Big Daddy Weave, Aaron Shust to perform in Jackson

Contemporary Christian band Big Daddy Weave will make a stop in Cape Girardeau later this month for a concert at Crossroads Church in Jackson.

The band will be joined by singer Aaron Shust. Shust is making his second stop in Southeast Missouri in five months. He performed in May at Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau.

The concert, scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 21, is part of "The Redeemed Tour."

Mike Weaver, lead vocalist and guitar player in Big Daddy Weave, recently answered questions about the group, his faith and what he hopes audiences take away from their concerts.

Q: How did you get started in contemporary Christian music?

A: We were all worship leaders when we were in school on campus at the University of Mobile in Alabama. Opportunity led to opportunity, and we just walked through doors God opened for us. After being together as a band for about three years, Fervent Records heard an independent recording we made and reached out to us. They signed us to their roster in 2001.

Q: How long have you been a member of your faith?

A: Nearly my entire life. The faith of my parents became my faith when I walked down the aisle of our home church when I was 9 years old and prayed to accept Jesus as my savior.

Q: As a songwriter, tell us how the process works for you and the band.

A: Our songs just come from life. The biggest part of my life is my faith, and so it's looking at life through the filter of my walk with God. The good times and the bad times and times when things don't make sense. Walking through those times with God and what it looks like to live out the faith even more than to just sing about it.

Q: Your song "Redeemed" has been popular in contemporary Christian music. Tell us the story behind the song and what you hope those listening take away from it.

A: In my life I have struggled greatly even in recent years with the issue of self acceptance and worth. There have been periods of my life when even though I have known in my heart God's love and grace for me I have been unable to extend that same love, grace and acceptance to myself personally. At one of my lowest points in the last couple of years, God reminded me that true humility was not seeing myself as worthless and putting myself down; real humility is simply agreeing with what he thinks and says about my life. As believers in Jesus what God sees when he looks at us through the perfect sacrifice of his son is complete redemption. I am learning how to live seeing myself the way God sees me, redeemed.

Q: What's your favorite Bible verse and why?

A: Proverbs 3:5-6 is my life verse because I think it is the mode of operation in the believing God. "Trust the Lord with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." It puts our focus where our focus belongs.

Q: What artists in the industry have influenced you and the group?

A: All of us grew up listening to contemporary Christian music in some capacity, so we have been influenced by Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith of yesteryear, but at the same time, we are excited about what God is doing in contemporary Christian music right now. There is so much we enjoy listening to these days as well.

Q: When you perform, what do you hope audiences take away from the concert?

A: We hope they can take away that God can use anybody. He's not looking for perfect people. He is looking for people who acknowledge their need for him and will say yes when he says go.

Q: As a group that has performed and written praise songs, what's your advice to church musicians?

A: I think the importance of corporate worship is the corporate part of that. Write songs that are simple enough for everyone to sing. It's about a congregation going on this journey together, not just about someone up front singing songs.