Tom Answers Your Questions
Send your questions to Rev. Tom to answer please send it to tom@tombrightdavies.com. Keep it brief, direct and short. We would humbly request you send your name and contact even though we would not publish all your details except your first name for reasons of privacy so that visitors to this page on the site would not be able to contact you without your consent.
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This may sometimes mean your actual question may not appear. In addition to this, we humbly request that all desiring to ask questions spend some time going through the already asked questions and answers which may provide you with more than enough answers you are looking for. Doing this will undoubtedly save time and will enable Rev. Tom provide better ministry and service to you.
When and how did you get born again?
What is your background and nationality?
How do you deal with all the popularity and attention from the public?
When and How did you get born-again
I would like to look at my experience of conversion as a process that started somewhere in 1975/1976 there about but really materialized fully in 1977/1978.
My late junior brother Victor, got born again somewhere in 1976 through an Oral Roberts weekly telecast and would always poke the salvation message in my face till I was sore tired and “haunted” with it. His life was a true challenge to his new found freedom and this begun to challenge me a lot. He could really preach, share the word and pray for the sick with results. His faith and devotion to God rocked my soul to the core and I started a long search trying to find answers to all life’s problems.
When Victor died in 1978 after being run down by a vehicle I was real shaken. Many people for some reason thought I had died when they heard the news. It then hit me big time that I could have been the one run down. We were very close Victor and me, and God used his death to teach me that life was only worth living if you lived it for Jesus. The lesson I learned was that even though we do know that it is God’s will is for us to live beyond 70 years, the reality is that people do die at varying ages.
What if I had died without really knowing Jesus and had gone to hell? What if I was in Victor’s shoes? These were the kind of questions that led me to the cross of Jesus where I embraced his love and forgiveness. He did not leave me at the cross but took me to his empty tomb and let me know that not only did I die with him but also I have resurrected with him. I understood what it meant to have the power and authority to be called a son of God. Since then I have not turned back and would not give Jesus up for anything. He is my reason for living, being and giving.
When I look back today I’m able to appreciate that God had been directing my steps towards him long before I officially got born again. I have always loved the arts since childhood but music stood out when I moved into high school or secondary school and when the book that catalogues my life and ministry comes out you will read all the fine details. There happened to be a school piano in the assembly hall of my school which was mostly under lock and key and only the music students were authorized to play. I did not have any prior training and I was just an average student in music theory. This meant I would not get the chance to play around the instrument. All I had was a passion for music that would not go no matter how hard I tried so I would hide in the hall before the caretaker locked up the place and when the coast was clear I would open up the grand piano and try to reproduce the tunes in my head on the piano. I knew no keys, did not understand music theory but I guess I was blessed with good ears and a strong inclination. Within two weeks I was playing chords and accompanying songs I could sing in a basic way. The Holy Spirit was also giving me large doses of wisdom and ideas on what to do to play songs I had heard and I kept stealing into that hall to practice what I had learnt. I have shared this testimony over and over that even though I did not have any book or prior contact with music training, God used his channels of divine wisdom to instruct me and teach me. I began playing as a session keyboard player for most gospel groups and soloists. They seemed to like my style especially because it was very contemporary and expressive. I also joined and played for a gospel group in my school known as the Jesus Revolutionaries which was a sort of Outreach group for our scripture union. From this group I joined and became music director for a bigger gospel group and to cut a long story short one good thing has led to another and here I am. It’s been many years now and I am grateful to God. Just make sure you get my book when it comes out and you will find all the stories between with pictures.
What is your background and nationality?
Well, well, well. This is one question that comes up for every generation of the Bright-Davies doesn’t it? Well my great-grandfather was said to be a son of a rich freed slave who moved from the USA to West Africa and settled in Sierra Leone from which the family has grown and expanded. All this is paternal but maternally my roots are Ghanaian, was born in Ghana and is proud to be a Ghanaian even though my surname betrays me. There are many like me in Ghana except that our history in Ghana is not as deep as many others. I am married to a Ghanaian and so are all my siblings so we are here to stay…..at least for now.
This is one question that comes up for every generation of the Bright-Davies doesn’t it? My great-grandfather was said to be a son of a rich freed slave who moved from the USA to West Africa and settled in Sierra Leone from which the family has grown and expanded. All this is paternal but maternally my roots are Ghanaian, was born in Ghana and is proud to be a Ghanaian even though my surname betrays me. There are many like me in Ghana except that our history in Ghana is not as deep as many others. I am married to a Ghanaian and so are all my siblings so we are here to stay…..at least for now.
When I met Cece in 1983 little did I realize we had been around each other on many occasions but had not taken note. I was with some friends in a rehearsal when she and some others showed up to say hello to my closest pal and associate, Dougy. He spoke to them most of the time and introduced them to me and me to them. They seemed to know a little about me and what I was doing in music. They expressed rather shyly their interest in singing and so I invited them to join the group at the next meeting. My friend then told them he would bring me over to visit them at home and that is how we got acquainted.
Obviously one thing did lead to another and here we are. Cece is a rare specie of a woman and I bless God for this honour of having her as my wife, partner, friend, sister and mother of my children. She has been such a blessing to me.
I’m sure you would be expecting me to say music. That may be true since music is my passion but the best times of my life are the times I get to spend with my wife and children. I love doing creative work like designing and I enjoy reading a lot. Sports like football is great when I want to get all the stress and pressure down but it has to be the top European leagues or championships.
Quite frankly I love to spend time profitably. I always make sure that every moment of my life is spent on something that positively impacts my life.
We all do know the kind of attention women give successful and prominent people.Do women bother you and how do you deal with it?
Women gravitate towards success and great things and this will never change. It is part and parcel of their constitution. They seem to be always driven towards every territory where good things are happening. Why is this so? It’s simply because they love to provide admiration, support and encouragement to that which is good. The other thing is that they love to identify with success stories. It is a known fact of life that the percentage of women in the world today is much higher than that of men and that in a church you will find more women than men. In most charitable groups you will find more women than men and finally they are the only humans who have this inexplicable gift of nurturing and carrying another living human inside them for nine whole months. What is my point then? We have been too quick to judge women as evil. They are always seen through the nature and character of the first woman, Eve. They are seen as the “devil” that will bring a man down to disgrace and shame after he has worked so hard to climb up his ladder. They are the marriage breakers and husband snatchers and a sensual provocation that plagues men. This is the way history has chosen to remember a woman and this is what she looks like in society’s eyes. While all this may be true to some extent have we stopped to think, wonder or ponder the part a man plays in all this? When a woman is out to get a man he senses it sooner or later but ignores the warning signals. Men love feminine attention. They love to be the knight in shining amour. They want to be seen by women as a hero and a rescuer of their problems. They open the doors of their lives to just any woman who is ready to shower praise and this is where men ought to watch it. I have learned to treat every woman with the dignity she deserves. I treat the older ones as mothers and nothing more. I treat those who are my peers as sisters and nothing more. I treat those who are younger as daughters and nothing more. I am nice to all women and ensure that I keep the relationships I have with them within their appropriate confines. I am not overly suspicious when a woman seems all over me with praise because my ministry and talent have blessed her. It is only natural for her to do this. The real issue is that a woman’s praise only complements and confirms what I already know and what my wife and children tell me always. A woman will only be a problem when you want her to. Think about it!!!!!!
How do you deal with all the popularity and attention from the public?
Let me let you in on some truth here. It is only a hypocrite who will say success and greatness does not feel good. God said to Abraham “I will make your name great”. It is when it gets into your head that it destroys you. Let me also state here that the bible talks of “good success” in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 and so if there is good success, there is bad success. I believe that good success has God at the centre and around it. It is a kind that always testifies to what only God can do if He finds a willing and obedient heart and that is what I am gunning for. I want to experience that moment when He would say “welcome to my rest, you faithful and obedient servant”. I live always knowing and seeing that “all that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Him”.
Many, many things. Some you can do something about because it is in your human capacity to but others you simply cannot play God. It hurts me to see kids hurt by the negative statements adults make to them and about them. Look at a 5 year old being labeled bad boy or bad girl by an adult, maybe the parents. Words like stupid, good for nothing, useless, ugly, fat fool, skinny skeleton etc find their way into a child’s subconscious and no wonder many children struggle to be what they were born to be. I never want to see a child hurt. It just breaks my heart. I will take this opportunity to tell anyone reading this at this moment to decide to speak kind and blessed words to everyone you meet especially children.
Absolutely none. I’m sure you are asking why. I have learned to understand that even while I was yet a sinner Christ died for my sins to set me free. Even when I rejected his love and mercy, when I thought I did not need Him, He loved me the same. For me this is the most powerful expression of love ever shown and because of that where I am coming from is not as important as where I am going. My past is gone and my future has just begun therefore I do not look at my past with regret. The blessing of the past is that it gives you enough ammunition for the future so you don’t make the same mistakes. The past is not meant for regrets but for reflection and correction.
You know what? Everybody at sometime or the other would have a question of “WHAT IF” ringing in the mind in relation to one particular issue or the other. When certain things that you have believed God take long in manifesting you naturally would have fear knocking hard on your door and that’s just what fear comes to do-KNOCK HARD!!!!! As fear knocks hard keep your confession and conviction that He who promised is faithful and will deliver. Many times our fear comes from an inability to wait. For every promise there is a waiting period. Some things will take longer in coming than others. You cannot expect to deliver a healthy baby after carrying it for 4 months, can you? Same as the promises of God. What you do when fear knocks hard on your door is not to do the usual “who’s there” or “hold on I’m coming” and certainly not “oooooh come in and take a seat I will be with you soon”. You need to yell out from your spirit as loud and as hard as you can “my miracle is in motion”. This is what I do.
Pastor Andrae E. Crouch. For me he is a fuller example of what music ministry should be like. In all aspects he excels and has not just been successful as a person but has raised hundreds to become successes today. When you review his lyrics and observe the level of spiritual insight in his songs it is life transforming for short. I will be doing a book on him that attempts to breakdown the style and composition behind his musical works. One thing that amazes me most is Andrae Crouch’s skill in vocal arranging. You need to listen to his songs like Mercy, My Tribute; Jesus is the answer, Pray, I’ll be thinking of you, Early in the morning, all the way, Lets worship Him and so on to know what I am talking about. The man is a textbook. I have picked up so much from him and I’m eternally grateful. God bless you Pastor Andrae.
