I Started a Punk Rock Band

Since I was three years old I wanted to be a rocker. I know this because there are pictures of me jumping off a lawn chair shredding a toy guitar like I was in some sort of 80s' metal hair band... a Christian hair band of course.

As I grew up, I took the steps needed. I learned how to sing a little, play the bass guitar, and I listened to a ton of music. At seventeen my tastes had changed from hair metal to punk rock, but I was ready to start a band. The only problem was a band requires other people. Especially if you are a bass player. People will come to see Ed Sheeran play and sing by himself, but there is a very limited audience that will pay to see one dude slappin' da bass. I mean, I would. But I'm weird.

So I booked my first show in faith and did not yet have a band. This is not a move I would suggest, but somehow, I was able to get together a motley crew (pun intended) of five dudes. Our singer could not yet sing, and church worship bands made up the rest of our experience. But we were going to be the next Relient K... or so I dreamed. Our first show was terrible, but it was a start!

Over the next five years, we did not make much of an impact, but we played shows all over Georgia and the Carolinas, recorded two self-produced EPs, spent a lot of money, made none, and had a ton of fun doing it.

Those years were important for me because they were my first steps in leading anything. I had to promote, plan, dream, vision, and resolve conflict (And you don't know conflict until you have three lead guitarists in your band and your brother is the drummer). These were all skills the Lord would use later in my life for bigger assignments.

Tomorrow we are going to watch Nehemiah start a project that he is unable to do on his own. He's sort of like a bassist with a dream. He will have to get the band together if he ever wants to complete what God put on his heart. If God has called you (Or you pray he calls you soon) to do something great, we can learn so much about being a godly leader from Nehemiah 2. I hope you will worship with us!