From the Pub Stage to the Pulpit

Dear friends,

If you'd told the young man tuning his guitar in the corner of a noisy Irish pub that one day he'd be standing in front of a church, singing about Jesus, he'd probably have laughed and called for another round.

But here I am. And I want to tell you how I got here, because I think God may be doing something similar in your life too.

Forty years of noisy rooms

I've been playing live for more than forty years. For most of that time I went by the name Gregorious, and I played just about anywhere that would have me.

I am from a family whose talents lie squarely in music and performance. I am absolutely hopeless at sports. I really tried, but I just couldn't get it right. My siblings are all gifted musicians as well who have all worked in the music business at professional levels.

Irish pubs were my home ground. If you've never played one, picture this: a packed room on a Saturday night, glasses clinking, a dozen conversations going at once, and somebody at the back shouting for "Wild Rover" for the third time. You learn fast in a place like that. You learn to read a room, to win people over one song at a time, and to keep going when nobody seems to be listening.

Then there were the cruise ships. Night after night, a new crowd, a new port, the same songs sung for people on the holiday of their lives. And there were the open mic nights, the ones I played and later the ones I ran. I've always loved those. There's something holy about a room full of nervous people getting up one at a time to share something they made.

Those years taught me a lot. They taught me how to serve an audience. They taught me that music can make strangers into friends for an evening. And looking back, I can see they were teaching me things God would one day use.

The songs that kept finding me

Even in the pubs, there was a thread running through my life that I didn't fully understand.

Many years ago I heard the music of Keith Green, and it got under my skin. Here was a man who played piano like his life depended on it and sang to God as if God were sitting right there in the room. There was no performance in it. No pretending. Just raw love and honesty. I've loved singing his songs ever since.

I think part of me always knew that was the kind of music I was really made for. I just kept putting it off. There was always another gig, another bill to pay, another reason to wait.

How God redirected the music

God is patient. He let me play my forty years. But slowly, gently, He kept turning my heart toward Him.

I started noticing that the songs I most wanted to sing weren't the pub favourites anymore. They were songs of praise. I'd find myself driving the coach late at night, humming worship songs to an empty road. I'd sit down with the guitar and what came out wasn't another drinking song. It was a prayer.

One of those prayers became a song called "Noisy Times With You Lord." It has an Irish feel, because that's who I am. God didn't ask me to stop being the man who played the pubs. He just asked me to point all of it toward Him.

That's when it clicked. All those years in noisy rooms weren't wasted. They were training. Every rowdy Saturday night taught me how to lift a room. Every open mic taught me how to make people feel welcome. Every cruise ship crowd taught me that people everywhere are longing for joy. God simply took what He'd been building in me all along and gave it a new direction.

And so Brother Greg was born. Same guitar. Same voice. New song.

Nothing is wasted with God

If you take one thing from my story, let it be this: nothing is wasted with God.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

All things. The detours. The late starts. The years you think you spent on the wrong stage. God can redeem every one of them.

Maybe you feel like you've left it too late. Maybe you've spent years doing something that doesn't seem to have much to do with faith. I want to tell you, from someone who spent four decades in pubs before finding his way to the pulpit, that God isn't finished with you. He can take the skills, the scars and the stories of your life and turn them toward His glory.

The prophet Joel says God "will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten" (Joel 2:25). I believe that. I'm living it.

Where the music goes now

These days I take the songs and the story on the road. I love sharing at church services, conferences and festivals, and I love playing alongside a church's own music team. The songs are simple and joyful, written so a congregation can sing along from the first chorus.

If you'd like to hear "Noisy Times With You Lord," or invite me to share at your church, you'll find everything on the site. And if you just want to say hello, I'd be glad to hear from you.

Whatever stage you're standing on right now, offer it to God. You might be surprised where He takes the music.

With love and gratitude,

Brother Greg