Prayer, AI and Songs of Sobriety
I asked the Lord to make His mission clear to me. He answered: "Write 12 songs about your recovery, and share them with as many people as possible."
The Call
In the fourth song of the new EP, titled Washed, I share an experience with the Holy Spirit which healed me of my physical addiction to alcohol and renewed my personal relationship with the Lord. I committed to change my life, meet new friends, and start fresh. I joined a prison ministry (a blessing), but I was ready for more. What was my real ministry—my vocation? What was God calling me to do? I was all in. Day after day, I prayed on it. I asked the Lord to grant me humility and an open mind. If He called me to dig holes (He may still), I prayed for the grace to joyfully do it. I asked the Lord to make His mission clear to me. He answered: “Write 12 songs about your recovery, and share them with as many people as possible.”
My Path to This Ministry
To give you a sense of how this calling landed, let me offer some personal background. I started drumming in fourth grade. I took music seriously, played professionally, studied it in college, but I didn’t pursue it as a career. Instead, I got an engineering degree, which ultimately led to a hi-tech marketing career while still staying active in music.
So God called me to draw on everything I’ve learned and apply it to this ministry. It’s as though my whole adult life led to this convergence. I was blown away. It was an emotional moment.
Writing Songs of Recovery Through Prayer
Here’s the rub: I’m not a songwriter. I never aspired to be one. A few years ago, I was inspired to write the lyrics for It’s You while I was still drinking. Unfortunately, as a mere drummer, I struggled to capture and share song ideas. Then, after my sober date, I discovered AI-powered music, which added melody and chord changes to my lyrics. The gates swung open, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I wrote lyrics to four more songs which quickly came to life as I learned to write AI prompts and refined and iterated song concepts that expressed what was in my heart. I guess that makes me a middleman between the Holy Spirit and AI—Haha! The lyrics come from prayer. The lyrics are a prayer. AI helps me draft a song idea that I bring into the recording studio to develop, arrange, and record the final product, with a lot of help from some very talented friends. There is no AI music or vocals in the final product.
Bringing a Sobriety Music Project to the World
The recordings were finished in the summer of 2026. Now comes part two of the mission. From copyrights to licensing, distribution, and marketing, I completely underestimated the complexity and work required to get these songs out to market. So many new platforms. So many new workflows. I’m at the very start of this leg of the journey, and I’ve gained so much respect for musicians who go through this process on their own.
What I’ve Learned
I’m so very grateful for this ministry, but I will say this: it’s one thing to say “yes” to the Lord; it’s another to do the work. It was incredibly exciting to “get the call,” but since then, from writing to recording to administration to marketing, I constantly find myself facing the unknown. Sometimes I straight up don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve made mistakes, walked into obstacles, struggled to learn, wasted time and wasted money, allowed myself to get frustrated, stressed, doubtful, and ready to quit. Maybe you’re in the same boat—called to something greater, but the novelty has worn off and now you’re grinding through setbacks, dead ends, and doubters. I keep coming back to Luke 18:27: “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” God is faithful. He gives us challenges we can handle so we can grow.
So, if you like what you see so far, please pray for me and pray for the ministry.
Peace!
