Rev. Donnie Timmons tells of life on tour with the Gospel Keynotes
BY LELAND ACKER STAFF WRITER
Many teenagers dream of leaving home for bigger and better things. They dream of going places, seeing things

and finding fame and fortune. For Rev. Donnie Timmons, pastor of Shady Grove Church of God in Christ, that big adventure came right after high school.

Gifted with a good singing voice and being noticed by singing in his church, Rev. Timmons was invited to join the Gospel Keynotes, a gospel group, and go on tour with them.

"I joined the Keynotes in 1968," he said. "I graduated high school Friday night, and Sunday I went with the Keynotes to South Carolina."

Rev. Timmons was a member of the Gospel Keynotes from 1968-1978. Keynotes from 1968-1978. The Keynotes often toured with the renowned gospel group, The Mighty Clouds of Joy. Their tours took them all over the world.

"It was super," Rev. Timmons said. "We went to New York. We played the Apollo Theater. We went to Washington D.C. We sang in Las Vegas, we went all over the world."

Rev. Timmons said mostly the Keynotes played in auditoriums, such as the Oil Palace in Tyler. He said they did play football stadiums on occasion.

"We sang at the Bills' stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.," Rev. Timmons said.

The Keynotes' popularity grew, culminating in a Stella Award winning album called "The Country Boy Goes Home" in 1992. Though Rev. Timmons had left the group 14 years earlier, he sang on the video and CD.

Rev. Timmons left the group in 1978 when he recognized God's call to preach.

"My preaching started in Chicago. I was with the Keynotes and we were touring with the Mighty Clouds when I got my calling," he said.

Rev. Timmons left the Keynotes in Chicago, Ill. and went to Atlanta, Ga. There he did evangelism, holding revival meetings and preaching. He was ordained to preach in Atlanta.

Before entering into the pastoral ministry, Rev. Timmons served as an evangelist from 1978-1980.

"I was capitalizing on the places I went with the Keynotes. I went back to those places and preached," he said. "It was like a revisiting ministry."

Rev. Timmons then returned to Texas and pastored a church in Big Sandy. He was there for six years.

In 1988, Rev. Timmons came to Rusk to care for his father who had become ill. At that time, he became the pastor of Shady Grove Church of God in Christ.

"(Pastoring Shady Grove) is a great feeling. We've reached a lot of things," he said. "I'm the only African American on the Ministerial Alliance and the Good Samaritan Board. The church's ministry is growing by leaps and bounds. We have the largest black denomination membership wise. We have people from Henderson, Jacksonville and Frankston who are members of our church."

Rev. Timmons said after this year's Homecoming services, Shady Grove will begin to expand their building. Their attendance on Sunday morning currently runs around 150.

Ministry runs in the Timmons family. In addition to his father, Rev. Timmons has a brother and a sister who are preachers.

"We were just a blessed family," he said.

Rev. Timmons' sister, Joyce Rodgers, is an evangelist. She has spoken with Juanita Bynum on TBN and been at events with Bishop G.E. Patterson. His brother, Melton, is also a pastor of a Church of God in Christ. Melton also owns the Ebony News Journal in Tyler.

Rev. Timmons has traveled far and wide.

"I marched from Selma to Montgomery with Coretta Scott King, I have sat in the Ebenezer Baptist Church (where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his father pastored)," Rev. Timmons said. "I would like to encourage young people. With God, nothing is impossible, all is possible."

Rev. Timmons recently sang in Tallahassee, Fla., with the Keynotes in a reunion concert. He has a CD out, titled "Rev. Donnie Timmons sings with the Gospel Keynotes." He has a preaching CD called, "It's still in the book" coming out in March.