Don
@themessageproject
Santa Rosa, CA USA
Joined Jan 1, 2010
The Message project was founded in 1998 in a moment of Holy fire and transformation. Several configurations later, The Message currently leads worship at Celebrate Recovery meetings and various denominational and nondenominational churches in Sonoma County. Our new CD entitled Humanity/Insanity is expected to be completed by the summer of 2010.
My Music
Artist
The Message: The Desert or The Holy Land
Jan 23, 2010
I was saved in a blaze of glory 11 years ago, a moment which changed me forever from a Christian hater to on fire for Jesus, a profound Spiritual experience which was a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who became my Lord and Savior in that very moment. For 11 years, in this town of more than 160,000 people in one of the most liberal/progressive Christian hating areas of California, I have been looking for committed musicians. I've had seasons with some, and bass players are abundant here, praise God. But I've never found a great lead guitarist who was willing to show up for every service/gig I book, and it's never more than 2 per month. There are lots of great players in this city, and all of them, it seems, are serving their church worship teams, which seems to be the element which makes them feel 'too busy' to get involved with an original Christian Rock/Pop band. I have a wife and daughter at home (special needs, in fact, with high-functioning Autism) so my family is my first ministry, of course. I understand that family is important and time is valuable. But I would think that since there are so few original music Christian Rock bands in this town that it should be easy to find a killer lead guitarist, but it's not. 11 years I've been looking. I'm very gentle and not controlling, letting the Holy Spirit move us and guide us through every song, but I do provide leadership and orderly rehearsals when we have them. My question to all of you is this: Is there a Christian musician bulletin board in Northern Calfornia? How have you all found the band members you've needed to make your music come alive live? I'm starting to suspect that God would have me apply the philosophy that I teach to men in recovery: I have to be what I want others to be. Perhaps I just have to become a killer lead guitarist. Top 40 worldly bands and even my original worldly bands never had this problem. I could always find decent players who were grateful to find other decent players to create original Rock music together. Even 11 years into it, I'm still baffled by why Christian artists aren't as excited to find an original Rock band with which to stretch out and create. Any thoughts? Yes, I've been praying about this for 11 years. LOL Any other thoughts? Thanks, fellow faithful worship leaders!