jon buller - autobiography
When I read artist biographies, I often wonder if they were written by the artists themselves or by a hired writer (or I suppose it could be a combination). Having been writing and recording music for 10 + years I have done both, several times…either way, being that I find myself in the Christian music genre, I’ve always found this whole biography exercise to be rather quite ironic.
I think you may know what I’m getting at. There is this constant dance between wanting to increase the scope and reach of your music and ministry, and (let’s face it artists) the desire to be known and loved (also known as fame), successful, respected, and the list goes on. For me, this is all driven by a combination of truly honorable intentions to serve God, some level of personal ego, and let’s not forget the need to make a living.
I realize I am greatly simplifying the issue here and also speaking for myself; but I was once told a good bio should never exceed one page in length, so I should probably get on with it…I already feel I am breaking the laws of ‘bio writing’ and the biography police are going to be knocking down my door any second now.
I love music. I love to worship God. The natural intersection for me then is writing and singing music about God, to God and for God. Sometimes it is my own music (I have 3 original CDs, That’s What I’d Like, Sinner & the Saint and Broken Drum), and sometimes it is other folks music (I have recorded a worship CD series called And Your Praise Goes On, volumes 1, 2 and 3…out of print now…long story). Recently I realized I was ‘getting old’ because I released the ‘Best of Jon Buller – Worship’. I can’t quite figure out how time flew by so fast, but I know that I’ve written some poor songs, and I think I’ve written some good ones too, so I tried to pick the best, most worshipful ones and put them on one CD. At the end of the day I was quite proud of it, and I think that’s ok (to be proud I mean).
I wonder if I may be on to something when I figure that to some degree it’s healthy to have some pride. The main reason I have come to terms with being proud of what I do (I’m only realizing this now…) is how often I find myself telling my 3 year old son how proud I am of him when he does even the most insignificant things. When that happens I hear echoes of God’s voice saying to me ‘well done my good and faithful servant’, for the few times that I seem to have actually done something right in loving Him and serving Him. By the way, speaking of love, I have been married for 7 years to Sandra (that’s how Jackson came about) and that’s all going quite well, thank you.
Many of the great things that I’ve got to experience happened not because of my own giftedness or work ethic, but because of God’s faithfulness, His call on my life, and His sense of humor. Here are just a few…
I was nominated for a Juno award for ‘Sinner & the Saint’. This was back in 1999/2000 (old news, but still meaningful to me). That year the Juno’s were sponsored by FINESSE shampoo. I didn’t win the statue but I got free shampoo, which was cool. A couple years later some friends and I decided to record a live DVD of one of our worship concerts called ‘Hear the Music – LIVE’. That was a ton of fun, a great deal of work, and expensive to say the least. But ultimately it was a very worthwhile project which had a lot of ministry value. I believe it brought people closer to God, which was also cool. Over the last 10 years, I have traveled throughout Canada, the US, eastern Europe and Latin America. In Ecuador I was mugged at gunpoint which wasn’t so cool at all…but that’s another story.
In the process of those 10 years of itinerant and local ministry, I started to figure out that I really loved helping other musicians develop their faith, their ministry calling and their musical careers (discipleship I suppose). I also came to understand that leading groups of people though music into God’s presence was another big piece of what I was meant to do. So I put those 2 pieces together and founded a charitable organization called Hear the Music Ministries to do exactly that. Lead people in musical worship experiences of God, lifting up the name of Jesus while discipling young artists. You can find out more about Hear the Music Ministries at www.htmministries.com.
Ok we’re getting close to the end! I must pay homage to the gods of bio writing that demand me to ‘write what’s current’. I now live in Vernon, BC having moved from Winnipeg last August to become pastor of Worship and the Arts at Vernon Alliance Church. My musical endeavors are still very much alive in the form of continued ministry with Hear the Music Ministries, worship events, traveling and discipleship with young musicians, which really means that I now am experiencing the best of both worlds! Together with a few friends I am planning to record a CD of hymns this summer, something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.
I am going to force myself to end this autobiography here. I am tempted to try and find a clever way to also include nice things that other people have said about me, but I have decided to put those nice things on another page. Besides I have almost doubled the one page bio limit and that is just wrong.
And now that we’ve arrived at the end point I would like to conclude with a favorite quote of mine from Dan Allender which sums up for me what life and ministry are all about. ‘The wager of faith is that God is telling His story through mine’. So maybe an autobiography is quite appropriate after all…
Jon Buller
www.jonbuller.com www.myspace.com/jonbuller
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