A Musician Worth Checking Out

Anyone who has ever listened to my music is aware that my voice is my primary instrument. That’s no secret. The reason I make acappella music is because of my voice being the instrument that God has given me the ability to play. That’s just the way it is.

However, although my music is acappella, and acappella music is something I enjoy listening to, it is also obvious to anyone who listens to my music that I am influenced by so much more than just acappella music. I am a huge fan of progressive rock music, most notably the works of bands like Dream Theater (and the side projects of its members), Yes, Rush, King Crimson, Genesis, ELP, and Pink Floyd, among others. I think what I enjoy most about prog-rock is that it is music that really challenges the listener through the complexity of its structure and lyrics. It is a lot like classical music, only with a little bit of different instrumentation.

Well, I have recently become a fan of an artist within this genre of music. His name is Neal Morse.

Neal Morse has been around for some time now, and I’ve been familiar with his work for years through his former bands, Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic. Neal has this ability to write these incredible epic pieces of music that really take the listener to another place. He is a great vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard player and he is a visionary as far as progressive music is concerned. But all of this is not what has sparked my recent interest in him.

A few years ago, Neal became a Christian.

Being very successful within a genre of music not known for having very Christian views, Neal was faced with a tough decision. He came to the conclusion that the environment that surrounded touring with Spock’s Beard was not the type of environment that a Christian should actively participate in, so he left both Spock’s Beard and his side project, Transatlantic, and began a solo career.

Because his lyrics had always been somewhat spiritual (he had apparently been searching for some time), this change was not a very big leap for him. But now that he had found what he was looking for in Jesus Christ, he had a whole new perspective to write from.

His first solo album, Testimony, is exactly as its name implies: It chronicles his transformation due to Jesus Christ. Musically, the album is everything that should be expected from a progressive rock artist: time signature changes, lengthy instrumental passages within epic songs, and superb musicianship. But lyrically, he was incredibly open about the sins of his past and his redemption through Jesus Christ.

He has since recorded 2 more albums worth checking out: One, and his latest release, ?, which are both incredible concept albums.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because I believe that Neal is a great example of what “living out the great commission” is all about. He was a VERY successful artist within his genre. He could’ve had anything and everything this world has to offer, yet he chose Christ.

As a result of this decision, God has blessed him tremendously over the past few years. His secular, progressive record label not only allowed him to release “Testimony” through them, they re-signed him when he had fulfilled his contractual obligations and allowed him to continue making albums that express his faith. He gained the respect of all of his peers, including his former band mates, which has allowed him to even lead a few of them to Christ.

Bottom line: By remaining true to himself and true to God, Neal Morse is making an impact.

I highly recommend his music to you, even if progressive rock isn’t your thing. Here’s his website:

www.nealmorse.com

Check him out!

Until next time, GOD BLESS!

--Eric G.

Something Beautiful

As I type this, I am sitting at the sound/ production table at my Church. I just finished running sound for a wedding.

I go to a very large Church, and as a result, people often want to use our building for different events like weddings, funerals, graduations, etc. Many times, the people using the building don't go to church here, but they love the building so much that they want to use it for their event, which usually requires someone to run the sound system for them. This is where I come in. The church will pay somebody like me to come up here to the building, run sound for the rehearsal, then run sound for the wedding.

Now, in my experience, I've run sound for lots of incredibly organized weddings, where the wedding director had everything timed down to the second. And if you miss your cue, LOOK OUT! You'll be in trouble because you dropped the ball.

There have also been weddings that were the complete opposite: Bridesmaids and groomsmen were late to the rehearsal AND the wedding, nobody had any music at the rehearsal, nothing was timed AT ALL, things like that. Those are the ones that are the hardest for the sound man, because he's just there to do a job. It sure is hard to do a job when nobody can tell you exactly what that job is!

Today's wedding was the latter.

Last night, most of the wedding party (the ones that actually showed up) arrived at the rehearsal 45 minutes to an hour late. The bride still had not chosen what songs she wanted during the ceremony and where they would be placed. The wedding director had never met with the bride to find out what she wanted. I had been told that there would be one soloist and there turned out to be three, one of whom would not be at the rehearsal. And all this was just the rehearsal!

Fortunately, we managed to get several of these problems worked out last night, but there was a whole new set of problems waiting for me when I arrived earlier today. The soloists who were supposed to meet me here an hour before the wedding were late, one of them (the girl who wasn't here last night) arriving about 10 minutes before she was supposed to sing.

Once the wedding began (surprisingly on time!), all of the aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents of the couple were supposed to be escorted in and seated during one song. The wedding director wasn't paying attention and no one entered during the song. This presented a problem for me because the next music I was supposed to play was the music for the wedding party's entrance. So, we ended up with almost 10 minutes of silence while I tried to run downstairs to the wedding director and find out what happened.

Well, we finally got back on track and the rest of the wedding went off without a hitch. Well, except for the "hitch" that was supposed to take place, of course.

Now I'm not telling you all of this to complain, even though it might sound like that. There is a great point to this story that I would l like to share with you:

At the moment the Bride entered the room, it was completely magical. She looked beautiful and at that moment, everything was absolutely perfect!

You know, every wedding I've ever been involved with has been like that. You could have a million things go wrong, but at the moment that the Bride walks down the aisle, those million things don't matter anymore. Why is that?

Maybe it's because so many of us remember our own weddings and the feelings that went along with them. You know, I'm sure that there are things that went wrong at my wedding, but I can't for the life of me remember them. That's because all of my focus that day was on my bride.

Did you know that God is the same way with us?

It's true. When we are in his presence, all of his focus is on us, because he loves us so much. When we are fellowshipping with him, all of the things that have gone wrong in our lives really don't matter anymore.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God! And that is what we are!" --1 John 3:1a

How great, indeed! He loves us so much that he has adopted us as His children! How cool is that?

He loves us enough that he changes us into the same thing that he changed this "accident-prone" wedding today:

Something Beautiful.

Now I'm sitting here typing this and the wedding party has just left the room. The bride and the groom are in here alone with the photographer. While he changes the film in his camera, they are talking and they can't take their eyes off each other.

Yeah...I'd say everything is just perfect.


May God Bless You Today!
--Eric G.

The Importance of a Spiritual Legacy

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've recently gotten very passionate about leaving behind a Spiritual Legacy for my children. I'm not so concerned about the usual "legacy" stuff, like carrying on a name or a family business that can be passed down from generation to generation. The legacy that I'm concerned with involves passing down my faith. I want my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even my great-great-grandchildren to be not only faithful believers, but people who live their lives for God, regardless of the circumstances.

I've had several people over the past few weeks ask me what got me started on this "spiritual legacy" thing. I was inspired by the following verses, found in Psalm 78:

"O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old--
what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their forefathers--
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him."--Psalm 78:1-8

I think it's interesting how the world's view of leaving behind a legacy involves trying to make our children be like us, while God's view of leaving behind a legacy involves leading our children to be different from us. I love what it says here in verses 7 and 8. Let me repeat those with emphasis added:

"Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their forefathers--
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him."

Here's my interpretation of these verses: God wants our children to be like him, not like us. It's not enough for me to try to live for God each day and set that example for my children. God wants me to point my children to him. He wants my children looking beyond the example I'm trying to set for them, and seeing the source--God himself. They need to learn to trust in him and have a relationship with him.

In other words, it's up to us who are parents to not only set an example for our kids, but we need to be teaching our kids about God and his word. This means being involved and interested in everything they do.

This also means putting off things that are important to me in order to be there for my children. I hate to admit it, but this is something that I struggle with.

I am a songwriter. I make CDs. I do concerts. I go on mission trips out of the country and do all sorts of things with my church. I spend a lot of time online trying to connect with listeners and potential supporters of my ministry. I run a recording studio in addition to having a full-time job. All of these things, especially the ministry-oriented ones, are very important to me. However, my children are more important. I have learned that I have to be willing to push some of these things aside in order to focus on helping my children establish their faith in God.

So what am I to do? Simple. It goes back to the old "J-O-Y" philosophy from the old days. You remember that, right? The hierarchy of service: Jesus, Others, then Yourself. The only way for me to establish a spiritual legacy for my children is to put them and the Lord first, myself and my interests second. It's what being a Christian parent is all about.

Until next time, God Bless!
--Eric G.