Today I am thankful for The Juan Catorce Band.

This is a project I started with my wife and our friend Shawn Vago just under a year ago. Actually, that’s not true. It really started in the summer of 2011, with the three of us as well as our friend Matt Wheeler.

I was asked to lead worship at Clipper Stadium that August, so I put together a temporary worship band, consisting of Jen on bass, Shawn on drums, Matt on acoustic guitar, and me on electric guitar. The speaker that night was Don Piper, and the event was sponsored by a group of Baptist churches. At least one of the churches in attendance was primarily Spanish-speaking, so they provided an interpreter.

Now, I love the Spanish language. I took five years of it and could listen to it all day. As a result. I enjoyed the interpreter almost as much as the main speaker. The highlight for me was when Piper referred to the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John and the interpreter said, “Juan Catorce.”

I leaned over to my wife and said, “If I ever start another band, it will be called The Juan Catorce Band.”

And I was right. A few months later Jen and Shawn and I started playing with a focus on worship music, although it eventually grew to encompass my original songs as well.

Shameless plug: we’re playing at the Community Room in Lancaster this Friday at 7PM if you want to hear us. 🙂

I am thankful for The Juan Catorce Band.

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