Friends of Donna's Music Ministry

Friends of Donna are a broad group of people, businesses and fans who share the Mission of spreading God's love through her music ministry.

Young and old seem to be drawn to Donna's unique style of hymns, songs and tasteful contemporary arrangements.

As a "music missionary", Donna offers her music through a variety of channels, including online for free. Her music ministry essentially relies on Christian "friends" who support her outreach through one-time, annual or small monthly financial gifts. In many ways, Donna's friends are spiritual partners with her in the spreading of the Gospel of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Donna's friends can buy professionally produced music CD's at "cost" to give to their family and friends or just direct people to download her music from this website to create their own CD's at home.

Visit the How to become a Friend of Donna's Ministry link for more information on supporting Donna's music ministry.

The Mission is through Music

Some of us might be wondering why all of this great music is available online for free? Does Donna even sell her music through Christian music stores on CD?

This is a good question with an equally good answer. Here is Donna's response:

"Yes, we do sell music through traditional retail channels. However, we at FaithGiver wanted to be sure anyone could get all of my music online for free. If cost were an issue, I didn't want money to be a barrier against sharing the blessings of my music with others. I was given my gifts and musical talents by God. They were free gifts. I want to share freely what I have been given.

Some might say that putting all of my music online for free is not a good business decision, and they're right, it's not. But this ministry is not about the business of making money - it's about the business of spreading the Gospel of Jesus.

"Frankly, I'm inclined to agree with the widely popular Christian music artist, Steve Camp, and His 107 Theses calling for wholesale reform of the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry. CCM has broadly lost the Holy Spirit's influence; it has become just another genre of POP music where Jesus is watered down to the point where His Name is either removed or meaningless within the music.

"Oddly, while Christian pastors and teachers decry from their pulpits that churches are becoming too "seeker sensitive" in delivering the powerful, life-changing messages of God (ie. watering down the Bible's message so as not to 'offend' the sinners who are looking for the Rock of Salvation); CCM has all but completely bowed before this "seeker sensitive" or "crossover" mentality. In the their quest for more sales, the big labels of CCM have pushed to "tone down" the message of Christ in order to appeal to a broader audience and fanbase.

"Many industry friends have told me that I should put my picture on the front cover of the CD's we produce at FaithGiver. 'How else will people know who you are?', they insist. The reason I don't is that the music is not about me -- it's about Yahweh! It's about His Love, His Gospel, His Character, His Sacrifice, His Mercy. In Christian music circles, one needs to really examine oneself and ask, 'Is the music about me or Him?' Christian music artists have been luring people to their products through the same means secular artists do: an attractive photo on the cover of a CD, an attitude and stage act that focuses on the musician rather than the Creator. The next time you're in a music or Christian book store, look at the covers of the CCM CD's and tell me this 'me-focused' attitude and secular marketing isn't prevalent. Are we buying CD's because the artist is physically attractive, or because their music stirs the Holy Spirit within us and reminds us our Heavenly Father and the Home we have far away?

"Also, just as Steve Camp along with many others have criticized before, CCM has become really big business today. With that business success has come compromise; compromise in business dealings; compromise in the spreading of the Word through the music; compromise in the watering down of the Gospel message. All of this compromise is all for the sake of selling a few more CD's and not offending anyone's "worldly" sensitivities with the life-changing truth of the Word.

"God has called me to offer the gifts He has given me back to Him. Rather than use my gifts to just sell music, I really feel that the heart and calling of the Gift is to show others the magnificence of His extreme love. If there is any reward for spreading the Gospel through music, I'd rather not receive that reward in the here and now, but rather, in the later and forever part of my life with Jesus. If I died tomorrow, the one thing I would wish to be remembered for is not the songs I've written, sung or played; but rather that people might say, 'Donna really loved Jesus with her whole heart ...' "

Donna In The Studio

FaithGiver Studios is the birthplace, think tank, and creative sanctuary for much of Donna's music and inspiration. Using state-of-the-art electronic instruments, computers, software, exceptional sound libraries and a little help from her techie husband, FaithGiver has produced most of the outstanding music currently available on this site.

We've put together a FaithGiver Studios FAQ (frequently asked questions) for those interested in some of the details about the music Donna writes ...

Question: What projects are you working on presently?

Donna: We're finishing up Living Water and concurrently working on the follow-up CD, Bread of Life. They will be companion projects.

Question: Why did you call the project "Living Water"? And How were you inspired when writing Living Water?

Donna: When I'm writing music, I'm many times inspired by particular themes or events that come from my Bible studies and moments with God. Other times, like with the Living Water song, the inspiration starts simply and then builds into something much larger than just a single song. The idea for Living Water started with a water and piano painting I saw. I thought, "I'd really like to use that on a CD cover." It seemed to be a great illustration of the "Living Water" Jesus talks about. So I emailed the artist to ask permission to use his painting, and as I waited for a response, I felt the Spirit calling me to write a song about the topic. There are some moments when writing music and lyrics that I can feel the Holy Spirit's influence at work as I write. Living Water was one of these times.

Ultimately, I found out from the artist of the picture I liked that due to licensing agreements, I could not use the painting that had been the original inspiration for the project, but it didn't matter! By that time, the CD was almost done! "Living Water", the song, had become very special to me. The song is really a Bible study into a part of God's character. While writing the lyrics, I dug into the Word seeking God's leading for what He wanted the song to really say. What I received was more than just a song, it was an inspirational message as well.

Many times I think we as Christians forget that Jesus is more than just our deliverer, He is also our Creator. Apart from Him we don't have any life at all; He is the One who sustains us and gives us life. Our very existence is on loan from Him. Were God to suddenly decide to withdraw His life from this world, all of us would simply cease to be alive - He is the infinite source of life, our Living Water.

Sometimes I feel a bit odd writing a song from the first-person perspective of God; but this time I really didn't feel that way because what I was essentially doing was putting Jesus' own Words to music. He's calling us to remain in Him -- that is: to love Him, accept His forgiveness, seek Him, obey Him -- and He will fill us with life from the One Source that can never run dry - Himself. As many who have heard my projects know, I also like incorporating parts of familiar hymns into new songs to blend the old with the new, and being able to do that on the bridge of this song - but once again from a first person perspective - really added a sense of familiarity and comfort to the song.

Question: How long did the project take to write and then produce?

Donna: Living Water was a very quick project that sort of came out of nowhere. It was like the Holy Spirit was saying inside me said, "Do a CD", so we just did it. It was in every aspect a miracle project because the beta came together in about eight days! I really felt like Nehamiah building the wall around Jerusalem. With God's help, the CD came together very fast and we were able to have some CD's available at some It Is Written functions during a time when I was doing some music for their ministry.

Normally, you cannot do a song in a week let alone a complete CD with product. It just doesn't happen. Most of the songs on the Living Water project were brand new arrangements of songs I had written, every song but one required extensive orchestration, edits, mixing, etc. For that to come together in eight days required a miracle, as well as a lot of help from others! My dear husband did the combination job of child-watcher, CD designer, and production person. I put out an SOS call to my very talented friend Kim Deardorff in Nashville for a drum track for the title song "Living Water" and he had it to me within hours. (Thanks, Kim!) During those eight days, I lived on about two hours per day of sleep. I continuously claimed God's promise "My God will meet all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus." (Phillippians 4:13, NIV). You don't build a wall around a city in fifty-two days and you don't produce a CD, start to finish, in eight days without God's help. It really is a miracle that the CD came together as quickly as it did and I feel God's hand in it every time I play it.

Question: How can people interested in your music get more information and updates on new songs released by you through FaithGiver?

On the bottom of this website is an easy to use email address form. Just send me your email address, we don't really need anything more, and when new songs and information are posted, we just send out a little note letting people know that new music is available for download.

Do people have permission to share your songs since they are available for free online?

Absolutely. However, all of the music is still under copyright so the songs can only be distributed or sold through official channels. The music is not in the public domain.

Do you have sheet music for your songs?

Some of the songs we do have sheet music for. If you'd like to have some sheet music, please email me and I'll see if I can provide you with the music for the song(s) you're interested in.

What about performance tracks? Are background tracks available for your songs published through FaithGiver?

Yes. We can make background tracks available for performance use. Typically, we simply email the MP3 or WAV files to you for burning to a CD. Please contact us via email for pricing and details.