Acoustic guitar, mandolin, tambourine, lead vocals
Rhythm electric on We Believe It
Bass guitar on King Jesus
Roland guitar synthesizer on In Spirt And Truth

Hello, my name is Kevin Elling. I am technically the leader of the band -- although most of the time the band leads me! I have been a Christian since August of 1976 and was raised in the Grace Brethren Church from 1976 through 1983. I started my musical journey in 1979 when my brother, Steve introduced me to the bass guitar. I was instantly hooked and the love affair with music began!

I moved to Pasadena, CA. in 1983 to go to college and began playing bass on the college/career worship team at Lake Avenue Congregational Church (where I met my beautiful wife). I picked up the acoustic guitar as a necessity (our home group needed a worship leader) in 1984. I also played bass in a Christian rock band for a year (1986) in Southern California called the Fourth Watch. Our lead singer was Bill Walden (now a Calvary Chapel pastor) the former lead singer from a popular 1980's Southern California band called Undercover.

I was married in 1987 and with my wife and son moved to Santa Maria in December of 1988. Within a few months, I was playing bass on the worship team at the Santa Maria Vineyard Christian Fellowship, which I did on a weekly basis for about five years. I began volunteer worship leading in 1993 but became assistant pastor/worship leader in October of 1998. Prior to this, I was a full-time chiropractor. I now practice part time and work at the church part time. I have a web page listing for my chiropractic business if you want to see what my wife, Teresa and six (yes six) kids look like (it's in Spanish!).

For those interested, I use two Takamine acoustic guitars that I rotate from week to week. I am a bit of a techno-geek, using rack mounted effects in an SKG 12 space rack. In the rack are a Carver PM300 power amp, an Alesis Midiverb4, a Sabine rack tuner, a Samson wireless, a Stewart preamp, and a Lexicon LXP 1. I sometimes use the Roland GR-1 guitar synthesizer (I used it to do strings on In Spirit and Truth) for slower worship songs. I like a pretty clean guitar sound, using a dry setting for faster songs and some reverb and delay on the slower, more worshipful songs.

Since a lot of praise music is going to electric guitar, I pulled out my old Ibanez custom electric guitar (formerly owned by a "real" electric guitarist) bought a new set of strings and snagged the new Line 6 pod a few weeks ago with my 1999 tax return. It sounds really good but as they say, the electric guitar is in a class all by itself! So, the musical journey continues.

I think I love music so much because it really is the language of the heart. We can tell God exactly how we feel through song. There is something about intimate worship music that "connects" us to Him in a way that Bible reading and prayer can not. Praise music to me is the party, the celebration, of enjoying who God is and what He has done. Without worship music, I'd be lost!

Intimate worship, when we unveil our hearts before God, is the absolute necessity for survival. In an intimate worship setting, we surrender all of ouselves to God and ask Him to do what He will with us.

I hope you enjoy the web site and listening to the samples. Most importantly, I pray that you are touched and blessed as you listen to the music. If you are interested in correspondence, you can reach me at: kevin@vineyardsmv.com.