with his second album performed entirely in Pennsylvania Dutch.
By Dave Mast
Several years ago when singer John Schmid was attending a craft show in Berlin, Ohio, he heard Keith and Karleen Britzenhoff sing the Dutch song “Maydly Vit Du Heiyra” in its original Dutch form.
The song immediately hit home with Schmid.
Perhaps it should have, since Berlin is in the heart of Holmes County — the settlement of the nation’s largest population of Amish, who speak Dutch.
Schmid, who serves as a prison minister with his Common Grounds organization, grew up in Holmes County, but since he wasn’t raised Amish, he did have to learn Dutch.
“I really didn’t know how well it would go over, but I began to sing the song in this area and I couldn’t believe how well it was received,” said Schmid, even by people who don’t understand the dialect.”
As Schmid continued to tour the area doing concerts, people began asking him to perform songs in Dutch.
Obviously it had caught on, which prompted Schmid to release his first Dutch album, “In Dutch,” in 2001.
The success of the album was shocking, considering a large percentage of the population can’t understand much of what Schmid is saying.
“I was very surprised at how well “In Dutch” was received,” said Schmid. “It has done as well as any of my other releases.
“There seems to be a demand for Dutch songs,” said Schmid. “So I gathered up a bunch of Dutch folk songs and things that I’d heard growing up. I went to Marv Beachy (recording and engineer artist) and asked him if he could get an audience together for a live Dutch taping. We went to his studio and we sat down and did a concert.”
That success, buoyed by the number of requests Schmid continued to get at concerts for Dutch songs, led to the new release “In Dutch Again!,” which features 20 completely new Dutch songs, many of which were submitted by fans.
“I had to do some serious searching because I had sung every song I knew in Dutch on the first album,” said Schmid. “People were sending in all these songs in Dutch. It seems that every Dutchman has a song or poem that his family used to sing, so I ended up with quite a bit of material.”
“In Dutch Again” is not recorded in front of a live studio audience as was the first endeavor. Schmid wanted to give it a different tone, but much of the culture, heritage and humor of the first Dutch album is still present in this one.
While Schmid has released a number of albums, making music is just a part of what he has been called to do.
Schmid’s prison ministry called Common Grounds is where his true allegiances may be found.
Schmid had been working as a youth pastor at Berlin Mennonite Church, but while there, he never felt as though he had found where God wanted him to be.
In 1990, he met the prison ministry team from Gospel Echoes, who introduced him to the newfound joys of reaching an audience hungry for something uplifting; something to believe in.
“It seemed to fit,” said Schmid, who claims with a laugh that prisoners feel comfortable with him because he has that prisoner look of a man who has put some miles on him.
“I was accepted and it really felt like something God wanted me to do.”
So Schmid began Common Grounds Ministries, which travels mainly throughout Ohio ministering in prisons. Schmid does work with Steve Wingfield Ministries, a national organization which takes him outside of Ohio, but he and his teams focus mainly on Ohio penitentiaries.
A life in prison ministry may sound scary to many folks, but to Schmid, it is a fit made in Heaven.
“These guys listen,” said Schmid, who went through his own travails before finding Christ.
“In every prison I’ve been to, prisoners appreciate someone coming in and taking the time to be there. Guys know you’ve taken time out of your schedule and money out of your pocket to be there with them.”
Schmid firmly believes in his ministry name of Common Grounds.
“We chose the name because of our only common ground with God the Father is with Christ at the cross,” said Schmid, “but our only common ground with people who don’t go to church is not the church building, but rather the market place, the work place or the concert hall. Sometimes you have to go out into the world to do God’s work.”
Which is why Schmid has learned to be both jovial and sincere in his style of worship in the prisons.
He understands that in order to touch someone’s heart, there are times that you must learn to relate first, and that comes through his heartfelt love, his understanding of where they are coming from, and his implementation of humor throughout each worship service.
“If you can get people laughing and having a good time, often times they’ll listen to what you have to say,” said Schmid.
A normal prison ministry chapel service for Common Grounds is about an hour long. He includes different ministry teams on each trip, and includes music, worship, a sermon topic, scripture and an invitational altar call at the end for those who have been especially touched. Some prisons also allow the team members to commune with the prisoners following the service.
While many prisoners may accept the call at the end of chapel to commit their lives to Christ, Schmid knows that it doesn’t always end happily.
“The level of commitments is always high,” said Schmid, “ but the level of failure is also very high. You see a lot of failures. But the ones who make it are worth it all. Most are totally sincere, but once they get out into society, it is just so tough readjusting.”
One such success story Schmid has experienced was with Larry Scrant, who was in Marion Correctional Facility. Scrant was present at Schmid’s service, accepted Christ and later got out and began his own ministry called Changed Lives Ministry, which he patterned after Common Grounds.
“I feel like God has led me to my niche in life,” said Schmid. “You don’t have to defend God’s Word, you just have to proclaim it.”
© 2004 Traveler Publications
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