After Alicia Jackson returned home from a mission trip to Tanzania, Africa, on July 1 and was picked up in her parents’ 1998 Van Hool bus, she almost immediately fell asleep. Her mother, Judy Biggers, said one of the first things Alicia told her after waking up was how comforting it was to be back on the bus.
“She got up, crying, and said, ‘Mom, I never knew how much I loved an old bus,” Biggers said. “She said, ‘I crawled into the bunk, and that roar of that motor and that little smell of diesel …’ She turned over and said, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ and rode all the way home.
“This is our home away from home. We have had a lot of different rides that [God] has allowed us to travel, sleep and work on, but it is not a hardship. It is a joy to travel and sing.”
Biggers is the lead vocalist for the gospel band Heaven’s Echoes. The group was recently named Inspirational Artist of the Year at the inaugural Arkansas Country Music Awards on June 4 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
“It means a lot,” said Gus Biggers, Judy’s husband, “mainly because when this came out, when we were nominated for it, we didn’t even know it was going on. People who follow us, or fans — we like to call them followers or worshippers — they were aware of it.
“When Judy actually got the call, she was like, ‘Who is this?’ She thought someone was pulling a prank on us. She made him tell her twice. We really didn’t know.”
Gus, who is the sound technician for the group and occasionally joins in on stage, said once that Judy called him and the rest of the group, he said winning the award meant a lot.
“It was another chance to uplift the Lord in the middle of an awards ceremony,” Gus said. “It just blew us away.”
Gus said the group never seeks out opportunities to perform because all of the bookings are a result of people or churches calling the group. He said this award means a lot because it happened without them even being aware of it.
“It means a lot to know people love us and appreciate us enough to nominate us,” he said.
The award ceremony was held in the Fine Arts Center on the campus of UALR. Gus said the event had every indication that it will continue because it was very well attended and received.
“What we saw through all of this was the rich heritage of Arkansas and country music,” Gus said, “and how most artists started out in gospel music.”
Four other groups were nominated for the award.
“It was an honor to be nominated and be in the same category with all the people that we travel with,” Judy said. “The one thing that is wonderful is that it didn’t feel like a competition.
“Everyone is out to lift up the Lord and not themselves, and that was exciting to see.”
Steve Williams and his wife, Vickie, live in Alexander and have been with the group for five years. Steve, the son of Gerald Williams, began his singing career at 16 with The Melody Boys.
Heaven’s Echoes regularly sings as part of the Southern Jubilee Gospel Singing Conventions. The group is also involved in the Evangelistic International Ministries.
“We truly are family with the other groups that sing with us,” Steve said. “Recently, one of the other groups had trouble with their bus and called to let us know and for us to pray for them.
“I called my wife, who had stayed home with one of our grandkids, and she jumped into her car and went and got them. We are actually family; it is more than just a business arrangement.
“We pray for each other and love each other.”
Dwayne and Debbie Ward live in Jacksonville and sing tenor and alto, respectfully, for the group. The couple have been married 42 years and have two children and three grandchildren.
Gus and Judy live in Springfield, Arkansas, but are originally from the Plumerville area and are still members of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church in Plumerville, where the band originally formed in 1983. Together, they have three children, Alicia, Tiffany Benson and Kayla Jo Biggers. Kayla Jo died in a car accident in 2004.
Judy said the best way to describe the group is that they are just “ordinary people doing extraordinary work for the Lord.”
“We are just ordinary people, going through what everybody else does, trying to get them to see what God will carry them through whatever trouble they may have,” she said.
She said part of what makes their group special is that each of them has gone through something that someone else can relate to.
She said Dwayne Ward was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and missed work for almost a year.
“He is very knowledgeable, and they have been there and understand people who have been there,” she said. “He was off work for 49 weeks, so he understands the financial strain of that, so he can minister to that area, where I can’t.”
But having lost a daughter, Gus and Judy are able to relate and minister to those who have experienced a loss, “seeing what God can do through death and how he can minister through people,” she said. “We know [Kayla Jo] knew the Lord as her savior and that we will see her again.”
When Steve Williams joined the group, he had to quit his job because the company he worked for would not give him the flexibility to take Fridays off to travel with the group.
“And he was five months without a job because he chose the Lord and service,” Judy said. “So he is able to inspire others through that ministry.
“So inspiration was a great name for that category because there are so many areas of our life that God can work there and inspire others to hang on.”
Heaven’s Echoes recently performed at a Salem Camp meeting in Benton. For more information, visit the group’s website at www.heavensechoes.net.
Gus said they never make a lineup of songs until they arrive at the concert destination and talk to some of the people and find out what is going on.
“It will lead you to do certain songs and give them something they are looking for, that they aren’t getting anywhere else,” Gus said.
“It is amazing. At a service, Judy will put a song on a list, and many times we will have somebody come up to us and say, ‘You sang that song just for me,’” Steve said. “‘Ya’ll don’t even know it, but it really touched me.’ So we will end up sitting around our table crying.”
“We truly believe we are a blessed people,” Judy said. “We want to lift [the Lord] up and serve him and honor him for the sacrifice he made.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.