‘Purpose’ celebrates a year together

Byron Gann, Tim Williams and Paula Mullens are celebrating one year of singing with their group Purpose.

The past year for members of the local gospel singing group Purpose has been memorable because they have had the opportunity to physically see their “purpose” lived out.
Even though Byron Gann, Paula Mullens and Tim Williams have been singing together at their home church, Russellville Church of God, for some time now, the trio has only been an officially organized group for the past year.
“We all go to church together and had been singing for a while, but we felt we could be doing more to fulfill the Great Commission of talking the gospel message out into the world,” Williams said. “The talents God has given each of us are not for our own gain but for us to use to bring God glory.
“When we realized this, we decided to become an organized group so we could start singing at other places and telling our stories about how God has used us and worked in our lives.”
Each member has a background in gospel singing, so they’re no strangers to the music scene.
For Williams, his tenure in Southern gospel singing started 33 years ago when he was just a boy and he’s been singing ever since.
Gann’s family were members of the singing group The Gospelettes when he was young. As he got older, he joined the group called Homeward Bound and spend two and a half years singing with them before he moved to the Shoals area and joined the group called Brethren.
Mullens said she had been singing ever since she could talk and would often sing specials in church as a teenager. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Mullens lived in Mississippi and sang with a quartet, but after moving to Russellville she had to give that up.
Mullens said it could only have been God who allowed their three paths to cross at Russellville Church of God, where she has been the music minister for the past six years.
“Tim’s family sang at our homecoming service a few years ago and when he was here, he met a lady at our church that he ended up marrying,” Mullens said. “When he moved here, I would ask him to sing specials for us and he started asking Byron and I to sing some harmonies with him since he was used to singing in a group.
“That’s really how we started to sing together and realize that we had a message that needed to be shared with more people than just our own church members.”
Gann said when people think about the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus instructs his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations, people normally think of preaching and mission work.
“Our way of spreading the gospel message is through music,” Gann said. “We believe that you can preach a message through song.”
Williams added that is the reason they don’t merely sing for “entertainment” value. They have a greater purpose than to just entertain the people they sing for.
“One of the most memorable moments of this past year was singing at a church and by the end of the service, the altars were full,” he said. “Knowing that somebody’s life can be changed by what we preach through song is what makes it worthwhile.
“I am just so humbled by those who have allowed us into their lives and their churches this past year,” Williams added. “Byron said when we first started thinking about being an organized group that he didn’t know who would want to come out and hear us sing, so we don’t take that for granted that people want to hear this message.”
Mullens said over the past year the group has sang at many places in Franklin County as well as events in Colbert County, Marion County, Lawrence County and Northeast Mississippi.
“People come to hear us not because of who we are but because of what we sing,” Mullens said. “I’m excited about what the future will hold for Purpose and the different recordings and projects we have coming up.”
To celebrate a year of ministering through song, Purpose is planning a special event at Russellville Church of God full of singing, worship and food on Sunday, Aug. 5, at 5 p.m.
“This is just a way for us to say ‘thank you’ for the past year and give back to the people who have supported us,” Williams said. “We hope everyone who has heard us this year will come celebrate this milestone with us.”