Salvation Tour | weaklink

Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord Almighty

Back to You

Hello! My name is Richard Allan Stauch. I am a Singer/Songwriter out of Fort Myers, Florida.
I'm going to share some music with you now, and I hope you enjoy it. While you're doing that, though, I'm going to be worshipping the One, True, Living God! If any of you would like to join me, I would really appreciate it!

Salvation Tour

First, let me tell you a little about myself. Maybe then you'll see why I am determined to emphasize worship!
I am told I was born in Pasadena, California, on July 11, 1953. But, I was very young at the time, so I'm taking their word for it.
My first memory was at 6 months of age. I remember sitting on an oval carpet in a diaper, watching Amos and Andy on a porthole TV. Seeing a thin man saying, "I's a runnin'!" just tickled me pink!
At 18 months, I remember rolling down the aisles at the market in a stroller, singing, "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley." Everybody walking down the aisle seemed so surprised! It didn't occur to me to wonder why. Somehow, the whole "stabbing his girlfriend with a knife" thing wasn't off-putting for me like it is now. I just loved the music.
I have heard new music inside of me just about all my life. It's just like a memory, except I know I've never heard this before. It usually comes in full orchestrations, often with lyrics, sometimes even a title.
I never wrote it down before, because I believed someone would claim it was their song, and I would be in trouble. In 2011, that changed. You see, I know that all good things come from God. And I know that they are not meant simply for the one who receives it to enjoy, but to be shared. And, this is great music! That's why I decided to start writing it down and sharing it.

This is the Music God has given to me. And it begins at the beginning.

My earliest memories of religious practice are as a young Catholic! You know about Catholic services, right? It's in their bulletin: Stand, sit, kneel, sit, stand, kneel, sit, kneel, stand, leave. Always the same thing, week after week.
And I'm not a Catholic basher! I wouldn't bash anyone. If I point out the flaws in someone else, I remember my own flaws. And the only person I can change is myself. So my sole responsibility is to confess my own sin, repent of it, and make restitution as it is possible.
On the contrary, those Catholics must be really good! They Confess themselves on Saturday, and on Sunday take Communion. In between, they do not sin, not one, single time!
I just had one problem with that. I found I couldn't do it! That's why I'm not a Catholic any more.
I can't go 1 day, and stand before a Holy and Righteous God, and honestly say, "I have not sinned since Confession." It seemed I couldn't honestly take Communion, because I would have unredeemed sin on my soul!
That doesn't seem to occur to many people, though. For many Christians, it's about Form! And that's true of many Christians today. Showing up at church, going through the motions, even paying a tithe; these things seem to satisfy many people today. But is it satisfactory to God?
A Holy God, Our God, is only about The Relationship! It's about your relationship with Him, and my relationship with Him. It isn't simply Substance over form. Form doesn't matter! We take Communion, just as we are, because Jesus calls and waits for us there!

Talk to Him, Listen to Him, Learn from Him, Follow after Him!

I became a born-again follower of Christ in the summer of 1971. I did so knowing that it meant to be called a "Jesus freak!" I still hear that occasionally!
I don't remember ever using that term myself, but before I became a Christian, I couldn't understand a word of the Bible. I tried to read it, but it just didn't make any sense to me. It was a lot of silly words to me!
Up until that time, my sins had piled up, and I felt I needed something to give me hope. I just couldn't come to faith in Christ, though, because the Bible seemed like nonsense to me.
One day, I relented and accepted an invitation to go hear Chuck Smith talk at the old Long Beach Arena. Between his simple, but knowledgeable message and the entertaining music of the Maranatha Singers, I prayed with tears, "Oh God, if you're real, show me!"
Once I repented of my sins and asked God to reveal Himself in me, I began to see things differently. Where before, it never occurred to me to consider the empty tomb to signify anything beyond a story about long ago, now I also see it as a metaphor for something that happens in us, even today.
Oh, I don't mean to say that I think the empty tomb isn't a real, historical fact. I know it is. What I mean is, not only did it happen, but it is also a simile about what happens in us when we repent and believe.

That is, it symbolizes what happens in us when we turn away from pride and selfishness, and to faith in God. Just as the stone was thrust aside and the tomb open wide, so our sins are thrust aside and our hearts are open wide!
That was certainly my experience! Where before, I couldn't grasp a thing the Bible was trying to tell me, now it was as plain as daylight! Since I repented and believed, my inner man has been opened wide, to God and my fellow man!

That is the most unexpected blessing I've ever experienced!

Oh, I've long since ceased to be impressed by any denomination, church, or leader in Christianity (or outside of it, for that matter). We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory! And since people fail, it's no wonder their institutions do, too. What impresses me is God's pure, unqualified Love for each of us, as He expressed it in the life and work of Jesus, our Savior!
In fact, God is called Love in Scripture! Sure, God says He hates certain things (like pride and selfishness). "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares the LORD. 'Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau.'" [Malachi 1:2b-3a, NASB] But understand, if Esau had behaved differently, God would not have said that!
Look how He dealt with the people of Nineveh! Jonah was dispatched to preach to them, to warn them of coming destruction. Jonah refused to do it at first, because, as he later said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." [Jonah 4:2b NASB]
Jonah hated the people of Nineveh. God hated their sin! And when they changed their attitude and behavior, God relented of the disaster He had warned them about!
Now, here's real love: Jonah was wrong to hate the people of Nineveh. That was Jonah's sin. God wasn't just warning Nineveh, he was also working with Jonah, trying to bring Jonah around! God loved the people of Nineveh, just as He loved Jonah, just as He loves you and me!
What's really impressive about God's love is that He not only forgives us in His mercy, He also asks us to join with Him in it! He asks us to love others and be merciful to them, to call others to repent and be forgiven as we were, and to teach them to also join Him in His Mission!
Isn't that an Amazing Love?

Jesus is Alive

God is Love