Sunday with The Katinas

OK, now that the election is behind us, I feel it's time for me to lighten things up a bit and tell you a little bit about last Sunday. The church I've been attending since I moved to Rocklin, Sunset Christian Center, has hosted The Katinas about every 6 weeks. The Katinas are a contemporary Christian music group made up of 5 brothers. My first in person experience with them came several years ago while I was at Bethel Church in San Jose. They were great then, and even better now.

Through my experience in Christian music and when I was in radio, I've been around many Christian musicians of varying degrees of fame and success. I have to tell you, there is something very genuine and deep about these guys. They love to make music, and even more, they love making music which glorifies God.

Backstage in the green room, between sound check and the actual service, we spent about 30 minutes just hanging out. I got into the room a few minutes before the Katinas came in, and I chose a nice comfortable chair near one of the corners of the room. A few of us from the church were there and having a nice chat. When the guys came in, John, Jesse and James all sat in the corner by where I was. We spent some time just talking about stuff. Nothing big. Then Jesse pulled out his iPod and was listening to a recording they had done just a couple weeks earlier. John and James hadn't heard it yet, so they were very interested in it. John took a few minutes to tell me of the project they were part of where that new song would be featured. After telling me that and listening to the song himself, he passed the headphones to me and offered to let me listen to it. After I did, they were very interested in my thoughts.

To me, that kind of sums up what these guys are like. They're very successful musicians and ministers, very well known around the world, and yet they are just a group of guys when in the midst of laypeople in a local church. When they worship, it's sincere. When we prayed backstage, John took a couple minutes and prayed for me. And when it was over, I felt prayed for. It was cool.

They've launched an updated website which shows a bit more of who they are behind the scenes, as well as what they're all about. Check it out at http://thekatinas.com