Gospel veteran Bryan Hutson teams with his wife in ministry of ‘strengthening marriages’

By John Herndon, KentuckySings.com

When he took that last step off a quartet touring bus, Bryan Hutson knew exactly where he wanted his ministry to go and where he believed God was leading him.

He’d just finished a successful five-year stint with Soul’d Out Quartet and his veins were still filled with Southern Gospel blood, but it was just time for the gospel music veteran to be devoting his efforts toward a ministry devoted to families.

Since that day in 2016, Bryan and his wife, Yvonne, have been taking Rescue Me Ministries to churches and groups mainly located within a five-hour drive of their home just outside Cincinnati. 

The goal is simple: Strengthen marriages.

We caught up with Bryan several months ago when he was in Jeffersonville, Ind., appearing on the Highway 62 Jubilee. He was going solo that night as part of the music ministry that is still very much a part of Bryan and Yvonne’s outreach. That night, Bryan delivered a set that included some of Southern Gospel’s most beloved classics along with some hymns such as “How Great Thou Art” and “Blessed Assurance.”

It was a strong sampling of the music ministry but Rescue Me Ministries is much more. 

“Sometimes I preach,” Bryan said. “Sometimes it’s strictly music. Sometimes, I do the message. Sometimes, we both speak. We host a lot of marriage events. I am able to fill in with some groups on occasion.”

Just before we got together, he’d had a temporary gig with The Blackwood Brothers. In the past, there has been some filling in with Phil Cross and Poet Voices as well as some time back with The Kingsmen.

“I am able to help out when I can and keep our ministry going too. Those help me scratch my quartet itch,” Hutson chuckled.

After all, that gospel music had been flowing through his veins since he was 13 years old, when he sang for The Woods Family, his mother’s family group based in Batesville, Ind. He’d sung with The Heartland Quartet and had two stints totaling 10 years with The Kingsmen singing lead and baritone. 

Along the way, he’d spent almost six years serving as a worship minister in St. Albans, W.Va.

But a desire for strengthening marriages burned within Bryan and Yvonne Hutson’s united heart. 

“We have a passion for marriage and the family,” he said. “A big part of our ministry is we will go into a church on a Saturday. We will do a session and talk about communication. We will do one and talk about conflict resolution, how to deal with your past and how to deal with certain situations in marriage.

“We will do sessions all day long on how to communicate better, how to deal with conflict. You know when you hear a couple say, ‘We never argue. We never fight,’ they are lying. We don’t say you are going to be conflict-free. But we can learn to communicate better and can learn to resolve conflict. That’s our goal. Our goal is to strengthen marriages.”

Bryan and Yvonne make sure they convey that marriage takes three: the husband, the wife and God.

And they draw on life experience.

“People sometimes say, ‘We don’t need you, we are not getting divorced. We don’t need this help,’” Bryan says. “But this is about strengthening your marriage. The first time we did this (for the Hutson’s own marriage), we thought we had a great marriage, but then I realized there were things I wasn’t doing as a husband. Our goal is to strengthen marriage. 

“A lot of it is our own experience. We learn by trail and error. I tell people if my car is broken down, I am not going to call a plumber. I am going to call somebody who has worked on a car. 

“We try to do our best to share our stories. We have gathered stories from couples who are in ministry, couples who are not in ministry. But I would say that 90 percent of the time when we are telling a story, it happened to us. We can see how it relates to those there with us. … There are a lot of ways we can strengthen our families.”

Rescue Me Ministries offers help to both traditional and blended families. And there is an emphasis that the family must be spiritually rooted to navigate its way through the world today.

“We need to realize that the enemy, the Devil, Satan, wants to destroy your marriage,” Bryan said. “He wants to destroy your church. He wants to destroy you in any way he can. He is out to destroy all believers because he hates God that much. 

“When we go out on a highway, there are guardrails there for a reason. For one, a car went off the road at that spot, so they put a guardrail there. Or they will put a guardrail there because they are afraid of the possibility that a car could go off the road. So I say put guardrails in our marriage.”

Hutson says he and his wife teach that strong marriages must have the solid priorities of God, then one’s spouse, children, job and hobbies in that order.

“I realize that the closer I am to God, the closer I will be to my wife, the closer I will be to my children,” Bryan said. 

Hutson makes it clear that he treasures his wife and family, but he says the family is besieged by an anti-Christian worldview.

“When my kids were growing up, they liked to watch what I call ‘teenybopper TV shows’ where the young kid was always sassy and smart-mouthed,” Bryan remembered. “The dad was always portrayed as an idiot. What our society sees is that dad is always the butt of all the jokes. He’s always an idiot. He’s a clown. 

“There are times we have to stand up as a family and say, ‘You know what? We are not going to allow that to be on our TV. We value our family.’”

Bryan and Yvonne Hutson teach old-fashioned Christianity in a world that continually rejects those values. But they are convinced that God’s way is the best way.

And they are both accomplished singers. Bryan’s time in gospel quartets took him to 49 states and his time with The Kingsmen allowed him to appear at the Grand Ole Opry twice and take part in several Gaither Homecoming concerts and videos.

Music still plays a huge part of the ministry. Bryan and Yvonne have appeared at the Creation Museum and have some self-produced CD’s and have an annual Christmas tour to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

The music is a tool that helps convey Bryan and Yvonne’s message of strong families.

“We have a few songs we carry around with us,” he said. “We have a song called ‘Love Wins,’ which is taken right out of the love chapter (I Corinthians 13). Love is patient, love is kind.

“We talk about loving your spouse and loving God.”

It sounds simple but is the rock solid foundation for strong  families. And that’s what Bryan Hutson’s ministry is all about today. 

**Bryan and Yvonne Hutson are available for concerts and marriage enrichment events within approximately 300 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio. For information, contact them at RescueMeMinistries.com or at the Rescue Me Ministries Facebook page.