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A
Hi, I'm Nancy dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
B
Hello, everyone. This is Pastor Grant DeFresne, and boy, are you in for a special treat today. I'm so thrilled to interview a very special guest today. She's a Grammy and Dove Award winning artist, a songwriter, a pioneer in Christian music. Born into gospel music royalty as the daughter of Buck and the legendary Dottie Rambeau, she began her career at an early age singing alongside her parents in the Rambos. By her teenage years, she was already writing and recording music that pushed the boundaries of traditional gospel music, earning critical acclaim and a devoted following. Her groundbreaking solo albums, including lady and the lady is a Child, introduced fresh sounds and themes that resonated with a whole new generation of listeners. Over the years, her influence has extended beyond her own music, with her compositions recorded by countless artists, including me, and her ministry, impacting lives all around the world. And so today, she continues to write, mentor, minister, and. And create, leaving an undeniable mark on gospel music and the body of Christ. Can everyone help me in welcoming Ms. Reba Rambo?
A
Wow. I. I almost didn't know who that was.
B
It's you. It's all you. I promise. It's such an honor that you're here.
A
I love you so much.
B
I love you more.
A
You are so special. No, you can't. I'm. I love you.
B
Beat me.
A
I love you most as. I'm the oldest.
B
Okay, I'll. I'll give you that one. I'll give you that one. But for real, I'm just glad. I'm so glad that you came here to Defra Ministries, to World Harvest Church.
A
We.
B
We see you as family.
A
Well, I am family. I'm even a member of World Harvest Church. I'm an official member.
B
An official honorary member.
A
Yes. And. And I am ordained through this ministry. That's right.
B
And we're so glad.
A
I am through. I. It's. There's no place like home.
B
There's really not.
A
This is home. This is home.
B
I'm so glad you feel that way. Cuz when you're here, I feel like family's coming home to us.
A
Yay.
B
So thank you for taking time to do this interview with us and coming here to California. I'm just. I'm so blessed that you're here.
A
Thank you.
B
So I have a. A lot of questions I was wanting to ask. I know so many people watching.
A
I'm going to ask my weight. That's the only one you can My age?
B
That's the very last question. Okay, so maybe.
A
And I will lie.
B
Hopefully we'll run out of time before we get there. But so many questions I want to get to, but I really want to start at the beginning. Okay.
A
Okay.
B
I want you to tell me about Reba as a little girl and your interest in music from a young age. What were some of your earliest memories growing up in a musical family?
A
Well, first of all, I was raised in a musical household in Kentucky. Dawson Springs, Kentucky. We actually lived outside of there in a little place called Walnut grove, Kentucky, population 36. Yee haw. But on the nights that my parents weren't singing at some little church somewhere, especially Friday night, sometimes Saturday night, we would have jam sessions at our house, and those hillbillies would come out of those hollers with the Jew's harp, with a banjo, with a fiddle, whatever they had, and we would be on the porch and be singing. And I remember as a little girl finally just falling asleep to that music. So I was. I was raised in a musical household. And, of course, I had a musical mom who was a little bit off to see the wizard. She. Dottie Rambeau. I mean, nobody like her. I miss her every day. But, Mother, everything was a song to her. I mean, if there was not a room at a hotel, full up, no vacancies, she'd write her song about, you know, that her heart is full and the devil has no room there, so there's no vacancy. You'll laugh at this. I remember when I. We had moved little communities, and I went to a different school, and they had been learning the Gettysburg Address. And the next day, everybody was supposed to recite the Gettysburg Address. Well, I didn't know the Gettysburg Address. And Mother said, no problem. We'll just. We'll just put some music to it. And she would be real dramatic.
C
Four score.
A
You know, so. And we. And I jump up on the couch, and we did this whole thing, and I learned the Gettysburg Address. But the next day, I had to say it in front of the class and to not do it.
C
Four score.
A
But with my mom, anything could be a song, and that's that. There's a richness to that because it takes away fear.
B
Yes, ma'. Am.
A
You know, some of us are so afraid. We teach writing all the time. A lot of the time.
B
Yeah.
A
And, you know, to put the pen to the paper, it's so intimidating. I have a chapter in a book I'm working on, and it's called, what do you say to a naked Legal pad.
B
Wow.
A
Yes. I said naked. But, you know, sometimes those yellow legal pads and the blue lines are so intimidating.
B
Yes, ma'.
A
Am. But sometimes being around my mother, it was just like. Just put down something. It didn't matter. That's why they have erasers. But she was. She was so. And my dad, too. My dad was a wonderful singer, a great man, and to be around them. And I sang my first song on the radio when I was 18 months old. When the Saints Go Marching In. I'm sure it was just amazing.
B
I think it was. I think it was.
A
And then when I was three, mom and dad were singing one day because they were just a duet, the two of them. And I just started singing the harmony because I could tell something was missing. So at three, I started singing harmony, you know? And that's gotta be the Lord.
B
Yeah. Well, I love that because what you said about just writing something down.
A
Yeah.
B
And something I've noticed that you do a lot is you'll say a phrase or you'll be talking to somebody. And you said, that's a song.
A
That's a song. Yeah.
B
I think there was one time you said the sounds of heaven, or heaven has a sound or something. You said, that's a song.
A
That's a song.
B
And a lot of times you can get a little. You can overthink something and think, well, no, that's just. I love what you said. You got an eraser. It's okay. Just write something down. It's fun.
A
You know, so many of us are in such a fear that we don't have fun, you know, and that's one thing my mom taught me. Let's just have fun. That's one thing I taught my kids. Let's have fun with this. So what if nobody records it?
B
Yeah.
A
You know, there's nothing wasted in the kingdom. And so everything, even if it's an exercise, you got stronger through it and you learn something.
B
Yeah. So did you always like singing? Did you?
A
Oh, no.
B
Really?
A
Well, I like singing. I've always loved to sing.
B
Okay.
A
But when I was little, my parents traveled in churches, you know, and. And I'm talking little tiny churches. And I remember one night I. With them, and we were sleeping in the prophet's quarters, which was a room in the basement of the church. And so they only had one bed, so mom made me a palette, you know, rolled up some quilts and made a pallet. And I remember waking up in the middle of the night with a rat chewing on my finger. Yeah. So I said, God, I Love you, but I'm not signing up for this.
B
Not signing up. Okay.
A
Yeah. And I really had an interest in the medical field, and I had a friend that was an amazing neurosurgeon who allowed me, at 10 years old, to go in and see my first brain surgery.
B
Wow.
A
But I really thought I was going to be a neurosurgeon. Yeah.
B
Well, did your mom or did your father. Did they always kind of put it in front of you as something they wanted you to do when it came to music? Or. Or were they open to whatever your path was going to be?
A
They were pretty open. Until.
B
Okay.
A
Until the. Until I was almost 13 years old and they had hired a young girl to sing with them. What? The person that had been seeing with them was getting married and leaving.
B
Okay.
A
So they quickly hired. I understand. We lived in a little house trailer in Kentucky. It's little, two bedroom, one bath, you know, no double wide, baby. It was a single wide. But they had hired this girl real quickly, and she was a wonderful musician that when they started rehearsing, she was an alto. My mom's an alto, and two altos and a lead do not make a trio. So they were rehearsing and rehearsing. I was in the middle of going to school. I still had my sight set on, you know, being a neurosurgeon. But one day, in my frustration. Now I understand. My parents had not heard me sing in years, and that was on purpose. But one day, in my frustration, I walked into the little living room there and I. And I said to the girl, pat was there. I said, pat, this is the way the part goes. And so I started singing with him because I'd listened to their music forever. And of course, my mother starts crying and my dad gets this goofy grin on his face, and. And mother said, would you consider seeing with us till we can find somebody else? I mean, it was a setup.
B
It was a setup.
A
It was.
B
And how old were you?
A
I was almost 13.
B
Almost 13?
A
Yeah. And so I said, well. And I knew they were desperate, and we had a big concert coming up in December with the Happy Goodman family, Howard and Vestal, and the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesman. I mean, we were in tall cotton, so I knew they needed somebody. And so Pat stayed and still was a musician with the group. And so I was the reluctant voice. And I really thought I would just be there for a little bit. And the first year that I was there, it was rough. It was. I'm not kidding, because I was this bashful kid from Kentucky. And all of a sudden I'm thrown out onto a stage and I couldn't even look at anybody. I looked about three inches above everybody's head. My knees played their own bongo. I, you know, I. But after about a year, the Lord began to deal with me. He said, I'm going to make you a heart surgeon, but not like you think, wow, I'm going to allow you to write things that will get into people's hearts and change them and heal them.
B
Wow. And I. To me, that sounds like the start of your ministry. Right. I mean, that gave you such a path to go down.
A
Right.
B
But before we go into more of that, because I want to go more into your ministry, I just want to point out and ask you what was like, what was a really core memory you have in traveling as the Rambos or the Singing Rambos? What's a memory that just stands out to you that you just, you'll never forget?
A
I think one of the things that stands out so much to me was when we went to Vietnam.
B
Yes.
A
I was almost 16 and you were supposed to be 18 before you went. So they lied on the papers. But we went over and for seven weeks did four concerts a day, six days a week. So we did, we did four concerts a day for seven, seven weeks, six days a week. And to go over there, you know, you have this idea about soldiers, but you get there and they're 18 years old. Instead of Playboy magazines in their pocket, they've got comic books.
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
And we, we were so blessed to get to sing. And we, and we did just some fun stuff too, not just all gospel, but we were a family and they wanted to see a family.
B
Yes.
A
And we were able to go into the MASH tents and to hold guys hands while they were dying.
B
Wow.
A
We were singing on China beach outside and some of the guys had just come in from battle and one guy's hand literally was hanging by thread and they were going to take him to the mass unit. He said, no, I'm going to go lay over here on this chair and I'm going to listen to these singers first. I mean, they were so hungry, they still wanted a taste of home. Yeah. But I'll never forget that. But that also helped me understand war better. And later on we began to write somewhat warfare music.
B
Yes, ma'.
A
Am. I, I always had the, I knew the, the smells of war, the sounds of war. I knew what it was like to, to have the place we were at for the night being mortared. Yeah. And, and Going. Going off and you don't know if you're going to live or die.
B
Yeah.
A
So it was. It was quite an experience.
B
Yeah. Well, I think the story of how the song Holy Spirit, Thou art Welcome is this correlated with this same time in your life.
A
Same time in the life.
B
Can you tell us a little bit about where that came from?
A
We somehow got booked in a church that was stained glass, everything, including the people. And it was a Sunday. It was so rigid. And I remember walking in this huge auditorium and walking in there and just feeling like a funeral home.
B
Yeah.
A
This cold, cold feeling. And somehow we had gotten booked in there, and mother and I were kind of looking at each other like, oh, what have we gotten ourselves into? But we got up and we sang. It was very rigid. Everything was rigid.
B
Yeah.
A
And. And we've sung in some Regis church rigid churches, you know, some that we had to resurrect for we could minister to them.
B
Yeah.
A
But we were. We were singing and I don't even remember what song we were singing. And there were some young men there that were getting ready to be deployed the next day. They were in full uniform. And they all, just like you said, now came forward and began to weep at the altar. I mean, you have to understand, they're going to war. They don't know if they're coming back. So they go to the altar and they. And the church didn't know what to do with that. You know, first of all, it's in the middle of a service. You don't dare go to the altar in the middle of service. So they rushed and got ushers and took them away. Mother and I are looking at each other, and dad. I mean, it was the most uncomfortable. What's that thing? Ichabod? You know, God has left the bill. Elvis has left the building on this one. So we go and we finish our singing. We go sit down, and then this preacher gets up and bless his heart, it was just. It was just dry as crackers. And mother is sitting there by me on the platform, and she said, you know, I don't know what's going on, but she said, holy Spirit, you're not welcome here. But. But you're welcome in this place. Yes, Holy spiritual welcome in this place. And of course, she never had a pen and paper when she needed one. That was my job.
B
Your job? Yeah. I understand.
A
I was the notebook and somehow got a pen and paper and she began to write. Holy Spirit, thou art welcome in this place.
C
Holy Spirit, thou art welcome in this place. Holy Spirit, thou Art welcome in this place. Of mercy and grace Thou art welcome in this place.
A
Lord in thy presence.
C
Lord in thy presence there's he. No other power can save the Lord But.
A
And she finished the second verse. When we. We had gone over to East Berlin during the war, we went through Checkpoint Charlie, spent a day in East Berlin. And it was so. You know, this was before the wall came down. This was a horrid time, too. Talking a lot about tough situations.
B
No, it's. It's all part of this story. It's all part of this.
A
Are. A lot of. A lot of them are born in pain.
B
Yeah. Yeah.
A
But when. When we were at. In East Berlin, there was a little lady that waited on us, and there were. There were guards with machine guns and. And dogs everywhere. And they followed us everywhere we went that day. It was a miracle we were able to go there.
B
Yeah.
A
And this little lady was our waitress. Could barely speak English. And mother had told me, she said, I'm just going to slip a little track in my purse. And my mother. I don't know where she got it. She never carried tracts. Somewhere she got a track, and it was real sweet. And I remember when we're starting to leave, Mother slips that little tract to that waitress, which could have got us in big, big trouble and her in even more trouble. And I remember her looking at it and just holding it like this. It had Jesus on the front of it, and she's just holding it like this. And so mother wrote the second verse there because she kept saying, holy spiritual welcome in this place again. You may not be welcome in this. In this city, in this nation, but you're welcome here.
B
And what I love about how you write, how your mother would write it was birthed out of a need in the moment.
A
Right in the moment. She was very spontaneous now. I mean, she. She heard music and everything and funny things, too. You know, when I was a kid growing up, I had an invisible dog named Germs.
B
I had some invisible imaginary friends as well.
A
Why am I not surprised?
B
It's a creative thing.
A
But when I was a kid, I was an only child, and I so wanted to please my mother and wanted to please her. I was her biggest fan. Still am. And so if my room was messed up, if I didn't make my bed, if I fallen down and torn my dress or whatever, I would always say, mom, I didn't do it. Germs did it.
B
Germs.
A
Germs was my scapegoat dog.
B
The dog.
A
Yeah.
B
How did that go over with Her.
A
Well, sometimes she would, you know, play along. Yeah, sometimes. But then there were other times that she'd say, reba, that dog isn't real. Of course. Yeah, I called her Dottie. I called her Dottie when I was real. I say, but, Dottie, don't you see? I mean, it's right there. And he went with me everywhere. So she did. She wrote a song about germs. My invisible dogs. Yes, it's in her.
B
In the archives.
A
Yeah, it's in her children's musical down by the Creek Bank.
B
Really?
A
Yeah. You guys should do that. So it's still.
B
I would love to hear it.
A
I would love to hear it. My very special best friend is my little shaggy dog. Chewing on my tennis shoes and running through the hall. He's kinda like my shadow. Cause he's everywhere I go. He sleeps in my bed. But Dottie doesn't know I hide him in my pocket. Cause he's very, very small. Germs. Germs. My invisible dog.
B
Since we're talking about your mom and your family, what is the most valuable lesson you learned from your. Your father or your mother that you still carry today? I mean, it can be a life lesson, something you do through your ministry. What is just something that has always stuck with you, that you want to change?
A
Well, that's one thing my dad taught me how to see. My dad was an artist. A lot of people don't know that. Started painting kind of later in life.
B
I don't think I'm surprised, though.
A
No. No, but we would be. You know, we'd have the bus pulled over somewhere. Mother loved to have a picnic, even with on the bus, even if it was just KFC that we bought and then had had a picnic. So anyway, my dad would take me outside, and there would be a hillside with trees and whatever. And he would say, what do you see? What do you see? And I would say, green trees or whatever. What shade of green? What. What are the. Do you see any purple? Do you see any brown? Do you see. Whatever. And he literally, with little exercises like that, taught me to see even when there would be certain, really. He loved older people, and he loved making pictures, even of older people. And he would say, tell me about their face. What do you see? What do you see? And he taught me. He said, stop looking to the side. Because I was always, you know, bashful again. But look. See them. Look beyond, you know? And then my mother taught me how to hear. We'd go somewhere. Like the first time we went to New York City, I'LL never forget it. We're walking down the streets in New York City. She said, close your eyes, you know. And I knew. I thought, oh, no, right now you.
B
Already know what's about to happen in.
A
The middle of New York City. Hillbillies have come to town. And she's got me closing my eyes, but I closed my eyes. And she'd say, now what do you hear? I hear horns. How many horns do you hear? Like taxi horn, I think five. What else do you hear? I hear church bells in the distance. What else do you hear? I hear people walking by. What kind of shoes are they wearing? And she taught me how to hear, to listen. Dad taught me to see. And that has been two skills that I keep going back to. What do you see? What do you hear?
B
What are you applying that to? Do you have an example of what?
A
Well, first of all, when we're in a meeting, when I'm looking at the audience, now that I can stand to look at them, now I'm brave enough to look.
B
Yes, ma'. Am.
A
What do you see? Do you really see that? That. That lady may be sitting there smiling, but do you see the dark cloud over her head? Do you see her broken heart? And people can. You know, we lie to each other, and people can. And they may be trying to have a positive confession, but a lot of times, I never forget. A lady walked by to me one day at the table. I said, how are you doing? She said, oh, I'm blessed. And when she said that, I saw blood squirting out her ears, out of her eyes, out of her nose and her mouth. And I said, baby, you're hurting. And as soon as I said that, she just fell on my arms and started crying. But, you know, to really hear what people are really saying, and I don't always get it right, but my parents really helped me to. To hone those two skills in.
B
And. And it's almost like they're verbalizing what it's like to be sensitive to God.
A
It's exactly right. Exactly right. Sensitive to God and sensitive to people.
B
Sensitive to people, yeah.
A
I'll be honest with you. When I was younger, I didn't really. There was a lot of people I didn't really like, a lot of women I had no patience for. But through some of the things I've gone through in the last few years, I can honestly say I love people.
B
Yeah. And that's what it's about.
A
Yeah. I really love them. I see them sometimes. You don't always like what they do. Their Behavior. But there's something about it that when your heart is broken and God puts you back together, there is a love that you have for people.
B
I love that. You know, I was recently, I was doing a youth service where we were worshiping, and something I really was working to convey is to shut down your natural senses in a sense of, let's listen to what God is trying to say in this service. Let's be led by sound.
A
Yes. All good.
B
Be led by sound. And not by necessarily all the distractions in your life around you, but just flow with God. And, you know, I. I'm coming to learn this, and I learned from you, too, is what is God trying to say right now? Yeah, that's what we're after. You know, as. As a leader, as a worship leader, we're trying to hone in and find. What is God trying to say to these people? It's not about us, but we're a vessel God can use to minister to the needs of the people. People.
A
Right.
B
And I follow your lead on this. You're, like you said, you're led by what you see and what you hear. But when you say that, it's sensitivity to the spirit of God.
A
Absolutely. And I. And I, we all have that potential. Some people say, well, you know, that's just not my makeup. That's just not my personality. Yeah, well, I'll try not to cuss here, but, you know, we have it because we have God in us. We have Holy Spirit in us.
B
So true.
A
We have the potential. You know, it's like the fruit of the spirit. I have the fruit of the spirit in me, but do I want to yield to it? Do I want to yield to peace? Do I want to yield to joy? You know, I have the potential, but do I want to yield to it?
B
Yeah.
A
And we have the potential to. To hear, to see.
B
Yes, ma'. Am.
A
But do we want to yield to it?
B
Well, when I want to ask you, when you're in a service and you sense a weightiness, you sense a flow of God in the room.
A
Yes.
B
But you don't necessarily know which way to go in the moment. What helps you to get more clarity in which way to go? What's a good fallback? You can say, I will. I will start with this, and it'll help me find what he's trying to do or.
A
Well, I think a testimony of something that God has already done.
B
Yes.
A
You know, when David was facing Goliath, he starts testifying. You know, I killed the lion, I killed the bear, and he is building up his most holy faith. And so many times, it doesn't have to be a long, drawn out testimony, just something what God has done for you and for me. And as I begin to, you know, God moves by atmosphere. And when I began to create an atmosphere by just praising God for what he's already done, all of a sudden, I don't know, somehow my hearing gets better, my vision gets better. I began to see and hear more. Does that make sense?
B
Yeah. Just start with gratitude.
A
Yes, absolutely.
B
I love that. I love that. And you're such an example to me of being sensitive to those meetings and those flows. I really mean that. I'm not just saying that because we're all here on camera, but you've helped me kind of by example. You step out boldly. Well, I think you're more confident in your gifting than you may give yourself credit to, but we all see it.
A
Well, you know, when I first. When I first came to World Harvest, I was still hurting, wounded, broken. And Pastor Nancy, God love her. I love my pastor so much.
B
We all do.
A
I know you do, but she was like, come on up here, seniors on her. And David Ellis. I'm like, I'm here to be ministered to. And she's like, get you a little behind up here.
B
Oh, she was raving that you were coming for a long time. She gave me the whole rundown before you got here.
A
Well, and she kind of kicked me out of the boat and took my hand and said, let's do a little water walking.
C
Ms. Reba, you want to sing this? Come on. Come on and walk on the water with me. Come on and walk on the water with me. You will not fail. You will not fail. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You will not fail.
A
Why don't we sing this verse?
C
Come on and drink that holy ghost wine. Come on and drink that holy ghost wine it's mighty fine wine. And it's good all the time.
A
But she was. You know, there's something about someone that believes in you. And she did. And she does.
B
Yeah.
A
And believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself.
B
I love that. I love that. And that's so important to have people walking with you.
A
Your inner circle is so important.
B
It really is.
A
My kids, when I went through a tough time, they circled the prayer wagons. I love that. They were like, mom, we're not going to let you die.
B
That's what family's for.
A
That's what family's for.
B
That is what family's for.
A
What. That's what the family of God is about.
B
It's true.
A
Yeah. We're really supposed to be there for each other. And, you know, and I love to write songs about those kinds of things.
B
Yes.
A
You know, I write praise and worship, but I've written a lot of things that are just. We. We really can change the world, for instance, those kinds of songs. And. And, you know, wanting us to reach out and to love one another because we have a song that's. That's coming out soon. It's called Love Will have the Final say.
B
I love that.
A
And I. I really believe that. That when everything else fails, love never fails.
B
That's right. So people can be looking for that soon, right?
A
Yes.
B
You promise?
A
Yeah. Organized.
B
Good. Good. That's all that matters, is that you're working on it. Okay. Did you always know you were going to step out in your own ministry because you. You helped your family or were involved? But did you ever see yourself doing it on your own?
A
You know what's amazing? When I was a little girl, I did.
B
Wow.
A
I would. We lived with my grandmother outside of town. And I love the woods. I love nature. And I would get up before daylight. I can still see me in my flannel gown and my flashlight, and I would grab some scraps of leftover biscuits and stuff that my grandmother had because my grandfather had a pen full of coon dogs because he hunted. So. And they would be loud and bark, so I would take scraps to distract them.
B
Yeah. Yeah.
A
And just when the sun was coming up, I would go out to the woods behind my grandmother's house and loved it. I loved the nature. I loved animals. It was really kind of a snow Whiteish kind of thing. And there was what I call my wishing rock or my dreaming rock, a big rock. And I would stand. I would stand on that rock and I would sing like there was 10,000 people watching. And just loved it. And literally had some incredible moments where the animals would come close to me.
B
So that's not just in fairy tales.
A
Oh, it's not just in fairy tales. It's not.
B
Just good to know.
A
There's a guy on Instagram now that gets his little guitar and goes out in the field and he'll sing to the donkeys, sing to the cows, and they all right up to him. It's awesome. It's wonderful. But one day, you'll love this. Grant, Pastor Grant. I won't call you boo like I usually do.
B
Either way is fine. It's both accepted. I'll respond to Both.
A
Okay. One day I was out in the woods early in the morning, and a man came out of the woods. And I'll never forget, he had on kind of a linen pant and a linen type top, like a two piece thing, hair. About to hear. And I remember just looking at him and felt such love and acceptance and began. And he came over and began to talk to me. And when he came over, the animals really responded to that. And so anyway, I had just the most amazing time. And he said, sing for me, sing for me. And I got up on the rock and began to sing. And after a while, I knew I had to get home. My grandmother was going to get me. I walked into my grandmother's house and some of my uncles had gathered together there. They were going to go hunting that day. And I think some were going fishing. So they came in. When I came into the house, I'm like, oh, I met the most wonderful man in the woods. And they're going, man in the woods? Yeah.
B
I was about to say, that doesn't sound.
A
Yeah, man. What kind of man in the woods?
B
Did you talk to him?
A
Oh, yes, I sang for him. And I'm describing it. And my uncles are ready to take the shotguns and go find the man in the woods. And then finally I said it was Jesus. And they're like. And then they kind of pat my head, you know, you're just like your mother.
B
You have such a. I was about to say that. Vivid imagination.
A
A vivid imagination. I don't usually tell this story, but.
B
Anyway, I love it.
A
But it. I remember thinking, was I crazy because they so shot it all down, you know? And then you're just having imagination. The second time it happened, Wow. I came back and I only told my grandmother.
B
Yeah.
A
Because I just loved her and I knew she heard from God. She said, baby, it's so wonderful, but don't tell anybody else. Don't tell anybody else. The third time it happened, I didn't tell anybody. It's very interesting how we can talk children out of seeing angels or having divine visitations. But I knew it was real. I knew it was real. And from that. That was the core of my relationship with the real Jesus, you know, the real. I hear a lot of people talk about Jesus and I want to go, that's not the real Jesus that I met in the woods when I was a little girl.
B
And I think it's safe to say without a relationship with Jesus. Does anyone have a ministry to go from?
A
What do you have? Just some sweet notes and Great piano chords. What is that? The world has that, but without the ministry of Christ, the anointed one and his anointing, the ministry of love. You know, I want my children one day when I cross the river, should the Lord tarry, I want them to say she loved Jesus and she loved us. You know, if I can get those things right, wow, wouldn't that be something?
B
And just when you walk with him and you have a relationship with him, it will affect others lives. Oh, right.
A
Absolutely. You can't be in the same room with Christ and it not change you. Well, Christ in us. The hope of glory. I have one of Pastor Nancy's favorite songs that I've written. It's called Christ and Me.
B
It is so beautiful.
A
Christ and me. The only hope of glory is Christ in me. And when Christ is in the room, and we are especially, I think, when we're cognizant of it.
B
Yes, ma'.
A
Am. That he is living in us, through us, speaking, touching, hearing through us. It's going to make a difference. We. You know, I live in Deland, Florida now. Most of the time I'm here a lot. But it's interesting. My spiritual son Jeff and I, we love to walk the streets of Deland. It's very quaint. It's kind of like a Franklin, Tennessee. But we actually have people stop us and say, who are you? We know there's something. Who. Who. Just who are you? And. And it's very interesting. And it's not just, you know, I usually wear hats and. And Jeff wears his little vested suits and all that. But it's not even that. I. I really believe that there is light in us and loving us. And you, I mean, I'm sure you get the same thing. What do you do, you know, who are you?
B
Being around my mom, that happens a lot to her.
A
Well, of course.
B
Well, I will say she looks the same as she does on JTH when she goes out to the store. That's just how she was. Yes, but I know it's more than just that. Yeah, but you have that same thing. It's a walk with Jesus.
A
It is. And you know what? It wasn't always that way. Yes, but the thing that I love about him is that he never left.
B
Never.
A
Even when I have a line in one of my songs, it says, if I tried to make my bed in hell, he'd rip the place apart. And who else is dying to love like that? I can't break my bed.
B
He's committed to us. He's committed to us.
A
He is committed to us and he's not mad at me.
B
That's so important to know. That's so important.
A
And there's nothing you can do to make him love you anymore. There's nothing you can do to make him love you any less. Isn't that incredible?
B
That's a revelation in itself.
A
It is. It is.
B
Knowing that he loves you.
A
Yes.
B
More than you could ever think or imagine.
A
Already. Already.
B
Even if you missed it, he still loves you.
A
I know.
B
I love that. Both. You know, it's so important to have a walk with Jesus because that's where a ministry can grow.
A
Yes.
B
And I, I, I, I. My heart breaks for people when they are ambitious to have a ministry but have tried to skip that step of knowing him.
A
Yeah.
B
What do you have to bring if you can't share your relationship with him? And, and that's the difference I see in Pastor Nancy in you. There's not many. There's not many who have the that relationship. And that's why we honor you and value. Because you understand that.
A
That's very sweet. But you know, I really believe there is a shift. I believe. I believe Jesus is making himself known in beautiful ways. I am so excited what God's doing in young people. I agree there. There's a change of coming. Let it start in me. That's another one of our songs.
B
Everything's a song.
A
Everything's. Everything's a song.
B
I love it.
A
But I, I really believe that we are. I personally believe we're at the beginning of the end days.
B
I agree.
A
And his glory will be poured out upon all the earth. And when we start thinking about every knee bow and every tongue confessing, what is all that going to look like? I know, I know when real revival.
B
But I want to be involved in that.
A
Oh, are you kidding?
B
I don't want to miss.
A
Are you kidding me? I still think I'm a teenager on the inside. I'm about 28. Yeah, I'm 73, but I'm 28.
B
I agree with that.
A
But there's something in me. There's an expectancy, there's a longing. And not just for heaven. That's going to be great, Shondo, but I don't want to get a load up tonight. I am ready to go. But I want to see what is going to happen when the glory of God covers the earth. It's going to be so exciting. And it already is starting to happen. We have the beginnings of it and we need to write music to help celebrate that, to help people understand what's going on? So that's one of my goals.
B
Well, you're important to that whole thing, that whole picture. You have really trailblazed away for so many, and you're inspiring generations today. And I promise you, I'm not just saying that. I see it. I see it in the kids when they look at you and they see your beautiful hats and they hear your beautiful music. You inspire them. You inspire me.
A
Thank you.
B
But I do want to ask you this question. You persevered through many things in life. What are some things you've learned through those seasons that would help somebody and encourage somebody to not give up?
A
It's interesting. Richard Roberts sings a song we wrote called Don't Give Up. Don't give Up. Though the howling storm is raging he makes the clouds his chariots he rides upon the wind Everything is a song. But isn't that wonderful? That we can sing our way out? That we can sing our way out. But what was the question?
B
You've persevered through some things, and I want to know what you've learned through that and come out on the other side of it. And what would you tell somebody that may be facing that same thing you have?
A
You know what? It didn't come to stay. I know it's an old saying to say it came to pass. It didn't come to stay. Six and a half years ago, when I walked through a divorce that was not my choosing, and I had a total breakdown. I'm not. I'm not bragging on that. I wish I could say I was always strong and just. But it was. It was a very, very tough time.
B
Yes, ma'.
A
Am. But the Lord, it would. He, Holy sneaky, would send people to me. I mean, the pizza delivery guy would be saying, jesus loves you, and I'll go. And there was a part of me that didn't even want to hear that I was mad at God. I was mad at me. I was mad at my ex. I was mad at the world. But whenever God would send. I call it Jesus with skin on. He would send people like my daughter Destiny would come in, you know, to my room and just hold me. I would be, you know, in a fetal position in the bed, and she would just hold me and just kind of rock me like I was a baby. But there were people like that that God used. Because God uses people. God uses people. He manifested himself to me physically a few times. I made a pillow person by my bed, on my bed. Because, you know, when you sleep with somebody 40 years, you're used to a body being there. And one night I was crying and upset, and I turned and looked, and instead of a pillow person, there was the Lord. And he said, I'll be your husband. And he. I have learned that he will be a husband, a friend. He will be a father, everything that you have need of. You know, you may not have a family like mine that was just so strong and so wonderful. But I tell you what, he'll be family. And if you'll allow yourself to get attached to. To a good church that understands being family, they will be there for you, too.
B
And that's. That's what to me, maybe I'm biased because I'm a pastor, but it's true for everyone. That's why it's so important to find the place you belong in the body of Christ when it comes to your local church.
A
That's right.
B
Because like you said, Jesus uses people.
A
Yes.
B
And there's people like Reba, like so many who have walked with Jesus, who have and exude the love of Jesus because they've experienced his love through seasons.
A
Yes, yes.
B
And there's people anointed to help you. And it's so important that.
A
And it's okay to ask for help.
B
It's okay.
A
You know, when I. When I went through my dark season, which, thank God, you know, we're back in the light. Hallelujah.
B
Yes, ma'. Am.
A
But when I went through my dark season, God used to therapists. God used counselors and people that had really studied and were spirit led and were there for me. You know, if I was in a wreck by the highway and a Semite hit me and I'm lying there and my guts are hanging out, don't come up to me and say, you know, what scripture are you standing on? All I know is my guts are hanging out and I'm about to die, y'. All.
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
But, you know, it was a process. It was a process. But from the guts spilling out to the days of victory, I look back now and it seems like a bad dream. I don't look back a lot except to say, look what the Lord has done.
B
Look what the Lord's done.
A
Yeah, that's right.
B
I love that so much because it's important to realize it's okay to ask for help because there's people anointed to help you and walk through it with you.
A
Absolutely. That's their expertise. That's their profession. That's their ministry. And so allow people to have their ministry.
B
And you'd be shocked how Jesus can speak through a person to minister to you. And I think it happens a lot more than people may realize.
A
Right, Right.
B
Okay. I have another question for you that I. That I. That I want to know, and I'm sure a lot of people watching will want to know, what's some advice you would give someone who has a gift in music or singing, instrumentation, whatever it may be, and they want to bring a greater supply in that area to the body of Christ? What would you say to that person? What is the most important thing to prioritize?
A
Well, to prioritize your own relationship with the Lord, obviously. But let me tell you kind of what happened with us. We were little hillbillies in Kentucky, as I mentioned, and we were singing in our little local church, and my mother began to write songs. And so somebody would be visiting the church and go over here at Second Baptist. We'd love to hear those songs. Would y' all come over here? My dad was managing a grocery store. My mother was working in a hosiery mill, making pantyhose and teaching people how to sew. But they would travel as many nights a week as people would invite them, not charging anything if they got enough money to buy gas. They were thrilled. But they began to bloom where they were planted. And my mother was so faithful in her gifting for many, many years. She says, if I can't write one creative line a day, I don't need to call myself a writer. So even in the years that we had the bus and the Rambos travel, whenever we would all be going in to have lunch at a restaurant, we knew Mother wasn't going to go have lunch because she'd be in the back room of that bus with that guitar, and she. We would hear her back there, and she was so disciplined in her gift. And even before there was any record label, before there was any big auditoriums, she wrote because she loved Jesus. She wrote because she had to.
B
Yeah.
A
Yeah. It was just. It was just in her.
B
It was burning in her.
A
It was burning in her. But she yielded to that gift.
B
Yielded.
A
A lot of people will say, oh, I know I could. I could. I could. But what are you doing with it? What's in your hand? And what are you doing with what's in your hand?
B
And I love what you said. Writing every day. And like you said earlier in this interview, said, whatever God is speaking to you, if it's just a phrase, if it's just write it down, it's just as simple as writing it down. And like she said, you Got an eraser you can erase and add something to it or. But just start somewhere. And I think also what's important is when you see a need in the body of Christ, well, bring your supply to fill that need.
A
Absolutely. My mother would sing, lead the singing at our little country church. And, you know, there were guitars out of tune. There was a piano that hadn't been tuned in this decade, you know, and there were. I'll never forget my second cousin Rowena. She played the piano. She'd say, I played the piano.
B
Piano, yeah.
A
And she would. She would like. If a song was in C, she would just kind of hit whatever chord and land on the sea. Didn't matter what she did. But you know what? We worshiped God, and God moved and miracles happened and sinners were saved. It wasn't the most gorgeous, but there was some ointment on it. There was some oil on it. There was some oil on it. Yeah.
B
And I love that because it's like piano. How did you say. It sounds like a dessert or something. A piano. But it's just important to, like you said, start with your relationship with Jesus. I mean, what do you have to lead people into as singer or a musician if you don't have that to start with? That'll show. I mean, it's clear in your family that y' all have pursued Jesus, walked with him, and that's really what shines the most.
A
Thank you.
B
That's what shines the most.
A
Well, and your family, too.
B
Thank you.
A
I love. I love your family so much. Because you prove. We have another song says, you prove your love to me, and your family has proven your love to me. I don't want to cry. My mascara runs. But you have proven your love and proven your trust, even when I had probably not even earned it and maybe didn't even deserve it. But you trusted the gift in me, and your mom realized I felt safe because I knew there wasn't anything I could say, like from the pulpit, that she couldn't cover.
B
I feel that way, too.
A
Yeah. That if I made a mess, you could clean it up.
B
Yes, ma'. Am.
A
And it would be okay, and it wouldn't be held against me. That's love.
B
That's love.
A
That's Jesus. You know, because we all. We all have to have those safe places.
B
Yes, ma'.
A
Am. That we get to try out our gifts.
B
It's true. And something Pastor Nancy has been emphasizing lately is just to the team. And she doesn't have to say this to you because you already do this but maybe so for me and others is just step out in faith in a new song.
A
Yes.
B
The Bible says he'll give you a new song.
A
Yes.
B
And songs from her sermons, songs from her books or songs from a teaching on jth she jth Jesus the healer. And you know, she's a creative.
A
She.
B
She led worship in our. The beginning stages of our. Our church years ago, almost 30 years ago, she led worship. A lot of people don't know this. She sang. She did the prayer. She's a service singer. She really is a great pianist. She. Oh, yes, she is. And Miss Oklahoma. She is Miss Oklahoma. And that was her. That was her talent on the Miss Oklahoma pageant or the Miss America pageant. And truthfully, I'll brag about my mom for a second because she is a great pianist. And I remember so vividly my whole life living with her. In the middle of the night, I would hear just the elaborate, beautiful piano playing that only a few have heard.
A
Didn't sound anything like Rowena.
B
I want to hear her, though.
A
Well, she's in heaven.
B
Okay, well, maybe not. Maybe later. But you know, she has a relationship and what you see is what you get with Pastor Nancy. And there's a relationship there. Walk there. And I remember her in the middle of the night. She'd just be playing on that grand piano or any time of the day. She would just sing. And she would sing the same song sometimes over and over and over. But she loves creativity. She appreciates creative people.
A
She is a creator. She is. God has no problem with us being co creators with him. That we can do the let there be. Every time I sit down to a legal pad or my computer, mainly a legal pad, because I love to write things out first, I can hear the Lord say, you can do let there be. Let there be. You know, I love words. I love the word imagination.
B
Yes, I do, too.
A
That we can image a nation. We can image a nation. We can draw whole worlds and write about whole people groups that don't even exist yet. And God has no problem with that. I think he gets a kick. It's only vain imaginations that he says cast those. But I'm talking about creativity that glorifies him. We have the nature of our God. The Creator lives in us and breathes in us. So let's let him create.
B
He'll empower that kind of creativity.
A
Absolutely.
B
And I think creativity in the body of Christ is so important.
A
Yes.
B
Do you think it's lacking in the body of Christ today?
A
I think some of us are afraid. I Think sometimes in Christian gym, we have been afraid to speak sometimes our truth. I understand we wrote the song, we're already healed. But I also understand there was a time when my daughter came and sat in my pain with me. And to not deny we have pain, but to deny the right to stay.
B
Yes.
A
But I think that especially young people, they're beginning to write their truth. And the truth is the word of God. We know that, but it's also the nature of God. We don't have to have scripture in every song, but we have to have the nature of Christ, the nature of redemption, the nature of love in what we do.
B
You've shared your testimony about how you struggled to get pregnant.
A
Oh, yeah.
B
And you use your imagination. And you said this recently, and you've said it multiple times. If I can see it, I can seize it.
A
Yeah.
B
And I. I believe Jesus will empower creativity. Well, really, that's faith. Walking in the unknown and just standing in faith and seeing something that may be not manifested in the natural.
A
And what you're talking about, in case somebody doesn't know. I was told by seven specialists I could never have children. I had three miscarriages, three corrective surgeries, many humiliating procedures. And finally I just had. I just had a procedure done. Was in the hospital, and my. The children's father came in. Well, he was not their father then. He was just my husband. And he came in and he had bought this beautiful maternity dress in Beverly Hills. I mean, the most gorgeous maternity dress. And he said, I've set up an appointment. We're going to get you pictures made. You know what you look like? You look like a can of crowd in the hospital. And he said, we're going to have pictures of you made. And he said, but don't worry, I've got a makeup artist, I've got someone to do your hair, and I want you to put this maternity dress on. And he said, I've got a pillow, and I want you to put a pillow in it and turn sideways, look at the camera. Because he said, if I. I can see it, I can seize it.
B
I love that. And that's so important, to see something with your imagination that your faith can latch onto.
A
And people would come in and say, is Reba pregnant? He'd go, isn't she?
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
And. And calling things that are not as though they were and getting a picture, I'm so visual. The years that I was a therapist, the three years that I was a therapist, I took a lot of the tests that I gave to my clients. And I was 98.7, visual learner. So it's that way. I have to see it. Mother was a hearer. I'm more of a seer. But if I can see it, hide and watch, something's going to happen.
B
Okay, I want to ask you a few more questions.
A
Okay.
B
But I want to know this. It's still in the vein of creativity. What inspired your sound when it came to your music, when you started as a teenager and over the years. I'm talking about sonically, like, when. What, did you hear something before it was made? Did you need help with that? What inspired your creative process with your music?
A
Well, to be honest, I listened to some people, like Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Help Me Out, Carol King, Tapestry album. I listened to some of that and I was like, I love this sound, but I don't love all the words, but I love this sound. And I started writing poetry before I could even physically write. I would recite poetry and my mother would write it down for me. I won a poetry contest in Kentucky in the first grade.
B
Why does that not surprise me?
A
Well, I don't know how big a deal it was. It was Kentucky, and it was whatever, But I've always had a passion. Passion for words and fascination for words. And so I. You know, I'm not really sure how exactly it all worked, but I started playing the guitar poorly, but I knew a few enough chords. And late at night, I would light a candle. Sometimes I would. I have always usually have a prayer shawl. I put my prayer shawl over my head just to help me get in the mood, you know, And I would play my little guitar, and sometimes I would take my poetry and sing a melody to it. And I was like, this doesn't sound like my mom and dad, but. So that's kind of how it started. The first album I did was called on the Folk side of Gospel when I was almost 16. And I went kicking and screaming the whole way. Didn't want to do the record because I was so scared. I thought, nobody's going to like this kind of music. And sure enough, some radio stations, Christian radio stations, banned it and had Reba record Burning Parties because they thought I had betrayed the Southern gospel sound.
B
Yeah, I mean, you trailblazed away in that regard with sound. And, I mean, I have some of your albums right here. You know, there's not just beautiful sounds in it, but the imagery, too. Does that matter to you?
A
It matters. Like I said, I'm so visual. Like this album lady, that came out in 1976. I'm dating myself now, 1976, that won the Dove Award, was nominated for a Grammy. My dear friend Phil Johnson, my record producer, he started hearing some of the songs that was writing. He said, we need to get this on vinyl. And the record label was, no, we did that years ago when she was a kid. He said, no, I'm telling you, you need to do this. And so on the sly. He was a producer of many groups. And we'd go in after midnight, after midnight. Anyway, we'd go in and. And had musician friends that would say, we'll come, we'll come play a song with you. We'll come do a song. And for almost no money, we recorded Lady Wow. And it became the top selling gospel record across the board that year and was. And won the Dove Award. But it was, it was such a holy sneaky thing. But it was just. There was something in me that wanted to say something in a fresh, new way. I still love Southern gospel. My roots are there. I love it. I love bluegrass. But there was something that was calling me to. And then, then the Jesus movement happened and, and began. We began writing. I began writing songs to sing at Jesus festivals at that, for that generation. And they were, they were a motley crew. I mean, girls in their halter tops and Daisy Duke pants, you know.
B
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, there's so many generations of people who admire your family and you.
A
Thank you.
B
And these are remastered, aren't they?
A
They're remastered. They're available@reborambo.com you can also download them. But what I love about this, they, they have booklets in them. One of my, one of my spiritual sons, Tim Dillinger put it all together. Pictures, many that have never been seen before. And they're real collector's items.
B
That hat. Bring that back, please.
A
I've loved, you know, I love that when I was a little, tiny, tiny, tiny thing, I'd always want a bonnet. And if I didn't have a bonnet, I'd say ponytail. Ponytail. And so mother would try to grab my little hair and make. And she'd put a scarf down, it hanging down and a do rag on my head. And so it's, you know, it was prophetic, I guess.
B
I love that. I love that. But, you know, I just admire your family, admire you.
A
Thank you.
B
You as a creative, as someone who embraces creativity, but not just, not just on your own, but with Jesus, with.
A
The Lord, and, and, and to be creative with other people, that's one thing I Love about teaching, writing. I love about coming here because I. Iron sharpens iron. I get around other creatives and all of a sudden, where's my pen? Where's my.
B
Oh, my gosh. You know, my mom has always empowered me to be creative, to create something. I did drawing classes and art classes growing up. I did some voice lessons. She always made a place for me to kind of grow those giftings that she saw in me. And it's true. Iron sharpens iron. And it's so important to recognize these gifts and not be afraid of them, but give them some kind of guidance in it to help fuel them in that direction and encourage your children.
A
Yes. You know, it's only when children get a little older, they stop seeing angels. When children are little, they're wide. Their little spirits are wide open to the spirit realm. They're wide open to creativity. You know, when kids draw pictures, they're not standing there going, my painting's prettier than yours.
B
My picture's prettier than yours.
A
Not when they're little. Now. When they get older, they do. I know what you're saying, but there's a celebration of each other's work, and that's one thing. I want to have an atmosphere for young creatives. Just celebrate each other's works.
B
I love that. Yes, I love that. And, you know, I. Me and my mom work together on so many things. I've helped her with anything I could do. I help her with her book covers. We've done music together. And that's what I admire about you, because you speak my language. Okay. And so before we go, I've loved this, by the way. Thank you so much. Have you all loved this?
A
You've done a great job.
B
Thank you. This is my first one.
A
Wow.
B
Maybe not my last. Okay, one last thing. Please tell the people what you're doing in your ministry today. And what's your message today?
A
Well, my message. The Lord spoke to me recently and said, I'm making you an ambassador of joy, and I may talk about this tomorrow night. But he said, you have been through a mega storm. Remember when the disciples went through a mega storm? Jesus was asleep, but they went through a mega storm. But when Jesus spoke peace, the Bible says they experienced a mega calm. When we have a mega storm, God can turn it into a mega calm. From great trauma, he produces great joy. And I can say right now, I'm happy, happier today than I've ever been in my life all my whole big life. I'm happier today. Yeah. But only Jesus can do only Jesus, but he wants to do it for us all.
B
Where can they go to learn more about your ministry? Potentially? Maybe invite you somewhere?
A
Yes, if you want to invite me somewhere, go to Reba Rambo ministries.org Reba Rambo like the movie Rambo? Reba Rambo ministries.org if you want to know about product, go to rebarambo.com Come on, y'.
B
All. Give her a great gift. Big God bless you. Thank you so much. I love you. I love you. And thank you for coming to defrain Ministries and World Harvest Church.
A
I'm just coming home.
B
You're home. Thank y' all for tuning in. We love you guys.
A
We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of dufresne Ministries.
Podcast: Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Episode: Reba Rambo Interview—Music Legacy, Life Lessons & The Rambo Ministry Today
Air Date: April 18, 2025
Host: Pastor Grant Dufresne
Guest: Reba Rambo
This inspiring episode welcomes gospel music icon and spiritual mentor Reba Rambo for an in-depth conversation with Pastor Grant Dufresne. Together, they explore Reba’s legendary music legacy, childhood roots, creative process, family influences, worship leadership, overcoming adversity, and her ongoing ministry. The conversation is full of candid storytelling, memorable anecdotes, spiritual insights, and encouragement for believers, worshippers, and creatives.
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 05:18 | Reba | “Just put down something. It didn’t matter. That’s why they have erasers.” | | 10:00 | Reba | “He said, ‘I’m going to make you a heart surgeon, but not like you think...to write things that will get into people’s hearts.’” | | 15:58 | Reba | “Holy Spirit, thou art welcome in this place.” | | 22:41 | Reba | “My dad was an artist...He literally, with little exercises like that, taught me to see.” | | 23:07 | Reba | “My mother taught me how to hear...she taught me how to listen.” | | 31:14 | Reba | “Your inner circle is so important.” | | 43:31 | Reba | “It didn’t come to stay. It came to pass.” | | 56:52 | Reba | “If I can see it, I can seize it.” | | 65:52 | Reba | “When we have a mega storm, God can turn it into a mega calm. From great trauma, He produces great joy.” |
Reba Rambo’s interview is a rich tapestry of music legacy, authenticity, divine guidance, and creative inspiration. Her life’s journey demonstrates the power of cultivating one’s gifts, supporting others, and being faithful even amid life’s storms. Listeners are encouraged to pursue relationship with Christ, dare to create, and never give up.
To connect with Reba or invite her to minister:
For music and resources:
Summary by Dufresne Ministries Podcast Summarizer—April 2025