Personal Testimony

I suppose what someone notices when meeting me for the first time is that I am blind. But it was not that way at the beginning, and it won't be that way at the end. Though I was born a happy healthy baby, at the age of three I contracted an auto immune disease known as Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Over the next twelve years I would suffer the agony of the gradual deterioration of multiple joints, and the eventual onset of a related condition that rendered me totally blind. Though my childhood was riddled with physical trials and emotional disappointment, I learned the necessity of perseverance and overcame my circumstances.

While I was studying Jazz guitar at the University of North Texas, I met a group of Christians who ministered to me the tangible love of Christ. Early in the morning of April 6, 1978, I submitted my life to the lordship of Jesus, and since that holy moment, nothing has ever been the same!

After several years of playing in secular bands, and even a brief season with a well-known contemporary Christian duo in Nashville, God mercifully intervened to redirect my way. In a dramatic moment of revelation, the Lord opened my understanding as to the higher purposes for my musical gifts. I wasn't called to entertain man, nor to explore the depths of artistic expression; I was called to pursue the glory of God. If I used my talent for anything else, it would cease to be beautiful and would become warped and ugly. He made it clear to me that I was called to be a worshiper, and by His grace, that is what I have become.

I not only love worshiping God, but I delight in discipling others to do the same. God has given me a passion to see the fulfillment of Psalms 66:2, to "make His praise glorious." To see singers and musicians realize the fullness of their gifts before the Lord, this is the pastoral commission of my life.

I am so grateful to God, for all He has done, and for all He is about to do! Bless the Lord o my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.


Jay is married to Lisa, and they have been blessed with four children; Blaire, Caitlin, Evan, and Courtney.