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Joe Welsh plays a unique, soulful variety of worship that draws the presence of God.
His original worship on his 2011 release 'Cross Shaped Guitar' is almost in a genre by itself.
Filled with sparse and sultry back beat guitar and heartfelt vocals with terse lyrics and encompassing a
wide variety of emotions, the release is finding a wider audience online. Demos for the forthcoming release reflect a further maturation in writing as well as a shift to some more conventional styles of worship, yet there are some artistic breaks that are yet again without classification within the contemporary Christian genre.
The pre-release of the acoustic demo of "Maranatha" on Joe's website shows an effort that was truly blessed by the hand of God. Says Joe of the effort: "I had a chance to study Ephesians for a couple hours last spring with the great Cambodian hymnologist Barnabas Mamm and when we were finished I asked him to lay hands on me and pray God would give me an anointing for Worship. Barnabas just laughed and told me he wouldn't pray for something I already have, but he did pray that heavenly melodies and lyrics would fall on me from above. I went home that day and the general feel on the song and the lyrical idea came
right away. It took a few months to polish."
The recording of the demo was made available to several members of the Church Of Philadelphia in
Traverse City Mi, where Joe leads worship who were dealing with severe life issues, and it became abundantly clear that the song has an immense anointing for ministry. Some have suggested that it will become a standard of the genre. The mp3 is available for download free on this site.
In addition to leading worship at The Church of Philadelphia, Joe also leads a children's worship ministry at First Congregational Church, also in Traverse City and is doing various worship appearances out and about in Northern Michigan.
