I took my first piano lesson around 8th grade. My teacher was the worship leader and piano player for our church. The great thing is he knew I wanted to play worship music. So at our first lesson he taught me the easiest way to play and create a chord. Then he gave me the chords for “O, Lord, You’re Beautiful”. He literally taught and equipped me in that very first lesson. I went home that evening able to play my first worship song. I was thrilled!
Years later, I realized I was lacking in another area. My voice. It wasn’t until I had a tryout with Dr. David Horton of Campus Choir at Lee University for a scholarship opportunity. I never received a music scholarship and I was told that I needed to work on my singing voice. So, it wasn’t until late in my Senior year that I finally got vocal lessons.
During my Senior year, my youth pastor was doing a lot at the church. In addition to his youth responsibilities, he was also leading worship for the main service. When he was finished with the main service, he would run over to the children’s ministry and do worship there. One day, he asked if I would like to starting leading for the young kids. I was happy to do so.
At that time, I was using an average yamaha keyboard to put together music. The first day of leading for the kids, he surprised me by giving me his computer and music software. It was the beginning of my journey even further into music. I got a brand new top of the line Roland XP-50 keyboard that I ended up using for the next 10+ years. I learned MIDI sequencing and began leading worship regularly for the children’s ministry and more often for the youth group.