CHICAGO, IL (January 22, 2018) – Covenant minister Tim Coyer got his fifteen minutes of fame tonight at the Midwinter Conference opening banquet when he sang and rapped alongside Michael Tait, the former member of supergroup DC Talk and current lead singer of the Newsboys.
“It was ridiculous!” said Coyer after the show as colleagues walked by to congratulate him. “It was so much fun.”
Coyer wound up on stage when Tait asked the crowd if anyone was bold enough to come up and rap the Toby Mac part to the classic DC Talk hit “Jesus Freak.” Coyer, a former worship leader, had been singing along with others at his table, and they told him he should answer the call.
“I just stood up and started walking,” Coyer said. And it was a long walk since his table was towards the back of the banquet hall. The band vamped the Nat King Cole classic “Unforgettable,” as Coyer approached.
When he finally made it to the stage, Coyer said he had performed the song years ago but warned there was a good chance he wouldn’t remember all the words. Tait sang the opening verse and then yielded to Coyer to rap Mac’s part but, but as Coyer had predicted, he forgot the words.
The singer tried to help him out, but Coyer suddenly stopped, pointed to a screen near the stage that had the words, and said “All the words were on that screen until my part came up.”
That cracked up the audience and Tait, who explained that the words were for the band and didn’t include Mac’s part. At the singer’s urging, Coyer looked up the words on his phone.
When the band started again, Coyer nailed his part, and Tait was impressed. Then Coyer asked, “What song are we doing next.”
At least for the night, however, Coyer was a one-hit wonder. He will be returning to his position as interim pastor at Prairieview Covenant Church in Richmond, Wisconsin.
Coyer’s performance can be seen at the one hour and eight-minute mark in the video online.
The Midwinter conference runs through Friday at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel.
