There aren’t many female groups in Southern Gospel music. However, Sisters, comprised of Kim Ruppe Sheffied, Heather Ruppe Bennett and Valerie Ruppe Medkiff are three of the most talented and passionate singers in gospel music. Their blend is tight, their sound is effortless and they have a passion and zeal behind them when they minister. Staff writer Jennifer Wilkerson was recently able to catch up with Heather, middle sister of the bunch about what these girls are up to! Take a peek.
Jennifer Wilkerson: . Tell us what you girls have been up to the past year or so?
Heather Ruppe Bennett: We released a new project called Simply Sisters. We recorded it to go along with our first ever Women’s event that we hosted called Never Too Broken with guest speaker Anne Beiler (Auntie Anne’s Pretzels)
JW: Are you traveling & singing as much as you used to?
HB: No! But we are still singing. We do about one weekend a month and then add dates as they come (such as conferences and women’s events).
JW: You have a new project that is fabulous. Tell us about it: who produced it, how you chose songs, etc.
HB: It was a colaborative effort. Us, Gordon Mote and Jeremy Medkiff (Val’s hubby) chose the songs to go along with where we are now. We feel like our ministry is to hurting people, and of course the lost!
JW: This project has such a strong feel of worship, encouragement and hope. Was this intentional and if so, why?
HB: Yes it’s intentional. We feel like that’s our purpose as a ministry.
JW: You hosted a women’s conference last year. Has this been a dream for you? Do you plan on doing it again?
HB: We love women’s events. It’s where we fit the best and have always wanted to do our own. We would love to do it again and hope it happens sooner than later!
JW: What’s a couple favorites off of the new album and why?
HB: One of our favorites is “A Day Will Come,” because no matter what anyone is going through, we may not understand any of it now, but we know that there will come a day that we will fully understand. God holds every missing piece to the puzzle of our lives. Another favorite is “It Was Finished On The Cross.” The title pretty much sums it up and talked about the finished work at Calvary! Oh what a story! We are no longer captive to sin because of His shed blood on the Cross!
JW: What has God been teaching you lately?
HB: That He is not finished with us as a ministry. We do things a little different now. We have traveled and ministered full time since 1975 and felt like we needed to slow down a little and spend some time with our families. But through it all, He still uses us, and that’s all we want!
JW: What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your music and coming to your concerts?
HB: We hope people take away that we are very sincere in what we do, and we really hope that through our music the listener will receive hope and healing!
JW: How can fans get in touch with you and get the new project?
HB: Our website: www.sistersmusic.org – email@sistersmusic.org – social media, facebook etc.
JW: Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
HB: Remember to pray for us that we will always hear from The Lord and do what he wants us to do!
