Ernie Toppin Testimony

Ernie Toppin sold his soul to God instead of selling it to the world and making it big in the music industry. Now he is using his music talent for what makes a longer lasting impact. Souls for Jesus Christ! He's been singing since he was 16 but at the time he wasn't a Christian. He didn't have any church background and only thought of Jesus as a very good person, but not someone he could believe in. At the time, he was heavily into the club scene, going to raves and smoking dope and taking some other drugs. He had a band, and knew a lot of people in the music business. But then a friend of his became a Christian, and started telling him about Jesus. At first, I laughed at her, he said but she kept on over a period of about a year, until one day I eventually accepted Christ in her front room. That was in 1992. After becoming a Christian, Ernie started attending the Potters' House church in Walthamstow, East London. "Back then, I was a real hippy. I had dreadlocks and looked different, but the people in church didn't look down on me. They answered all my questions and accepted me as I was." Although by this time he had turned his back on his previous wild lifestyle, he got to meet even more big names in the music industry, some of whom collaborated with him while he was recording "Mysteries'. He met D-lnfluence, shortly after they were chosen to support Michael Jackson. "They worked on a track "Salvation' with me. I also got to meet some members of Roachford, with whom I co-wrote another track. I kept meeting all these people." "It was like God was showing me both worlds and I had to make a choice - between following him and going after success in the music business. I decided to stick with following him." ~ Ernie Toppin The first track Ernie wrote was the title track. "I had this song, and I decided to sing it to my Pastor," Ernie said. "Now, before all this, I was a very flamboyant performer, but when I came to sing the song to my Pastor, all that self confidence left me. I realised that now, when I sang, if it was going to be effective, it would be because of God's anointing, and not because I was some great singer, just as I had become a Christian because of the power of God's word, not because my friend was a great speaker. After I had finished, my Pastor said he wanted me to sing it at a concert the church was having that evening." Over the next couple years, the Potters' House church has gained a reputation as being one of a small number of churches where young members are encouraged to use more radical forms of contemporary music, in particular hip hop and raggae. Ernie explained that all the people involved in the music that were in the church had all become Christians around the same time, and that none of them had previously had a church upbringing. "With us, God's really taken the scum of the earth and changed it for his glory," said Ernie. He has also been on a tour throughout other Potters' House churchs in Australia and the USA. However, I don't know much about the Christian music scene." Not that this has been much of a handicap - he's appeared in several places, including a brief appearance on late - night trash TV. "I performed 'Salvation' on 'Dial Midnight' on ITV," he told me, "but I'm not all that keen on being on television."