I honestly had nothing to post on this Holy Night of sacred honor in memory of the birth of the King of Kings but a lame Christmas e-card and then Tehdi Durham shows up in my inbox with a great testimony and a perfect song for the occasion. Do you ever get the feeling that God just wants you to get out of the way so He can do His marvelous works in mysterious ways? Enjoy this great feature and music which is complete with all the holiday dressings you could want as a festive meal for the Body of Christ.
Please tell us about your musical journey in Christ. How long have you been making music? Any formal training? Professional experience?
I’ve been writing and performing music for around 14 years and have been saved and focusing on strictly Christ centred music for the past 9. Music has always been important to me but with Christ at it’s centre, it finally has an eternal purpose. I taught music for 10 years before leaving that and pursuing a serving position in construction for an elder at my church. Now I currently run audio at my church of the past 9 years, serve on the worship team and also record, mix and master audio for special outreaches. I am a singer songwriter under the title Tehdi Durham and also a 1 man band of hard rock/metal music under the title AT WAR. Both bands have been shown favour by God’s grace and allowed me to do lots of radio interviews on secular local stations, podcasts and have seen songs from both bands see radio stations across the country and overseas! All for God’s glory and the hope that the music reaches and penetrates the hearts of the listeners and provokes them to Christ and His glorious salvation. I write, produce, mix and master all of my own music so that I can use my finances in other areas of ministry instead of promoting myself with it, but I always take opportunity to reach out to things like this because if by some wild chance you choose to talk to me, I know it can push the gospel, encouragement and edification to others and best of all, by God’s appointment and not my own doing! It’s really cool you guys give people an opportunity to reach out for this and I appreciate your consideration.
What music inspires you the most (Christian or secular)? Name your favorites.
Wolves at the Gate and Lincoln Brewster, War of Ages and Disciple…. There’s so many strong Christian Artists doing the work of evangelism through music out there that don’t compromise God’s character right now. It’s really inspiring!! I love pretty much any music if Christ is in it, but there’s a few metal bands like the 3 mentioned above that are doing it reaaaaaal good right now!!!!
How has making music made a difference in your Christian walk?
It has given me an avenue to serve humbly, to participate in group praise and worship and learn to lead. It’s opened to door to sing songs too for Christ in more venues and situations than I’d ever have had the chance to speak at. Writing music has allowed me to have conversations with people that normally would throw up a wall immediately. They can take my music home and listen on their headphones, in their car, on their phone, etc and in their own element. Which allows their guards to be lowered and allows me to have that conversation through the music and lyrics that provokes them to thoughts eternal and God centred. It allows us to have this intimate conversation on THEIR time and with topics that often might be sensitive too them. On topics where they might throw a wall up or become edgy, they instead can let the lyrics soak in and provoke them to those discussions within themselves without risking offence.
What do you do to stay sharp with your God given skills? Do you have a daily routine?
I am constantly writing all different genres so I get to play and sing nearly everything weekly. I try to make a point of either playing even for 20 minutes a day, or on days I can’t play, at least studying audio, other Christian artist/bands music mixes so I can see what it is about their technique that I love so when I practice next I have something to work on. This helps keep it fresh, AND broaden my musical pallet. Thus developing my Gifting all for the purpose of playing more skillfully and also giving me the chance to free myself of the thought process behind playing so that I can praise, worship and be more sensitive to the Spirit while in the moment!
What projects are you working on now? What are your hopes for them?
I’ve been working on writing my second full length album by Tehdi Durham. Which I hope to be a mix of singer songwriter with some contemporary Christian rock! I’ve also released two singles, 1 metal and 1 Christmas Original by my other band (currently 1 man band haha..) AT WAR. My hopes for the metal songs is to educate the church by stirring and provoking hearts to search themselves and aim for God’s call to discipleship. I released an acoustic Christmas single from my AT WAR artist because it was originally going to be heavy metal but I made an acoustic version and it was very beautiful and was so effortless I just felt like God gave it to me for this year’s Christmas season so I recorded it, mixed it and got it out ASAP. I pray it encourages those who hear it to remember that Christ is the reason for the season!
What is your favorite Bible verse that inspires you to praise God through music?
Psalm 59:17 ESV
[17] O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.
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