Hi, I hope this finds you well. I'm Zach. Until I find someone brave enough to write a bio about me, this is going to have to do. To be completely honest with you, I didn't think any of this would ever happen. I grew up a typical hyper kid from Houston who happened to really enjoy listening to music. I remember being a kid and standing in front of my bathroom mirror, playing air guitar and lip synching to whatever was on the radio. I was always the loud, talkative one. I guess you could say the passion for performance was always there.
I started playing guitar in the 6th grade. It took me a really long time to figure it out, but once I did I couldn't really put it down. The summer before my freshman year of high school, the Lord grabbed a hold of me and absolutely changed my life. My mentor instantly encouraged me to consider leading worship for the student ministry I was becoming involved in, so I did. I ended up doing that for all of high school and the Lord used it to lay an incredible foundation for me, both musically and spiritually. Right before I graduated, I started to try to write songs. It wasn't about getting material to play for people, but more about making sense of things I was learning and experiencing.
Throughout college, I continued writing songs and leading worship around Texas. I played in a couple bands but never really felt at home with them. I decided to start playing shows by myself to stay busy while I was in between bands. For the first time, it felt really right! I began to get great feedback from friends and I felt a real freedom in what I was doing. It was good to sing about real things happening in my life, because I was able to pull from real emotion and experience. Jesus is my everything, and because of that, He affects everything in my life. That became a huge staple in my writing. I toured during the summers (without a CD.mistake.) and got a real taste for travel. I was really, really loving it.
When I had two years of college left, I got hired full time as a worship leader at a church in The Woodlands, a suburb north of Houston. I have been serving there ever since, leading worship multiple times per week but also working closely with the youth. I love what I do here; it's incredibly humbling to be a part of what God is doing. Since then, I have graduated college, continued serving at my church, and traveling a ton.
In March 08, I started working on my first record, finally! I am obviously really excited about it, as it is a reflection of the past 5 years of my life. When choosing songs for the record, I realized that all of them were in one way or another tied to hope. I feel like this record is about hope, whether that be in the Lord, or in a relationship, or whatever; it amazes me how the beautiful things in the life never cease to inspire and remind me that I am loved and there is always a reason to hope. I hope these songs can speak to you in the same way.
I remember a time, driving home from a gig in Dallas. I was tired, the road was long, and it was just a season of life when I was weary and stressed. You know that feeling when you just want your home and your good friends? Yeah. That was it. I remember rounding a bend on I-45 just outside of Houston, and I saw the skyline, backlit by the setting sun. It spoke volumes of hope to me. Things were tough, but it was a single, solitary reminder that I always have to hope, because this is truth: the best is yet to come.
