Isaiah

“Isaiah” was originally formed by San Jose mega church Jubilee Christian Center as its Saturday night rock and roll praise and worship team. The church wanted to offer its congregation an alternative service from its Sunday morning R & B/Gospel lean so that it could cater to members that were more into rock-oriented praise and worship. The band was formed through a formal audition process, and it originally went by the name “Holy Smoke”.

After playing the Saturday night service at Jubilee for several months, members of the band were asked to help with a San Francisco church plant partnership between Jubilee and City Christian Church (Phil Pringle’s church) out of Australia. Several members of the band were playing Saturday nights at Jubilee and Sunday mornings at CCC San Francisco, and Evan Langert (the band’s lead singer) eventually made CCC San Francisco his church. Over the course of the first year of its existence, the band started to play at a few drug and alcohol rehab ministries, and out at fairs and festivals. Some membership changes occurred over the years, and the band decided a few years ago to forge a new identity under the name “Isaiah”.

The band eventually started to play at several prisons…Elmwood in Milpitas, San Quentin in Larkspur, and Santa Rita in Pleasanton. It also started playing at youth correctional facilities such as Camp Wilmont Sweeney in San Leandro, Hillcrest in San Mateo, and at other facilities.

These days, the band still plays at a number of prisons, juvenile halls, and drug and alcohol rehab ministries, as well as at secular fairs and festivals, and at church outreaches. Basically, anywhere that people need to hear about Christ (and that’s everywhere), the band will consider playing.
Isaiah is:

Evan Langert-Lead Vocals and Keys

Evan Langert is the praise and worship leader of Victory International Church in San Mateo, California, as well as a graduate of the Victory Bible School. He also has a business degree from the University of Maryland in College Park, and a law degree from Florida State University. Evan has been singing and playing in bands since he was fourteen, and spent several years playing six nights a week in bars and concerts prior to his salvation.

Steve Wallace-Bass and vocals

Steve has been a well-known musician in the San Francisco Bay area Christian music circles for many years. He was the main bass player for Jubilee Christian Center for seven years, and was also in the highly acclaimed Christian rock band “Thryce Denied” for three years. Steve had played on the road with Luis Palau, and has played music on several mission trips over the years to Kosovo, Macedonia, Spain, Peru and Croatia. Steve’s focus in his own words: “I am a 53 year old grateful child of God that has been saved by grace for twenty years. After a young adult life of complete moral decay and self indulgent decadence playing music in “bar bands”, the Lord called me into my life purpose. I seek not fortune or fame, but only to serve my God.”

Noel Holden- Lead Guitar

Noel grew up in the Church, and made a commitment to Christ at an early age. He began playing guitar at 13, when he fell in love with the sound of electric rock guitar. His Philadelphia neighborhood produced a number of notable ‘80s rock musicians. Moving to California, he ran away from the Lord to play in rock bands in the SF Bay Area clubs in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Though he gained notoriety as a guitarist, he realized he was not honoring God in his lifestyle. The “Hound of Heaven” was on his trail. In ’87, he rededicated himself to follow Christ. He has played in ministry bands and Worship Teams ever since. Noel has served with Isaiah since 2004.

DJ Hunt-Drums

D.J. is self taught on the drum kit. He’s played in numerous bar/cover bands as well as Hard Rock original groups before being “saved”. He has been serving the Lord with his talents for over 10 years and looks forward to many more. He’s serves on one of the worship teams at Harbor Light church in Fremont, Ca. where his lives with his wife of 22 years and his 19 year old son.

Robert Baer-Sound Engineer and Background Vocals

Robert is the newest member of Isaiah joining us in 2009. He played with several bands throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in the seventies and eighties. Opening for such bands as Cold Blood, Tower of Power and Y & T. Robert started his walk with Christ in 1989 after meeting his wife and is fired up about singing praise and worship. He is currently working with three Livermore churches on worship teams playing keyboards and providing vocal support as well as sounds engineering.