Austin-based Salvador wants to point listeners to the Savior_61404

Posted: 6/11/04

Austin-based Salvador wants
to point listeners to the Savior

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

AUSTIN–The Latin-flavored, Austin-based worship band Salvador has played the big venues–Billy Graham evangelistic crusades and Promise Keepers rallies.

But lead singer Nic Gonzales insists he and his colleagues stay grounded by focusing on Jesus Christ.

“When people talk to us, they realize that we're very, very normal,” he said. “I eat what everybody else eats. I dress just like everybody else. I think that the sincerity of being normal people has helped us a lot.

“People feel like they can talk to us on an everyday basis. Even though I don't know all the people who come to our shows, I think by the end of the show, people feel like they know us.”

Gonzales said the band's desire is to honor God through their music and to create a worship experience for their audiences.

“We want people to have a night of true worship,” he explained.

“On stage, we're not trying to be cool or be something we're not, because it's not about us. We just want people to honor God every night.”

Before each concert, the band has a devotional and prayer time together.

“After that, we have a little bit of quiet time where we turn everything off in our hotel rooms or on the bus, and we each have our own quiet time with the Lord,” Gonzales explained.

“Because I do the speaking at the concerts, I want to make sure I've read something that day that I can share that will hopefully minister to someone.”

Salvador's original songs are inspired by everyday living, Gonzales said.

“The people that I'm writing with and the situations in their lives have helped inspire some of the songs. Whatever that day brings for the person I'm writing with or maybe for myself, we talk about it, and we just write whatever God lays on our hearts.”

Mixing Latin rhythms with contemporary Christian music, Salvador presents a unique worship experience at their concerts.

“We want people to have a night of worship and maybe hear music that they wouldn't normally hear,” Gonzales said.

“Also, we want them to take a little bit of our heritage, maybe a little knowledge about it, back with them.”

Salvador maintains a busy touring schedule, performing 150 concerts each year.

The band will perform at the Texas Baptist Youth Evangelism Conference June 25-26 at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

“We're always on the road,” Gonzales said. “We've worked hard because we've always been taught that if you're going to do something, do it right.

“Most musicians anticipate that music will take them somewhere, but we really weren't anticipating that at all. We weren't trying to do this for a living; it just kind of happened. We were signed to a record deal when I was 21, and we went from having regular jobs and playing at our church services to performing around the country.

“When you're not looking for something to happen, that's when God will honor you, and I think that's what he did with us.”