Unspoken – Sharing Music of Hope and Encouragement
Grace Phillips
The Ashland Beacon
Unspoken, the chart-topping contemporary christian band will take the stage at the Ashland Riverfront during Summer Motion on Monday, July 2nd at 9:00 p.m. The band features a unique mix of music from soulful pop sounds to hip-hop with a touch of southern gospel sound thrown in occasionally. They have toured with Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Big Daddy Weave, Danny Gokey and many more. Chad Matson, the lead singer is from Maine with other group members from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, making them one of the most geographically diverse bands today.
The story of Unspoken begins with Mattson—a young man raised in a Christian home with parents who taught him all the things in life needed to be successful. Mattson said he grew up believing in Jesus; he was the good kid in high school who never drank…always the designated driver…but he lived like someone who only “KNEW” about God, not someone who had truly experienced the change that He can make in your life.
As a young adult, Mattson found himself deep in addiction and living a life he never dreamed would be his…that of a drug dealer in the basement of a rodent-infested drug house. Things got so bad that he finally moved back home taking with him all the shame and guilt of where his journey in life had taken him.
All of that changed one day when his brother brought him a card from a missionary in the Dominican Republic he had just heard speak at their church. Mattson said he looked at the card and thought, “What am I supposed to do with this?” He continued, “But God was working behind the scenes as He often does…kind of stirring me to want to walk with Him. I got saved when I was 12, and I really believed in Jesus, but I just didn’t have my life surrendered to Him.” Eventually, he called the missionaries and told them, “I’m kinda in rough place, but I want to get my life together. Is there any way I could come work with you for a while?”
The missionary called the church pastor and talked with him about Chad. The pastor agreed that he needed something, and he believed that God had a plan for his life. The missionary decided to take a chance and allowed him to come stay there. According to Mattson, it was there in a 12 x 12 room that he began to read his Bible and pray in earnest, and God began to change his life.
On that trip, Chad met Mike Gomez, guitarist. They began singing and ministering in the area and eventually moved back to Maine when Chad’s longtime friend, Jon Lowry, was added to the mix and the group Unspoken began. The group’s name was chosen because it was their goal to live lives that are unspoken testimonies to God’s love and power and to speak openly what often times goes unspoken.
The group’s first release was in 2012 and since then they have had numerous chart-topping songs such as “Who You Are,” “Lift My Life Up,” “Good Fight,” and “Just Give Me Jesus.” Their fourth EP titled “God Help Me” was released earlier this year with the title song as the first single. According to Mattson, God Help Me is about those moments in our lives when you have absolutely reached the end of the line. There is no place to go, and nothing you can do except cry out… “God Help Me.” The group’s newest single from that project is titled “More Church Than Church,” a pop song about recovery co-written by Matteson and Grammy Awards nominated artist Walker Hayes.
Mattson has always been very transparent about where he has been and where God has brought him. Now 20 years sober, he truly knows the depths of despair and darkness and the amazing grace and forgiveness that only God can give an individual. In his closing thoughts, Mattson told me, “We just want people to know that we are followers of Jesus and trying to speak what goes “unspoken” in our culture. We use music to preach the gospel and try to bring hope to hopeless people...no one has gone too far…it’s just one small step back towards God.”
Don’t miss the chance to experience the remarkable ministry of Unspoken and hear their testimonies of God’s grace, mercy and deliverance on Monday, July 2nd at 9:00 p.m. at the Ashland Riverfront. You will not be disappointed!