The Whole Truth

Background and release

The Whole Truth followed the group's debut album, which had produced six #1 singles. As a result, Word Records' promotion department felt intimidated by the prospect of its first single, "The Great Divide."

The lyrics of "The Great Divide," as recorded, were the result of a happy mistake: the line "There's a bridge to cross the great divide" was meant to be repeated, but a typo rendered the second instance as "There's a cross to bridge the great divide."

On December 9, 1995, the album charted on Billboard's Top Christian Albums at #8 and on the Billboard 200 at No. 132. Each of the album's five singles, released between March 1995 and April 1996 reached #1 on the Christian songs chart, continuing what would become the group's historic run of 24 consecutive #1's on the chart.

Music videos were filmed for "Dying to Reach You" and "Gather at the River."

Personnel

Point of Grace

Shelley Breen – vocals

Denise Jones – vocals

Terry Jones – vocals

Heather Payne – vocals

Musicians

Pat Coil – acoustic piano (1, 4), synthesizer (4, 7, 10), Rhodes electric piano (7)

David Hamilton – Hammond B3 organ (1, 7, 10), keyboards (3, 5, 8, 11), keyboard programming (3, 5), percussion programming (3, 5, 11), acoustic piano (9, 10)

Dennis Patton – keyboards, synth bass and percussion programming (2, 6)

Jerry McPherson – guitars (1)

Tom Hemby – guitars (1–3, 5, 6, 9)

Mark Baldwin – guitars (1, 3, 8, 11)

Dann Huff – guitars (4, 7, 10)

Jackie Street – bass (1, 3, 5, 8)

Tommy Sims – bass (4, 7, 10, 11); keyboards, synth bass, drums and percussion programming (9)

Scott Williamson – drums (1, 2, 5, 6)

John Hammond – drums (3, 8), percussion programming (8)

Paul Leim – drums (4, 7, 10)

Eric Darken – percussion (4, 10, 11)

Barry Green – trombone (5, 7)

Chris McDonald – trombone (5, 7)

Mike Haynes – trumpet (5, 7)

George Tidwell – trumpet (5, 7)

Arrangements

Robert Sterling – track arrangements (1, 4, 7, 8, 11), vocal arrangements (11)

Scott Williamson – vocal arrangement (1, 2, 7–9)

Dennis Patton – track arrangement (2, 6)

David Hamilton – arrangements (3, 10), track arrangements (5)

Cheryl Rogers – vocal arrangements (4–6)

Geoff Thurman – track arrangements (4, 7), vocal arrangements (4, 7)

Chris McDonald – horn arrangements (5, 7)

Tommy Sims – track arrangements (9)

Point of Grace – vocal arrangements (11)

Production

John Mays – executive producer

Robert Sterling – producer

John Jaszcz – track recording, mixing

John Mayfield – track recording, vocal recording, overdub recording, digital editing

Keith Compton – vocal recording, overdub recording

Doug Sarrett – vocal recording, overdub recording

Glen Spinner – vocal recording, overdub recording, recording assistant

Scott Williamson – vocal recording, overdub recording

Shawn McLean – recording assistant

Greg Parker – recording assistant

Aaron Swihart – recording assistant

John Hurley – mix assistant

Steve Hall – mastering at Future Disc (Hollywood, California)

Holly Krig-Smith – production assistant

Diana Barnes – art direction

The Kuester Group – design

Michael Haber – photography

Mike Atkins – management for Atkins, Muse & Associates