Ep. 15, Worship Flow, Josh & Hayden

Josh and Hayden discuss the ins and outs of connecting with God through music in the prayer room.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to the Lafayette Prayer Room podcast where we discuss what it looks like to grow in God through prayer, worship, and life in the context of a prayer room. I'm Josh Myers. I'm part of the Lafayette Prayer Room leadership. I lead worship on one of our teams. I'm also a husband, uh father of five. I have a grandfather of one currently with another one on the way. A little girl. So excited about that. Little Miss Charlotte's on her way. And that's me. I'm Hamila Sword.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I am a member of the prayer room. I play on the stage. I play big guitar for our worship central Saturday nights. I am a husband to Katie, who you've met a couple times on this podcast, and a father to the most wonderful little boy in Eprom, who you've also heard a lot about on this podcast as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

I know you're used to seeing some much better looking hosts, but you know, you're stuck with us today. So let's see if we can do this. Yeah, today we're gonna be talking about worship flow within the prayer room and all the details and all that kind of stuff. So it should be fun. We're gonna just talk a little bit about how we got started in the prayer room and how we first learned about it. Years ago, uh, for me, it was it was kind of a developing thing throughout my life. Um, I think I talked about this all in our previous podcast, but basically the short version is I uh I've always loved the part of a worship service where the words end, you know, like where the plan ends and you're like in that open space where you can kind of do whatever you want. That was always my favorite part, even before click tracks and music tracks and all of that. I I just liked the part of the song where the song ended, and you just kind of got to make things up. That was always my favorite. What I didn't know is that God had put that in me. I just thought I liked it because I'm kind of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of person, just in general. So I thought that just kind of fit my personality, and that's probably partially true. But um, but so I I learned about that. I that always was kind of my desire. And then what happened was one year uh the worship team took a trip together up to the prayer room and um to the one in Kansas City, and we went there, and when I was there and they were doing, we did a class on how to do the different parts of a prayer room and the different parts of a prayer service. And when we were there, all of a sudden I was like, my I could feel from like my soul, like, yes, this is what I've always wanted to do, and I just didn't know. Like I didn't know how to make it look like in an actual service or a prayer meeting or anything like that. I just when we went up there and they were like, This is how you do it, this is the steps. And I was like, Yes, like it, I had been already been wanting to do that, but just didn't know what it was, you know. Um, now didn't actually do anything in the prayer room for like another 15 years. Um, but I was in and out of the prayer team at our church, and we would we would do some sets were similar to you know the the prayer room and some that were more normal prayer, like kind of a prayer team or whatever. And we kind of would go in and out of that, and I was in the prayer room, and then I'd get busy with my life, with kids, and just the busyness of life, and then back out again, then back in, and kind of back and forth. Um, and then uh a while back, years ago, uh my wife started getting involved more uh intently um and in the prayer room, and that's kind of whenever I started saying, Oh, I kind of wanted to do that too, and I started getting more involved uh with that, and uh that's kind of led me to where I am today, you know, step by step, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah, my first experience with the prayer room was actually through my mom, Trista, who is the host of this podcast. Usually she's not in here today, it's just us. We kind of took over a little bit today, but that was my first introduction because for as long as I can remember, my mom has been a part of the prayer team at the Lafayette prayer room now for since probably 2001, 2002, around there is about whenever it started. And so for as long as I can remember, I was born in '98. As long as I can remember, she was a part of that. So growing up, I've always seen what it looked like to be a part of the prayer room. There was some Monday nights where I get out of football practice and hey, you go sit with mom in the program until she's done, and then you just go home with her and kind of deal. So I've been in and out all growing up and stuff. Um, I've kind of had seasons in high school and middle school and things like that before I even got to the music side of things. Just going sit in the prayer room and one kind of sit there and be a part of it a little bit, kind of, you know, as I was growing up, I would be a part of it a lot. And then I would go to these camps as a kid in Kansas City at the prayer room every single summer from the time I was 12 till 16, 17, something like that, to senior in high school. Every summer I would go, and it was a music camp specifically, but music in the prayer room where we were playing actual sets in the is it we call it, it's called the Justice Prayer Room at the time. It was basically a mini prayer room for a local community and stuff. And so I would do that every every summer, all through junior high, all through high school, go do that. And then I ended up choosing to go to music school in Kansas City also after that in the same place. And so I did a whole year there, um, just learning to connect with the prayer room in a deeper level than just um attending, even you know, learning to connect and build the base there and build a deeper connection with the community of the prayer room. Um, you can kind of see that grow in your own life as you more connect. It just allows yourself to be more open to um coming there and not having a set game plan. You know, I'm coming there and I'm not I'm not coming to play this base for this set, but I can come there and I can just sit if I wanted to, you know, and there's no real pressure outside of that because I have that community to fall back on and things like that. Um, so I got to serve in you know several different programs over there. They had um the global program, which was the big program where most people knew about, then they had an all-nations program, which was specific to different cultures and different languages would do sets. They had uh the practice programs for the school specifically, would have teams for each class, would have teams that would do practice sets and do actual sets, but it's just in a learning environment more than anything. And they have a justice program, which is a more localized program. So they have a lot of different um prayer room settings that I got to experience with a lot of different people from different corners of the world to different cultures to different music styles all blending together, and so a lot of that it really began to grow my love for playing in a prayer room because I I kind of harken on what you said of I enjoy the times after the song ends, right? You know, um, nowadays we play with a lot of tracks, we play with uh, and there's nothing wrong with tracks, they they serve the song well, they fill out space that you may not have a full band for. All those things are great. But once that track ends, and then it's just the click track going for a little while, and then you turn off the click track, and then it's just you in the moment with the congregation, with the one person in the room, even or if it's just you in your own setting, whenever you're practicing or something, that song ends, and you really get to stretch yourself. You begin to see where you're at with God, you know, see where you're see where your heart is, where you're where you're wrestling, where where God wants to take you in those moments is really whenever stuff begins to open up. And so that just pulls me so hard every time. And that's really what I love about it.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Now you mentioned about like the different prayer rooms you were involved in in Kansas City, and then of course you're involved in our prayer room. Uh are all prayer rooms basically the same? Is each one different? In what ways are they alike? And which ways are they different? Would you say because you have a lot more experience with that than like me?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I I'm I've only done been in our prayer room, but yeah, um, I would say there's definitely a difference. You know, I could go into an all nations prayer room, and their their prayer set is focused on the on the underground church of China. It's mainly gonna be um the cultures that are coming into it is gonna be different. So, like our culture here, very heavily focused on Louisiana focused, and also it's more intimate. You know, our prayer room is a very intimate prayer room where we don't we were not gonna have really a bunch of big loud crescendoing moments in our prayer room. We don't have a flag section, stuff like that that you'll see in other prayer rooms, and so that thing that's the biggest difference is that whenever you play in these bigger prayer rooms, um, you can find there's some corporate um worship moments, which are great, which are fantastic in this prayer room setting, also. But I find ours leans more towards the intimate heart moments and kind of allows you to kind of go where the Lord is taking you in that moment, and it allows the the group next in the building to be able to intercede with him more personally than if it was, hey, let's bring the whole congregation with us, kind of deal.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

That's good. In fact, that actually kind of leads me into the the next thing I was gonna ask because through our different seasons of life, we've gotten involved in the program for different reasons or different pollings or drawings. Like, what's the thing that draws you now? Like that that pulls you in now. And I was gonna actually say my answer to that question was gonna be for me, it's it is about the fact that we have like so much opportunity to be intimate with God. Um, it's really the one of my favorite things in the program right now, is just that that's it's a place where I can go, whether I'm on stage or whether it's a time where I'm at my at the table doing a Bible study or whatever. It's just being able to go and be with him there, you know? And I love it. I love being there, you know, just being in the room.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, for me it was um like especially coming back because I haven't played bass in probably six or seven years before I started playing in the prayer room again. And so that big change for me was honestly, you know, my personal time with the Lord. Um normally it had been previously, whenever I was playing bass a lot, was I'd play my bass in my room or whatever, and that was my alone time. Was playing the bass with the Lord and just speaking to him with the bass kind of thing. Speaking to him through the music was a lot of my alone time. And then in the season where I wasn't playing bass, it kind of my alone time became more sporadic. Where I wasn't I wasn't being intentional with spending that alone time with him that I needed to, that I was before. And so I had noticed a a lot of things change in me through that, you know, not being as in tune with what the Lord was saying to me, um, kind of falling behind on on where I should have kept going, you know. Um the Lord trying to tell me the same thing over and over and over again, you know, me not getting it because I wasn't spending enough time to be able to recognize his voice in that season, a lot of things like that. And so whenever whenever I began to get the itch to just play again originally, I was like, Well, I really want to play in the purm if I'm gonna play, because I want to have that outlet of number one to spend time, intimacy with the Lord, to be intimate with him. It's such a it and we say intimate, like we're not trying to be loose with the word, but it's just the most apt way of describing it. Yeah, like there's there's the closeness of your heart to heart with him the whole time for the two hours that you're up there with him, just communing with him, and and you know, he might be pushing back on you a little bit for you to give up a little bit more to him and stuff like that. So it's it's that part of it. And then also, I won't lie, it's a big part of I wanted the creative outfit. You know, I like being creative, and especially with music, that's my favorite way to be creative, and that's term is the best way for me to be creative because it allows the space for it. I love playing on Sunday mornings. I play on our team at the family church on Sunday mornings for two weeks a month, and I do love that. And that's a that's a fantastic thing to play in corporate worship and stuff, and we do our three songs and we do a tag and stuff. We have a little bit of of room, but for the most part, it's not it's not, oh hey, I can sit here on these four chords for 20 minutes, and the Lord can move on that, and then and then you and Trista will sing a chorus, and and then I'll be able to play a melody off of that, or things like that. It's the push and pull of intercession of a worship with the word that we get to have with the Lord. Yeah, you know, you don't get that every single day of playing corporate worship where you do in the prayer. It's a push and pull every step of the way. So that that's really where I'm at right now is I love the push and pull.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah, yeah, I I agree. I'll hit you brought up uh leading worship being part of the worship team on Sundays. Well, I was I was laughing about man, between the two of us, we probably I don't even know how many years of uh leading worship experience we have because I mean we both have led worship in junior high services, in senior high services, and main you know, church Sundays. Like we we have quite a bit of uh playing on stage experience between the two of us. Um, and you're right, there is a difference between leading a corporate worship session and leading a prayer set. So we'll what are one of the things that you think is is different about that?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

The first thing I think of between a uh you know your 20-30-minute worship set on a Sunday morning and a two-hour set of prayer room is the sets on Sunday morning is focused towards getting the congregation to go with you where you all want to go and worship. Whereas our two-hour sets, we're not doing it so that the crowd can have an amazing worship experience and stuff. We're doing it because it's our heart's cry to the Lord in that moment, and whether or not you want to join in on that, that's fine. You can go and read a book in the prayer room, and that's great. You know, the Lord thinks that's wonderful. Whereas on a 20-minute worship set, um, I mean, you know, as being a worship leader, and I know you said I worship that I'm not in the common sense of the word worship leader, the way I view it personally, and I was telling someone this the other day, and I realized not everyone thinks about this, but this is great for musicians to hear, I think, is that anyone on stage is a worship leader. Correct. You are leading those people into worship because you are the example now. As soon as you step on stage, every eye is going to see you at some point. So you are leading that into worship. So whenever I step on stage, I do think of myself, I am a worship leader. I'm not gonna have a mic that anyone can hear, I might have a talk back and that's it. But I know I'm leading into worship with the facilities that I've been given. I have not been blessed with the saying voice, not like you. And so I'm fine with that, and know that the Lord has blessed me with my ability to lead in the way that I can. And so I think that's the big difference of 20-minute worship set is all about the congregation moving together. Yeah, and the two hours is hey, we're going here, you can jump in or not, wherever you feel you are is best.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Right. Yeah, the two hours is not saying, Oh, I'm gonna do this and you can do whatever you want. It's not like in a negative way, it's just that we have as as the team on stage, we're we have a outline of what we're trying to accomplish or go through. And um, and we'll talk about the different types of sets in a little bit, and the opportunities there for anybody that wants to be a part of it. And and but there's times when people come in and they have a seat and they're doing their Bible study. I guess you could say, in some ways, like a a 20-minute worship service is like plowing the field before the pastor preaches and the seed is sown, whereas somebody that's in a uh two-hour prayer set, it's more like going outside and sitting in the garden and you're pulling weeds and you're just spending time in the garden with your hands in the dirt, and like that's kind of for anybody that does like gardening, I know that's kind of, I guess you can say like the difference is yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

What would you say? Like, obviously, I'm going to these prayers, prayer room sets and stuff, and even on Sunday mornings. For me, I'm a big gear head. Um, I'll talk about that in a second. But like for you, what is kind of your gear set up? What do you kind of do? I mean, I I see it, but it's already set up whenever I get there. I don't really get to inspect it like I want to all the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

No, uh mine's mine, I mean it's pretty simple. I get my you know, my microphone set up in my mic stand and my music stand, and I can have my little table with my drink and everything kind of set up like I like it. Um, and uh, but as far as like my musically speaking, with my guitar, it's pretty straightforward. I have an electric acoustic, and so I I wirelessly connect into that to basically it's a uh it's a lapel mic pack, and then I but I have a converter that does to a quarter-inch jack, which I plug in. And so it really is just a straight guitar, yeah, very clean sound. I'm not looking for a lot of extra with my acoustic. Um, but uh yeah, that's real real simple as far as that's concerned, you know. Um, and then of course, you know, I like my setup on my table all a certain way. Uh I think everybody has like their own little setup, how they like with my big old Yeti sitting on top of my table. I have to set up my stuff in a way because like it used to be I would just come and set up all my stuff. And then one time Tris was like, I looked over to see Felicia singing, and all I saw was Josh on his Yeti right in front of me. I'm like, oh yeah. So I have to like set up myself like, can you see through, you know? But you know, that logistically speaking, you know, sometimes you gotta make sure you set up that way. But you know, as far as instrumentally, that it's pretty simple, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

And now what about like uh musically? Um, you know, you often will come to the firm and we're going through a bunch of different songs and stuff. And so I've had people ask, like, well, would y'all just jump through a bunch of different songs? How are you how do you even know that? Like what song you're going to? So explain a little bit about how we handle that.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah. So when I get there, and typically, like a uh, for example, a Saturday, Tristan Lena said, so she's picked all the songs. Well, they'll be on my podium. She'll have them all set up for me, which is great, and I really appreciate that. I'll get my guitar while the devotional set's going on, and I'll kind of get up there and I'll flip through the music and I'll kind of look at the chords and I'll kind of figure it out myself. Like, oh, I'm gonna capo this on cape three, or I'm gonna do this on capo two, or I'm gonna move around to do it, make it easier for me. So I put my so I can do my finger arrangements the way that I want. Um, and I'll kind of go through each song mentally, just kind of flip through real quick and say, okay, okay, okay. And this is what we're gonna flow on. And that way, whenever she's like, hey, we're gonna do cycle one or cycle two, I've looked at it and I'm familiar and I know where I know where I'm gonna go to be where she wants to go, you know. Um, and that's nice. You know, I try to do the same thing. If I'm lady, I do the same thing for her, you know, make things a little easier for her as well. Um, yeah, how about you? Because I know your setups, it's it's a little more involved. I've noticed you you gotta get there a little early, and it's really I like let checking out your stuff because it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Yeah, um, so I have two different basses I've been using recently. I have a five-string Lakeland bass that I've had for 10 plus years now. Yeah, um, shout out to Jordan Muller, who who's our other bassist. I've heard you got me into Lakeland guitars. I love it. Um, and then my other bass that I play is a is a new one that I got actually this year. Whenever I got back into playing a lot, I was like, I want a new one. And it's a four-string Fender P bass, which is just kind of the classic sound that anyone will know whenever they hear a bass. Um and and I have a pedal board. I I got big into pedals whenever I was in Kansas City playing in college and stuff, and it just allows for so much different, so many different sounds that you can do with your pedal board and stuff. So, yeah, I have a pedal board with uh a tuner on it, so it's a tuner I can use my signal anytime I need, tune up, um, and then go straight into a compressor where compress my signal so any low notes can sound a little bit louder, any super loud notes, so it can kind of be more even, compress the signal a little bit more. Then it goes straight into a um a Keely caverns, which is a um it's a reverb and delay pedal mixed together. So one side is reverb, one side is delay, and I can really get those ethereal sounds, almost electric sounding sounds sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

That makes sense because I there have been sometimes I've heard I'm like playing over there.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, I think it's really high on the neck and and get more ethereal sounds because, like I said, we play with a lot of space. We don't always need a big thuddy, you know, big, big old grounding bass guitar sound in the mix whenever we're playing some of these cycles, and so it allows me to have a different sound. And then I also have a um JHS Kilt V1, which is another shout out to Micah Vadrine, who's a guitarist at church, who just had this pedal laying around that I had been looking for. He knew I'd been looking for it. So he found it in his closet one Sunday, brought it to me. Like, hey, here you go. Like, use it for however long you want, haven't used it in years. So I said, that's a uh overdrive distortion pedal a little bit. And actually, uh, this past Saturday from recording this, we played a set in one of our cycles, it just kind of got more um, it felt like it needed more grit to it. So I took, I put on a little distortion on it and just muted with my pull and got out a pick even and started doo doo doo doo and like high up on the neck and almost giving a rhythmic electric to it, and it just turned out great in that moment for what it needed, and just for a short amount of time, not a big long time, but things like that, like that pedal allowed me to do that in the moment, and then I go straight to uh Aguilar tone hammer, which is my tone shaper EQ pedal, which just allows me to really get the sound that I want out of my bases into the front of house, and so that's my pedal board setup, and then yeah, basically on the bases though, it's hard to choose each week for me which one I want to play. But yeah, that's that's my basic setup. Um I want more pedals. Katie doesn't want me to get more pedals, but yeah, I'm I'm I'm very much addicted to gear and whatever halfway. So it's it's very fun.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

You also do something else kind of cool that I noticed as well. Um you you uh you actually set up your phone in a way where you I've seen you record it a few times, right? How does how does that work exactly?

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah, so I started actually recording stuff because I just wanted to hear myself back and and be able to learn from myself playing and hey, I could fix this, I could do this differently. This was a great moment. I need to add this to my repertoire, I need to practice it actually after doing it in the set and stuff. And so yeah, I got my I got my phone, I kind of looked up on YouTube. I had been watching a couple different bass players from around the country, some people that I knew, some people that I didn't, and um, and just kind of started looking at what do they use to record their because every time I listen to them, I'm like, they're not listening to the front of house next because I can hear the bass so heavy, and that's never in the front of house like that. But I just wanted that. And so I looked it up, and it was an iRig um little plug-in that you can plug into your phone and you plug in your in-ear pack. I split the cable and I send one to my phone through the iRig system and that records my in-ear mix. And then I posted it on YouTube. I I posted a couple videos now, some from the premium, some from Sunday mornings. Yeah. And at first it was just for me to watch them back and learn from them, but I'm starting to get like, you know, 500 views on some videos and stuff like that. It's pretty fun. I don't if we get zero views, if it gets 100, whatever, it might help somebody learn to play the song. Because I've even learned to play songs from YouTube. I see this bass player playing, um, say what a god. We played that on one Sunday morning. I go watch a bass cam video, and it's someone playing the bass and it's straight on. So I can see their hands. I can see how they're plucking, if they're playing with a pick at where it's at, all that kind of stuff. And every bass player is going to play it differently, too. So I can see where their instrument is going to be different than the the records instrument. You know, things like that. You can pick up different things. And so I was like, maybe it helps some people, you know, because some of the songs that I've posted haven't been posted before on YouTube, or I can't find them for a bass player. Because we play some songs that are 13, 15 years old from you know, Misty Edwards or something like that. And so, or Matt Gilman, I think we played Holy. And you know, I don't think I've ever seen a uh cover, a bass cover of Holy on YouTube. So yeah, just posted that, and that it's been it's been fun for me because now I get to go back and listen to some of the moments that we have. That's a that's a really great thing for me too, because sometimes I'll be driving for work and I just want I just want to relive that moment. I just want to go back to where the Lord was in that moment, and I just remember the Lord speaking so prominently in that moment. Oh, let me go back and and just get back in that mode a little bit. And so I can go back and listen to that exact moment because I've recorded it now.

unknown 23:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Right. That's very cool. Yeah, there have been times I know because we started recording uh some of our sets, uh the live sets as well. And it because it's funny because we'll we'll have moments where you know the Holy Spirit moves and we'll sing something prophetically, which we'll get to that in just a little bit. But uh, and then like afterwards, we like, oh yeah, remember that thing you said, oh yeah, it was uh nothing. Gone. It was just nothing. And I was like, man, I wish I had that recorded, you know. So it's nice to have the recording, but I'll go back and kind of say, Oh yeah, that was a cool moment, you know. I kind of like that. Kind of reminds me of um, like in the old testament, they would they would make like uh they would put rocks down to like memorialize that that moment that they had, you know, with somebody or that with God or whatever. And then like every time they go back to that well, they would remember that that that experience or that moment. And I'm like, it's kind of like that in a way, you know. It's it's cool. Um, so let's talk a little bit about the type of sets that we have. Uh we do typically in our prayer room, we do two types of sets: we do worship at the word and we do intercession. Um, our intercession sets are pretty straightforward. We'll have a worship song followed by a prayer leader who's uh leading the prayer focus, and then we'll open it up to do like an open mic for rapid fire where people can come up that want to pray for about 30 seconds or less. Get up and say um a quick prayer over that type that that particular focus. And we'll break down our intercession sets are typically an hour long. We'll do four focuses. So the breaks down about 15 minutes per. You get like a five-minute worship, followed by a five-minute uh prayer leader, followed by five minutes of of rapid fire, give or take, you know. And uh that's nice, it's very structured, very easy moving, very it's nice. I like it in that it's um there's not a lot of stress, there's not a lot of, you know, what if we go fast, what if we go slow, whatever, you know. Really, a lot of times for me, it's it's I have to like really kind of pull back, you know. I like to just really dive into those songs. And so like I have to like think, okay, Josh, you're not gonna you're gonna sing the song and then you're gonna pass it over so that there's time. And so it kind of helps me because I have to kind of keep my guardrails on. Then we get to the worship of the word, which is great because there's no guardrails, and I can just kind of like be what I want. And uh, but uh that's a little bit more open-ended, where uh basically what we're doing with worship of the word is you know, we're we're picking a particular uh section of scripture and we're breaking it down. We're kind of going through line by line, sometimes not even verse by verse, it's like you know, phrase by phrase within each verse, and um then interjecting worship songs throughout at different points wherever they fit. And uh we'll sometimes break those down into focuses just to kind of give us a general idea of like, you know, we got three focuses for an hour. So, like if we're in focus, if we're you know 40 minutes in and we're still in focus one, like, okay, we definitely aren't getting through this thing. Um, but it kind of gives an idea of where we're at and what we need to do, and um, so that's nice, but just really kind of gives it that freedom. We we'll do a worship song here, we'll pray the verse, the prayer leader will you know, read their scripture, then pray about the scripture, and then they'll pass it on to us as the the um worship leaders and we'll and the singers, and we'll kind of bounce back and forth with with just singing about the verse, singing about what the prayer leader said, singing about what the other singer sang, and kind of bouncing that back and forth and do that, and we'll just kind of rotate through in that way. Uh, that's pretty much basically how it goes on your worship the word. I mean, I know you're familiar with that, but for those that are watching that aren't familiar, but we say the worship word set or the intercession set, that's what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah, great information. Um, now let's think a little bit about the the creativity that you have, the lib, the creative liberty really that you have in each of those sets. I know you said intercession is a little bit more subdued for you personally, yeah, because you like to go a little bit longer and stretch out things, you know. But even then, there's still creative liberty in there. How do you feel that is in these in these sets that we have there? I mean, there's two hours.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So I love the creative part of it because that, like I said, like we were saying earlier, you know, all the way back before I even knew what a prayer room was, my favorite part of it was after the song ended. We've said that multiple times today. And uh, it's true, like when you get to that end part, and well, that's what we're doing in the prayer room. Sometimes I'm I'm singing the song to get through the song so that I can get to that part. You know, it's kind of how it feels. You know, it's I thought it was kind of like, okay, enjoy the worship song while you're in it too. Because sometimes that's great too. You know, they there were some these songs are written by people that were experiencing a moment, having it, uh, you know, maybe walking through something. And so that the lyrics of the songs are are are so important. I don't want to be, you know, belittle them, put them down as if they're unimportant.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

There's a reason we're playing them 15 years later, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Exactly, right. Yeah, exactly. There's a reason that it's still being used. Um, and some of them even older than that, 40 and 50 years, we'll use those songs. So I like breaking out some older songs sometimes, uh, even hymns. And so we'll we'll do those songs and and then we get to the the the more of the free part where we just kind of see what it sing whatever you're feeling, and that's great. But it's even better is whenever the the prayer leader starts to pray something, and then they'll be praying something, and I'll hear a phrase or something, it'll trigger something within me, whether it's something that I was reading in the scriptures and my Bible study or or whatever, and I know it kind of will stir something up inside of me, and I'll be like, oh yeah, that's cool. And sometimes it's like I'll get like a chorus, a full, you know, four-line chorus, and it's awesome. Sometimes it's literally like three or four words, and it comes to me and it's my turn, and I'll start singing those three or four words, and then sometimes I'll sing those three or four words, and there's not really anything after that. That's about it. I'll say my phrase, maybe add a little tag on the end of that, and then pass it on to the next singer, you know, and hopefully they've got something. Other times I'll say those three or four words, and then after those words, there's another phrase that comes up, and I'll sing those, and then after that, another phrase comes up. And and so it's really kind of neat to watch. I love seeing how it develops. Like sometimes it's real simple. Um, you know, just the jokes that she's like, she can always depend on me that I'm gonna sing. There's there's something gonna come out of my mouth, and so I'm willing to do it, you know, because I I'll just sing whatever I'm feeling in the moment. And then sometimes it's it leads to something else, and it's really kind of neat. Sometimes we have this really there's been uh many times where I've had this kind of a real intimate, uh moving experience that started off somewhere else. You know, I had a feeling of that God was gonna, you know, that I needed to sing this line. And then by the time we get to where God was actually bringing us, it's like, wow, I I didn't even know where he was bringing me. And we get there. It's just cool, it's neat. That the having that liberty to to walk through it, you know, really is because what you're doing, you really are lyrically walking to the moment. Yeah. How about for you as a as an instrumentalist?

SPEAKER_01 30:48

As a musician, it's it was it was honest, it was actually a hard transition for me going back to whenever I was in and first got to college in Kansas City playing in prayer rooms and stuff. It was a hard transition for me in my brain first to understand hey, this might not be right for this song that we just came out of, or this chord progression that we're now sitting in, but my heart, the Lord is saying, This is what I want you to play in that moment. And and I and I think back to uh actually a recent one um where we had a set on a Saturday a couple maybe a month or two ago, and we were playing three chords just over and over again, just three chords over and over again. And me, instead of playing um the main the root note of that, I decided I'm gonna play third on all of it, and just to change it a little bit, and so I'm playing a major, minor, major just all the way through for maybe 15 minutes. I play that. And naturally, if I'm playing on a on a song, that's gonna clash somewhere because there's gonna be a guitarist that's playing ninth and thirteenth and stuff, and so they're gonna be we're gonna be fighting each other in the mix if we're playing in a full song, but because we're able to have the the space to kind of mix it up a bit, it doesn't clash. And then on top of that, you know, Trista might hear me playing that and maybe she'll take off the middle, she might take off her third on her chords whenever she's playing or something, or or she may she may instead of playing the third, play this play the flat seven, or just be able to change up things a little bit differently. And so I found that I had to change my brain first to allow my heart to be able to move in those situations because your brain's telling you no, because no, that's not what the song says, but that's not what the song says, and so I'm reading the paper and I'm like, but it says I should be playing this. But then my heart, the Lord has stirred something in me in that moment, and that's part of you know, playing through the set. I'm I'm listening while I'm playing more than anything. You know, the more you listen, the more you can play, is what I try and tell myself all the time. Um, because the more I'm listening to the Lord, the more I'm listening to the singers, to what each part of the band is doing, the more I get inspired, and my heart moves to play things. Um, you know, if y'all sing a melody that that moves in a certain way or something, and my heart is moved by that melody, well, I want to play that naturally because my heart's being moved by it. Yeah, so I'll find that sometime melody on the bass and I'll play it with it if it's a walking melody or something, and my ear isn't the greatest. So I know I'm not figuring this out on my own because my ear honestly is not that perfect. And so using the heart is so big for me in those moments. You know, my ear is not the best, but I know that whenever my heart catches something, you know, the Lord will use me to go into that all the time. And it's happened so many times, even in the prayer room a couple weeks ago, maybe two months ago or so. I don't remember exactly when. But Trista and you or y'all are singing a chorus, and Trista's leading the chorus, and all of a sudden, this one time she does a walk down in her melody line that she's singing, and the chords don't call for that. But the very next time it moved me so much that first time, like it just grabbed me so so fast and so hard. And so the very next time she goes to sing it, just naturally I played the walk down, and it happened to be right. Thank the Lord. But he had put it on the heart so hard that first time that as soon as that second time came up, I caught it and just went with it for the rest of that chorus, however, five, ten minutes of that chorus that we were on. And it and uh it's funny. The the first time that I played the walk down, I was recording it, and you could literally hear Trista in the middle of her course, she hears me play it, and you can hear her smile while she's singing because she hears the bass walking it with her in that moment. And so it's it's a big thing about listening to everyone else. It creates it creates a a habitat of creativity where you don't always get in other scenarios. And I find that that because we have such an intimate prayer room, I'm I'm able to listen so intently to what each one of us are doing. You know, whenever we play on Saturdays, it's only three of us up there, it's three instruments and two voices, and then a prayer leader.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

So there's not too much going on. You might not be able to hear the second keys player all the time, or you might not hear the second electric player all the time, but no, I can hear, I can keep all of y'all up in my ears and not have my ears blowing out or something, and I can hear exactly what y'all are doing, you know. Um at this last set on Saturday, I I started playing a four minor just at the end, just because I wanted a little flash because y'all's voices would kind of go down on the minor.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

I heard when you did that, and I was like, in fact, I heard you doing it. I'm like, ooh, I like that. I'm gonna say I'm gonna try playing a minor right there. I know exactly what part you're talking about. That was cool. That was very cool.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

And and that was just in a flow moment. It was at the very end of the set, too. I think it was our last choruses that we were doing, and just y'all's voices were starting to attune down a little bit. And so I was just stretched it to a minor and you know, allowed those moments that that's where the creative liberty comes. That's where that's that's what really gets me fired up whenever I'm playing bass, and and especially whenever I'm worshiping the Lord with the bass, is those creative moments is where I find He grabs me the most.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

That's cool because some people may look at that and be like, oh yeah, you're you're being creative within it because you're just trying to do something that's different or whatever. But in reality, that's not what's happening. It's it's the Holy Spirit's moving you, which is why you nailed it. Like, you know what I'm saying? Because had you just been doing that like in your bedroom, it may not have been the same way, like playing it with something song you heard on the radio, it you'd have to like, nope, that's not no, that's not but but in the moment when the Holy Spirit moved you, you went to it and you just like crushed it right away. That's that's that's cool. I like that. Do you ever feel like you get stuck in a flow cycle? And if you do, what how do you deal with that? Like, how do you handle it?

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yeah, I get so I do feel stuck in some cycles.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Like a lot of times our cycles are simple. Typically, they're we try to keep them as simple as possible.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Which is which is honestly the best thing. Yeah, because the more simple you keep it, that means the more complex you can get with the additives. So if you keep it, oh hey, we're doing these three chords and we're doing it at a slower tempo, you know, maybe we're doing eight counts instead of four for each note or something, it gives that space that we love so much for the Lord to be able to move in the in the pauses, is where I like to say of like the Lord moves in the pauses in between what you're saying, what you're playing, where the note is actually struck. The Lord is trying to move you into these areas also. And so I find that whenever I get stuck, um, I almost do exact the same thing that I would do in quiet time with the Lord, where I recenter myself. So my natural inclination is whenever I get stuck in a flow chord, so whenever I'm on flow chords, four chords, say I'm playing a one, five, six, four, and I'm we're just playing that over and over, and I feel stuck. I feel stagnant in this, or or the choruses might not be flowing or something. You know, my thought process is let's hang on a six right here for 16 counts and just kind of stir, stir the pot a little bit. So if you're in the key of A, you just sit on the F sharp minor for a minute. You know, let's let's just let's just pause here.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

There's something special about a minor chord. I you know, yeah, I agree, it stirs something in you. It totally does.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

So I just want to sit on a six minor of an F sharp minor in the key of A or something and just allow the Lord to start to push me where he wants to push me. You know, because sometimes you can get into flow chords and you can feel like you're maybe fighting against what the Lord has for you. You know, what you what you came into the set preparing, because you prepare your flow chords before your set normally. Whenever you whenever you go through your set list before, you will pick out, okay, these are the flow chords we want for this, for this uh chorus cycle, this is the next ones and stuff. But sometimes you can feel like you clash a little bit, where the Lord wants to take you in the moment because the moments can change so fast if the Lord is like, hey, I want to bring you into this right now, you know, where you had a preconceived notion of we'll go into this. So I find sitting on that six just allows the Lord to kind of you you kind of get to wipe away that preconceived notion and really allow the Lord to, hey, what are you saying right now? And I think that's a big thing for me in those moments of of what's the Lord saying right now for me. So let me slow myself down rather than worrying about playing this progression and and playing in between or what what can I what can I add here or do this and stuff? Because even I can find myself, even I go in with the best of intentions, I can find myself just trying to be amazing musically. You know, I want I I played this during the weekend practice and stuff, and so I really want to try it out here, but it's not what the Lord wants, yeah. You know, but I'm starting to force things, and so it can strip away that and allow me to recenter myself, refocus myself in those moments. But uh, what about you? I mean, you know, you might look at it differently as a singer and a musician, you probably see it differently.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Right. I was gonna say, like a lot of times for me, because I am also trying to think of words and lyrics and things to sing or whatever, you know, trying to tune into that side of me. Um, a lot of times the simpler the better it comes with guitar playing or whatever. But if I do feel like I'm kind of like, I won't say it's a rut, because that's not really what it is, but if I feel like I'm just kind of stuck in a you know, three-chore progression or four-chore progression, uh, I will inflect um or maybe I'll pull back. I'll start playing softer and more kind of picking at it and kind of, you know, do those something like that, or or or I'll try to strom harder to give like a little bit of a uh crescendo of sound, you know, kind of, you know, kind of build and maybe hit hit hard on the one and then go softer, and then hit on the one and the three and then come a little harder, you know, to kind of give it that little bit of a kind of those those hits, you know. Uh, and I'll do that instrumentally. Uh, that's sometimes when we're doing a um a flow, there's a tendency sometimes in certain um chord progressions that the melody falls into the same rhythm, you know, and so I'll I'll I'll I'll notice if I'm singing in a chorus, and then Trista will sing a chorus, and then I'll sing a chorus, and it will kind of go back and forth. And we we're kind of staying like that same melodic flow each time, I'll jump up an octave just to throw something totally different, you know, to or and or I'll or I'll pull off and start off really low or soft or whatever to to add a little bit of a dynamic difference, you know, to so that I don't so I feel like I can go somewhere else. Or I'll come in instead of coming in on the one, come in on the four. Uh, you know, to start earlier to kind of give it like a different um vocal feeling, you know, uh to give it a different tempo in the way that I'm releasing the words. That way it gives it a different feel so I don't get stuck. So I'm singing da da da da da da, da da da da da da da, da da da da da da da the whole time to give it like a different you know rhythmic feel as well. So in both ways, it's a little different, you know. But you're right, though. Instrumentally speaking, I I it's almost like if I can get in a um stuck in a flow is actually kind of a good place to instrument it because I'm not thinking about it as much. You know, when I start thinking about the chords, that's whenever I really get myself in trouble. And I'm like, and it's my turn to sing something, I'm like, oh, I was just trying to figure out what chord to play next. I'm like, uh gee. Um you know, so that could be a little bit tricky sometimes, but so in that way, it's you know, it just depends. Um, let's talk about uh favorite time in the prayer room. I know you have a lot of time in different prayer rooms, yeah, and it could be in our prayer room, it could be when you're in Kansas City. Is there like a one moment that sticks out in your mind was like that maybe marked you more than something some of the others?

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah, um man, I remember this so vividly. Um, and it was from years ago, it was in uh prayer room in Kansas City, and I was 15 at the time. We were there for a summer trip, and it was a couple days after we after I had finished my music camp over there, we would always stay a couple days, me and Trista, just extra to still be around Kansas City, go sit in the prayer room an extra couple days, kind of deal. And um and I remember sitting in the prayer room, and I'm sitting in the back row waiting for prophecy. And then we would sit in the back rows waiting to be called into our prophecy rooms to get it done and stuff. And there's a set going on, and um I don't remember her first name, but the bass player's last name was Larson. I actually ended up going to school with her little sister later on, but she was playing bass, and I don't even remember who else was on stage. I couldn't tell you who the worship leader was, but I know Larson was playing the bass. And she they were playing a couple cycles, and I mean, just the melodies that she came up with on the bass and the rhythmic structures she came up with on the bass just grabbed me instantly and stuff to the point where I was just sitting there just soaking and then in the very back of the pair. I never sit in the back of the pair whenever I go. I'm like normally in the first couple sections and stuff. I like to be close and stuff to everything. And so I'm sitting there, and at first I felt disconnected because I was so far back, I felt like, oh, I'm not. gonna get much out of this and I had almost began to write off the moment myself but the Lord took that almost like a challenge it felt like and he just grabbed me harder and just took me into his presence in that moment while I'm just sitting there waiting for prophecy room to be called to the point where I had to stand up and go like like kind of just be on the side and um and to just kind of not be stuck in this chair next to two other people right to be able to get away and just have that moment and stuff and just I remember that so vividly as a 15 year old. This was before I decided to go to school there or anything like that. It was just a moment for me. And um I remember being so upset whenever we did get called in the prophecy because they were still playing the set and it was another cycle but it was still so good and my trista comes over like hey they're calling this oh okay fine we go to the prophecy it was a great prophecy I'm sure but I don't remember that I remember the set before that's yeah that that was it's maybe 20 2015 2014 in the summer did I still remember it to this day that Larson I can I could probably play the melody if I if I had a bass in my hand right now it was so strongly in my heart.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

That is so cool. Probably mine strangely enough and this is interesting because I for either one of us I'd say probably the most one of the biggest moments was not when we were on stage which is kind of interesting. That's something something kind of important I think but uh it was I was in I I can't remember honestly like I don't even remember which set it was I don't even remember if it was if we were in our prayer room before it was a prayer room or if it was um in Kansas City. I can't remember now but I was in a set we were it was just a devotional I was in there and I just really felt like the Lord told me because I at this point in time I hadn't been we weren't leaving I wasn't leading a set yet I wanted to I knew that one day I was gonna lead a prayer set and I wanted to do that and I was like one day in the future that's gonna happen but like I didn't know when or didn't know how it was going to happen or whatever. But it I really felt like uh God told me start like stop waiting for the prayer room to show up to do this. Do it now you know and I went home that day and I and I and uh talked to my wife and I was like Janie and I was like babe I was like I want to lead a set I was like I don't know what that looks like I don't care if it's just me up on a stage playing guitar for an hour or whatever just I I need to do it. And I'm and I'm not gonna wait anymore. I need so and Jerry's like that's funny you said that because I was actually going to talk to you about wanting to lead a set and we went to talk to Trista about it and we and that was actually the beginning of our Saturday night sets. It was the first time because at that time we would do Saturday afternoons and we would meet every other Saturday uh with our prayer team and we'd meet for a few hours for but just a devotional set or whatever or inner um or intercession can't remember what it was doesn't matter anyway we'd have like a prayer meeting every other Saturday and then we'd be off on it Saturday and so we asked if we could do one on that Saturday we were off we wouldn't turn that into a a live set that night and we started doing it then um and that was the first actual live set that I was leading um I had been part of other sets where Trista was leading and different things like that or whatever but that was the first thing where I was leading what I would call a prayer set you know an actual intercession or a worship of the word set. And that was such a pivotal turn in my life because that was where I realized I could do this. Like I could still because my idea in my brain was that I had to be like whereas like a 24 hour set I was waiting for like that opportunity to show itself like we need somebody to lead this prayer set come do it Josh you know which was dumb I wanted to do it I just needed to do it and I that was like the moment where that all kind of shifted and changed. And it was in a moment where I wasn't leading a set yet you know it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Yeah I love that both of our answers are are times that we're not on stage it's such it's such a a big thing that I think most people don't realize is that the the stage is is amazing and we love that that creativity that in communion with God but the real deep moments that really grow you happen off of it. You know that because we whenever we come on stage now we're giving what we have what we've received we're now pouring out you know onto the Lord or up to the Lord and what he what he's already worked on us all week and stuff all our years of our lives you know that's whenever we really start pouring it out but off stage is whenever we have those those gripping moments that stick with you for longer more than just the music more than just the melodies and stuff like that. The great question about uh you know being prophetic and stuff in the um in the prayer room how do you know whenever you're singing prophetically or whenever you're just relying on a musical skill or your singing ability and stuff like that how do how do you juggle that as a singer that's a great question and that kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier how Trista didn't trust me that I'm gonna sing something uh some of that is is natural uh I don't know if it'd be talent uh for years I have sang the wrong lyrics during worship services very famous I'm famous I am famous for singing the wrong words during worship services all the time um or if I can't remember I just kind of make it up you know that's just kind of something that I do sometimes I kind of wing it uh and so that kind of comes to me naturally it's a it's a natural gifting that I have in that area to be able to kind of be a little bit creative in that um but there is a difference you know so that's where I was talking earlier where like I'll start singing something and then all of a sudden something will unfold that I wasn't expecting.

SPEAKER_00 50:01

And my wife tells me she said she said she knows. She's heard me lead enough that she could tell whenever I is just me singing and whenever it's the Holy Spirit giving me words to sing and there's a propheticness of it there's a shift in in how I sound and I mean I could feel it with you know in my just talking about right now I can I it's like I could feel the Holy Spirit moving you know that's that it is it's something I feel within me that kind of raises up within me kind of wells up inside you know and uh it's very very cool and I love it. That's kind of like um using a sports analogy you know like if you play golf you know everybody talks about the golfers like they they you know they're always looking for the next perfect shot when you hit the ball and it just comes off the claw perfectly and it lays perfectly on the green and you know and you're always looking to get that and then that's that next shot. It's kind of like that in the prayer room in the way of like in that moment that's like that sweet shot. Like you just you do something it just it feels great the melody was perfect that there's times where I was gonna make you stuff up on the fly Holy Spirit moving me that it it actually rhymed like there one time Jane was like look at Josh singing lyrics that rhyme that's great. I know it just kind of came out that way and uh you know unintended but it's just it's like this perfect sweet shot and it's great. I love it when that happens. Doesn't always happen that way. But that's that would be like lyrically speaking that's it.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

Um how about musically musically for me I find like so it's it's mainly melodic stuff for me. As a bass player you're not so I'm self-taught musician and stuff like that growing up and stuff just mainly because my schedule was too busy we tried to do mini lessons growing up my my parents they tried to do lessons for me I think I meant to maybe two lessons with Brenda Benoit at one point and I scheduled guys I miss sports this and after school this and all these different things being pulled different directions that's kind of one of the things that fell through the crack but I had such great teachers in the moment um Rachel Baldwin fantastic teacher growing up for me just instilling confidence in me mainly was the biggest thing as a as a 12 year old bass player up there on the junior high stage you just need confidence because everything else I don't think it matters too much. You just need confidence to pluck the strings hard and so that was a that was the way I learned and so I've never had any classical training or ear training or anything like that. And so like we talked about earlier me playing those melodic lines that you guys would sing that's not a natural thing for me. And so whenever those moments help happen I can tell it's not me because I would not be playing this this well like you said if I tried to figure out but oh it's this one it's so different that if I'm trying to do it in my own but whenever the Lord uses me uses my hands and body through me is whenever those moments really happen and um one of the first sets I played it might have been the first week I played in the prayer room um earlier this year I posted on the YouTube it was the it was uh how what's the chorus is holy fire um holy fire raining down oh yeah yeah yeah it's a long one though but it's very melodically very it changes a lot right and so y'all sing it one time and the very next time for some reason I understood it and it was I remember it yeah I hit every note while y'all were going through it and I ended up posting my music because I was like this is awesome I want to keep this forever and be able to go back and listen it's only like two minutes long or whatever but I just it just came out of me if you asked me right now I probably couldn't in the moment just like but those moments is whenever I really see that it happens and then like so yeah the the melody stuff that just not natural to me so whenever it does happen I can kind of recognize it and I start to lean into it you know I almost I almost was like so a lot of times so like I'm I'm very comfortable on my bases I'm still getting used to my four string haven't played it as long so but on that five string I can be anywhere else on the neck close my eyes I know exactly where I am I can move effortlessly around the neck and just know where I'm at. And so I it allows me to lean in more almost I can just close my eyes and just just focus in on what he's trying to say to me in that moment you know with the melody with the choruses that you guys are singing what you're playing what Trista saying what the what the prayer leader is saying or whatever the rapid fire is on the floor like it allows me to kind of lean into it more and I find that's whenever that's whenever I've noticed those prophetic moments come out I find that my my bass starts doing stuff almost on its own it feels like it's almost an out of body experience you know because I'm just here with the Lord and the Lord's just saying just moving my hands forward it that's what it feels like in the moment as a musician. That's just what the feeling I have um yeah it's it's it's so it's so powerful too because you get those moments and um even this past week you know we had we had a really great set this past week I feel like um musically melodically the prayer leaders were on point though the rapid fire was fantastic like it was just great um and this is actually the first time that me and Katie has been on stage together since I've been playing and still that so that was a really great moment also and um and riding back home we're driving back home me and Katie to go pick up Abram and go home and she's like man I could just I could just tell you just had the Lord in your hands in those moments like like he was just moving through you and and that boosted my confidence also because I felt like that too but you don't always know if it translates right especially musically I don't most 90% of the time a non-musician is not going to notice if I play a four minor here instead of a four major they're just not gonna notice which is fine you know but the Lord notices that's why I do it and so her saying that like made me like oh man it it really was like that was the Lord. You know that was not me at all you know for someone else to realize that that's the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

I just love that um and of course probably the best part or one of the best parts of being able to do this is that we get to do it together. Yeah um you know I I would say that in the prayer room what the community that we have cultivated within our prayer team is second to none. Like it I just it the fact that we get to do this together like you said you were leading on stage with your wife I often get to lead on stage with my wife you know we're both really good friends with Trista I mean she's my really good friend yeah you're really good yeah yeah but I mean I meant me and Janey but yes that's true as well you're family so that's look yeah um but no like we're it like we're all really close um and it's it's neat to be able to do this with people that you're doing life with that that you're friends with it it really makes such a big difference that we get to do that together and really kind of spur each other on and encourage each other.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

It's cool I think a big thing for that is is also like we've all grown up together in this you know we've known each other for 20 years now you know like I've literally grown up with you you know whenever you guys became uh youth pastors back then I mean y'all were young and mom was helping y'all every step of the way with y'all you know so this so the friendships this relationships we all know each other's kids I mean I remember the day that y'all adopted the first four yeah like I remember whenever y'all came to the cafe that first day with all of them and stuff and they were so little and y'all everyone was so excited about it and everything. And then I remember whenever I remember whenever Ethan came home. I remember whenever y'all got y'all got pregnant. I remember all that and so like I think that also builds off the all the things because this program has been around for 20 years now it just hasn't been labeled as laptop. Right. You know this prayer team Miss Lula miss Kathy Patio like all these people Miss Vesta all these people have been around for 20 years. You know the relationships everything being on being under one one umbrella of hey this is our focus you know uh we've had one leader and so it's been very very focused for so long yeah we have that history yeah yeah there's something for that yeah I agree I agree let's uh let's shift a little bit to more of a practical uh practical help what would you say to be getting a musician or a singer that wanted to grow spiritually in their gifting if they wanted to get better because you were you were talking earlier about how some people really fed into your life like Rachel Baldwin did and so if somebody else is on the other side of this and they're like young and they want to maybe grow in their spiritual gift in the in worship in general but potentially maybe somebody that's wanting to get involved in a prayer what will what would be your advice? Yeah my advice is is just start playing somewhere whether that's in your room with uh with headphones in whether that's like me as a bass player I can't hear myself if I'm not plugged into something but there's even times where I just want to pick up a bass and just play because I can feel it in my fingers and I can I can still express knowing what it would sound like and the Lord wants to say something in that moment. But it's it's playing just anywhere as you can. If you have a buddy that you know maybe they play drums or something and they have they don't even have a drum set but you have sticks and you have a wall or or some chair or something like that. Go hang out with them and go just do just communion a little bit with them and just see where it goes. Yeah you know because once you start playing you'll naturally want to go other places with your plan. You won't always sit in the same spot because you're gonna get you're gonna get bored of that if you don't have that that stretch it's gonna start to stretch you I guess the biggest thing for me is that a prayer room stretches you musically a ton. I mean there's so many times where where I might have felt lost if I wouldn't have played so much already I would have begun to feel lost but the only way you can get better at it is keep doing it. You know if I hadn't played so many hours in the prayer room before you know would I feel as confident in these cycles that I do now no but I was never that confident before I just had to get through it. I just had to be there and allow the Lord just be open to the Lord and what he's saying and using me for in that moment. And so it's just every chance you can get play. Because especially if you're starting out you want to play a ton I mean you know there's whenever you first are learning something that's your like peak interest level because it'll go down after a while naturally but whenever you first want to get into something whenever you first get into something that is your peak interest level so lean into it as much as you can and then once you fall off you're not falling off to the bottom now you're falling off to a good middle point because you've gone so high already and so it's just playing as much as you can I think um with people without people doesn't matter I think you should just play just pick up your instrument and play one of the big things I've learned this year is previously I've never had my guitars out in my room. They've always been in a case put up against a wall or whatever just out of the way and stuff. But this year I made it a focal point I got a three guitar stand because I have a fretless bass also and I put them all three in my office and so every day I see them and it just makes me want to grab them more it makes me play them more because oh I can just grab it for 10 minutes and just play. I don't have to plug into anything whatever like I don't need to hear it. I just want to play something kind of deal or oh the Lord put this on my heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:22

Just letting you know Janie there's a possibility that the guitarist might be out in our house soon I like that I think it's cool like in our house uh Katie plays piano also and so we have a piano in our um dining room well it's Abram's playroom but there's a piano in there and then we also have a mini acoustic that sits in there on a guitar stand.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:40

So like it's just it's just putting those things in places where we want to engage with it because we see it. Because sometimes you're not gonna think about it you know oh I'm bored I'd I'll just go scroll on Instagram or someone might scroll on TikTok or whatever. But if you see your guitar sitting there if you see your bass electric or if there's a piano sitting there well instead of scrolling for an hour let me go play for 20 minutes on my guitar. You know whatever and it it just allows for so much more um opportunities to do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

What about you with practical ways of you yeah well it's kind of very similar to what you're saying um I what I was gonna say was don't wait. Like you know don't wait until you're ready to do it because that they'll never come that's from my personal experience you know like I you know I'll had this idea of like well one day I'm going to do this. One day I will lead a prayer set you know but I was waiting to be ready that doesn't happen like not typically you know the you just start just start and be willing and probably the most important thing especially when it comes to uh leading a set be willing to fail be willing to fall and fail be lean into that it's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing to get up there and not have something to sing. It's not bad bad to get there and sing the wrong thing or play the wrong note or you know sing off key. Like those aren't bad things. Like any I know as as musicians as singers we tend to think oh it's I you know something I'm like uh my daughter Anna's now starting to play in the prayer room uh every other week and amazing love it so but she she started to sing a little bit and she's uh you know before she gets on the stage she's like I have to know the song stat like we got it so we go out in the lobby and I practice with her we go through all those parts like well and she one day one day we were doing it she's like hey it's like well um what parts are you singing because you know I want you know I was like oh I don't know I'll sing this and I'll I might sing more and we'll see you know she's like no bang like I need to know when are you singing you know like it's so but be willing to you know sing out and be like oh we shouldn't have sang there and it's okay you know um and part of what we're saying earlier about how doing this with friends helps with that because I know that I can go up there and I can sing horribly I can botch bad and I know Miss Bester's gonna be out there and she's like it was so good. You know because that's just who she is you know and that the the safety of being in our community of prayer prayer room is that I the safety is that I can sing and do whatever and I know I'm not gonna get ridiculed. I know I'm not gonna be critiqued you know as long as I'm you know singing things that are scripturally sound yeah I'm gonna be in a good place you know so do it that's my best advice is is don't wait for the opportunity to come looking for you make it happen do it you know do it now don't hold it and and and practice at home like that was Janie and I before we ever led on a Saturday we did it at home multiple times and for a long time now now we can show up and we can do it but it's we would just we would just do it at home and you know we would she'd have out script shoes and I'd practice and be like okay I'm gonna do this now and we just kind of go through it together when it's just me and her at the house um and that was nice having I'm you I'm similar with you I'm sure with you and Katie being able to do that as well same idea. It's nice to have something that you can do that with on your own you like you're saying do it with somebody.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:17

Yeah I think also a big thing is is getting out of your comfort zone yeah is so big for that growth right I mean I remember in um in college my my first semester as a freshman um they had a they had an opening in um one of the smaller prayer rooms of hey they needed to fill an hour somebody needed to fill an hour set and there had been multiple people who worship leaders who had done devotional sets an hour on a guitar and just sing just them for an hour and stuff. And um and for whatever reason I felt I felt led to I'm gonna raise my hand hey I'll do a devotional but I'm not gonna sing or say anything on the mic other than read the scripture. And so I I'd Didn't know how it was gonna look, never seen anyone else do it at the time. And um just but just saying yes, and then going home that night and being like, God, what did I just say yes to? And and just and just start praying for the Lord, Lord, you're gonna have to help me through this. But like just start praying about it. And the Lord came over me with such peace in the moment of I have you. Like, like this is what I want. This this was me who put that on your heart to say yes to this because I want to speak through you, I want to speak to you in that moment. And so I went and I did the set. There was zero singing. I read the scripture before I started the set and then played for an hour. There was no other word spoken the entire set for an hour. I don't know if anyone else liked the set or not, but I do remember as I'm playing, there's another bass player that I knew who was a senior that year, walking down the hall from one of his classes, and he hears it's just a bass. Yeah, any bass player who hears is just a bass, what's going on in there? We're all looking. And so he pops his head in and he looks at me. I see him ask one of the people in the audience, like, is it the whole set for him? How long how much longer does he have? Is what I saw him ask. And I think it's like 30 minutes or whatever. He comes running up on stage, he just tasks me, he goes, What's up? It starts plugging in his bass. And so now for the next 30 minutes, we have two bass players playing the set. But if I don't and it allowed us to grow in both of us, we started doing things that we don't normally do because whatever we have two bass players, you can do whatever you want. There are no rules anymore. So it allowed us to do so many different things and grow so differently and together. We've never been able to play together, even though I'm great friends with him. Um, shout out MK Han from Fong Kong. Would never have met him in my life if I had not been at that school at that time, also. So um, and so he comes up, we never would have played together because two bass players are never gonna play together. And so we got that moment, and just the Lord did something in us two. I don't know if he did anything in anyone else, but us two, it was so powerful for us, and that was because I got out of my comfort zone in that moment, and just saying yes to something that I didn't know exactly how it was gonna work out. I didn't know how I was gonna do if I was gonna be able to do a whole hour, I didn't, I don't know. Yeah, but it just worked out so well because the because I said yes to what the Lord put on my heart. So I think getting out of your comfort zone is a big thing, also.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:19

That's good, that's really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:20

So, like as a beginner, like we're saying, step out of your comfort zone, you know, worship with your worship um with your friends and stuff, you know, people that you know, people you can trust, people that you can be in harmony with. But as an experienced musician and singer, like what are what are kind of those extra steps that you can do whenever you might get bored or something, or or if you want to grow creatively and like progress in your prophetic, what what would you say to that?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:47

Man, uh I I would say one thing that I've noticed for me personally, like, because I like I said, like both of us, we've led worship for years on stage in a corporate setting. Um one thing that I've noticed, and my wife has said it to me as well, is that my corporate leading of worship has gotten better and deeper since I started leading in the prayer room. Um because it pulled something different out of me that I didn't know was there. And then so what I'm able to do is in a corporate setting, I can almost incorporate some of those things that I've learned and experienced and the things that I've gained in the intimate setting of a prayer room, I've been able to incorporate parts of that into a corporate worship setting, which have been incredible, you know, and it's opened up a side of my corporate worship leading that I didn't know I had, you know, that I could that I could tap into. Um and so in that way, for somebody that has lots of experience, uh, you know, maybe leading worship or singing in worship teams, things like that, I would say tap into that, the the the the prayer room wherever you are, and whether that's being in the room, being on stage, but just tap into that intimacy, that closeness, because when you tap into those things, it brings things up in you that you don't even know are there, that you'll find parts of your walk, parts of your uh leadership ability, parts of your worshiping that you didn't know were even in you. And uh that that'll show up in a corporate setting as well, you know. And of course, you know, if you're if you're bored and you know you're wanting more, then come on over to the prayer room. We'll luck if you could be a part of what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:42

I think I think a big thing for me is um is like you said, whenever I play on Saturdays, Saturday night sets that I play on, I notice a massive difference whenever I do play on Saturdays, and then I play the next Sunday morning for church. And I find a massive I was telling our our keys player on Sunday, we went to lunch the other day, and I was telling him how different it feels just emotionally and spiritually, how much more ready I am to I'm already in the presence as soon as I get there Sunday morning because guess what? I ended my night in the presence the night before, Saturday. So I come to Sunday morning and I am just I'm reared up ready to go. Yeah, it's prime. Yeah, I'm a bucking bull just ready to be let out right now, and and I find I find that so often, and so it's funny too because sometimes I'll play on Saturday, but then I don't play on Sunday mornings if it's another band's rotation, and I'm almost like I just want to play. And so I'll go home on Sunday after I eat my Laura's and I'll even I'll go and play bass on my own on Sundays and stuff just because I have to get it out. It's just it's just it's it echoes so much in it, it just reverberates constantly whenever I play on a Saturday. It just bounces around all night. You know, I it's my dreams are better, I think. I don't remember all my dreams, but I'm sure they are. Like just everything everything just just kind of elevates whenever I spend that time. And I find that you know, I don't I don't do Monday nights or Fridays. Uh Monday nights, that's Katie's nights to go. So I keep Abram at the house while she goes to those sets, and then Fridays they're during the day, so it's just during the workday. I can't make those. And so Saturday nights have been my thing. You know, you know, those are the ones that I committed to because that's what works for me. Other people's other people might work differently. I know Felicia and Fridays and stuff like that. So it works differently for different people, but for me personally, I'm a night owl. So ending my night on a Saturday night at the end of the weekend, you know. I think of Sunday as the start of the week for me. I know some people think it's Monday, they're wrong. But ending my week on in the prayer room, playing and worshiping with a group like we've talked about all night is that you know, it's group that I've known my entire life. They've watched me growing up. Miss Lula was in the Mother's Day out whenever I was there, or whatever. You know, like all these people that I've known my entire life and have grown with spiritually, and I get to end my week every week with that moment with them. You know, I've played with some big names in the Christian music space, Misty Evers, John Thurlow, Justin Rizzo, all these people. I've played with all these people, but that I cherish playing the Lafayette Prayer so much more because it's it's with my people, you know, it's with the people that care about me so much, it's with the people I care about so much and stuff, and it's also such a like-mindedness where hey, we're here, we all know why we're here at the Lafayette Prayer. We're praying for Louisiana, we're we're praying for the men, for the men intercessors in Louisiana, we're playing for the leaders in Louisiana. Like, there's so much focus and intent. And and then you walk in and you see all these friendly faces, and oh, how's Abram, or oh, how's Katie? I saw you all went on this trip this week, and like all those things happen whenever you walk in, and it just cultivates that culture of of creativity, and and it allows the prophetic to flow so freely, you know, because like you said, you know no one's gonna be judging you for playing a wrong note or singing a wrong note, or like uh, you know, if you capo in the wrong spot on a song or whatever, you know, it doesn't it doesn't matter because we all know why we're here, you know. And so I find that's the biggest thing for me is is I just love doing it so much here, ending my week with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:25

Couldn't agree with you more there, man. That's good. Man, I I think uh we've kind of wrapped up what we're gonna talk about today, and this is this is a lot of fun. Yeah, we've got to do it again. I think so. Man, hopefully this was insightful and just fun. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. This is a blast. Can't wait to do this again. Don't worry, next time you're gonna have, like I said, a much better looking group of hosts. But for now, we're signing off. We'll see you next time. See you later.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:51

Bye.