The old van and band have been on my mind lately, but as I've been writing about my time behind the drums and the computer with Fragile Porcelain Mice, it's made me reflect on the roots of my musical ministry that started about 15 years ago now, I suppose.
Driving down the familiar street that I traveled to and from that end of Granite City for a few years.
From around 2012 and up until 2016, my life was a whirlwind of ministry in and around Granite City, IL. And I admit that, being from Belleville, I never had a real fondness for Granite outside of the old east-side Vintage Vinyl record store that used to live there next to a really good Chinese restaurant that I'd patronize from time to time over the years. It was the steel mill and the whole vibe of the city and its history that I didn't understand when I was younger, but I grew to know and appreciate the more I served and hung out there with friends and people from the community.
I never actually served at this church (St. Bartholomew in Granite City), but this is where I was baptized along with Jenna Flores and Aaron Williams by James Amos while Jake Gehret played acoustic guitar and sang. It was a crazy, beautiful night, and my wife and kids were there with me to celebrate new life in Christ!
Soon after I posted something on Facebook one day long ago out of the blue that hinted that I'd believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had been saved, an old friend-of-friends (now one of my dearest friends in this life and the eternal life to come) James Amos reached out to me about helping with audio and video at a new church plant he was leading in Granite City called The Resurrection. As an energized, zealous, new believer set free from sin, death, hell, and the grave—and already headlong into multimedia production at the time—I jumped at the chance.
This church body was kind enough to let us meet in their building at a time when they weren't using it. The building is currently occupied by C3GC.
Next thing my family and I knew, we were attending service at The Resurrection's first official public gathering spot. We borrowed some space during off-peak hours at an established church, and my family and I first started hearing solid, real-life preaching straight out of the Bible in realtime and in person. James was the pastor and started with—of all books—the Gospel of Mark. I was running sound and recording, editing, and posting the sermons on a custom WordPress website that I built and maintained called TheResChurch.com.
A snapshot of how the old Resurrection website looked on August 29, 2012, thanks to the Wayback Machine.
Fast forward not very long at all (weeks, probably), and we had a worship band formed and rehearsing in my garage. The abrupt segue from playing in rock and blues bands since about 1986 was a bit of a shock to my system. And my ego, and all kinds of things. But it was so refreshing, and it's become clear that it's what I was created to do, and that the Lord had been preparing me for just such a time.
The first time I ever played my black Dynasty drum set (the same drums I'd played at every show and on every recording since the Frostbidding album recording sessions circa 1996) inside a church was in another old building we rented from a local congregation, sometime after moving on from the original location. This new, bigger space offered lots of opportunities for a full worship band to set up. That very first time, though, I set up my drums on the floor right in front of the pews, flanked by bass, guitar, and vocals, and to this day I can still picture myself trying not to play at FPM velocity in that new environment. It was the beginning of a truly fulfilling, enlightening, and encouraging journey in musicianship and discipleship.
This is what the old church building looks like today. It's an arts center now.
Suddenly, I was applying all the skills and knowledge I'd banked during all my years of bands and business toward Gospel ministry, and seeing God doing incredible things all around me in Granite City and beyond. I was thrown into a mix of musicians and singers from all walks of life, ages, and backgrounds, and I have learned so much from the whole process. I've grown as a musician, a person, and a disciple of Christ along the way—and I'm still learning and growing daily. I love the diversity of talent, styles, and personalities that I get to play music and worship with from week to week and year to year.
This former Methodist church is now The Mill live event venue.
After meeting there for a while, we ended up moving down the street about a block or so to the spot that's now The Mill live event venue, where we met for quite a while—across the upstairs and downstairs of the facility, again renting some space from the congregation there at the time during their off hours.
Somewhere in there, I stepped away for a season to lead worship at Discovery Family Church in Collinsville before finding my way back to The Resurrection.
The current location of the former Kool Beanz coffee shop near the movie theater and across from that little park.
We then met at what was then called Kool Beanz, a coffee shop owned by members of The Resurrection at the time, in the downtown area. We'd move the tables and chairs on Sunday morning while the actual coffee shop was closed for business, and we'd set up the full band and worship from there for a season.
After service, we'd move everything back to where it was, and it was business as usual for Kool Beanz.
The last location of The Resurrection church before it merged into August Gate Church at the end of 2015, beginning of 2016.
Next up was the building that was formerly a youth center just a few blocks away from Kool Beanz and downtown.
The Resurrection met in the left half of this building, first in the wide-open space upstairs, and then downstairs in that same space after a bit of cleanup and remodeling. This was the last official meeting place of The Resurrection church, as we merged into the existing August Gate Church after a lot of thought, prayer, and planning at the end of 2015.
At that point, I joined the music ministry at August Gate on drums and bass guitar, and have served at the former South St. Louis location (which split from August Gate a few years ago to become Church of the Redeemer), as well as at the former and the current (and now only) Metro East location.
While at August Gate Church, we went through a season of trying to plant an August Gate in Granite City, and we met in another church congregation's building there who (familiar story at this point) let us use their space when they weren't using it. It was great while it lasted, but plans pivoted, and we ended up with one, firm location in Belleville, IL where the church currently meets.
This was the one and only August Gate Church location in Granite City. AG is currently meeting at one location only, in Belleville, IL.
We didn't meet in Granite City as August Gate for long, but sometime during my current time serving at the Belleville location, I had the opportunity to sub on drums a couple of times at R-Church in Granite City—which was the last time, to date, that I've been involved in ministry in GC.
R-Church in Granite City.
Sometime in there, I remember subbing on drums at a church that used to meet in a space tucked behind the Green Apple Restaurant shopping center. I believe it was called Tapestry Church or something similar.
The Tapestry gathering met back here in half of this building.
For a town I knew nothing about when I was younger, it's truly amazing how the Lord kept calling me back to Granite City over and over, it seemed. I dug in, and I learned to love the city, the people, and Jesus more and more every day I spent serving there alongside some good friends and church family—many who are now just a sweet memory and have passed on, either through death or just the course of life.