Less than five years ago, Adam Dorsey broke into big-time country music by writing a hit song about the Lord’s Day.
Today, Dorsey and his family are praying that the Lord will use them as human instruments to break the Gospel into an infinitely more meaningful arena: the hearts of the people of Newfoundland.
Dorsey, who penned the Craig Morgan “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” which charted at No. 1 among country singles in March of 2005, graduated from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in December of 2007 and, with his wife, Christi, and son Jacob, is working as a church planter for the North American Mission Board in Newfoundland.
Presently, the Dorseys are leading Bible studies in and around St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, Bible studies they hope will become the first Southern Baptist church in Newfoundland. The Dorseys are working alongside the family of another Southern Seminary alumnus, Steve Grissom.
“There are no Protestant churches on the Irish Loop—only
Roman Catholic,” Dorsey said. “We have been working with this group for more than one year—teaching, serving, praying, and preparing them to become a church. It is our conviction that they will constitute as a church in the coming year.”
After surrendering to the call to ministry, Dorsey left the music business in 2005 and began studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Hurricane Katrina, however, blew Dorsey and his wife to Louisville (for the full story on Dorsey, please see the Spring 2007 edition of the Southern Seminary magazine) in 2005 when the storm put the campus under water.
While his full-time focus differs presently from that of his days on Music Row, Dorsey has by no means divorced his musical gifts.
“God is teaching me more and more how to surrender every aspect of my life to the ministry of the Gospel,” he said.
“This is my renewed vision for my gift of music. As a result, I have been writing songs consistently since I moved here. In fact, just before Christmas, I finished a new CD, ‘My Story’ with ten new songs that I‘ve written since moving to the mission field.
“I also lead our groups in a time of musical worship at the beginning of our study time. This has helped cultivate a sense of community, as well as preparing our groups to become Christ-exalting churches, God willing.”
The transition from seminary to the field has been seamless, Dorsey said, yet one troubling health issue remains: Christi suffers from a liver disease and is in her seventh year on a list for a liver transplant. The truth of God’s sovereignty, instilled in the Dorseys during their time at Southern, has served as a comforting buttress as they have moved forward in ministry, he said.
“The fact that we were ‘cleared’ by her doctor to come here—in spite of the seriousness of her diseases—is itself a testimony of God’s unsearchable wisdom, and unmatchable power,” he said.
“If God so wills, our family is prepared to face the transplant process, by God’s grace alone. Or, if He wills, we are also praying for and prepared for His miraculous healing, again by His grace alone. Either way, we will rejoice only in His will, and resolve to run to Christ for faith, comfort, and wisdom.”