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September 1, 2005
Grassroots Music Magazine
1000 GENERATIONS: the
ministry of floors
by Mike Parker
1000 Generations is a rising star worship band. Their
debut project, “Prayers,” grabbed a lot of attention,
not only from the indie circuit, but from big time publications
as well. Christianity Today magazine hailed them as one
of the top ten independent bands of 2004. “From its resplendent
cover art to its delicate aural accents, “Prayers” is
the best new album of the year,” raved Worship Leader
magazine. Ultra-hip Relevant magazine declares, “1000
Generations have everything in place to become a favorite
in contemporary Christian circles.”
1000 Generations is definitely a buzz band to watch. Tomorrow,
next week, next month, perhaps next year, their faces
might grace the cover of a glossy, monthly Christian music
mag, but for now life goes on at its usual, ragged pace.
And that’s okay, says frontman and founder, Steven Potaczek.
“We get to be on stage and do a concert for 4000 people,
and then we get to come home and clean the church,” he
says. “There are great highs where it would be easy to
get puffed up, and then God says, ‘Now minister to the
floor.”
You see, Steven, along with his wife Amanda, are staff
worship leaders at Indianapolis Vineyard Community Church.
They are also its janitors.
Ministering to floors is not all that different from ministering
to people, Steven insists. Sometimes it’s dirty work,
and sometimes it requires you to get down on your knees.
Sometimes it is solitary work, but most of the time it
is much easier when it is done in community. Steven equates
it with his prayer life. “When you put out an album called
“Prayers,” people automatically assume that you have a
great prayer life,” he explains. “But having a great prayer
life is hard work. Most of it comes from us just working
through our own struggles. It is easier for me to hear
God in a corporate environment. I tend to hear God most
clearly through sermons or reading books.”
It is that whole ‘corporate’ thing that has Steven buzzed.
It is the driving force behind the new collection of songs
1000 Generations is in the process of recording. “We don’t
have community anymore,” he laments. “People don’t build
houses with front porches anymore. Our mission as ministers
is to help people to connect - to God and to each other.”
“We started 1000 Generations because we saw a need for
worship to be individual, for people to have personal
experiences as well as congregational,” Steven elaborates.
“Music should touch people on a personal level, and art
is a great way to disarm people’s hearts. But after the
first CD, “Prayers,” we realized there were a lot of things
we didn’t say. This new project is similar in nature,
in that it is an emotional album, a vulnerable album.
But it is more corporate in nature. We are heading in
a new direction musically to encourage people to realize
that the Church is not just a hospital, but a place to
call people to action.”
Steven says the new project will center around John 15.
“Abide,” he says. “Seek God first and ask God to give
us the grace to wait. It is so easy to go after the things
we want to see done - the work that we think needs to
be done. God has not called us to be hearers of the Word,
but doers. But, at the same time, rather than just doers,
we are to be be-ers. There is a reason we are called human
“be”ings. We have to ‘be’ in Him. It is not of our hands,
but by His Spirit.”
Still, some things just need ‘doing.’ Like the floors
at Indianapolis Vineyard Community Church. Steven just
smiles. He knows that on his knees on that floor is a
very cool place to ‘be.’
http://www.grassrootsmusic.com
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