Meet the Band ...

They are: Matt Russell, Worship Leader and guitar; Shirley Elliott, worship associate and piano; Kim Peterson, keys, saxes, flute, recorder; Greg Grubbs and Jeff Zerza, electric and acoustic guitars; Joel Reynolds, bass; and Chris Fricker, drums. The team is committed to the ministry of leading the Body of Christ at CFC in worship each week. They rehearse every Wednesday evening from 8-10 p.m. and are at church before 7 a.m. on Sunday mornings in preparation for three worship services. Each member of the band loves the Lord and is committed to worship leading. They are good friends who enjoy the fellowship of one another and serving together through the ministry of music.

Matt Russell - Worship Leader and guitars
Matt has been on staff with CFC since 1999. He served as Sr. High youth pastor from 1999 to 2007. In 2007 he moved into the role of Pastor of Worship, leading weekly in the morning services, overseeing the ministry to young adults, and serving as a counselor in CFC's counseling ministry. Matt attended Regent University from 1994 to 1996 where he received his Master of Arts in Counseling. He worked for two years in a boys' home with troubled teens and their families. He and his wife Kristi moved to Jacksonville in the summer of 1998 to be near family and began attending CFC that summer. He is currently a student at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He hopes to graduate in May 2011 with a Master of Divinity. Matt has also recently become a NANC Certified biblical counselor. Matt and Kristi have been married for 15 years and have two children: Emma Grace, who is 9-1/2 and Matthew Tobias (Toby), who is 3-1/2 years of age. His favorite part of being a pastor at CFC is leading others with him into worshiping our Great God and seeing people surrender their lives to Him.

Shirley Elliott – Worship Associate and piano
Shirley has been involved in music at CFC for the last 22 years. Her husband of 33 years went home to be with the Lord two years ago and her daughter lives in California and is in nursing school there. Shirley attended Bob Jones University and then later graduated from Jacksonville University with a B.M. in piano performance. Besides serving in the worship ministry, Shirley is a lay counselor at CFC. She is NANC certified and has a Master’s Degree in Biblical Counseling from the Master’s College. The Lord opened her heart to the gospel at a young age through the ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship. The first Sunday she attended church, after trusting Christ, the Lord gave her a desire to play the piano. She currently teaches piano privately and accompanies voice lessons at the University of North Florida. One of her favorite hymns is “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and a favorite portion of scripture is Habakkuk 3:17-19. “No matter what the loss, God desires that we praise Him and rejoice that He is the God of our salvation.”

Kim Peterson – Keys, saxes, flute, recorder
Kim has been married to his wife Jeanne for 28 years. They believe they are gifts from the Lord to each other. Their two sons, Chris (27) and Dane (22) are His blessings. Kim has a B.A. in music from California Lutheran University. He has played in worship bands since high school as well as rock and jazz bands. When he was 22 years old he got a job playing on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. After that he dedicated his gifts to outreach in Europe and later around the world, using music to help communicate the gospel. That is what he and his wife ,Jeanne, have been doing since 1983. They currently serve with Proclaim International. Kim wanted to play sax because he thought it was a cool instrument. His grandma bought him his first horn and he got started in the 6th grade. Jesus Christ opened his eyes to His love and salvation at Explo ’72, a Campus Crusade for Christ event in Dallas, TX. “I am nothing without Christ. He is the reason I worship Him and not some other god. He gave me my life and gives me purpose, joy and peace. My life is His living sacrifice. Worship is living for Him.” Kim likes the hymn, “Amazing Grace” because it describes what God has done and continues to do in his life.  

Greg Grubbs – Acoustic and electric guitar
Greg has been married to his wife Lisa for 25 years. They have three children, Joy, Daniel and Sarah and 2 grandsons, Jacob and Charlie. Greg has worked at Publix for the last 31 years. He is currently a manager in the meat department. He began playing piano at the age of 6. He began drums at age 9, trumpet when he was 12, and banjo when he was 15 years of age. He attended Florida Junior College and majored in Music Ed, with a concentration in voice. He then attended Florida State University for one year. When he became a Christian he realized he could use his guitar to lead others in singing and began to focus on that instrument. He has been at CFC for about 8 years. At age 16, there came a point in his life when he knew he was going down a destructive path. Having a desire to change, he turned to the Lord in response to the Lord’s calling him. As His Word spoke to Greg, he repented of his sins and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. “He is my strength when I’m weak and tired. He lifts me up when I feel like giving up. Life is not easy, but He is there to help me through the toughest times. He continues to love me through all my failures and seeks me when I’m not seeking Him. I am who I am because of Him and I love Him.” Greg worships the Lord and honors Him because He alone is worthy of worship. “Worship is reflecting on all He has done for me, and with a grateful heart, lifting Him up and honoring Him as the One who gives me life. I worship Him because He is God.” One of Greg’s favorite verses is Romans 5:6-8. At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. “Before I desired to have anything to do with Him, Christ was put to death for me.” One of his favorite songs is “Alas and Did my Savior Bleed” by Isaac Watts that was put to music by Bob Kauflin. It speaks of God’s redemptive love and our unworthiness.  

Jeff Zerza – Acoustic and electric guitar 
To learn more about Jeff, call him at 555-info.
(Bio to come!).

 

Joel Reynolds – Bass guitar
Joel is married to Melissa and they have two sons, Seth, age 6 who may be a potential “piano/keys” guy and Zachary, age 3, who may be a future drummer. He graduated from the University of North Florida with a BA in Political Science. He has been playing guitar and bass guitar for over 30 years, starting out in a little garage band back in 1979. After 5 years of being a working musicial in a local rock band, he gave up the musician’s life, attended college, settled into work, marriage and family life. About 2-1/2 years ago, Joel noticed an announcement in the bulletin, asking for a bass player. Since that time the Lord has allowed him to use his gifts, talents and time to lead worship at CFC. Although Joel grew up in a home where his parents were devout in their Christian faith and church was always a part of his life, he did not come to truly know Christ until he was an adult. He was thankful for a pastor at the time who took an interest in his soul and helped him understand that the Lord was calling him to a relationship with Him. Joel sees the faithfulness of God in his life and he is grateful for the work He continues to do. One of his favorite songs is “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” because it beautifully and simply describes the sacrifice that God made through His son, Jesus Christ for his sin. A favorite scripture is Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” Joel had the privilege of attending the Worship God ’09 conference in August. It was a blessing for  him to travel and be with friends at a conference that focused on “What is Worship” and “Why We Worship.” Joel believes he has developed a new understanding of the importance of Cross-centered worship that goes much deeper than “feel good” music and lyrics that are not always theologically sound. “I see worship as an acknowledgement to and grateful recognition of our great God. Apart from Him I have nothing.” 

Chris Fricker – Drums
Chris has been married to Sue for 22 years. She works at CFC and is responsible for building the power point for the messages each Sunday. They have four children. Beth is in her last semester at CIU studying education, Jessica is married and expecting their first grandchild in March, Anna is in her first year of high school, and their 4-year-old son, C.J. is Chris’ fishing bud. He has worked with GE for the last 13 years and is a Tech/Team Leader with them. He was 26 years old when he first started playing the drums and he taught himself. He played mostly Rock, Christian Rock, Funk and Blues. He is in a band called “Faith” that does original Christian songs and also a band called “Rise” that does covers and original music. Playing the drums is something he always wanted to do since seeing the Gene Krupa story on TV as a kid. He started to pursue learning the drums when he finally had a place of his own. That was 20 years ago. His Mom and Dad were strong believers but Chris did not become a Christian until he was in his twenties. The Lord used a conversation between him and his older brother to bring him to Christ. They were discussing Isaiah 53 and the suffering servant. The conversation caused Chris to search the scriptures himself and God used that to save Chris. He became a believer in February 1992. “The Lord is my life. Without the hope of eternal life with Him apart from sin, life is meaningless.” One of his favorite scriptures is I Thessalonians 4:13. “This world is not my home. My home is with Christ in glory!” His favorite praise and worship song is “Amazing Love”- "because it causes me to think of the great love that Christ has for me and reminds me that my life belongs to Him."