Point Of Grace

Point of Grace emerged in the early 1990s as a gold- and platinum-selling CCM vocal ensemble whose soaring harmonies and immersive melodies support lyrics exploring faith, hope, and perseverance. For decades the quartet has remained a leading presence in Christian music, releasing award-winning, Billboard-charting albums that include The Whole Truth (1995), Free to Fly (2001), How You Live (2007), Directions Home (2015), and Turn Your Eyes (2023).

Denise Jones, Heather Floyd, and Terry Lang, who had known one another while growing up in Norman, Oklahoma, first performed together as the Ouachitones after enrolling at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. Shelley Phillips joined them in 1991, at which point the ensemble operated briefly as Say So before adopting the name Point of Grace. After extensive touring, their first-place finish in the group competition at the Christian Artists Seminar in Estes Park, Colorado attracted the attention of the Word label, which issued the quartet’s self-titled debut album in 1993.

The 1995 follow-up, The Whole Truth, broadened the pop-R&B foundation of the debut with rock and folk elements and ascended to number one on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart. Life, Love & Other Mysteries repeated that chart-topping feat the next year and earned platinum certification. Steady On arrived in 1998, reaffirming the stylistic path established on prior releases, while Christmas Story appeared in 1999 and blended traditional holiday standards with newly written material. Free to Fly, which contained the number-one singles “Blue Skies” and “You Will Never Walk Alone,” reached stores in 2001 after the earlier release of the rarities collection Rarities & Remixes.

An extensive series of concerts and conferences aimed at teenage girls formed the core of the group’s next initiative, each event incorporating extended question-and-answer segments. The companion album Girls of Grace appeared in 2002 and gathered numerous female Christian artists addressing the challenges of adolescence. A retrospective titled 24, containing many of Point of Grace’s earlier hits plus one new track, followed in 2003. Leigh Cappillino, previously a member of the Christian choir Truth, replaced Terry Lang Jones in 2004; the revised lineup then issued I Choose You, with the holiday project Winter Wonderland arriving the subsequent year. The country-infused How You Live surfaced in 2007, after which Heather Floyd Payne departed in 2008; Tennessee Christmas: A Holiday Collection was released later that same year.

The remaining trio continued exploring a countrified approach on No Changin’ Us (2010), the additional holiday set Home for the Holidays, and the 2011 compilation Turn Up the Music: The Hits of Point of Grace. Their characteristically uplifting, harmony-driven album A Thousand Little Things appeared in 2012, succeeded in early 2015 by the covers collection Directions Home (Songs We Love, Songs You Know), which included guest contributions from Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs. The double-album career retrospective Our Recollections marked the ensemble’s 25th anniversary in 2017. Beautiful Name, a hymn and worship project, arrived in 2018 alongside the group’s induction into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. A follow-up to the 2015 covers album, Turn Your Eyes (Songs We Love, Songs You Know) Volume II, emerged in 2023 and presented fresh arrangements of seven classic CCM songs together with two original tracks.