Rhonda Funk is the owner of Bring It On Communications which specializes in providing publicity for authors, speakers, and musicians. We were working together setting up interviews when I realized I wanted to interview Rhonda. She has a charismatic personality. When I researched her life I was fascinated by how far she has come.
You can watch our Facebook Live interview here. Rhonda shares how old she was when she up and moved to Nashville to follow her dreams. In addition, she reveals how personal her latest album; Someday is.
https://www.facebook.com/morethanareview/videos/1759107090837801/
Rhonda Funk’s Story
A member of BMI and Global Songwriters Connection in Nashville, Singer/Songwriter Rhonda Funk has released three independent Christian albums, a self-titled release in 1999, “The Waiting” in 2003, and “Refined” 2009. In August of 2016 she announced the desire to step out and finally record the album everyone had been waiting for….country.
But within a few weeks of the announcement, Rhonda suddenly suffered a mini-stroke. This led to the discovery of an aneurysm buried deep in the left side of her head. Within days she went to surgery with her family by her side knowing that the risks were high. They all knew it would be a miracle if she could ever sing again.
The night before her surgery, she boldly declared that she was going to head to the church to worship and invited and her friends to come. She declared that if the aneurysm ruptured and she died in the middle of worship, then she would wake up on the other side of Heaven singing the same song. More than a hundred people came, to pray, to cry, to hope….and Rhonda said “I’m not here to ask God to heal me. I’m here to exalt His name and praise Him whether I live or die.”
The next morning, the doctor performed an intense surgery – hoping the least invasive approach would work. She was sent home directly from the ICU the very next day. The doctor later said, “It was extraordinarily risky, but it was worth the try-there was a lot of luck involved.” But if you ask Rhonda, she will tell you it just meant that God wasn’t through with her yet!
In November of 2016, Rhoda was still recovering, stuttering now and then, and having a hard time keeping her thoughts together. However she suddenly recalled she was about to start a CD. So she picked up a guitar and she began to write like she had never written before.
Drawing from some of the most trying times of her life as a single mother, putting a baby up for adoption, her husband’s cancer, and now brain surgery…….Rhonda has held nothing back. It’s all right here in what she considers the best music of her life.
She says, “All of it is so real to me, that it is hard to even sing the words at times. I choke up, not only because much of what I write is my personal life story, but because I know that somebody out there is feeling the same and doesn’t think that anybody out there really ‘gets’ them. But, in a lot of ways I do.”
She has a goal to have the new album “Someday” ready by May of 2017. Proceeds of her sales will help to pay the enormous doctor bills that were incurred saving her life. She said, “I’m not afraid to work for it! And, isn’t that what we do? We fall down, we get up, wipe off our knees, and we do the only thing we know how to do….and that is to keep going.”
Since 1999 Rhonda has traveled the country singing at women’s ministry events. She served as a worship leader at various churches, most recently in her community of Sisters, Oregon. Rhonda has five children and two grandchildren, and are proud CUBS fans. They fly a very large “W” flag every chance they get. Her biggest dreams are to become a writer for the music industry.