0:07

Yo, I have this , this pleasure

0:12

of being with the

0:16

Michael Dixon worship song

0:20

writer , Christian

0:23

Love of people , uh,

0:25

and the

0:27

, uh, producer

0:29

and arranger of the album

0:33

sustainer. And

0:35

you guys have to listen to that album. He's

0:38

also got a debut album coming

0:40

up and I want to

0:42

talk to him about calling and

0:45

so give a warm round of applause

0:47

for our brother Michael Dickson.

0:50

What's up, everybody. What's up. What's

0:52

Up, man? What's up. What's up. What's up. So before

0:54

this, we were talking about

0:58

man , uh , you know,

1:01

going into the conversation, but we

1:03

were talking about man, what it looks like for

1:05

us to , uh , for over

1:07

this last year and a half do ministry

1:11

during the pandemic. And

1:13

, uh , you were talking about

1:16

God's call for us to

1:18

minister to the world. What does that

1:20

mean to you?

1:23

A simple God never

1:25

wanted us to be confined to

1:28

our church building. Um

1:30

, and I think we got accustomed

1:33

to doing

1:35

the routine of church. So

1:38

to the building on Sunday morning, go

1:41

to the building Bible study. Cool

1:44

. During the week, God

1:47

is kind of second tier

1:50

until we get back to church on Sunday,

1:53

we'll fly home, fly four hour hours

1:56

already, and then back to regular

1:58

life during the week. And we just kept spreading

2:06

certs across from my house. They go all

2:08

day, but

2:10

it's like during the week we,

2:13

we just, we go back to regular life.

2:15

Then I think we got into that habit

2:17

into that ritual. And God

2:20

had to shake that up because who

2:22

is ministering to those who are

2:24

not in the church? How

2:27

do we reach those people? And I think

2:29

this pandemic has given

2:32

us the opportunity to

2:37

re-invent re-evaluate our call to

2:39

go out into the world and make disciples.

2:42

And we've had to do that because now

2:45

there wasn't a church building during the pandemic as

2:48

you didn't go into it. So how do

2:51

I not only reach my congregation,

2:54

but now because we're in this virtual

2:56

world, I'm reaching people who are

2:58

probably would have thought

3:00

about, or even wanted to connect

3:02

to because now I'm in this virtual

3:05

world and anyone has access to it.

3:08

Um , so I think God kind of pushed us to

3:10

use this technology that we've had

3:13

for years to

3:15

our advantage and for his glory,

3:18

Man. It's crazy. Why do you think we,

3:21

and when we say we were talking about those

3:23

of us who do vocational

3:26

ministry , uh, Mike is

3:29

a worship leader, a songwriter

3:32

, um, minister of music.

3:34

Uh, those of us who do vocational ministry, whether

3:37

we , uh, preach or lead

3:39

worship, lead worship, and

3:41

song for a living, why do you think we

3:43

didn't use the technology before this?

3:47

Uh, I think we had gotten complacent. Um,

3:52

I think it , it became habit to do what we

3:54

were used to doing. Um,

3:57

like, like, well , I'll tell

3:59

you, I'll put my church. For example, we

4:02

have a set of flow

4:04

lists . So how we do service and

4:07

I've been there for about four

4:09

years now. And the flow

4:11

of service has pretty much been the same.

4:14

I can do it in my sleep. I know exactly what's

4:16

coming at this point, this point, this

4:18

point, this point. And so this

4:20

pandemic shook up

4:22

those points to where we

4:24

can't flow the same. So now we

4:26

have to figure out what

4:29

do we do now? Right . So

4:32

I think, I , I really think this pandemic

4:34

has been a huge blessing

4:36

to the body of Christ. And I'm hoping

4:39

that when we go back into our

4:41

normal routine, that

4:44

we don't lose those

4:46

, the lesson and the lesson that was

4:48

in this past year and a half. And

4:51

You, you, you, you hit that nail

4:53

on the head. So a little bit about

4:55

you, man. Um, where are you from and

4:58

what's your journey to Christ?

5:02

Uh, absolutely. Um, I am

5:05

Texas born. I was born in Marshall,

5:07

Texas, randomly. Um,

5:09

but raised in Houston. Uh,

5:12

my family is actually from Texarkana.

5:15

If you don't know where that is, it's close to Arkansas.

5:18

Uh , so I have a country family, but I was raised

5:20

in the city , uh, been

5:22

doing music professionally

5:25

, uh, since about

5:27

2010. Uh

5:30

, I've been a worship leader for now 14

5:32

years. Uh, been a songwriter

5:35

, um , all of my life

5:37

professionally, since 2010.

5:41

Um , I'm Grammy nominated as a songwriter,

5:43

so that's, that's dope. Um,

5:49

and music is my passion.

5:52

Uh, and it's also my purpose and

5:55

yeah, that's me,

5:57

Man. So , um, w

5:59

when did you come to Christ and

6:02

what's the story behind that? It's always

6:04

the same

6:06

And my story is a little different , uh

6:08

, than most people in my position.

6:10

Uh, I didn't grow up in church. Uh,

6:13

my family are, are,

6:15

are Christians. Um, and

6:18

we went to church periodically, but it wasn't

6:20

a every week thing. I wasn't,

6:22

as they call them a few babies. Um,

6:25

I wasn't in church for Bible

6:28

study and choir rehearsal and all of

6:30

that , that, that just wasn't my family. My mom

6:32

, uh, was a coach , uh,

6:35

me and my brother, we were heavy into

6:37

athletics. Um, so that kind

6:39

of consumed our life. Uh , but my

6:41

mom always made sure that I

6:43

did. I played basketball. I played

6:45

football for a moment. Didn't like it

6:48

ran track also. Didn't like it

6:50

, um , basketball

6:52

was, was kind of my thing. And

6:56

so that, and that's my, my family,

6:58

like athletics is in my jeans

7:01

and I'm also six , five. So

7:04

Can't help it. They're going

7:07

to push you out there.

7:08

Yeah, it just had

7:10

to do it. Um, but yeah, it

7:12

didn't grow up in the church. Um, I

7:17

came to know Christ

7:19

, um, when I was 16

7:22

, uh, there

7:25

was a music workshop

7:27

at the church that we were attending.

7:30

Uh, and my mom let me attended . It was like a week

7:32

long thing. Uh, and Donald

7:35

Lawrence was the , uh, the

7:38

clinician of the workshop. Um,

7:41

and yeah, from there

7:43

, uh , I was

7:45

introduced to Christ and

7:47

I can remember I was 17 when I actually

7:50

accepted Christ into my life. Um,

7:53

and from there on, this

7:55

has been all I've known and all of

7:57

that .

7:58

And , uh, so you were at

8:01

this , uh, clinic. What

8:04

about the clinics, third? You, what , uh , what

8:07

about it moved you and what did you feel

8:09

while you're at that clinic? It said, man

8:11

, um , I feel

8:13

like, I feel like I'm a

8:16

follow Jesus or at that

8:18

point you were thinking about it. I know you were 16

8:20

at the time you made the transition at 17,

8:22

but what about that clinic? Like was

8:24

the, was the impact in factor for you?

8:28

Well, first it was the music. Um,

8:30

I've always loved music. And

8:32

around that age, I was getting

8:34

heavy into music and kind of

8:37

putting sports on the back burner. Um,

8:39

so watching DAMA

8:41

Lawrence, if you don't know who he is, look him

8:43

up. He's a master at his craft

8:46

and watching him , uh,

8:49

going through this music and explaining

8:51

the meaning of some of the songs. It

8:54

just really opened my eyes. And

8:56

then we were singing a song by him.

8:58

That's called , uh , uh, seasons.

9:02

Uh, it says, I feel seasoned everywhere.

9:04

I feel blessings in here [inaudible]

9:10

and so he was explaining the lyrics.

9:13

And for some reason, I

9:16

, I

9:18

really had no idea what the song was speaking

9:20

about, but for some reason, the song was speaking

9:22

to something in me. Cause

9:26

I made I'm 16 at the time. I

9:28

haven't really experienced, seasoned changes

9:32

that in that fashion, you

9:36

still , but

9:39

something about the music,

9:41

the melody, the way he

9:43

was explaining the message, it was speaking

9:45

to something in me at the time. I didn't know what it was,

9:48

but now I know it was speaking to

9:50

my spirit man. And

9:52

that moment opened

9:55

up the door for me to actually

9:57

accept Christ.

10:00

And so you're 17. Where

10:03

were you when you made that decision

10:05

to follow him and

10:07

uh, yeah. Where , where are you?

10:10

Uh, so I was 17

10:13

and , um, my mom has started

10:15

going to the fountain of praise here

10:17

in Houston. And , um,

10:19

I joined the youth church. Uh,

10:22

it was called the rock and

10:25

join the youth choir or whatever. And there was

10:27

a minister who was

10:30

like the guest preacher for the youth service.

10:33

Um, and he simply laid

10:35

out Jesus and

10:38

all that. He said it was really simple. It

10:41

was like, it was like a really high moment

10:43

in the service. And he was like, what you guys

10:45

are feeling is the love of Christ . And

10:48

if you want to feel this love of Christ

10:50

for the rest of your life, take

10:53

this moment to accept them into your heart. That's

10:55

all he said that

10:58

I was like, well, yeah, I like this feeling. I

11:01

want to feel this. And so boom

11:04

went up for the alter call and

11:06

they took me to the dislike back room.

11:08

It was me and a couple other people. And

11:11

, uh, whoever the person

11:13

was working, the auto , as they say , um,

11:19

laid out what salvation meant.

11:22

Um, so the minister laid out, this

11:25

is basic Jesus.

11:28

And then someone took

11:30

the Allie who , and laid out

11:32

salvation. Um , and

11:35

that, that, that was that.

11:37

Wow. So then from that moment

11:40

at 17, okay . You

11:42

talked earlier about already being

11:45

in music. What,

11:48

what were you thinking before or what

11:51

I'm just curious. Um,

11:56

Hm . So I was raised on

12:00

music like Michael Jackson, earth,

12:02

wind and fire Luther Vandross. That's

12:04

what my mom was playing around the house.

12:06

So yeah,

12:09

the good stuff. And

12:12

, um, by way

12:14

of Missy Elliott

12:16

of all people , um

12:19

, I came into

12:22

contact with the Clark sisters

12:26

and that took me down

12:29

this path of gospel music.

12:33

Um, because then at that time,

12:35

the foul sharing was really big, like

12:37

Napster and , uh , and all

12:39

that stuff, slime wire. And

12:41

so through

12:45

this Elliot , having them on one of her songs

12:48

and me searching them out on

12:51

the internet, I found all of

12:53

this gospel music from your Curt Franklins

12:55

to, you know, Yolanda Adams

12:57

and Hopkins and Andre

13:01

crouch and all of that stuff. And

13:03

so by the time that, that

13:05

, uh, that clip, that clinic

13:08

tech come around, I had already been

13:10

familiar with Donald Lawrence and his

13:12

music. Um, so that's , that's

13:14

how that all kind of tied together.

13:17

And, and so there's this love

13:19

of gospel music that

13:22

you had even before you would say , uh,

13:25

what, what then

13:29

proceeded that shift to say, okay, I

13:32

wanna , I feel called, so

13:36

did you feel a call to , uh

13:40

, to sing gospel? Did you feel a call to

13:42

worship , uh, to, to, to lead worship?

13:45

How was that for you? I don't, I don't know how that

13:48

process started.

13:51

Cause I remember when you got your first

13:53

gig, well, I won't say gig your first

13:55

job cause I was there, but

13:57

I don't remember how you got there.

14:01

Um, college was really the breeding

14:03

ground for that. Um, I had

14:05

a, a band teacher in

14:07

middle school , um, who

14:10

stay connected with my mom and me. And

14:13

he always told my mom do

14:15

not push him to do sports, make

14:18

him do music. That's where he's going to Excel.

14:22

And my mom took those words from him.

14:24

And throughout the years, she

14:26

never, even though my family

14:28

lineage was athletics, she

14:30

never pushed that on me. She

14:32

saw that I was interested in music and

14:35

she did all that she could to cultivate

14:37

that. And so once I got to college

14:39

, um, is

14:41

when everything really started to,

14:44

to hit , uh, started really

14:47

heavy and songwriting . Um,

14:49

I developed my own group, Michael

14:52

Dixon and vision. Um, and they were

14:54

religious , um , of

14:57

platform for me to work

15:00

out these songs that I was writing. Um,

15:03

and from there , uh,

15:06

there was a little church in the

15:09

PV area and Waller , um,

15:12

that I was at the time leading worship.

15:14

I didn't know what that was. I was just singing

15:17

some songs at the beginning of the service,

15:19

You know , I think it takes time

15:21

to either figure out what it is that

15:26

we're , we're really working out a gift,

15:28

but we, but it hasn't really

15:31

met the call or the responsibility

15:33

yet. It's like, you know, and so I

15:35

think it's a process for all of us. So

15:38

you were at , uh , Prairie view a and M university.

15:43

Yeah , I was there .

15:46

Um , I was there and there was a church

15:48

close by that was sent a bus to pick us

15:50

up and take us to serve it . And

15:52

so through that, I started singing there

15:54

on Sunday morning. Uh,

15:57

like I said, leading worship, not knowing that that's

15:59

what I was doing. And , um,

16:01

there was a guy Feb in the band

16:04

with me who worked at Goodwill . Uh,

16:06

he was the keyboard

16:10

player there, David Harris. And

16:13

he had heard me sing and told me that they

16:15

were having auditions for a worship leader.

16:18

And I was like, well, sure,

16:20

I'll try. I can sing a little. Why not?

16:23

Let's so came down to Houston

16:25

audition for Chad and

16:28

he was like, you're not ready. And

16:32

so I was like, okay. And

16:35

literally like maybe a year

16:37

later check called me

16:39

and was like, would you like to

16:42

lead worship for our youth service

16:44

? I'm like, sure.

16:47

And so through that relationship

16:49

with Chad, I learned how to

16:52

be a worship leader. I learned everything

16:55

that I could about that. And

16:58

So, so for the uninitiated,

17:00

what is the difference?

17:04

Huge difference. Um, first

17:06

off worshiped bleeding is less

17:09

about your vocal ability

17:11

and more about how you are

17:13

able to facilitate , um,

17:17

worship in a service. Uh,

17:20

we always , uh, you've

17:22

probably heard the phrase that, you know, we

17:24

sing to an audience of one which

17:26

has got, that is a true phrase,

17:28

but as a worship leader, it's your responsibility

17:32

to get the congregants

17:34

on the same accord to

17:36

sing to that audience of one. So

17:39

it's your responsibility to facilitate

17:42

those moments. Um, and

17:44

just because you can sing doesn't mean that

17:46

you're able to facilitate worship.

17:50

It goes way beyond your

17:53

vocal ability and more so enter

17:55

your relationship

17:57

with God

17:59

Who is funny. We , we, I mean, we

18:02

w we know each other, so you know, somebody and

18:06

we know the inside ball and all

18:08

of that, but I mean, I don't know how many services

18:10

I've sat through where I'm like, man,

18:12

is he seguing for himself

18:15

or seeking

18:17

for themselves? Or are

18:19

they going to help, you know, all of us

18:21

seeing with them, you know, and one

18:23

of the things I've learned is really

18:28

to, to worship lead. Sometimes

18:32

it helps not to have a great voice

18:34

because then that actually

18:37

helps other people to say, okay, I'll

18:39

help. He, or she to sing.

18:41

I don't know how many times I've had to like

18:44

improvise, you know, Hey , like,

18:46

oh bro , bless his heart. I got, I've

18:52

got this. I got did

18:55

. People will say, oh , you you're like , okay,

18:57

well, my job is done . My

19:01

boys have to be sacrificed at the altar

19:07

of people worship though

19:11

. So I've always been amazed

19:13

at your ability. I mean , personally,

19:16

at your ability to

19:21

make , you can sing like

19:23

nobody's business, right. But

19:26

the control and the humility to say

19:29

right now, I have a job to do. I

19:32

need to do that job. And

19:36

I've, I have witnessed

19:38

and heard other people who didn't know the

19:40

difference were like, yo,

19:43

what just happened? And

19:45

me knowing and understanding what

19:47

it means to lead worship. It's

19:50

hard to communicate that to people.

19:52

Well, cause they're like, you'll have been in

19:54

all these services here, there in the other. And

19:57

I'm like, yeah, E's facilitating

19:59

worship for congregation.

20:02

He can do it with his words.

20:04

He can do it with a song he

20:06

can do with half a song he can do with pieces

20:09

of a song because he realizes

20:11

it's , it's not even the song

20:14

itself. It's how

20:16

do I get you to

20:18

just, you know, come along for

20:20

the journey and then begin to sing

20:23

to your Lord, man. And it's

20:25

like, I mean, I hate to say like

20:27

a magician, but really what

20:30

it is. You're, you're, you're prompting

20:32

people without saying, y'all sing the song,

20:36

sing the song. And

20:39

you know , I would've stopped this

20:42

, but I don't know how many times I've seen people fuss

20:45

about people singing the song. And

20:48

you're like, well, if you slow

20:50

down and

20:52

you sing the song,

20:54

you know, add a key that they can

20:56

sing the song at, or

20:59

at least facilitate their ability

21:01

to sing that song. They would sing

21:03

the song. They , they want it. This is

21:05

the only opportunity in the

21:07

whole service that they get to participate.

21:10

They want to participate, but

21:12

you gotta, you gotta make, you gotta

21:14

make room for them.

21:17

That's it. You gotta make

21:19

room for that. And like you said, you have to be

21:21

able to have enough

21:23

humility to

21:27

dumb down your ability vocally,

21:31

to where you make this not

21:33

about you. So the view up there,

21:35

given every trick

21:38

and riff and run that

21:40

you have in your arsenal, like people

21:42

are going to start paying attention to what you're doing

21:45

and being fascinated by your

21:47

ability. And you've

21:49

, you've lost everything.

21:52

Uh , speaking of that, and I've always wanted this.

21:55

How were you able, yo,

22:00

that's hard. I mean, we, we gloss

22:02

over this, but that's very hard

22:04

to do for people who are up

22:07

front preachers singers to say, I'm

22:10

going to dumb. I mean, what is like, did

22:13

you have tension? Did you feel

22:15

a certain like, man, I mean, I really

22:17

need to , this is my moment to sign and I'm not

22:19

getting this shot . Like what,

22:23

what, and you did it at an early age. So what

22:25

is happening in your , your heart,

22:27

your mind? Like, is there a war

22:29

it's just opened us up to that?

22:33

Um , well two things, one

22:36

I , I realized early on

22:38

that nothing

22:40

that I do, especially

22:43

in a service is

22:45

about me. Um,

22:48

I think coming to that realization

22:51

and realizing that I'm

22:53

not the important piece, God , so

22:57

everything that I do needs to direct

22:59

attention to him. Um,

23:02

and I think another thing that has helped me

23:04

in so many areas , um,

23:07

my first love is songwriter and

23:10

I studied like all of the

23:13

pop songwriters and they are amazing

23:15

storytellers. And

23:18

I've been able to infuse that

23:20

storytelling into everything

23:22

that I do. So with storytelling,

23:25

what makes a great story teller

23:27

is being able to translate

23:30

whatever is needed from

23:33

the story to the person that's

23:36

listening. So if my agenda,

23:38

my goal is to give all

23:40

the attention and glory to God, how

23:43

can I convey that, telling

23:47

this story? So

23:50

if the words for this song is how great

23:52

is our God, I need to make

23:54

sure that the emphasis is on the

23:56

greatness of that.

23:58

And so how would you do that? You

24:07

know, there might be worship leaders out there who are

24:09

like struggling, earnestly

24:12

, struggling, like how do they do that? So I

24:14

just want a platform to teach them a

24:16

little bit.

24:20

Um , so I'm always aware

24:23

of, well, let me, let me start

24:25

that over , um, your,

24:28

your treats, your runs, your

24:30

ribs, all of the intricate

24:33

things that you can do at your voice is

24:36

just ornamentation and

24:38

what makes those things work is

24:41

placement. So when you're telling

24:43

a story, you have to figure

24:45

out what is the important take

24:48

away from this story that I'm telling. So

24:50

if the line is how great is our

24:52

God, what's the important

24:54

word in that sentence . It's

24:56

great. You're speaking of the greatness

24:59

of God . So how do I accent

25:02

great in that, in that line?

25:05

So I have to figure out a way to

25:08

make that word emphasize . So

25:11

maybe I add a little, a little

25:13

run here or add a little

25:15

something here to make that word stand

25:18

out over

25:21

saturate that line with

25:23

ornamentation, because now the word,

25:25

how is it besides the word

25:27

great is emphasize , the word is

25:29

, is emphasized . And so now

25:31

the person listening to the story doesn't

25:34

know what the important portion

25:36

of the story is because you have overemphasized

25:40

every piece of the story. So

25:42

finding out what is important

25:44

and how to emphasize.

25:48

So give us an example of

25:50

how people don't

25:52

understand how to do it. We'll do it the

25:55

way you think it ought to be done,

26:04

What you mean. So

26:09

someone who doesn't understand

26:12

may do it. So

26:20

that's just one phrase and you've added

26:22

so much what was important.

26:25

So if I'm trying

26:27

to emphasize the word great, how

26:30

great is

26:33

that?

26:36

Just that simple. Wow

26:38

. The

26:42

accent is on the grade . You're wanting

26:44

people to see how great it is.

26:46

But if I, if I'm riffing

26:48

through the whole song, then the

26:51

song, the meaning , the meaning of

26:53

the words are less important than

26:55

the melody. The person is singing. Hey,

27:00

I didn't even know

27:02

That I , that I have to think about while

27:04

singing. So this is like on the spot stuff.

27:07

Oh , wow. Yeah. So,

27:10

so you, so

27:12

in some choices for you,

27:14

I don't know if this is true for

27:16

you would be better to pick songs

27:18

. You understand how to you , that

27:21

you would understand how to tell story the story

27:24

rather than to pick a new song that

27:26

you might not be as familiar with. I don't know.

27:28

W how , how do you, is

27:32

that true?

27:34

Um, it , it's true. Uh, in

27:36

most cases , uh, I've been doing

27:38

it for so long that I'm kind

27:40

of accustomed to

27:43

figuring out what's important in a song,

27:45

even if it's a new song. Um,

27:48

but yeah, one thing practice

27:50

is always important.

27:53

Um, you can never over

27:55

practice something , uh, in,

27:58

in my opinion. Um, so

28:00

yeah, practicing and , and

28:03

learning one.

28:05

What is this song talking about? Uh,

28:08

I think too many times we just sing songs

28:10

maybe because they're popular or

28:13

because I like the song, but sit

28:15

down and evaluate what

28:17

the song is actually saying. And

28:20

what's the message in the song. Um,

28:23

because sometimes you'll find out that some

28:25

of these songs, especially on the gospel side

28:27

are not speaking the truth of that. Um,

28:30

so you got to reconcile that , um,

28:33

and then to know how

28:35

to minister this song, I need

28:37

to one, let the song minister

28:39

to me and to let know what

28:41

the song is actually speaking of.

28:44

So , uh, shifting gears here, do

28:47

you feel called to

28:49

do what you do and why?

28:53

Uh, I know that I'm called to do this.

28:56

Uh , sometimes I wish I wasn't,

28:59

I would much rather be

29:02

doing something with a little

29:04

less responsibility and a

29:06

little more ease. Um , but

29:08

I know that this is my calling , uh,

29:11

and I, I try to, to

29:14

, um, I

29:16

try to make sure that I'm representing God is

29:18

as best as I can with this call .

29:21

Yeah. Um, when

29:23

you hear the word calling, what

29:25

does that, what do you feel and

29:28

what does that mean to you?

29:33

Um, something that I had to learn early

29:35

on , um, calling

29:39

and purpose , uh,

29:42

is not always what you're passionate

29:44

about. Um, and

29:47

I think, and that's, of course that's, that's

29:50

generalized and that's not every case, but I think a lot

29:52

of times people mix up their passion

29:54

and their calling. Uh, sometimes it's

29:56

not always the same

29:58

thing. Um, you

30:00

can be passionate to teach, but you're calling

30:03

to be , um, I

30:05

don't know, to be a doctor. You don't know , you just, they

30:08

don't always match up. Um,

30:10

but, but calling, I

30:12

think, you know, when,

30:14

especially when it's, when it's a

30:17

divine calling , um,

30:19

I think, you know, then

30:21

it's divine one because it's something

30:23

that has been pulling on your

30:25

heart. Um, and

30:28

no matter what you do or how much

30:30

you try to quote unquote,

30:33

run from it, it's always pulling

30:35

on you. Um, and it's something

30:37

that mentally, you always go back

30:40

to. Uh, and that

30:42

, to me, that , that's what,

30:44

that's how you can know that

30:46

it's a common , have

30:51

you ever wanted to give up? Well,

30:56

you already know , uh

31:00

, all the time , um

31:04

, uh, edit it's for

31:07

me. Um, because

31:09

I'm a songwriter and

31:11

God has blessed me with the

31:14

gift of writing. Um,

31:16

but I write from such a personal place

31:19

and it's gotten to the point, so where

31:22

everything that I write I have to

31:24

go through and I

31:27

hate, I

31:29

hate it. There've been times

31:31

where I've said to God, like, why

31:34

do I have to go through for everybody else?

31:39

Like, I've had some real conversations

31:41

with guidelines, so

31:48

yeah, I've definitely wanted to give

31:50

up, man . It's what

31:55

kept you going? I

32:01

like that . I see what you did there. Uh

32:07

, really got every,

32:09

every time I kid you, not every time

32:11

I've been in that space of wanting to give up,

32:14

God will send somebody to

32:16

my DMS or text messages

32:19

or something, telling me

32:21

how a song that I've written

32:23

has gotten them through

32:26

a situation. And

32:28

that one, it lets me know that,

32:31

okay , um , I'm

32:33

operating in my purpose. I'm doing what I'm supposed to

32:35

be doing. Let

32:39

throw my pride aside and keep on going.

32:42

And two , it just, it just makes me realize

32:45

that though, I've

32:47

gone through all of this and I've suffered for this.

32:50

It was for a reason. And

32:52

knowing that what God has taken

32:54

me through has let somebody else

32:57

that's enough to kind of keep me going.

33:01

Amazing. Um , I

33:04

want to talk about some of the songs that you've written,

33:06

but before we get to that, I've

33:08

got some lightning round questions for

33:10

you. Scale

33:17

of one to 10, how good are you

33:19

at keeping secrets?

33:22

I'm going to have to go with a 10 on that.

33:29

It is as you and I speaking , I think

33:31

I'm a 10 as well. Like

33:39

we, we , we, we got to just we'll

33:42

talk offline. Ariella,

33:46

Jasmine, Jasmine

33:53

First celebrity crush. So

33:57

most people probably won't even notice is

34:00

she's still my celebrity crush. It looks

34:02

exactly the same. Our name is a non

34:04

dilutes. She was a VJ

34:07

on MTV back

34:09

in the nineties.

34:13

I think I remember who she dated, but okay. We

34:19

talk afterwards ,

34:22

Donna dusk. I'm

34:26

going to say desk because I

34:28

hate waking up.

34:31

Okay. All right . Oh, so you're

34:33

like me. I'm a night owl . If

34:37

you could travel back in time, what

34:39

period would you go to? Um,

34:49

Good question. Um,

34:57

I want to say a period of time that I've

34:59

never experienced, but

35:02

I love the nineties so much

35:05

that I would probably have to go back

35:09

and experience that goodness again.

35:13

Okay . Do

35:17

you snore? I

35:20

do. I have sleep apnea. Unfortunately,

35:23

listen

35:30

Place , you , you most want to travel?

35:35

There are two places I want to go

35:37

to , uh, to,

35:39

to Tokyo for

35:42

some reason. Uh , but I really want to go

35:44

to the UK. Never been , I

35:47

was wanting to go

35:47

Favorite childhood TV show

35:54

As a hard one. Um,

35:59

that's a hard one. Uh, there was

36:01

a show that came on Nickelodeon

36:03

called legends of the hidden temple. It

36:06

was a game show. I think

36:08

that would be my favorite ,

36:11

Uh, favorite season out

36:16

of the four seasons.

36:19

My favorite season is winter

36:21

when we have it.

36:24

When we have it

36:27

This past winter, it was a little extreme.

36:30

Oh yeah , no , it was crazy. We

36:34

got it all in one weekend.

36:39

Uh , Halloween, did you do Halloween?

36:48

So people don't look at me differently. Don't

36:50

think about me differently. I

36:52

am a huge,

36:55

huge fan of horror.

36:58

Okay . Like

37:02

To the point to where, if the FBI

37:04

looked at my computer, they're

37:06

probably watching anyway. They would probably think I'm

37:08

a serial killer. I love

37:11

everything involving

37:13

Or, okay. So

37:16

did you, did you , uh, what was your last

37:18

Halloween costume

37:20

Last Halloween costume? Uh,

37:25

what was I? It was for work

37:27

. Um,

37:30

it was like a play on Michael

37:32

Myers and Jason , uh , but

37:34

it was like a split between the

37:36

two ,

37:39

Uh , cake or pie from

37:44

Sam's. Okay . And

37:48

do you ever post inspirational quotes

37:50

on social media?

37:54

Not often. Maybe like once

37:57

or twice a year.

37:59

You like to make people laugh? Yeah.

38:05

Your sissy human is crazy. Okay.

38:15

So we'll go round this off with , uh, a

38:17

few of yourselves , uh

38:20

, sustainer what's

38:23

the lyric debt brings you personally

38:26

, uh, uh

38:29

, you wrote this song, what's

38:31

the lyrics and sustain it. It brings

38:34

tears to that. It brings joy to

38:36

you that that causes emotion

38:38

to you when you sing it.

38:41

Oh man, it's

38:43

a very simple line that

38:45

is towards the end of the song. And all

38:47

it says is through it all.

38:51

Hmm . What about through

38:53

it all? Well, first of all, let

38:55

me , let me ask this, explain, sustaining for

38:57

those of us who haven't heard the song,

39:00

and then I want you to help me with

39:02

why through it , all that, that verse.

39:05

Ooh. So a sustainer

39:07

, uh, I wrote that song. I was

39:10

in a space of , uh , just

39:12

thinking about all that God had brought

39:14

me through. Uh , and this was last

39:17

year, I think when I wrote it or 2019.

39:20

And , um, I was just

39:23

feeling very grateful. Uh,

39:26

and that's what the song is , is, is

39:28

simply a song about

39:31

gratefulness, like guide

39:33

through all this stuff. You've, you've kept me,

39:35

you sustain me, you've kept me sane

39:38

and I'm grateful for it. Um,

39:41

and that that's literally

39:44

what the song was written off of.

39:46

Just me being grateful

39:49

And through it all. Uh, can

39:51

you give us the lyric and then why

39:54

do it ,

39:54

Yeah, so , um,

39:57

it's, it's attached to a lyric.

40:00

Uh, the background is saying you , you

40:02

have sustained me. And

40:05

then right after that, it just says, threw it off.

40:08

Uh, and why that lyric always hits

40:10

me like a dump

40:12

truck is

40:14

because as I was thinking and writing this

40:16

song, thinking about all

40:18

that I have been through , um,

40:21

from losing my hearing , um

40:23

, two years,

40:26

I was pretty much dead , um,

40:29

from the surviving

40:32

COVID from , uh,

40:35

surviving depression , uh

40:37

, so many things that God has brought me through

40:40

and just those three words

40:43

through it all, like it encompasses

40:46

so many things and

40:48

it just always takes me back to

40:50

those places that I was in.

40:54

All right . Um, and

40:56

guys, you gotta go get working for,

40:58

get sustainer.

41:00

Uh, you can get it anywhere. Uh,

41:02

digital music is sold on Amazon,

41:05

apple , uh, all

41:07

of that. Or if you stream, you can do Spotify

41:10

or apple music iTunes it's

41:12

everywhere.

41:13

Okay. So there's another song.

41:16

Uh , great. Grace, where

41:19

did that come from? And

41:21

I'm going to ask you what lyric touches you. That

41:23

that song gives me, so explain

41:25

great grace, because I'm

41:28

not gonna do it justice, but explain it and

41:30

then tell me what lyric for you.

41:33

Uh, so great grace. Um, I

41:36

wrote that song in 2000

41:38

and , uh, 10

41:41

, uh, when

41:43

I woke up one morning and

41:45

I could not hear out of my right ear , uh,

41:49

and then slowly over the course

41:51

of the next few weeks,

41:53

my hearing just deteriorated

41:56

to the point to where , um

41:58

, I just could not hear unless

42:00

you were standing directly in front of me. And

42:03

so me being

42:06

a writer who has to

42:08

go through what I write, I sat

42:10

down to write , assuming

42:12

that God would let me

42:14

write a song about healing. And

42:17

instead I wrote a song

42:20

about gratefulness, but

42:22

this gratefulness being grateful

42:24

for her , um, the

42:26

small things that we don't think about

42:29

, uh , and

42:31

that's where great grace came from. Uh,

42:33

but my favorite line in that song

42:36

is I says, you step down

42:38

from your throne that came

42:40

like man, to right my wrong . It's

42:45

my favorite line. Um,

42:48

for many reasons, the first

42:50

being I wrote that

42:53

line maybe

42:55

seven years earlier, just

42:58

that mine , I wrote it and

43:01

had nothing to do with it. And

43:04

so when I was writing great grace,

43:06

I had got stuck at a point. And

43:09

that line came back to my memory

43:12

and I was like, oh, that's what this was for. Gotcha.

43:14

Got it. Thank you then

43:17

to think about what that mine is saying.

43:20

Um, it is the gospel. It is

43:23

Jesus wrapped himself in humanity,

43:26

came down and, and saved

43:28

us. That

43:31

line is to me, is his super

43:33

power .

43:34

Yeah, it is. It is pregnant.

43:37

Um, you wrote , walk

43:39

on water, explain,

43:43

walk on water. And then the line

43:46

that hits you.

43:47

Yeah. Uh , so walk on

43:49

water, man. Uh, that song

43:52

came , uh, when I was

43:54

in a space of wanting to give up. Uh,

43:57

and I was this give

44:00

up, was going to be the give up. I

44:02

was done with church. I was done with

44:04

leading. I was done with, with,

44:07

with Christianity. I was done with God

44:09

because I was in a space to where I

44:11

was encouraging all these people. I

44:14

was ministering to all these people and I was

44:16

going home broke. I was going home

44:18

broken . I was going home jacked

44:21

up. There were many times I didn't have

44:23

lights on. And you know, all

44:25

of this, this, this, this stuff. And

44:28

I was tired. I was like, God, I'm

44:31

all of this for you. And in

44:34

my mind, you're not doing nothing for me. Like,

44:37

where's the ballet. And so I was

44:39

just, I was over it and

44:43

I just sat down and I started writing and

44:45

literally the first line, it always

44:47

blesses me. It says, here I am. And

44:50

none of this looks familiar, but

44:52

there you are. So I know that things

44:54

will get clear because you're

44:56

in control.

45:02

Yeah . Wow.

45:04

That's amazing. Okay. Last off . And

45:07

then we'll close. So

45:10

you took an old song and

45:12

I always have you sing the song. You

45:15

already know I'm going, but he

45:18

like, dang. I know he gonna ask me to say you

45:21

took an old song. God, what is the name

45:24

of it was , what's the name of the song? The

45:26

, the original, yeah,

45:31

that's crazy. It's, it's such a simple

45:33

name of the song for that. That's so

45:35

old. Some of the words in there, old

45:37

, whatever be done, I've got to take

45:39

care of. Okay.

45:41

So God will take care of you. So

45:43

the lyrics we, for those of

45:46

you don't know, it's, it's an old song.

45:48

I don't know how old it's called. God

45:50

will take care of you. The lyrics

45:52

are, are amazing,

45:55

but there was a

45:57

melody or

45:59

something that you put on that song.

46:02

That's like crack like

46:08

literal crack, but, you know , uh,

46:10

but I, I,

46:13

it accentuated some words in

46:15

the song that I'd never heard before.

46:17

And I guess this goes to your point when

46:20

I've heard that song and y'all we

46:22

getting into the weeds a little bit, but

46:25

when I heard that song, it

46:27

really didn't when I've heard this song before

46:30

the renditions, before it really didn't

46:32

move me as much.

46:35

And I maybe it's because I didn't really hear

46:37

the words of the song. It's

46:40

something about how you sing

46:42

it or the melody. I

46:44

mean, it's a new melody that

46:46

makes it , and I'm not the only

46:48

person that

46:50

has heard you sing this song that

46:53

always like, I see tweets all the

46:55

time. For some, some people we know it

46:58

every now and then they'll say, God will take care

47:00

of you. And that's it. That's the tweet.

47:02

And I'm like, oh, because you're

47:04

hearing the song in your head. Cause I know this person

47:07

or these people, what is

47:09

it? What, what is, what, what did you

47:11

do to that song ?

47:13

Oh man. So the

47:15

whole background on that song , uh

47:18

, we, we were prepared it

47:20

for red Friday that

47:22

we used to do. Um,

47:25

and we would, what we would do for those

47:27

who don't know, we would take hymns, kind

47:29

of modernize them. Uh, but

47:31

this particular song, the only

47:34

recording that we could find was my hail

47:36

, your checks. And

47:38

so we were trying to,

47:42

to modernize what she

47:44

was singing and it was so difficult.

47:48

It was very difficult. And so

47:51

I was just like, well maybe if we,

47:54

I think Kenneth was Kenneth was playing

47:56

keys. And I was like, let's try like

47:58

, like give me something like Neil's Solage,

48:01

let's try to go like completely left

48:03

with it. Maybe that'll work. And

48:06

so Kenneth started playing and

48:08

immediately just that melody

48:14

that came from what he was playing

48:16

. And I was like, okay, this could work

48:18

because it's such a detour from

48:23

Jackson . [inaudible]

48:26

,

48:29

I'm not going to lie to you. That's

48:32

all like, when I realized

48:34

I've heard this song over and over again,

48:36

I was like, yeah, they

48:39

brought life to the song. Like, like

48:41

those lyrics, if

48:44

God , okay. So there's the other thing, the tone

48:46

of that song should be more of a celebration

48:50

than a lament . It says,

48:52

God will take care of you. I mean, what

48:57

was me ? I mean, it doesn't have the feet

48:59

, the, the, the way they

49:01

sung it didn't match the power of

49:03

the words or the celebratory.

49:07

Yeah .

49:08

'cause I, I, if I'm not mistaken,

49:11

the , the version that we were listening to, Amelia

49:13

Jackson, she was singing it at a funeral.

49:17

And so the way she sings it is,

49:19

is kind of depressing.

49:25

Yeah. So let's just tell the truth. Yes . It

49:28

is depressing for some

49:30

words that are very, that are like,

49:32

literally, if you read them, they're like, wow, this

49:35

is, I'm not depressed anymore.

49:37

I'm happy, man. Okay. He's got me,

49:40

you know? Yeah. That's

49:45

it say, bro, you've got

49:47

to , you've got an album coming up. Well,

49:50

let me ask you this. So is that song, that

49:52

song is , uh, is it, is it common?

49:54

Is it well, does she still own

49:56

the rice or can that song be redone?

50:00

Uh, I believe if I'm not mistaken,

50:03

that song is , uh, is

50:05

, uh , is an actual him now.

50:07

So , uh, it

50:10

is community property for lack

50:12

of better word.

50:13

Oh , that song should be like, like break

50:15

that song in a three and put it like

50:18

it , it alludes to divide the

50:20

album up. I don't know, bro. Like

50:22

it has, it

50:25

doesn't need to be a

50:27

song. It could just be like, you

50:30

know, I don't know, like a bridge

50:32

between your, the sections

50:34

of your album . It, it

50:36

does something, man. I, you

50:38

know, somebody, we , no what'd

50:40

you say? I don't know, am I okay? It

50:44

doesn't need to be a song like, oh,

50:46

we need to do a four minute rendition of

50:48

this. But like, you

50:51

know, I don't know, man.

50:53

And it could be the title of the album. I don't

50:55

know. You know, so, and then

50:57

have it, I've gone crazy here right

50:59

now . So it didn't have like sections of

51:01

your album that speak to different parts

51:04

of your journey or whatnot, but like Bob

51:07

Bridget , together with yo at

51:09

the end of the day, God's gonna take care

51:11

of you. Oh no , I'm sorry.

51:13

Okay. I've done that. I've

51:19

done . I've done man . Uh,

51:22

Michael Dickson tell folk where they can find you, man.

51:25

Uh , you can find me on all social

51:27

media platforms at

51:30

Mike M I K E

51:32

w R I T E

51:34

Z on everything.

51:38

All right , man. We, we so appreciate

51:40

you coming through. We gotta have you again

51:42

. Cause I feel like, I feel

51:45

like we could just like riff for hours

51:48

and talk about just like, you

51:50

know, Dodd said , said , you know,

51:52

anyway, man , uh , but thank you for being

51:54

with me, man. Uh , man, it's

51:56

been a pleasure.

52:09

[inaudible] .