HE who sings, prays twice” is the driving force for the New Covenant gospel group, which is hoping to win souls through gospel music.
The group was formed in 2012 and within five years has released nine albums.
The group, which is the brainchild of pastor Vili Raqio of the Sabbath Christian Revival Ministry, has been a success ever since its inception— thanks to the dedication and commitment of young talented singers who are part of the group.
When the group recorded their first album Na Vuni Bula ko Jisu in 2012, recording another album in the same year was far from their minds.
But in the same year, the group recorded another album Jisu nai Wali ni Nomu Leqa, which became the trend for the group recording two albums per year for the next two years.
In 2015, the group recorded a single album and one every year since then.
Last Friday, the group released their ninth album Vinaka Jisu Na Nomuni Vosa Bula.
“For every volume, it gets better because we get feedbacks from those that buy our CDs and we work on improving our songs,” Mr Raqio said.
“We try and sing gospel songs that will suit all kinds of situations.”
Interestingly, songs are composed by Mr Raqio’s wife, Teresia, who says it usually takes a month to compose all 12 songs for an album.
“The lyrics come naturally to me. I would like to believe that it is a gift from God to me to write songs that will touch the lives of people going through difficult times,” Raqio said.
“For the last album we just released, it only took the team to practise for two days before we started our recording.”
Raqio said praying and fasting had also been a big part of the group’s success.
“From the very first volume we recorded to the ninth one just released, we have continued to witness God’s miracle working hands because we continue to have people calling us and telling us how we can improve and how awesome the songs are,” she said.
Meanwhile, the journey started in 1997 with Mr Raqio sharing his experiences of how he first started ministry work travelling to far reach areas, preaching the word of God in the hope he would be able to win souls to God.
“When I travelled, I used to hire worship teams to travel with me, so they can back up the ministry, and we would always pray that one day God will provide me with my own ministry worship team,” he said.
“Seven years later, our prayers were answered with the birth of New Covenant and we haven’t looked back ever since.”
He said in albums eight and nine they had included English gospel songs because of the positive feedbacks they had received from their followers.
“We take heed of comments from our followers, and we have even received comments from people in Papua New Guinea telling us they loved the songs although they don’t understand the lyrics,” Mr Raqio said.
“So we decided to include some English songs in the latest albums because our audience is growing. Before it used to be the local people alone, now it’s going abroad.”
The couple also acknowledged the support provided to the young group by other gospel groups with the likes of Dokidoki Gospel, Sekove Raikoro and Tubuna Veiseyaki.
“Right now the group’s lead singer is a Year 6 student Viniana Namuatabua. She is very talented,” Mr Raqio said.
“We try our very best to work with young singers who we can nurture and help support their musical careers in gospel.”
Mr Raqio thanked past group members — Pacisepa Nakauyaca, Suliasi Cuanilawa, who now resides in New Zealand, Aisake Ai, who currently lives in Australia, Tevita Buliciri and Akuila Namua — who had moved on with their families.
