Church
Original music
Jump over here to hear music I’ve created that centers around the liturgical church calendar or scroll down to read more about my church musician experience.
Church Work
I’ve lead worship & been involved with church leadership since my days in youth group. My original songs & retuned hymns (usually released under The Calendar Years) are being sung in churches all over the world. I have been involved in a local church ministry for most of my life & am proud to currently serve as a volunteer music leader at my local community Sojourn Grace Collective, a progressive church based in San Diego.
Since 2018 I’ve been a part of Nine Beats Collective - an international tribe of troubadours, poets, rebels, provocateurs, sages & activists who have come together from different continents, different cities, and different experiences, all on the trail of the ancient Bible sayings known as ‘the beatitudes’. I’ve toured the UK & the US, performed on mainstage at Wild Goose Festival, & produced the “Dance of the Deep” EP for them featuring Heatherlyn.
In 2018 I was Artist in Residence for two progressive church communities - Jacksboro Parish (TX) for the month of September, Left Hand Church (CO) for 3 months from November to January 2019.
I served on the Core Team of the Multicultural Worship Leaders Network in 2016, rebranding the organization & creating online content.
I moved to NYC in 2011 & in early 2012 was invited on staff at Forefront Church to plant a new location in Brooklyn. For the next 6 years I served as Worship & Creative Arts Director planning Sunday services & sermon series, creating graphics & online content, building a thriving worship team of over 50 volunteers, producing the Midrash NYC podcast, & leading the Songwriting Guild. I was most proud of the work we did pivoting our congregation to becoming the first open & affirming anti racist evangelical church in NYC.
As an itinerant worship leader & songwriter I have led worship & performed in over 20 states of America at churches ranging from several hundred to thousands of members. To name a few: Bridgeway Community Church (Columbia MD), Woodmont Christian Church (Nashville TN), Good Shepherd NY, Church of the Advent Hope (NY), Watershed Charlotte (NC), LaSalle Street Church (Chicago IL), Highlands Church (Denver CO), Calvary Church (NY), Gracepointe (Nashville TN), South Bend Community Church (IN), Redeemer Presbyterian Downtown (NY), City Church San Francisco (CA), The Foundry (Baltimore MD).
I began my days as an arts & worship leader at SCYP at just 20 years old, planning services & leading the band. I served on that team for the best part of the next decade as a delegate for my local church community in Mt Colah. I also relaunched & served as the leader of the arts organization c.a.t which produced half a dozen albums, sold thousands of copies worldwide, & helped to birth a culture of original music creation within the wider church community.
Conferences
I’ve always loved the energy of large gatherings of people & have had the privilege of participating in teams in Australia, New Zealand, & the US that have produced conferences for thousands of people.
In 2014 & 2016 my worship collective, The Calendar Years, was the house band for PCTC, a weekend conference for thousands of teenagers from all over Pennsylvania. Below is an excerpt for an original song we wrote for the event.
In 2015 I was invited by my dear friend Nikki Lerner to join her at WFX (now known as Live Design International), a national church technology conference, in Nashville to team teach classes on Diversity in Worship.
In 2010 I performed at Easterfest, Australia’s largest Christian music festival, after winning first place in the “Songs that Unite” national songwriting competition for the Uniting Church.
In 2008 I served as the Music & Arts Director for the biennial National Christadelphian Conference in Sydney Australia. I coordinated teams for live worship, workshops facilitating spiritual growth, encouraged songwriters to write original works for the event, & liaised with the Tech team to pull off a week long event for thousands of people from all over Australia.
Live-Streaming
Like many creatives in 2020 I had to pivot to adapt to a global pandemic. We converted our shared back room workspace into a video recording studio to be able to provide resources to folks who needed video content for their events or Sunday morning church services. We also live-streamed every Sunday morning from the studio for our local progressive church, Sojourn Grace Collective. Utilizing Ecamm Live, Restream & a green screen we’ve been able to build community all over the world via our weekly live-streams.
Churches I’ve worked with for live-streaming include Sojourn Grace Collective, Gracepointe Nashville, Sacred Place United Church, The Orchard Community, Church of the Advent Hope.
Other events
Over the years I’ve been involved with a variety of weird & wonderful events in & around the church world.
I have toured over 38 states in America through 5 self booked house show & small venue tours in collaboration with my friends Heatherlyn, Paul Demer & Daniel Deitrich, all of whom have been, or currently are, worship directors.
For 5 years I ran a monthly church small group called Songwriting Guild out of my apartment in Brooklyn Heights that launched several artists into the NY scene, landed residencies at the legendary Rockwood Music Hall, ran a handful of successful Kickstarter campaigns raising over $30k, & birthed almost 10 records.
In 2018 I produced the Highlands Church Annual Christmas Gala, leading the AV team & managing rehearsals.
In 2016 I booked & produced a night with David Bazan at The Bell House Brooklyn for Forefront Church’s FCQ series.
In 2015 I co-produced an evening of interactive art & an exhibition in midtown Manhattan for Guild Collective, a ministry of Forefront Church NYC.
Here’s a playlist of Christian songs I’ve written or cowritten
Church. But make it creative
Need a worship leader for your event? How about a coach for your worship team? Want someone who will help you navigate a conversation around progressive, open & affirming church music?