Justin Warren Teseniar

Durham group on tour with MercyMe and David Crowder Band

BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563

DURHAM -- For Justin Teseniar, a great night performing with his band isn't about getting attention for himself.

"A great night is when we can engage the congregation and bring them to the throne of God so by the end of the night, it's not about the music or the band but engaging them with God one on one."

Teseniar is a worship leader, the term used to describe a musician who leads the musical element of a contemporary worship service.

He is also 23 years old, a songwriter, married, a pastor's son and the frontman for a band that has a new CD out and will perform with popular Christian rock bands MercyMe and the David Crowder Band on tour this summer.

Teseniar said that when leading worship there's a moment of peace when you know this is exactly where the Lord wants you to be. As a kid, he didn't want to sing in front of a crowd. He's still shy. But God's sense of humor made that his calling anyway, he said.

He remembers clearly the moment as a sixth-grader when he surrendered to God.

Throughout high school, when he played the drums in the Cedar Ridge High School marching band in Hillsborough, his calling became more clear. As a senior, he took up the guitar. He joined a band a began writing worship songs.

Now with his own band and two CDs -- the latest, "Holding on to Hope" was recorded in Tennessee with a Nashville producer -- he is humbled by God's gift.

"It's a very emotional thing. God gave [music] as a gift to express ourselves and to connect others to God and His promise to us," Teseniar said Tuesday afternoon in his home church, Braggtown Baptist, where his dad is pastor.

Teseniar said that preachers' kids get a bad rap. He said he wasn't born as a pastor's kid, but conceived out of wedlock. His dad left his mom before being saved, Teseniar said. But God healed a marriage on the rocks, and now he has two little sisters, he said.

"I'm a picture of God's grace, and my parents urge me to seek God's grace," Teseniar said.

He writes music and lyrics at the same time -- Bible open, notebook open and guitar in hand. He thinks about what God would want and wants to write songs everyone can connect with.

The title track "This is Hope," was written when a family friend was fighting cancer. She died recently. Now when he plays it, he thinks about how even in death, God is faithful.

"God is just as good even though she lost her battle with cancer. The song has a different meaning to it," he said.

Before performing at concerts rather than worship services, Teseniar prays that God will still let them connect with people. He met his new bass player, Dan Browne, at a concert.

In the song "Ninety One," Teseniar sings: "In the wind in the rain in the storm in the pain, God you are faithful; God our refuge."

In the song "Beyond Amazing," the upbeat lyrics talk about the greatness of God.

The Justin Teseniar Band has played with Rush of Fools, and the summer concerts with MercyMe and David Crowder are part of the Life and Faith Tour with stops in Richmond, Atlanta and Rockingham, N.C.

Teseniar only formed his band three years ago. He and his wife, Laura, have been married two years. They met at a camp where she was a counselor and he was leading worship. She loves his music, he said.

"We're both blown away by what God has done in a short time," he said.

Teseniar said there's a fine line between worshipping and performing.

He prays that God makes his performances about God's glory, not his own.

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