Gospel singers give encouraging performance at Christian show

The gospel quartet Spoken 4 gave a fun and inspiring performance midweek during the Chase County Fair.
The quartet presented their four-part harmonies with flair and gave heartfelt testimonies to communicate encouragement to the audience.
They told the audience that they prayerfully listen to God and go wherever He opens a door, which brought them here.
Testimonies reaching people
Jon Charles Taggart is a lead vocalist for Spoken 4.
He was born and raised in West Point, Mississippi.
Taggart was brought up in a church setting and encouraged by his parents to follow his dream and God’s plan for his life­—that path was serving God with music, he said.
His experience singing in a barbershop quartet in Texas eventually led him and his family to Missouri near Branson where he worked full time singing in Gospel quartets.
This is where he met his friend, Cecil Stringer, and, together, formed the quartet Spoken 4.
Cecil Stringer sings bass with the group.
He has been singing gospel music since the age of 17. He began his professional career singing with the famed Blackwood Brothers Quartet.
With Christ as his guide, he sought God’s direction for his life and went on to sing with the Branson Brothers for a number of years. Life was going smoothly for him, he said.
Out of the blue, the group was disbanded with no notice. Stringer was on a bus home the next day.
He had been dealing with a lingering cold for several weeks, and by the time the bus arrived home he had to be taken directly to the emergency room.
He was diagnosed with pneumonia and probable scarring in his lungs.
The prognosis was he would be asthmatic the rest of his life.
After leaving the hospital, he was taken to his home only to discover that the house he had built by his own hands had been destroyed when a pipe burst due to the freezing Ozark Mountain temperatures.
He found himself faced with a decision to walk away or push on. So he prayed until he was renewed in his walk with Christ.
In 1993, he was inducted into the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame with the Blackwood Brothers Quartet.
In 2007, Stringer’s road led him to performing full-time at Silver Dollar City in a gospel quartet where he met Taggart.
Together they formed the group Spoken 4.
Stringer said he is a living testimony that the devil may take everything you have, but God will give it all, and more, back to you if you are faithful to Him.
Brandon Britton was raised in the backwoods of South Carolina and has always been involved with music and theater, he said.
He grew up with a father and grandparents who were all performing musicians, though not professionally.
At age 16, he knew he wanted to be involved in ministry but was undecided as to how.
He came home from work one day to find his mother had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. This was the most difficult yet defining moment of his life, he said.
Now Britton uses his own story, and that of his mother, to reach a group of people he feels are often forgotten and overlooked.
He has been a part of Spoken 4 for 10 years singing tenor, writing songs for the quartet and working as a webmaster doing all the artwork for the group.
Brian Arnold sings baritone and is the pianist for Spoken 4.
Arnold grew up in West Plains, Missouri.
His testimony to the audience was dramatic but told with strength and a clear faith in God.
At age 6, he was accidentally run over by a lawnmower, losing his left leg just below the knee and dramatically altering the trajectory of his life, he said.
“Instead of the original plan of participating in sports, my mother shifted my sights toward the  piano,” said Arnold.
He graduated from college as a classical pianist, he added.
As a young adult, Arnold began a successful career in Branson as an entertainer.
In 1994, his life was altered once again when a tragic automobile accident left him with a paralyzed left arm from a broken neck.
He said, “I thought  to myself, how can I be a classical pianist with only one arm?”
That question was answered when Arnold joined Spoken 4, singing and accompanying them on electric piano while playing with one hand.
“A few weeks ago, I tore my rotator cuff getting on a golf cart—on the same side that I’m paralyzed, so I will be having surgery in September to correct that,” he chuckled.
With the help of the Lord and his family, he continues to persevere by using his unique story to encourage others that, “God can take a mess and turn it into a message.”
A calling
The group got their start in Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.
Over the years, members have come and gone, but what didn’t change was a deep drive to see lives changed through the power of Christ.
The four talented men have been touring all over North America for the last 12 years.
They currently perform multiple shows a day in Branson, Missouri.
The gospel quartet endeavors to bring the best possible sound, musical styles and testimonies for reaching people and bringing glory to God.