Anyone play in Christian bands outside of Church ?

Like the title says, wondering if you guys have another Ministry outside of the usual church gig.....

I play in a band called LifeGiver( http://lifegiverband.com ) , The lead singer and I have been working at it for just about a year now. We think its starting to come together, as we have had a few personnel changes. Now my lil brother plays rhythm for us, and everyone else goes to our church. God has placed us all together and we have become a tight nit family !!!

We have been hitting NC/VA hard and God has really opened some doors for us recently. We are starting to travel the East Coast. Last year we played some halftime shows for the Arena Football league on their Faith and Family nights and they have asked us again this year !!

Its a lot to do with two kids and regular church ministry but I know I am where I am called. Otherwise I wouldnt put the time and effort in......

So do you guys do anything? If so what are some struggles you face and how have you overcome ?

Iron Sharpens Iron

Post links if you got em !!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsbuCAJpS3w&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui_cab77gMg&feature=related
http://triadblogspot.com/lifegiver/got%20to%20praise.wmv

ps Im the one with the Tele :wink:

I'm pastor of a medium-sized United Methodist church in a rural Western New York area. I have a small church band made up of myself and three-to-four of my youth. We play here in church often, but we also have gone out to do things outside the church, often at events in my UM district.

I've never had to book gigs, so i can't really help there. All I can say is that people love to see/hear us where they least expect us!

Thats Awesome aunchaki always good to be appreciated :)

Bunn, that's great that God is opening doors and you're doing so much outside the church! I have always wanted to do that, but just not sure how to go about doing it. We play some of my original songs at the church, but I would love to do more. Sometimes I feel that at almost 30, good career, family, that time is slowly slipping away....

Anyway, it really does lift my heart to hear that it is going well for Lifegiver! Keep at it!

Sent from my iPhone using TDPRI

I play at a local music hall every Saturday night. There is usually an hour of gospel at the beginning. It's not a band but rather a group of guys that love the calling and join together. We have started doing this once a month on Friday nights. We will play this coming Friday. I used to have a band called Southen Cross (no "r" in Southen). We played southern gospel. It sort of broke up after my daughter (the mandolin player) died. I still play with some of the others from that band every now and then.

Sorry to hear that roscoestring. It's awesome you guys still get together here and there.

Back to the op, my friend and I "tried" to start a Christian band outisde of church here in nyc, but it failed miserably when we tried to make tunes together, cause I'm hyper critical and he's a total wuss (when it comes to hearing my opinion). I always had trouble finding people who are passionate about playing outside of church, people always love the idea and are so quick to be a part of it, but that's as far as it goes.

Used to, but the market is for the younger, big production stuff. We had a fair amount of gigs, some indoor, some outdoor and some people liked what we were doing. Most of the other bands were "grunge-type" music and they had their "groupies" which usually consisted of 15-20 people on a good nite. If we followed a band like that the groupies departed after their set was over. If we played in front of a 40 and over crowd, they loved us and were grateful when the grunger's departed. We fell apart because of musical differences (go figure).

I play lead guitar at a place called the Gospel Barn. www.gospelbarn.com I have been the lead player there for the last thirteen seasons. We play every Saturday Night from the first saturday of April to the first saturday of November. We have Southern Gospel Quartets, trios, and Bluegrass groups come in and The house band opens for them I havehad the opportunity to open for The Booth Brothers, the Collingsworth Family, The Dixie Melody Boys, The Florida Boys, The Weatherfords, Gold City..... I honestly, Don't remember. SO if anyone is Looking for some good quartet singing, Come on out!
I love it. It is my main gig, and My ministry. I also Play on our Churches Worship team once a month, and Run sound for the church once a month, sometimes more.

Awesome guys !!!

we played a good set last night in a not so far away town ... with our new drummer things were spotty here and there, however we had soooo much going on at church this week we had no time to practice :shock:
oh well the crowd couldnt tell the difference so much .... but it would have been better to actually link all 5 of those songs together flawlessly:roll: haha so be it God was lifted high!!!

We have been nominated for the Charlotte Nc music awards and will be competing against 4 other bands form the state to play live for the Christian Music division !! We didn't pursue it, rather we were approached by the organization ... pretty crazy really .... but if we go in and honor God nothing will be lost :grin:

So with two weeks off to prepare we are gonna dig in and go for it !! Will keep yall posted

Our praise band goes by "Crossfire" and we've played at a couple of praise band gatherings, with other bands from local churches, to benefit a local charity. We've also played at an annual local benefit/music festival for the family of a deceased musician. So it's just nonpaying side jobs, but we're all old rockers and we just like playing so every chance comes up we're in! That, and we been together 3 yrs, and we've got a pretty extensive catalog of covers. But, we also all have day jobs and families too so....

Yeah I play in a band called Living Testament. We're based in east TN and sometimes we play in our own church and sometimes we get to go to other places. We play a contemporary Christian music with a rock flavor and mix in some traditional hymns too. Two years in we're probably at around 50 gigs under our belt & still learning with every one.

We go wherever we can, sometimes it's a paying gig, sometimes not, but we go anywhere we're asked (provided that work / school schedules allow) because we view it as a way to minister to others.

The big thing is getting a date scheduled in enough advance to plan & try to get off work & stuff. Also I hear you on the family/church front...I have a wife & two kids myself and also serve on staff at the church. It's a full load for sure.

Basically, you're right...no sane person would do on the road, load-up, travel, load-out, setup, soundcheck, play, load-up, travel-back, and put all that equipment up repeatedly like that unless it was a calling. It's a lot of work but it's great fun and it's so worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/livingtestamentband

Hope this helps,

AWESOME to hear from you guys !!!

I have a praise report if I may ....

Our band won Christian Band of the year in Nc/Sc and will be playing at the Charlotte Music awards red carpet event in Dec !!!!!!!!!! Glory To God !!! :cool:

Congrats man! That's awesome! God is good.

Bunn, I'm from your neck of the woods. Glad to hear you are doing well with your band! I played in a band back in the 90's and we played out quite a bit for about 4 years, doing mostly our own music. We sounded like our influences (60's/70's/80's rock) and pre-dated the P&W phenom but then the whole "Seattle/flannel shirt/grunge" thing came into vogue and suddenly we were no longer in demand. Rather than try to change to something we weren't we called it a day. I now prefer to play in the band at church (right down the road from your church in fact). With a job and a family that's the most I can handle and it can be very demanding at times.

Bunn, I'm from your neck of the woods. Glad to hear you are doing well with your band! I played in a band back in the 90's and we played out quite a bit for about 4 years, doing mostly our own music. We sounded like our influences (60's/70's/80's rock) and pre-dated the P&W phenom but then the whole "Seattle/flannel shirt/grunge" thing came into vogue and suddenly we were no longer in demand. Rather than try to change to something we weren't we called it a day. I now prefer to play in the band at church (right down the road from your church in fact). With a job and a family that's the most I can handle and it can be very demanding at times.

AWESOME to hear !!! River Oaks ? Cool to hear from a fellow North Carolinian on the boards :)

Yes..... PRODUCT OF FAITH

AMEN to that .... when HE says go just do it, he has not let one person down yet :cool:

AWESOME to hear !!! River Oaks ? Cool to hear from a fellow North Carolinian on the boards :)

Other direction! Center Grove. (Used to be at the extremely large church down on Country Club and Peacehaven.)

Gotcha, I played with the worship leader from there when we did that big 3 church get together July 4th a couple years back ... what was his name.. Jerry ? Plays the G&L with 3 pups ... Heck of a player, that was back when i just picked up the guitar again after years of Drumming, fun times ... headed to Troutman tomorrow for a festival at a church to play with LifeGiver and we will play the BBQ festival next weekend @ 11:15 you should come out and introduce yourself !!!! :cool:

Yep, Jerry is a great player and all around great musician. He now leads the entire music ministry for us. That's ironic - I was also a drummer for many years at the big church, then moved to bass and now I'm back on guitar at long last. I just feel fortunate to be able to play on the same platform with such a good guitarist. I'm not in that league at all. Good luck at the BBQ festival! I need to go to that event some day given my love for Lexington Q.

yes he is an incredible player, way outta my league, and was lucky to get to play with him, watched him like a hawk haha. Yeah if you can make it that'd be rad man !!

Our most recent trip to VA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYThw7BbkM&feature=share

Our transportation Not boasting but Glory to God cause we have been believing for a bus and here ya go :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=HcyB1uu1yAc

I play bass in church, but I'm also part of a Christian band where I play guitar (constantly switching between my Tele and my Strat because whenever I'm playing one I'm missing the other one). We call ourselves "Witness" and have slowly gained the opportunity to play at bigger and bigger events. We sing a variety of contemporary music ranging from Lincoln Brewster to Third Day, as well as Country and a lot of our own stuff. We have had some of our origional material played on the local Christian radio station. The problem we have is that we are also older. Our band ranges from mid 30's to early 40's. Too old for the young crowd and too contemporary for the older crowd. Anyway, we love it and have a good time so we'll stick with it as long as we can. So far it's been 8 years and we get a lot of invitations from May to December. Recently my daughter joined our group. She is 16 so she gives us some validity with the younger people I guess. She is an incredible singer and has won numerous competitions including one when we went to Disneyworld at the American Idol site. I have told her I think that singing with a bunch of 'old' people is holding her back. I wish she could get in a band on her own with some other teenagers, but none of us know any teenagers that take playing any instruments seriously. I think guitar hero video games may have ruined them, but I hope I am wrong.

I play guitar in the band named Impact. Other churches ask us to play in their church in their youth service.

www.bandimpact.nl


Greetings Edward

i would like to...
But I guess God believes I'm not ready yet.

Our Church has two separate worship teams being led by the team leader. We play one week on one off to avoid burnout. But some of use wanted more so we formed a band with members from both teams. Most of us have played at a semi-pro level and spent some time on the road so we thought it only natural to call ourselves the Roadies. We've played colleges, outdoor Christian festivals,coffee houses, and the local rescue mission. We took some time off over the holidays, but some of us are getting a little "antsy" and are ready to start playing out again. Playing in the Roadies gives us an opportunity to play a little "edgier" material than we might normally play in Church. Our music at our Church edgier than most Churches in our area, but when we play out the gloves come off :cool:. One of the most rewarding experiences was when we played at the local rescue mission and a lady broke down and accepted her Savior.

Yep! Like I shared in the Christian Country thread, I write and record Christian Country Music and now have my third single out to radio. I've done a lot of Cowboy Church ministry as well as other churches, but we'll play most anywhere the door opens. I'm constantly praying right now about how to further carry the message outside the walls of the church in the form of music, too.

(Oh, I also build acoustic guitars in my....ummmm....."spare" time. Which isn't near enough! Got four on the bench right now I'm trying to get finished.)

i would like to...
But I guess God believes I'm not ready yet.

haha....no, i think He believes u can, u must be doubting yourself.

im new to the whole praise thingy, so im just writing originals in that vein.

im sure when its time, ill be shown what to do.:mrgreen:

I play more "church music" outside of my own church home than I do in it.

T-C