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Copperlily headlines City Life Church's girls empowerment program

 
This is the cover of Copperlily's first CD. The musical duo will be featured at a Sept. 12 girl empowerment rally at City Life Church on N Dale Mabry Highway. Photo courtesy of Copperlily.
This is the cover of Copperlily's first CD. The musical duo will be featured at a Sept. 12 girl empowerment rally at City Life Church on N Dale Mabry Highway. Photo courtesy of Copperlily.
Published Sept. 4, 2015

When musicians Tim and Stephanie Skipper met on a concert tour in Phoenix, something sparked.

What began as flirtatious hellos turned into long phone conversations. They talked about their solo recording careers, about life on the road, faith and family.

In 2012, they married and this year, the couple released their first album together as Copperlily, an acoustic singer-songwriter duo with a knack for authentic love songs.

On Sept. 12, Copperlily will perform at Pure Freedom, an event for teen girls and their moms, at City Life Church in North Tampa.

The event, presented by author and speaker Dannah Gresh, will focus on empowering girls through biblical teachings.

At age 14, Stephanie Skipper attended one of Gresh's conferences. The event inspired Skipper, then Stephanie Smith, to remain abstinent until marriage.

Pure Freedom focuses on more than rules for girls to follow. Skipper, 31, said it explains the reasons behind setting personal boundaries. Below are more of Skipper's thoughts on her marriage, music partnership and Pure Freedom.

How did Copperlily come about?

At first we were consumed with our independent projects but once we were married things started to slow down. We took time to figure out what it is like being married. Then coming together musically happened pretty naturally. We started playing for fun, then family asked us to go on vacation, but we couldn't afford it, so we thought maybe we could route a few shows there and on the way back to pay for it. It worked. Then we got a band name and made a record.

Do you consider Copperlily a Christian duo?

What we do is just authentic. We profess ourselves to be Christians but the band is not labeled in that genre. A lot of what we experience in our relationship goes into our songs. Before, our solo projects were bigger and more produced. Together our music is more stripped down.

Why did you partner with Pure Freedom?

I think Dannah Gresh is wonderful. It's great to work with her and be on the other side of things. Instead of being the teenager, I get to help love on the teenagers.

In today's society, when so many who profess abstinence and Christian values seem to fall short, what do you say to teens?

One of the ways maybe the church has failed is how it deals with people who have fallen prey to temptation. We forget that it happens every day and there is grace. There is life on the other side of it. Sometimes teens may feel like if they've made this commitment and they make a mistake, their life is over. Pure Freedom has a great message, as well as one of grace. If your heart is behind it, you can begin a new story regardless of your history.

What was your greatest challenge in choosing abstinence?

Honestly I think the hardest thing was a lot of people didn't understand. My friends had a hard time understanding why I would live the bulk of my 20s that way. Now I'm three years into marriage. Tim chose a very different experience in his 20s. Our story is one of redemption and forgiveness. Together our story is all the more beautiful. We are writing a new story. I don't think either of us would change the past because of all the things we've learned.

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Do you write all of your songs together?

We do. I think one on the album I wrote myself and one he wrote by himself. Creating together is an interesting thing. We are two very different people and musicians. It can be super difficult. But if you lean in and ask, "Okay how do you see this?" the result can be even better.

What are your goals for Copperlily?

For us to be able to do this to make a living as our full time thing. We want to keep doing shows and if that turns into something more we're open to that as well.

You spend so much time together working and at home, how do you keep your relationship fresh and grounded?

I think we're still figuring it all out. We can be working together come home and I look at Tim and say, "I miss you." He'll say we've been together for two weeks straight. And I'll say, "But I had to share you with hundreds of people." It's important carving time out just for us in our marriage. We just bought our first house in Nashville. We like to find cool waterfalls and swimming holes where we can just go for a day and be secluded. It's good sometimes to be just the two of us.

Contact Sarah Whitman at sarahrothwhitman@gmail.com.