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June 2003 Table of Contents
Cover Story
J & J Music–Yesterday and Today
By Shanda Lyons
In the mid seventies, an idea was birthed in the heart of Jerry & Jackie Evans. An idea that would take them to places and meeting people they never imagined. What eventually became J&J Music, began as a desire to meet needs in ministry, a business with heart.
While Jerry was serving as Minister of Music at First Baptist Church, Perrine, FL, he found that he had a need for one place he could contact that would help him find the music and resources he needed to be effective in his job. At that time, there was no such place. In February of 1977, their lives would change dramatically and eventually opened the door to create just this place. Jerry's father died suddenly of a heart attack and as time passed with the responsibilities of helping settling the estate, Jerry & Jackie felt they needed to return to Jerry's home of Mobile, Alabama, to assist his mother in managing her successful florist.
"We really thought this would be a temporary situation and, after a year or so, we would move back into full time church work." Jerry states. Within less than a year of that move, God's direction began the spark once again these desires and conversations and He was providing opportunities to explore a business opportunity.
Jackie shares the bare bones beginnings for J&J Music. "When we moved back to Mobile, Jerry was the successful Minister of Music come back home. Every local church began calling for him to lead in their revival services. After one such revival, we came home with a check for $272.00 and we decided 'It's either now or never' and with that, opened a bank account to begin J&J Music." The first couple of months, Jackie-who had been teaching in a private school-was operating out of the laundry room of their home. As the time came for school to begin again, they decided it was time to commit full time to this endeavor. Jackie quit teaching, they moved the operations of J&J into the office of the florist and jumped in with both feet, or all four feet as the case was. Jackie tells of trying to find a clever or catchy name for their new company. "At the time we couldn't think of anything creative so we just decided to call it J&J Music and figured we'd think of something later. Well, later never came and once you've filled out the paperwork, there's just no going back." Now the greatest and most asked question is who's the first "J"? Well that depends on which one you ask at the time!
Having never been in business, Jerry & Jackie readily admit they were flying by the seat of their pants. They began to call their friends in ministry and ask if J&J Music could have the opportunity to supply their music needs and in doing that, they were putting their name on the line. It wasn't about being a large company, it was about being an extension of that person's ministry. This philosophy holds true today.
In the early years, it was all hands on deck. Jerry & Jackie were still needed to assist in operations at the florist. Jackie would take the orders coming in for J&J and Jerry would ship them. There was little if any inventory. Jackie also was the accounting department. Jerry maintained a position as minister of music and weekends were spent on weddings with the florist. Eventually everyone, kids included, would have his or her specific duty whether it be accounting, filing, packing & shipping or just cleaning the office area. It has always truly been a family-run business.
Though at times struggles have arisen, God has always provided. By the time business was picking up with a steady pace, Jerry was also able to commit full time to J&J. They found some of their biggest challenges early on were attendence and display at any of the few choral music conferences that were being held. Church Music In The Rockies, in Estes Park, Colorado, was the one place they decided to attend regularly. For that trip to be made, kids and all would pile into the family van, sometimes sleeping in the van in campgrounds along the way, and head across country. A friend would be in the office taking orders, and Jackie would call in to obtain that information, and then in turn call the publishers to get the products in.
The first year of J&J, Jerry & Jackie had a booth at all of the Music Encounter conferences. These eventually grew to be the Church Music USA choral music conferences hosted by J&J Music. These were composed of a group of 11 publishers who had 15 two and a half-day choral music reading sessions throughout the US. At each one a different publisher was responsible for the entertainment at the closing luncheon on Saturday. At one particular event, Lorenz Music brought in the well-known comedian, Grady Nutt. Lynn Phillips, who at the time was the representative for Lorenz, brought Mr. Nutt into our booth to meet us. At that time we had no logo or anything identifiable specifically to J&J. While we visited, Grady looked at our J&J Music sign provided for us in the booth area and stated that there should be something we could do with that. He then began to sketch on a napkin what was to be the J&J Music logo. Jackie continues, "That was very special to us because we had such an admiration for Grady. We were deeply grateful for his interest in us and profoundly affected by his early death not too many years later."
Jerry & Jackie feel that J&J Music is more than a job. It is a definite calling into a ministry to serve His servants. One quality they committed from the beginning to focus on was service. The word "no" is rarely used in getting the customer product. Jerry has always felt that by the time the minister of music calls J&J, he has thought and prayed about what music he is looking for. Some titles may be harder than others to find, but that's where the service aspect comes in. They praise the great staff in the office who continues to have that vision of service, for the longevity of this business.
"We are in the business of meeting needs," says Jerry. "We have, since day one, gone to the uttermost lengths to get exactly what the customer is looking for. If it's what he feels God has laid on his heart to do, we want to assist helping him minister to his people."
Since Jerry is no longer leading worship in a church on a full-time basis, they value the relationships with their customers and friends as navigators in many of the business directions.
"Being involved in their ministries keeps us aware of the needs they have," Jackie says. Jerry and Jackie also claim that having their customers as friends has been their greatest accomplishment. "When we see them, it's like a family reunion rather than a gathering of customers." They continually look forward to each meeting with customers. "Whether it be a J&J Conference, MusiCalifornia, Metro meetings or a one-on-one visit, there's always a new excitement."
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