I would have to say that I am, first and foremost, a worship leader. Which is interesting, because by many standards, I am not very good at it. Though consistent vocally, I am not a very good singer. I lead from guitar, but am by no stretch of the imagination a guitarist. What I am is called…and that is all I have...
... it is all I need
History
Though I did some things with my local Baptist church with some friends in Paradise California when I was growing up, I really did not begin my walk as a Christian until my divorce in 1988. During those years, I owned a recording studio in Riverside California called Studio One, and a young Pastor/Worship Leader by the name of Steve Gonzales would bring his teams through to record for various projects they were doing. After a time we became not quite friends, but more than acquaintances, and Steve shared the Gospel with me…one time. He then spent the years following that meeting living out everything he had shared with me. When my wife divorced me, he was where I went for answers… and the answer he gave me was Jesus.
Steve and I have grown to be great friends, and to this day he continues to guide me and mentor me on this walk.
Gathering Place
Pretty early on in my walk, a ministry birthed out of Melody Land was getting started in the Garden Grove area, and the pastor, John Adair, contacted Goodnews Church, where Steve was the worship leader, to see if they knew of anyone that could come out and lead worship for this new ministry. Kurt Schroeder, the Senior Pastor at Goodnews said that he knew a guy and recommended me. He did mention that I was a little green and I might have a few edges that would have to be knocked off, but they accepted. So there I was one night getting a phone call from a man I had never met to lead worship for a church that did not exist in a city I had never been to. (Everyone goes through Garden Grove. Hardly anyone goes there on purpose….)
Goodnews Church was our covering, so one night at a commissioning service, the leaders and congregation gathered and laid hands on me and prayed over me for this appointment and the mantle of leadership that went with it. I was now a Worship Leader in the greater Los Angles area… and had no idea what that meant. If you know me at all, you know that will hardly ever stop me from doing something! This is probably 1990 or so.
I served at the Gathering Place for maybe 3 or 4 years. I had a young man playing keys with me by the name of Chris Barron, who just happens to be one of the finest keyboard players that I know. (I know a lot by the way) Chris is currently music director at Mariners Church in Irvine California. He also happened to be the last keyboard player that worked with me in my group TranStar at Disneyland and was part and party to an incredible miracle that came from all of that. I was already at Disney when I got the call to lead worship at the Gathering Place, and Chris was playing keys with me at Disneyland. Basically I was faced with going to management at the park and telling them that I would not be able to perform on Sundays any longer. If you are familiar with entertainment at Disneyland, you know that the weekends are the absolute prime times for entertainment and that this request was going to end my employment there. What was really a drag was that I would end up costing Chris his job as well. Chris was miracle number one. He was behind me all the way on this, and in fact, wanted to join me in the meeting I had with show management. He was absolutely fine with us losing or gig over this. We sat down with management, laid out our issue, and had our socks blown off with miracle number two. They came back and said, “how about we use you Monday through Friday, 10am – 6pm?” A full schedule, during the day, and benefits to boot! I would have to say that the Lord met us in our time of need, and to this day, He has never let me down.
Living Spring
Those years at the Gathering Place were an interesting time of growth for me, and I am grateful for the opportunities that came from that time. One of the things that we were able to do was a ministry called the Solid Rock Café on Wednesday nights. Basically an outreach coffee house sort of thing that allowed us to do Christian music in a non-worship setting, and share a bit of the gospel with folks. I had some great players that worked with me on that project including a young lady by the name of Michelle Garcia from a church called Living Spring. She would often comment that I reminded her of her worship leader back at the Spring and she was always inviting me to come out and check them out some time. To make a long story short, my time at the Gathering Place came to an end, and I decided to check out Living Spring, also in Garden Grove. The worship leader at the Spring was named Tim Ellis, and he hired me on as a sax player. This was a little bit confusing as I felt called to be a worship leader, but it seemed that this door had been closed to me. I felt called to the Spring, but Tim was certainly not going anywhere. He is actually a bit of a legend in the Free Methodist denomination having been fired for doing evil stuff like using guitars and drums in a church service. Ah…back in the day.
Well once again, the Lord moved and Tim got an incredible offer to lead worship at another large church in Southern California, and there I was - worship leader at Living Spring – crown jewel of the Free Methodist conference in Southern California. I served at the Spring for twelve years under Pastor Jim McGhee, and it was a time of incredible growth and ministry for me. Tim Ellis had been able to draw on his substantial contacts at Azusa Pacific University during his tenure, and I was able to do the same with my peers at Disneyland. Living Spring has always stood out as one of the most over resourced little churches I have ever run across, and for a church of 200 – 300, it has always enjoyed incredible worship!