In less than a month we will be packed up and heading to Sturgis!!! We will be ministering/performing for six days and many of those days we will be doing three performances a day!

Words cannot describe how excited I am to be able to take the music and the message to the thousands of folks who will hear us, either at The Legendary Buffalo Chip or on Main Street. We are two thirds of the way to making our budget of $35,825.00 and by faith we believe for all to be meet. We have received gifts from some unexpected places and also some of the churches where I’ve ministered lately have given generously. We still need help to cover this our largest event in the history of our ministry.

If you would like to assist us click here to contribute or you can mail a check to,

Ransom Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 901495
Kansas City, MO 64190

We are also looking for an additional van to transport some of our crew. So if you have a road worthy van give me a call (816) 294-1113.

Peace & Blessings,

Jimmie

PS, here is a link to a video about the events click here….

That’s right NOW!!! I just signed the contract me and the band will be playing 5 days at the Legendary Buffalo Chip August 9-13, 2010 in Sturgis, SD for the 70th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally & Races. I was so excited we shot a video of me signing the contract check it out…..Jimmie

REV. JIMMIE BRATCHER IS DREAMING OF A BLUES CHRISTMAS
Gifted bluesman To Release Man! It’s Christmas on October 6, 2009

Nashville, TN – Gifted bluesman, The Rev. Jimmie Bratcher, is set to release his first Christmas project, Man! It’s Christmas, on October 6, 2009 on Ain’t Skeert Tunes.

Produced by Rev. Jimmie Bratcher, Man! It’s Christmas, hits the ground running with a jubilant classic jazz rendition of the Bratcher-penned title track, which expresses the joy of the season while referencing just about every holiday symbol there is. A smokin’ jazz funk version of “What Child Is This” follows, leading into a down-home dobro-driven country blues arrangement of “Go Tell It On The Mountain.” Patriotic Christmas song “1941,” another original Bratcher tune, recalls the holiday just after the U.S. entered WWII, and expresses appreciation for those who have served our country and laid down their lives for our freedom. Backing Bratcher on the project are some world-class players, including Rick Yord (Suzy Bogguss, Lee Roy Parnell) on bass, Daron Tapscott (Joe Diffie) on fiddle and Kansas City’s Brandon Draper on drums & percussion. Bratcher is joined by Lester Estelle, Jr. (Pillar) on drums and Craig Kew (Proto-Kaw with Kerry Livgren) on bass on the live bonus DVD. Produced by Isaac Alongi (“Love, Marriage & Stinking Thinking”), the DVD gives the audience a front-row view of this lively holiday jam session.

Pastor, evangelist, author, singer, songwriter and guitarist, “The Rev” preaches in churches every Sunday, but on Saturday nights you’ll find him sharing his amazing testimony and blistering guitar licks onstage in blues clubs and at music festivals, prisons and even biker rallies.

Bratcher’s brand of the blues has been embraced by the Christian market and the mainstream blues industry alike, allowing him to perform at both Christian music festivals such as Creation East, Creation West Coast and Rock the Light, and at blues festivals such as Blues on the Hill, Simply the Blues Festival and Boxcar Full of Blues. He has appeared at venues along with Christian artists including Mercy Me, The Newsboys and Third Day, and with blues greats including Grammy winner and NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award winner David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Blues Music Award winners Zac Harmon and Otis Taylor, and Livin’ Blues Gold Award winner Hubert Sumlin, one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

Bratcher, who serves as the bandleader and frequent commentator for the new Sky Angel/TBN TV show “Love, Marriage and Stinking Thinking,” is driven by the desire to point as many people as possible to the reality of the love that God has for them. “The blues is my most effective way to communicate,” says Bratcher.

Jimmie Bratcher’s Man! It’s Christmas will be available on Ain’t Skeert Tunes. For more information on Jimmie Bratcher, Man! It’s Christmas and his latest album, The Electric Rev, visit www.jimmiebratcher.com.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact:

McCain & Co. Public Relations
PH: 615- 262-1727
Email: mccainprnews@mccainpr.com

Check out this review from the February / March 2009 issue of Blues Revue Magazine

THE REV. JIMMIE BRATCHER
The Electric Rev.
Ain’t Skeert Tunes

The Rev. Jimmie Bratcher looks like someone you might find on an East Coast college campus an intellectual hipster who reads Kant while sipping white wine. It’s all the more startling, then, that “Call On Me,” the opening track of Bratcher’s fine new album, erupts with a blast of righteously down home funk. It’s as if Ray Charles has been reincarnated in the body of a character from a Woody Allen movie.

Bratcher is a study in contradictions. The Kansas City-based performer is an evangelical minister who splits his time between churches and bars. But listeners wary of folks who use religion as a political force can rest easy: Bratcher’s approach, at least on this outing, is universal enough to stand on its own in a multicultural world. This is due in large part to his strong sense of musicianship. Surrounding himself with a cadre of first-rate musicians, Bratcher builds each performance on intelligent and unexpected elements - the tuba, for instance, that rumbles beneath the opening track. Bratcher accompanies himself ably on guitar, and his voice is excellent: clear, soulful, and penetrating, with a built-in elasticity that lets him explore diverse musical forms without straining.

“Green Bananas” is a fun New Orleans-styled shuffle, while “Pray for Me” captures the slow blues intensity of classic Percy Mayfield ballads. “One Rock” arrives with a spirited burst of pure gospel energy, balancing the darker mood of tracks such as “When the Blues Come.” Bratcher’s power diminishes when he embraces heavy rock balladry: The wry humor that makes much of the disc sparkle disappears on heavy-handed tracks such as “Cadillac” and “How Far Down.” This comes as a disappointing surprise, since Bratcher ventures into serious territory elsewhere without sounding leaden. Fortunately, spirits rise for the closing track, a funky cover of “Grits Ain’t Groceries.”

As Bratcher proves on The Electric Rev., blues and gospel aren’t merely acquaintances; they’re branches of the same family tree.

-David Freeland

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March 30, 2009

A few days after I believed on Jesus in December 1976 a guy who I had never really meet stopped by my house and dropped off a few records. I had never heard of the artists but they soon became my life line to another world, a better world for sure. Who were the artists? Paul Clark and Phil Keaggy.

Last week I was invited to jam with both Paul & Phil two of my all-time favorite musicians. I was blessed and stressed at the same time. Bless to be invited and stressed because Phil is in my opinion one of the greatest guitar player alive!!! WOW. But I found both these men to be great men of faith and honor. I had a blast.

During sound check Phil walks over and says “hey Jimmie, you ever do this”? He’s giving me a guitar lesson on the spot. Needless to say I came home and have been practicing that riff and you know it will show up someplace in my playing.

Paul is one of the best songwriters in not only Christian music but in my mind all of music. He for sure has spoken to my life.

One of the lessons I have learned from being around successful people is that almost all of them have this really outstanding attitude. They are kind, gracious, encouraging and willing to give. I think it is the coolest thing. Being around people like that makes me want to try harder and be better.

Anyway, I heard there was going to be some bootleg YouTube clips leaked out and when they do I will for sure let you know.

Peace,
Jimmie

PS, if you don’t know who Paul Clark & Phil Keaggy are here are their links.

I’ve been on the road this month and MAN it was fabulous. Even after I tell you that I’ve never been colder in my life that this month and it was still fabulous!!!

As in 2008 my friend Mark Gungor invited me to Green Bay, WI for three weekends in a row to help him with a teaching series “How to Beat the Blues”. If the cold in Green Bay wasn’t bad enough I spent last week in Winnipeg and man it was really cold there. I was invited to appear on a TV show “It’s a New Day” and that was a blast.

While in Green Bay ministering at the church we were able to do an “Out of the Box” event in prison. It was the first time that this institution has ever allow anything of this size behind the walls. We were able to do two full concert with altar ministry and it was outstanding.

As we cleared security they gave each of us a visitors id card. In a spontaneous moment while speaking I pointed at one of the men who was wearing an inmate id card and said “how about I trade with you, you take my card and leave and I’ll stay here and do your time”. Needless to say I had his attention and the guards as well. I continued to explain that this is exactly what Jesus did for us all “paid the price for our crime so that we could be free”. It was a powerful moment that I am sure every man there will remember.

Let’s not forget that if it we’re for Jesus, if it wasn’t for Him breaking the chains that held us we would still to this day be bound. I am so glad for the gospel that is the power of God for all mankind.

Here are a couple of pictures from Lambeau Field I had lunch at the stadium t a great place called Curly’s. Next time you’re at a Packer’s game check it out.

Peace….. Jimmie

Well I’ve just finished my third fabulous weekend at Celebration Church in Green Bay, WI by preaching a red hot message. Man was it good, or at least I thought so. The message was titled How to Beat the Blues? So how do you beat the blues? Any way possible… here are three.

1. Sing the Right Song - praise changes everything. Gratitude will keep you healthy read the article “How Faith Can Heal” 2/23 Time Magazine

2. How To Beat the Blues – “Talk to Yourself” I know some of you do this already but do you do it right? Many people talk to themselves in a negative way STOP IT. Start building yourself up instead of tearing yourself down.

3. How To Beat the Blues – “Be Content, 1Tim. 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

Get started…. and beat those blue away….RIGHT NOW…

I did three concerts yesterday two in prison one last night a Cup O Joy in Green Bay, preached twice today and now I’m flying home to hang with Sherri, tomorrow is her birthday. Been gone since 2/13 either in Green Bay or Winnipeg doing TV needless to say I’m looking forward to being home.

Peace,
Jimmie

Love Marriage & Stinking Thinking debuts on TBN today and Dish Network Tuesday!  Jimmie wrote all the music and he and the band perform LIVE on all the episodes. Hosted by pastor, marriage and relationship expert– and very funny guy–Mark Gungor.  Throughout the series, Mark exposes the true source of marriage problems and the flawed notions -or stinking thinking- that shape our expectations of marriage.

Co-Hosted by actress, author Nancy Stafford who engages Mark in a lively discussion from a woman’s perspective.

Jimmie leads a killer house band.  Mark answers the question so many have, “why do you have a blues band on a show about marriage?” the answer “Because it’s a show about marriage”

So tune in every week, and get ready to Laugh and Love your way to a better marriage!

***Set your DVR to record the show every week!***
TBN
Thursdays
9:30pm PST
11:30 PM CST
12:30am EST

Sky Angel 2 on
Dish Network [266]
Tuesdays & Thursdays
7:00pm EST
8:00 PM CST
4:00pm PST

I received this story a couple of days ago, “Just wanted to let you know how much my wife and I enjoyed your concert last night!  We heard about it from a co-worker and friend of mine that is a member of the church.” Somebody invited a friend to a concert and they were ministered to. That’s how it works, the kingdom at its essence is a relationship. Someone tells the story, someone hears it and miracles happen.

We are so thankful for your help, without it we would not be able to do all that we do. We are always pressing on and I wanted to share what is about to happen and ask for your help if you’re able.

We have in front of us a huge opportunity. This opportunity will allow more people to hear our story than ever before and what that means is more people will hear the gospel and know Jesus, why? Because they will know who I am and hear our story. But I need a whole lot of help to make this happen.

So, we are hiring a professional storyteller to help us, Lynn McCain president of McCain & Associates a Nashville based public relations firm whose forte is telling stories. She has done it for many years and is considered by many to be one of the best storytellers in the music industry. This is a huge step of faith for us but after prayer, Sherri and I both feel it is the right time for us to take this step. But we need your help.

The campaign will start February 2nd and run for six months. The monthly cost of the campaign will be $3,000.00 per month. OUCH, I know it is a lot of money but how much is one family worth, one couple that hears our story and their marriage is restored, one life that is saved?

Here is a link to our on-line contribution form. If you would like your contribution set up on a monthly debit system please email my assistant Amanda jatrux AT gmail.com. Look it over, pray, give and help tell the story.

For the harvest,

Jimmie