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Published Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Local

Second Coming event tonight benefits injured gospel singers

By Winston Skinner

The Newnan Times-Herald

The members of Second Coming -- a popular gospel group with members from Coweta County -- think a lot of the Bowling Family.

"Second Coming always has their anniversary singing each year," said Newnan resident Regina Caswell, whose husband and daughter are members of the group. "They always have special guest singers. This year the Bowling Family was scheduled to sing as their guests."

Second Coming's 16th anniversary singing will be held today at Oaklawn Baptist Church on Pine Road south of Newnan. The music will start at 6 p.m., but the Bowlings -- who hail from Hendersonville, Tenn. -- will not be there.

On July 1, the Bowling Family was headed to a concert at the City of Light/Inspiration Network in Indian Land, S.C.

Their bus was involved in an accident on Interstate 85 near Charlotte, N.C., -- about 20 miles from their destination. The band's bus ran into the back of a tractor-trailer truck while on a bridge over the Catawba River. Eleven people were injured in the accident, and everyone on the bus was taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Mike Bowling was transported by medical helicopter from the scene. The Bowlings' Web site indicated "there are many broken bones, bumps and bruises," but all the passengers are "expected to make a full recovery." A long recovery is expected.

Mike Bowling has a fractured skull, multiple injuries to his face and a broken wrist. Media reports indicate he had hemorrhaging of the brain.

His wife, Kelly Bowling, is confined to a hospital bed and will be in a body brace for several months. Surgery is a possibility for her in the future. Kelly Bowling sustained fractures to vertebrae and a foot.

The third member of the group is Terah Crabb Penhollow, Kelly Bowling's sister. Penhollow suffered less injuries but did hurt her arm.

Katelanne, the Bowling's six-year-old daughter, broke her collarbone and had to have plastic surgery to repair a deep laceration on her face.

"The entire Bowling Family feels extremely blessed to be alive. They will not be released from doctors' care to resume their road schedule for several months depending on their progress," according to the statement on their Web site.

Regina Caswell said Second Coming's members are among many who know the Bowlings who were "very burdened" when they learned about the accident. "The Bowling Family are a full-time professional group, and singing is their livelihood," she noted.

After learning of the accident, it was decided Second Coming's Anniversary Singing would become a benefit singing for the Bowling Family. Soon after that decision was made, Jenna Boyd -- who is a member of Higher Hope, a gospel group from LaGrange -- called asking to join in the effort.

The call from Boyd was immediate confirmation "that Lord was well pleased with" the decision to turn the anniversary celebration into a benefit for the injured gospel singers, Caswell said.

Mike Bowling began singing and playing piano as a youngster and was singing with the legendary LeFevres when he was only 16 years old. He earned a degree in respiratory therapy before returning to gospel music in 1995, when he joined the New Hinsons.

He later sang with the Perrys. While with that group, Bowling was featured on songs such as "God Sent Angels," "By Faith I Can Touch Him Now," "Not Even A Stone," "Redeemed" and "When He Spoke."

Kelly Bowling sang for more than 15 years with her own family, the Crabb Family. They were the recipients of three Grammy nominations and 11 Dove Awards and recorded 16 number one songs.

Her unmistakable voice could be heard on the family's hits "Don't You Wanna Go," "Good Day," "Jesus Will Do What You Can't" and "Trail Of Tears," as well as singing harmonies.

In August of last year, Penhollow officially joined Mike and Kelly Bowling on stage full-time, and the group changed their name to the Bowling Family.

Penhollow sang for several years with the Crabb Family. She is known for her lead vocals on "He'll Make A Way," "Traveling On," "Jesus In A Song" and "I've Come to Take You Home." She and her husband, Jonathon, have one son, Logan.

The Bowling Family has appeared on the Gaither Homecoming series concerts and videos, TBN, during Gospel Music Week's Dove Awards, at GMA's Seminar in the Rockies and numerous other major events. Their debut release, Faith To Believe, garnered four number one songs -- "We Have A Saviour," "Your Cries Have Awoken The Master," "A Miracle Today" and "Notified" -- as well as the 2008 Song of the Year for "Your Cries Have Awoken The Master."

Members of Second Coming include Donna Hannah Boswell, Vernon Boswell, Ronnie Boyt, Greg Smith and Marcus and Taylor Caswell. Donna Boswell grew up in Senoia. The Caswells have been singing with Second Coming for about three years.

In an interview last year, Marcus Caswell said he and his family had been familiar with Second Coming "for a long time" before he and his daughter joined the group. "We had followed them around to the singings," he said. Marcus Caswell agreed to fill in when the group's bass player left, but he soon become a permanent part of the group.

Taylor Caswell, 17, is a rising senior at Newnan High School. "They asked me to come sing one night. I filled in for two or three weekends," she remembered -- recalling how she became part of the popular gospel group.

Other admirers of the Bowling Family are also coming to their aid. A concert set for Tuesday at Trinity Music City Auditorium in Hendersonville, Tenn., will feature Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, the Gaither Vocal Band, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound, Jason Crabb, Dailey and Vincent, Jeff and Sheri Easter, Crabb Revival, Gordon Mote, the Perrys, the Isaacs, Karen Peck and New River, Ivan Parker, the Booth Brothers, Legacy Five, Charlotte Ritchie and the Tribute Quartet.

"The Gospel music community is a family," stated Sheri Easter. "When one of our own falls, we all want to come together to lift them up. Jeff and I know they would do the same for us, and we are honored to be a part of this special night."

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