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10 Questions with ... Consumed By Fire
February 29, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Members:
- Caleb Paul Ward
- Jordan David Ward
- Joshua Dale Ward
Discography:
- 2010 Something Real
- 2015 Lean On Me
- 2016 Giving Over (March 25th)
1. Birthplace, childhood, schools, jobs, current hometown?
Our parents were church pioneers so ministry is all we've ever known as a family and honestly, it's all we've ever been super passionate about. Caleb, the youngest, and myself were both born in Waycross, Georgia and Josh, the oldest, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We've lived in Wagoner, Oklahoma for the last 14 years. So the large majority of our lives have been spent here in Wagoner.
When Caleb was about 12 years old and I was almost 16, we convinced our parents to homeschool us so that we could start a band called, "Consumed by Fire" and tour full time. After praying about it they trusted that we had heard from God and that it wasn't just a little phase. Ten years later and anywhere from 120 - 150 shows a year, the rest is history, as they say. Most of our school years were spent on the road ministering to people through music.
2.What does a normal day at home look like for you?
With as many shows as we play a year, we are rarely ever home. But when we are home, we tend to be working. We recently built our own recording studio in our hometown called "SmallTown Studios" and we love to work with up and coming artists. An actual "day off" consists of spending as much time with family as possible. We love watching movies and enjoying the lake, building a fire and playing our acoustic guitars.
3. What's the song that you just can't get out of your head right now?
Personally, I think the one that has my attention the most is Meghan Trainor's, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You". When you are an artist on a professional level it can be hard to sit back and enjoy a song like a normal human being. However this song is just PERFECT. The melodies, the phrasing, lyrics, arrangement, the whole bit just makes me enjoy the song. That's rare for me. Not to mention, it's such a great reminder of not taking the ones closest to you for granted. I wish we would have written that one.
4. How much do you travel, what are the challenges? How do you juggle life on the road with wanting to be home?
In 2013 & 2014, we were only home a total of four months combined out of those two years. Last year we slowed down a bit because Josh and his wife had their first child (Audrey Rose) - so we were only gone a total of about six or so months out of 2015.
It's really difficult to juggle. Right now, at this point in our career we have been blessed with an amazing team that surrounds us, and because of that there are a lot more doors of opportunity that present themselves.
I think the only way to handle it is to be extremely purposeful with our time. We need to make sure that the conference, the tour or the project is the best use of our time and consistent with our mission and what God has called us to do. When Jesus ministered in Matthew 12:46-50 and He was interrupted because Jesus' family was outside and wanted to speak to Him. He had to choose to be deliberate with His time and basically say, "THIS is what my Heavenly Father has for me to do at THIS moment" (paraphrase). I feel like being intentional and being led of the Spirit - and then being certain and confident with those decisions, is the only way to do what we do.
5. What Artist or Pastor has had the greatest impact on you?
It doesn't seem like we ever just glean from one individual, but we certainly wouldn't be who we are without the consistency of the Word in place in our mom and dad's lives. After that, the Apostle Paul's teachings continue to wreck me on the daily. And then other teachers that understand, study, and preach GRACE and new creation realities the way that Paul did, we love those people. Creflo Dollar, has a real grip on grace and we get spiritually fed by him multiple times a week while on the road. Joseph Prince is also an incredible teacher.
Musically, we love a ton of people but mostly older artists like James Taylor, Bob Seger, CCR, John Denver, The Eagles and many more. Those records seem to have a timeless element, and we want to try our best to capture some of the same, if we can.
6. What's the last book you read?
I'm reading "Smith Wigglesworth Remembered", a biography written by W. Hacking. It recounts a lot of his journeys of faith. Just seeing how a plumber, who didn't learn to read until he was in his 30's, could be so heavily used of God the way he was is absolutely inspiring to say the least.
Jesus said that we would do greater things than He even did (John 14:12); and reading about men of God who had faith to see dead people raised up will certainly start building your faith. I would encourage anyone to check this book out.
7. What's the biggest "God moment" you've ever experienced? Personally or professionally, when has God shown up in a powerful way?
So many stories of faith. All of them are incredible. I think one of the most powerful stories that I can recall is one that we tell every night on tour. One night Caleb and I were driving in our old 91 Ford Econoline Van to see some friends of ours that lived a couple of hours away. Towards the end of our trip, it began to rain really hard and the windshield wipers wouldn't work! This van was ALWAYS giving us fits.
We couldn't see a single thing in front of us and we couldn't see a place to pull off... So it got a little nerve racking. Caleb and I weren't saying a word for a while when finally I began to sing a prayer right out of my core, the lyrics were, "Hold the rain so I can find my way back home. Jesus, hold the rain so I can find my way to you".
Caleb grabbed the acoustic guitar, and we began to just sing that chorus over and over again. We noticed that in the middle of singing this chorus that it wasn't raining on us anymore! We rolled down the windows and saw that it was still raining all the way around us in a huge circle and it just wasn't hitting us anymore! it must have rained in that circle around us for close to 15 miles until we reached our destination. As soon as we pulled up to the driveway of our destination, it began to downpour again. Our song "Hold The Rain" came from that night.
We love to encourage people at our show that there is a refuge & a peace in any storm, and that we don't have to just sit in the middle of turbulence and wonder if God is going to do something. We've been given authority to speak to the mountains that are standing in our way. Jesus didn't freak out on the boat when the storm approached, He got up, and SPOKE to it "Peace, be still". And then He gave us that same power.
8. Take us through a couple songs on your latest project.
The title of our new record is, "Giving Over", and we feel like that is just theme of the whole project in a round-about way. Every song somewhat calls for a surrender to the bigger picture of what God wants to do in and through us.
We love our current single "Lean On Me" because we are watching the message and heart BEHIND the song do more than the catchy whistle or melodies could EVER do. The song is all about being the hands and feet of Jesus and realizing that it's not necessarily a "call" as much as it is a commission.
I feel that if something isn't in the news headlines, we easily forget about injustices in the world. Over 30,000+ children die every single day and unfortunately enough people don't know about this travesty. We've been teamed up with ChildFund International for awhile now and dedicating a portion of our shows for our audiences to consider being apart of sponsoring a child monthly through CFI.
ChildFund, provides clean water, food, education, and medical attention to children all over the world who are in need of the basic necessities that we can sometimes take for granted. They are seriously such an amazing organization that we could talk about all day. We want to be the voice for these children that don't have a headline on the evening news.
We are pretty thrilled that our new single "Lean on Me" is being as well received as it is because with every headline or interview about the song, we get the chance to tell these children's stories that inspired the song. It's not just a CBF song. It's these children's song.
9. Person you'd most like to have a discussion with, living or dead.....Deities are excused from this question
I love this question! Personally, I'd love to sit down with Papa Hagin (Kenneth E. Hagin) over some ice cream! He loved ice-cream. Growing up, we heard all of our dad's stories about the time he spent with him makes me wish I could've been a fly on the wall. Also, the Apostle Paul. I'm sure he would've liked ice cream too ;)
10. Favorite Bible Verse....life verse?
It's really hard to pick an overall favorite. I just love the Word, period. But the one I love to leave with people most of the time is 1 Peter 5:7
"Cast all of your cares (anxieties) on the Lord, for He cares for you".
It reminds me that I don't have to go about it alone, moreover, that I SHOULDN'T TRY TO GO AT IT ALONE. And don't just cast the big cares that you know are out of your control, cast them ALL. God doesn't see "big" needs and "small" needs - He just sees the need and He meets the need.
I love to leave this scripture lying on the table next to a big tip, when dining out.
Bonus Questions
1. How & When did you become a believer?
When you're from a family like ours it is really difficult to ever remember a time when Jesus wasn't at the center, but I think I finally understood that I needed a savior around 4 or 5. I was in the house one day and it hit me that I needed to ask Jesus to come live on the inside of me and for His blood to wash over me and cleanse me. So I asked my dad to lead me in the sinners prayer and I've been a saint ever since.
2. Funniest or most embarrassing moment on the road?
It seems that I fall over a lot. And always in front of people. That's all you need to know. Haha! #clumbsy
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