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Three Sisters and the Truth: The Story of Barlow Girls by Charles White
Becca, Alyssa
and Lauren Barlow are three sisters from a suburban town 45 minutes from
Chicago, Illinois. From a musical
family, these three talented young ladies caught the music bug at a very early
age. Becca, the oldest of the group, began playing piano at the age of 8 and
eventually picked up the guitar and bass about seven years ago. Alyssa, the
group’s bassist and middle child, began with the piano at an early age and
became the group’s bassist thanks to many lessons from her big sister, Becca.
Lauren, the youngest of the trio was also exposed to the piano at a very early
age but gravitated towards the drums. She serves as the group’s
percussionist. Before
branching out on their own, the Barlow sisters served as the back-up band for
their father, himself an accomplished musician. However, they didn’t leave
their family behind when they hit the road. Their parents have made the
transition from musicians to managers for the girls. The world
first caught a glimpse of Barlow Girl through the music of another popular
Christian crossover group: Superchic[k].
Incredibly impressed by their conviction and character, members of Superchic[k]
penned a popular tune simply titled, Barlow
Girls and included this song on their Dove Award nominated release, Karaoke
Superstar. In October
2003, the girls parleyed this notoriety into a record contract with Fervent
Records and the rest is history. One of the
major appeals that Barlow Girl
brings is their sense of honesty and conviction. Although their music is on
par with any of the mainstream girl groups on the scene today, their lyrics
contain much more than the usual fluff seen in most pop/rock music. “It’s
not just about a band, it’s about a ministry,” Lauren relates. ”We
really want people to walk away with a deeper sense of God, a deeper sense of
who they are or going away questioning themselves: questioning the areas in
their life that we talked about in our show.” This is a
ministry that these girls take very seriously. Faced with the pressures dumped
on every teen, Barlow Girl has
chosen to share their struggles with their peers and show them that there is a
better way than simply conforming to the masses. “Society is
throwing so much at our generation,” states Alyssa. “The pressure is high
to lower our moral standards. We spent too much of our lives trying to conform
and trying so hard to fit in. It only leaves you emptier every time. There is
a better way. The last few years of our lives have been based on Romans 12:2
‘Do not conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind so that you may be able to test and prove what the perfect will of God
is.’ We love being able to share that with people.” Through songs
like Clothes, Average Girl and Pedestal,
these sisters communicate virtues that seem to run counter-culture such as
chastity, purity and trust and this has paid off for Barlow Girl. Thousands of teens have scooped up a copy of their
debut album while thousands more have caught them on tour with artists such as
Todd Agnew, Building 429 and Silers Bald.
Obedience,
purity and chastity: three of the many virtues that Barlow
Girl communicates through their music and their lives. Through their
witness, Barlow Girl affirms that
there is more to life than chasing around after the smoke and mirrors of
popularity. I think Becca sums it up best when she said, “There is so much
more to live for than the day to day. God has an amazing plan for everyone.
God wants everyone to be a history maker in the lives around them. Everyone is
called to do great things and be great in their lives.” In a world
obsessed with bigger, better, faster and more, it is amazing to find a group
of young women who are willing to stand on the highest mountain top and share
with everyone they meet that this is NOT what life is all about. Life isn’t
about a thing. It is about a person: Jesus Christ. Life isn’t about
following our own path, but His path. Life isn’t about being lost and
adrift. It is about being grounded in
The Way, The Truth and The Life
found only in Jesus Christ, not the materialism that runs rampant in this
world.
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Drum
sticks crack together. An electric six-string comes to life. A bass guitar
pulses with the heartbeat of Rock & Roll.
However,
success for these talented ladies isn’t about award nominations or gold
records. Instead, success is simply remaining on the path that God has placed
in front of them. “Coming into this we always thought success was how many
records you sold, but we realized that God kept telling us that the only thing
that defines success is obedience,” Becca explains. “As long as we are
obedient to God then we are considered successful. If only one person buys our
record, we are still successful because we are being obedient.”