Album Notes

History
The FOTH project is a collaborative effort of local artists and friends who came together with the goal of spreading the gospel through the ministry of recorded media under the leadership of Rick Funches. A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated to Metro Discipling Ministries (non-profit).

MDM will use the donated funds to provide support for organ and tissue donor awareness efforts; financial assistance to families for related costs not covered by their medical plan and academic scholarships for high school students who are furthering their education.

Project Background
The founder's best friend and cousin was a heart transplant recipient. Although he received a new heart, he never recovered from the anesthesia. "Buddy", as most of us knew him, was well loved and very caring. The human irony is that at the time of his passing he was studying to be a cardiologist at UMDNJ.

He received an abundance of spiritual and economic support from family and friends in preparation for his heart transplant. He shared with them the desire to establish an organization that would provide the same type of support for others.

Although medical coverage has come a long way since then, we still welcome the opportunity to support and help educate others. Under Metro Discipling Ministries (MDM), we have brought Buddy's wish and music ministry together under the umbrella of "Friends of the Heart".

Music Ministry Genre
There is something for everyone. The project encompasses various music styles including, Praise and Worship along with Traditional and contemporary gospel. Although it seems like a wide spectrum, it really is not, since the primary focus was to create music suitable for Sunday morning worship. We want the average church choir to be capable of including our songs in their worship repertoire with relative ease.

The choir
Ten of the FOTH project songs were recorded live with approximately 35 voices throughout the surrounding areas. Two additional songs were recorded in a studio setting with a subset of the live choir and a few additional singers.

Guest Artists
The Lord blessed us with guest leads on the project; they include Rev. Timothy Wright and Rev. Milton Biggham. Other participating guest lead singers included Rev. Rudy Carlton, Rev. Ronald Walker, Ian Johnson, Mietta Stancil-Farrar and Paul Smith who have been featured on other professional recording projects.

The writers
We used various writers from the area including Rev Timothy Wright, Rev. Milton Biggham, Alvin Darling, Vernon Crowe, Rev Milton Hobbs, Mark Exxum, Alex Mack and Rick Funches.

Production and Musicians
We were blessed to be supported by great and experienced musician and production support. The creative producer for the project was none other than James Perrry. James also play keyboards and complemented the project with horn an string overdubs. The rest of the FOTH project was support by Vernon Crowe (Bass and additional drum programming), Alex Mack (Organ), Ronald Watterman (drums), Sheldon Goode (live guitar), Willie Brown (studio guitar) and Milton Hobbs (Organ -Great is the Name of the Lord)

The Founder
Rick Funches, known as John to some, is a servant of God, husband and father. He is a choir director, trustee and member of New Hope Baptist Church in East Orange, New Jersey. If you see a recurring music thread it may be to due to the tutoring achieved while singing for and functioning as the business manager for Bishop Jeff Banks and Revival Temple Community Choir for several years. He loves God, family, worship, music ministry and helping others.