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Gabby spent some time getting to know Seph Schlueter – and now you can too! Like, how does a touring artist never go into a Waffle House? And what’s the secret to becoming a successful songwriter? All the answers – with Gabby and Seph!
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*This is an audio transcription of the Podcast Interview
Your favorite musicians, exclusive interviews, local artists, all on the LifeSongs podcast.
Hey, hey.
Hey, how are you doing?
I’m doing so good.
Thank you so much for making the time to meet with me. I wanted to start with a Lightning Round. We call this the LifeSongs Lightning Round. An icebreaker, just some quick questions.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee.
Coffee, only right answer. I’ve got some right here.
Let’s go.
Yes, yes.
I just threw mine out.
Favorite season.
Ooh, summer.
Summer, okay, cool. (Hey summer.)
Waffles or pancakes.
Waffles.
Waffles, same. I’m a Waffle House person, for sure.
I’ve never actually been to Waffle House.
What?
This is crazy, I know.
It’s the best, highly recommend.
So Facebook or Instagram?
Instagram.
Instagram? Same. Early bird or night owl?
Both, but mostly morning bird.
Wow, how can you be both?
I’ve learned to be healthier, but I would say like naturally I could do both of them very easily.
Okay, that’s cool. That’s cool I’m definitely a night owl. Rainy or sunny day?
Ooh, rainy.
Rainy, okay. It’s the rainy day vibes. The book, the movie. (Rain, rain on my face.) Call or text?
Call.
Cool. I love that. Coke or Dr. Pepper?
Dr. Pepper.
OK.
Mountains or beach?
Beach. The beach guy.
Book or movie?
Book. I love that. OK, cool.
So our first real question is, I’m the newest person on our LifeSongs team, and I’m very excited. I was teaching for the last two years, and my husband’s a songwriter, and I’ve always kind of been an appreciator of music. When I was teaching I was so busy and I was kind of in the car and I turned LifeSongs on because I’ve always been a listener to LifeSongs and your song, Counting My Blessings came on and I felt kind of convicted. I sat there and reflect in my car by myself. I felt kind of convicted of not really having a positive perspective to see the good of God in the season I was in. I was kind of just, I was not really having a grateful attitude and so I really think of that song. That was kind of God leading me into this position at LifeSongs and so I just wanted to appreciate your authenticity and your songwriting.
That’s so beautiful.
Because your writing skills and your artistic ability, it really shines through and I really appreciate it. So I wanted to kind of share that. What song that you’ve written would you say is the most vulnerable or most relatable for you?
Oh, does it have to be one that’s come out yet or no?
No, it doesn’t have to.
There’s one I actually wrote like a little over a year ago. It’s called This Side of Heaven. It’ll probably come out next year.
Okay.
It’s like all about this idea that one day in Heaven, you know, we’re going to be able to worship with, you know, no pain, no fear, no doubt. But on this side of Heaven, we do get to give Him the gift of our worship from a place of those things. And so I’m not going to waste my praise here. I’m not going to waste my worship here. I’m still going to see this side of Heaven.
Definitely feels it is a very, very real sentiment for sure. I love that. We’re so excited to hear that coming out soon. What are ways you feel help you in the songwriting process or what most inspires you?
I would say daily prayer is a huge one for me. I feel like just like showing up in daily, getting in the word and letting the Lord speak to me is always just a place where I go to for, it’s probably the first place I go to for just songwriting ideas or themes because it’s like, it’s real and it’s personal to me. So I feel like that’s kind of the first place I’ll go to and has been just like a huge help in my own songwriting journey process of you know. Lord, what have you been speaking to me? What’s been moving my heart? What have you been convicting me with? And let’s write that, you know.
Yeah, that’s so good because God is endless. He is always revealing different parts of himself. Super awesome. So like I said, my husband is a songwriter and he shares his music with our church. What advice do you have for other Christian artists, musicians, and songwriters?
Oof. I mean I would say a couple things. Number one, on the spiritual side, again just pray daily. Like just let the Lord speak to you and like form your heart daily. You can’t overstate its value.
That’s good.
I think number two is just serving. For me, I mean I spent years just serving and you know doing ministry at a middle of nowhere ministry in Ohio. And I think just finding opportunities to serve and make it about allowing the Lord to use that time to form your own heart and your own dream, your own desires. But two, just like, just laying down, like laying down everything and really making sure you’re coming to the Lord, not trying to just push your own agenda or self-promote, but like to really like, hey, I’m gonna lay things down and just come to you Lord and serve this church or serve this ministry or serve and just get really low first before you now, because God, you know, before he exalts he humbles. And so being able to actually put yourself in that place of humility I think is so huge and so I think those two are really big and then practical just do it every day. Like write if you’re a songwriter – write as much as you can. If you’re a worship leader, lead worship, even if it’s just to yourself and yeah you know you’re in a place where you can just go and worship the Lord and do it all the time. When the Lord does elevate you, you’re ready for it. I think so often people are, oh, I want that place, I want that whatever, but they’re not willing to, you know, the word passion means to suffer for it, to suffer with. If you’re really passionate about something, you’re willing to suffer for it. You know, you’re willing to, you have your time for it, you’re willing to sacrifice for it. And so if you really feel it’s a call in your life, then be willing to sacrifice for it.
One of the songs I love, and we play it on our station all the time, is Love Me Still. What is it? Love Me Still? Okay, sorry. Blanked for a minute. I love that song so much. Can you kind of share the story behind that song?
The chorus kind of came first and just this idea of how do we talk about us really rebelling from the Lord in so many ways about how he still loves us. And you know, I think we say that generally, like, hey, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. God still loves you. But what if we spell that out? I’ve been the rebel who’s run from your arms. I’ve turned my back and I’ve broken your heart. I’ve known what’s true and I’ve still chosen to lie, but you love me, you love me, you love me. And just helping people confine themselves in those descriptions of like, yeah, wow. I have done that, I have done that, but you still love me. And so I think that’s kind of where the song really was rooted in and took its shape from.
I love how raw the words are. Like, I sit in my car and you have those moments in like worship where you’re just in your car and you’re just with the Lord. And it’s just one of those moments. And I love the lyrics and how I’m always this person that loves being honest and being vulnerable and being relatable because I feel like we can all hide behind the plastics. So I love when worship is just real like that and people can kind of relate to it on a really deep level. And I appreciate you being honest with yourself and your music, with what the Lord’s doing in your heart. Super awesome. What is the hardest thing about being in the Christian music industry?
The hardest thing for me is that it is an industry. I think my experience has just been so many amazing people and so many lovers of Jesus, which is amazing. But also it’s balancing the fact of what’s putting bread on your table is also ministry for the Lord. And I think sometimes those things can get mixed up and priorities can get mixed up a little bit. The hardest thing is just keeping the most important thing the most important thing. Keep Jesus at the center of it and keep making sure that: is there a spirit of competition or is it a spirit of collaboration? Am I trying to build the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Seph? I think those things that I think more than most places and most careers, it’s definitely just a really real thing that I think has a lot of spiritual weight to it. It’s no small thing. It’s like what James talks about: not many of you should be teachers because you’re going to be held to a higher standard. You really have to know that this is a call from the Lord because you are held at a higher responsibility representing God to so many people. And so there has to be this holy fear of the Lord of like, would I do this well? Like would I represent you well and be more about you than about me?
When did you feel like the Lord was calling you to make music?
I would say it was after high school. I joined this ministry in Ohio called Damascus and it was there. I had played music for a while. I wanted to be like the next Shawn Mendes growing up. You know, like get viral off like a YouTube video or something. But I didn’t know if it was like a call for me. Like it wasn’t really for the Lord at that point. And then I think after I really met him in high school and just wanted to serve him and live for him. And then after high school starting to lead worship more and just seeing the power it had on people all the time. I think that’s where the Lord really made it clear like, hey, like this is a gift I’ve given you, like this is the way I love to communicate with my people and so I’m gonna give you these songs and give you this call so that you can bring me to these people. So I think it was probably, you know, 18, 19 years old or so, just really when the Lord began to make that more clear.
And I love that you had that gift before you were called and God was like, let’s turn this to be something for me. That’s amazing. Yes, and clearly He’s blessed that. He blesses everything that we surrendered to Him. That’s so amazing. What artists inspire you the most and what artists are you listening to the most right now?
Wow, you know, a big Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake thing.
Yes, they’re so fun.
For sure, I love Ed Sheeran and his songwriting and his live shows and just him with the looper pedal is just so cool. Listen to him a lot, I would say. I listen to a lot of Benson Boone right now.
Okay.
I don’t know if you know Benson Boone, he’s just got all sorts of fun, creative, creative things. So those are kind of the top people I’m listening to these days.
Very, very cool. So what’s next for you and what can we be looking forward to?
I’m going on tour. I will be with Danny Gokey, Mac Powell and Tasha Layton.
That’s gonna be a great tour, wow!
Yeah, I got 12 dates with them and then next year will just be a lot of releasing new music. Got a lot of releases already planned for it and more on the way and more touring and all that kind of stuff. So I think next year will be really fun, busy year, but with a lot of really good things. So I’m really excited for this upcoming year.
What does Christian radio mean to you and what could you say to our listeners here at LifeSongs?
Yeah, I mean, I think Christian radio is something I grew up on, listening to. My mom would turn up. When we went in the car and since diving into this world, I mean, only a little over a year, I feel like everywhere I go, I’m hearing people share testimony about how Christian radio has impacted them and their lives and has made a difference in their day to day. And I think it’s just been so cool to see the ministry of it.
It is.
It is a ministry, you know, it is a way that people are encountering the Lord, they’re encountering the gospel. So I think just encouragement to those listening, like share it, support it, talk about it. It is changing lives, like the Lord is using it to impact so many people. And so it is a gift. So if you have it, be grateful for it and pray for that. Just ask God how you can support the mission.
Seph, thank you so much for making time for this interview and for all of your honesty and vulnerability and the questions. I really appreciate it.
Yeah, thanks so much. Great to meet you.
Yes, great to meet you too.