Karen Lafferty (born February 29, 1948) is an American

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

ian from

Alamogordo Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains (New Mexico), Sac ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. Lafferty graduated from

Eastern New Mexico University Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU or Eastern) is a public university with a main campus in Portales, New Mexico, and two associate degree-granting branches, one at Ruidoso and one at Roswell. ENMU is New Mexico's largest regional comprehensi ...

and unsuccessfully attempted to join a

Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "Crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...

musical ensemble shortly after.Mark Allan Powell, ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music''. Hendrickson Publishers, 2002, pp. 507-508. Intending to pursue a career in secular music, she moved to southern California, soon beginning to perform at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. She toured the Netherlands as an opener for

Children of the Day Children of the Day was a Jesus music group that recorded and toured from 1970 to 1980. It is considered to be the first group in the genre, and band member Marsha Stevens referred to as the mother of contemporary Christian music. Career After b ...

in 1973 and released her debut album on

Maranatha! Music Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, Universal Music. Background ...

two years later. Following the release of her second album, ''Sweet Communion'', she toured Europe as a headlining act. While on tour, Lafferty noted how popular American music was, even though, for most professional American musicians, touring Europe was not financially viable. In response she founded Musicians for Missions in 1981, under the ministry of

Youth With A Mission Youth With A Mission (typically shortened YWAM, generally pronounced ) is an interdenominational Christian mission organization with a focus on missionary work and training for Christian missions. Founded by American missionary Loren Cunningha ...

(YWAM) Holland. This organization sought to train young Christian musicians for mission tours where they could perform live shows. She later moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

to direct the organization. Lafferty is the author of the praise and worship song "

Seek Ye First Seek Ye First or Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God is a Christian song based on Matthew 6:33. It was written in 1971 by Karen Lafferty after a Bible study on the verse at Calvary Chapel, and has become one of the most familiar praise songs, inclu ...

", first released on a 1974 Maranatha compilation.

Discography

*''Bird in a Golden Sky'' (

, 1975) *''Sweet Communion'' (Maranatha, 1978) *''Life Pages'' (Maranatha, 1980) *''Country to Country'' (Ministry Resource Center, 1983) *''Land of No Goodbyes'' (Asaph, 1989) *''Multitudes: Sounds of Many Nations'' (MFM, 2004) *''Singing My Heart Out'' (MFM, 2008)

References

External links

*http://www.KarenLafferty.com
Karen Lafferty Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafferty, Karen American performers of Christian music Singers from New Mexico Eastern New Mexico University alumni Living people American women songwriters People from Alamogordo, New Mexico 1948 births Songwriters from New Mexico 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers