Carroll Cooke’s Lowesville Gospel Concerts Making an Impact
Written by Staff on May 4, 2018 – 10:07 am -
Lowesville Gospel Concerts stage
Charlie Griffin of SGNScoops’ Magazine tells the
story of one of the fastest growing gospel concert series
Carroll Cooke is a man on a mission, with a passion that is manifested by his actions and his love of gospel music. But when you get to know him, you will find out he just loves his family and everyone. He has never met a stranger. Gospel music is just one of his many interests.
His music is rooted in his faith. Cooke says, “I was saved when I was 10 years old. I don’t remember the church or the message. I do remember going to my dad and mom, telling them I had to go to the altar. The preacher led me in the sinner’s prayer and I accepted Jesus into my heart and he saved me forever. The preacher asked
Jordan’s Bridge at Lowesville
me to say something and all I could get out was, ‘I just want to thank him,’ ‘I just want to thank him,’ and to this day, I still just want to thank him.”
Over the years Cooke has been a singer, active church member, choir member, deacon, business owner, husband, father, and community leader. Each phase of his life has been fulfilled in so many ways. Yet in the last five years, his life has come into a richness that is being showcased in the small community of Lowesville, N.C.
His love of gospel music started at a young age. Cooke shares, “My dad (Roy A Cooke), mom (Lois Cooke), sister (now Hazel Sain), and I began singing as a quartet when I was six years old. We did this every weekend for about 15 years, then the next 40 years, I served as minister of music at different churches in and around the surrounding counties.
Carroll Cooke and his wife, Barbara
I have only been trying to promote our music since late 2012.
“My dad was the most influential person in my life,” confesses Cooke. “He lived and breathed music. He was the choir director at our local church, and he wanted so badly for everyone who had a desire to sing, to be able to sing, and sing well. He would have V. O. Fossett of the Stamps Baxter Music School from Dallas, Texas, come for two weeks and teach the old shaped notes, along with voice, piano, and harmony. He then would go beg other churches in the area to have Fossett come teach at their church, and he was successful in doing just that. This way, we would attend singing schools about all summer.”
Sometimes it was more than just the singing. Cooke loved the buses too. “The first concert I ever remember attending was promoted by Charlie Burke at a ballpark in Newton, N.C. I don’t even remember who sang, I just remembered the busses, and thinking what a life that would be. I was probably 10 or 12 at the time. At 75, I have no desire to crawl in one of them, I just love to see them
Crowns of Light at Lowesville Gospel Concerts
pull in and pull out.”
During those years, his family grew. He became a leader in the community and in the church while developing a successful business. Cooke operated the Lowesville Automotive Warehouse in the Lowesville community near Stanley, N.C. Upon his retirement in 2012, he sold the property to Living Word Ministries.
In that former parts warehouse and store, Living Word Ministries shares the gospel with regular worship services each week since August 2012. Pastor Derrick Dellinger leads a growing church that is on fire for God. Their Outreach ministries are impacting the surrounding communities by helping the needy, feeding the homeless, and loving people. They present the gospel in a way that the new Christian can understand and
The Sheltons at Lowesville
the mature disciple can continue to grow and be inspired, in a shame-free environment. No attitudes or judgment found at LWM, just a church family that is excited about what God is doing in the community.
As the church grew, Cooke found a desire to reach the community in a new outreach: Saturday night Southern gospel concerts. With the encouragement of Pastor Dellinger, Cooke started in January 2013 with concerts on the second and fourth Saturday nights of each month. That is 24 concert promotions each year.
Tags: Carolina Quartet, Carroll Cooke, Charlie Griffin, Cockman Family, gospel music, Guardians, Heart 2 Heart, hyssongs, Jaidyns Call, Jeanne Johnson, Jordan's Bridge, lefevre quartet, Lowesville Gospel Concerts, nelons, Pine Ridge Boys, sgnscoops, Sheltons, Shireys, Troy Burns Family, Wisecarvers
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