Bio/Testimony

Greg SkodacekGreg Skodacek

Raised in a Christian home, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 13 years old. Throughout high school and the early years of college my walk with Christ was up and down, on and off, but through it all the Holy Spirit never left me alone, always convicting, always wooing me back to the straight, but narrow path. In 1988, I ended up living in a small apartment in Costa Mesa, CA. There the Holy Spirit drew me back to church where, sitting in the back of the sanctuary at
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, I rededicated my life to the Lord. God changed me for good and I have never looked back since.

It is hard to believe it, but I have been involved in Christian music, in one form or another, for nearly 30 years. In the early 80’s I was in a Christian Rock band,
The Omega Band. We had both an outreach ministry and a body ministry, playing in clubs and churches all over southern California, for about 7 years. Then, after The Omega Band had run it’s course, I took a few years hiatus from music and finished my BS and got an MBA. It was in the School of Ministry at Calvary Chapel Vista that I began to feel the call of God to the worship ministry. I joined the worship team at Calvary Chapel San Marcos in 1990, and played guitar and sang under the leadership of an excellent mentor and servant leader, Wayne Caldwell. In 1998, I was sent out from CCSM to lead worship at a Filipino outreach, Bagong Buhay Chapel (which later merged with another CC and became Calvary International Fellowship). After serving there for six years, I felt God calling me back into ministry in San Marcos, CA. In 2005, I joined Calvary Chapel Mission Hills as Worship Leader, under the leadership of an old friend, Pastor David James, where I remain to this day.

In October of 2009, after an extended period of unemployment (which continues to this day), God laid it on my heart to release a collection some of the original worship songs that I had accumulated over the years. The result was the
Calvary Chapel Mission Hills Worship Band album, Stand In Awe. The CD includes one old Omega Band song from 1982, sung beautifully by my youngest daughter, along with 10 other songs that were all birthed out of devotional times in the Word of God. The feedback and encouragement received on the project, from all over the world, prompted us to release a second album, which includes songs from several other members of the worship team as well as myself, Sovereign Lord.

I am blessed. I am blessed with a wonderful family – a lovely wife, seven children, and three granddaughters. I am blessed to have lead worship for about 20 years now, all in small churches (50-100 people). I am still amazed at the awesome privilege that God, in His glorious grace and mercy, has given to me. To be able, on a weekly basis, to lead His people into His presence – to help them connect with their Creator God and Savior, is an honor that this flawed man does not deserve. Back when I first accepted Christ, 40 years ago, my pastor gave me, what I have come to believe was a prophetic word, what he said was going to be my “life verse”. He was right. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6) God continues to work on me, in me, and through me to this day, never failing me, always loving me – picking me up when I stumble, correcting me when I begin to stray, and most of all, continuing the work of sanctification in this imperfect vessel. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

 

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