Artist Panel: Staying Healthy and Balanced

Staying Healthy and Balanced

Paul Mcclure,  Kristene DiMarco, Amanda Cook, Jeremy Riddle, and Steffany Gretzinger

Gabe: How do you balance all that you do and stay connected at the local church?

Paul: I do a lot of worship team schedule for the church, so I am connected in that way. I just changed my baby’s diaper after the set, so that makes it pretty easy to stay connected to normal life. Family is really the answer. Your wife and kids don’t really care how well you sing (although they support it), these moments on stage are really just icing on the cake. 

Gabe: What are your favorite things to do? Hobbies?

Kristene: I like pinterest and decorating. 

Amanda: I enjoy sleeping. I don’t have kids yet. I don’t have creative answers about this yet. I enjoy reading also. 

Jeremy: We have land, a huge garden, and animals. My favorite thing to do is to work in my yard. I jump on my riding mower and have a good time.

Steffany: My husband makes beautiful furniture and does extreme sports. I love to sit with a cup of tea and watch my husband work. I love to paint. I love painting with my daughter Wonder. 

Gabe: What is your favorite song you have written and love to lead?

Kristine: My favorite is a song called Hope. It’s about polishing something beautiful inside of us.

Steffany: It changes for me. The song really documents your seasons and they mark you. "Pieces" is probably my favorite now. Probably the most vulnerable song I’ve ever written and lead.

Jeremy: It does change but Walks in the Promise. It’s never your most popular that you connect with me deeply. It was a moment, but it was everything I wanted to say in such a special moment. “Here we are waiting, For this house to shaken, For the boldness to carry your name to the nations, And signs and wonders to go now before us, For the weight of your glory to rest as we lift you up.”

Gabe: What’s your favorite song to sing that isn’t yours?

Steffany: King of My Heart!! 

Paul: Great is Your Faithfulness and Lion and the Lamb. I try to lead one of those every set.

Kristine: Honestly probably Break Every Chain. It’s been since 2011. Every time I sing it I feel something different.

Amanda: I love the song Great are You, Lord

Jeremy: I love Waiting Here for You by Matt Redman. I love songs that open things up and let you go anywhere you want.

Gabe: What is your personal devotion look like with the Lord?

Steffany: I think it changes all the time. It changes in every season. Before I moved out here and went to the school of ministry, I had lots of time and I learned a lot about just ministering to the Lord. Now I am a mom and it’s new. It’s stunning though because I’ve fallen in Lord with the Lord in a whole new way. 

Kristine: My devotional time has had to change now that I am a mom of two. It can’t really be like it was when I was not a mom. God is always with me The minute I turn my thoughts to him, he is there. The minute I start talking about him even though the business of life, he is there. He wants to be experienced as we do. 

Jeremy: I try to read my bible every day. That really changes everything for me. I try to process my heart with the Lord, not writing a song. It’s like unclogging a well sometimes. The challenge is to stay aware and present. I ask lots of questions and situations to him. Processing with the Lord and bringing him in is a good process. It’s not that crazy special. 

Amanda: Devotional life has changed dramatically for me because when I was a kid I was led to believe that I came to the Lord with nothing and he was everything so I would sit with nothing and get everything. It switched when I realized I don’t actually start with nothing. I have a piece of him that I can bring that is valuable. So it is more of an exchange. He wants to hear from me. God is so interested in the vulnerability of men. A somebody with a Somebody. It’s not a monologue of God speaking to himself through me. It should be the most honest and effortless thing we do.

Gabe: Out of the five of you. Who is the most athletic?

Everyone agreed Paul would probably be the choice.

Paul:

I play basketball. I play golf while we are being honest. 

Gabe: Steff, describe Jeremy.

Steffany: I think Jeremy Riddle is stunning devout. You are so fervent. Not in a “ shove me in a prayer closet” but you are a man of action. You pursue with excellence.

Gabe: Can you talk about your journey coming to Bethel? You were the K-Love guy.

Steffany: He came to us Sweetly Broken.

Jeremy: It wasn’t a political move. It wasn’t strategic. It had nothing to do with anything. I felt like I was in a wandering wilderness for two years. We left a 15-year community of deep friendship and covering. I was in a place of total confusion about what God was doing. We were drawn to higher ground. Nothing was clear. Bethel was about three hours away. We listen to Bill on podcasts. He started talking about worship and something started tugging at my heart. We went for a weekend. In my childhood, I got really aware of what it felt like to have God’s presence fill a room. Sunday morning was like eating ice cream for the first time in 10 years. “How have I lived without this for that long?” It was the worst financial move I have ever made. We lived in a fifth wheel trailer with four kids just to be there. It didn’t matter because I become who I am made to be in the presence of God and amongst the people who have cultivated a place of his presence and a place of his dwelling. I didn’t know a thing about their theology and honestly, I had lots of questions but none of that matter. I really needed his presence. It was a massive year of healing. We discovered family. I was prophesied back to life. I thought I was a failure and in a year I felt like there was hope again. 

Gabe: As a team, how do you handle comparison? I’ve known a lot of you before you were on a stage. Even working at Bethel I have to pinch myself sometimes and say “Wow I get to do this?” We are so surrounded by amazing people. The people you don’t see on stage are phenomenal too. How do you manage "comparison"?

Kristine: This was a big one in my own life. Worship leaders are like a dime a dozen. I would ask God why am I a worship leader? God answered and said, “You’re not just a worship leader, you are a specific message. Listen to other leaders and I want you to take in what you feel when they lead. What do you see in the spirit? What’s happening in your life? It’s never the same for any worship leader. When Steffany leads, it’s like a holy exposure where my heart is laid bare and God comes to commune with me. Jeremy brings this throne room experience. You have no choice but to be raptured in awe. God did this with every worship leader I was around. I did this a long time before God talked to me about what I brought to the table. You release beliefs. Doubt doesn’t take the stage with you. You are a message, not just a worship leader. Where is "comparison" in that place?

Jeremy:  Take the posture of FAMILY. This is something you have to cultivate. If Paul wins and I am his brother, WE WIN. The same goes for the church; if the church down the street wins, WE WIN. I am called to have the heart of a father with my peers because performance and comparison have no place in a father’s heart. When your kid wins, you win. 

Steffany: Celebrate absolutely everything. When you’re truly hungry and He moves, you don’t care how He moves or who He moves through, you’re just happy that you’re full. 

Gabe: What worship leader impacts you?

Paul: Leeland Mooring impacts me. He is the same person everywhere; he has a beautiful heart. The way he worships is so pure and beautiful.
 

Kristine: For me, it’s Jason Upton. I felt the Holy Spirit for the first time when he leads worship. I remember asking God for other people to have that experience when I lead worship.

Amanda: I have 3 different people. The first one is my dad. He was a farmer and he leads worship just like he farmed the ground: relying on God for the “rain.” Joel Houston is another favorite. He writes songs that have space which allowed me to find my own voice. Lindsey Strand is also one of my favorites. Every time she leads worship I cry.

Jeremy: My Dad was the most formative worship leader for me. Kevin Prosch, Rita Springer, Martin Smith. 

Steffany:  My mother, Jason Upton, Martin Smith (The Live in A Can album, with Obsession on it, I spent countless hours weeping to it.) and Rita Springer.