of Christian artists, the New Anthem Artists, who typify themselves by mutually supportive, non-competitive relationships, empowering each other to further the Kingdom of God. These are the groups that New Anthem is most invested in. The Associate list is made up of regional artists New Anthem is working with, and is the primary list for booking referrals, with over 20 groups listed this year. There's another list of artists in the black Christian community. The final list includes Christian artists New Anthem knows about in the area, but doesn't provide support services for, and that adds up to 45 acts this year.

``When I get a call from a church, I have a lot of music ministries to draw from,'' Mr. Dalman says. ``We translate the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the language of rock music, of jazz and folk, into the language of pop culture, into the language of the youth and the baby boomers -- wherever it will go and wherever the seed may take root, and we're not afraid to have a little fun doing it.'' Talking about the artists on their Fellowship list, he says, ``Jennifer Sergeant is an immediately likable person -- warm and friendly whether she's walking into a small room or in front of thousands. She works in theater, TV and radio. She's not preachy, but her contemporary Christian pop message is sincere. The audience feels she is a friend, and she is, and because of that, they open to her and her message.'' About the folks in Jubilant Jazz, he says, ``Their mission is to leave a church changed and new, open to a more personal form of worship. They want to bring you into the presence of the Lord. I have seen lives and even entire churches changed after meeting the Lord through the experience of Jubilant Jazz's music.'' About Christian vocalist Dee Dee Kearns, he says, ``She does Gospel and contemporary Christian music, and she will enthrall you. She is in no way entertainment, but you wont be able to take your eyes off her; she is riveting! She is a ministry and she is all about her message. And she is the best gospel singer I have ever worked for.''

Dave & Carrie Meumann sing soulful ballads in the modern Christian style. They also sing pop, light rock and country, and they have an album of inspirational songs titled ``Black and White.'' DOXA (the name means ``glory, honor, praise and integrity'') is a band that has been performing for more than 10 years. It has put out three albums, and radio stations all over the world learn about it on the Internet and ask for its music, Mr. Dalman says, adding, ``DOXA has staying power.''

Dave & Carrie Meumann

Mr. Dalman is currently producing a March 7 show for DOXA at The Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline, co-sponsored by Sports Spectrum magazine and the Christian Youth Workers Fellowship. This will be like previous concerts organized after Thunder games, and Jay Strack will give an anti-drug speech. This event features Sparrow recording artists The Waiting. Then there's Tammy Edwards, whose ``Seasons of Love'' has been heard on Christian radio stations across the country. She's from Mitchellville, Iowa, and works as a waitress, but Mr. Dalman says, ``She spends her money on first-class recording and production.'' Ms. Edwards has won six national awards and this month placed eighth in the John Lennon International Songwriting Contest in Los Angeles, ``despite blatantly Christian lyrics,'' Mr. Dalman says. ``She's writing and recording her third album now, and the musicians who play for her are first-class. She has the highest talents available in Christian recording. Tammy will soon be appearing in the Quad Cities at a concert to benefit the homeless, "Sounds of Love 1999," at 7:00PM on March 26, at Grand View Baptist Church, Davenport.''

Still expanding

New Anthem is talking about starting its own record label. Shawn Anderson says, ``We have a studio and can do things at cost. We would be more interested in helping artists than in making money for the label. It would be a kind of cooperative.'' Another new development came from the Mississippi Valley Evangelical Association's request for Christian music performances in Iowa and Illinois prisons. New Anthem provides these ministries to prisons for free appearances as just another form of area support. Also, New Anthem West has just opened in Sioux City, Iowa, where Denise Heiman operates a Christian booking agency serving in the area from Omaha to Des Moines to Sioux Falls. If you're looking for anything from Christian fun (karaoke) to ministry and music with a message, New Anthem can refer the right group for you. Call Mr. Dalman at (319) 359-7617 or (877) 257-2266, e-mail New Anthem at NewAnthem@aol.com, or check out the Web site at www.newanthem.com Copyright 1998, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.

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