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Category: life pointe

Homestead

Written by jessesantoyo
Thursday, 03 June 2010 21:47
2 Comments

June 2007 marked the beginning of 2yrs that would impact my life forever and inspire the greatest journey ever. In 2007 Reina and I departed Chicago and went to the furthest city we could go before hitting the The Keys, Homestead FL! I stepped into a role at Life Pointe Church that would change my life forever. I knew I would be working as the creative arts director and Worship guy…But what I discovered goes beyond what I would’ve ever expected. It was truly an honor to work beside Lead pastor Travis Johnson. I gotta say he was one tough dude to work for, but the best boss I’ve ever had. I was challenged beyond the talents I brought to the plate. I learned what it was to lead and not just be. I learned it wasn’t about just  doing, but developing others to lead and do. Letting go in order to grow. In 2 yrs I think I read more then I ever had in my whole life. I was pushed and was given the freedom to fly on my own and fall on my face from time to time. My passion for people grew more then ever…I think because I met some really cool people in Homestead Fl, who took us in and made us feel like family. Because of those two yrs I grew as a person, as a dreamer, as a husband, as a father and as a friend. I learned the good and bad of me. I dropped the ball many of times, but learned lessons I will carry with me till the day I die. LPC and Homestead will forever be in our hearts as 2 of the greatest yrs of our lives. The moment I will never forget is the day Travis challenged me to give away my music for a bigger cause. That cause took my band across the globe and did things I never thought would be possible.

Thank you for 2yrs that marked my life and the life of my wife and kids for a lifetime! It was an awesome season. Cheers!

-fuser+  video was shot during an LPC series titled “likeus.tv” 2007

 

What? Where? Why? Huh?

Written by jessesantoyo
Monday, 12 April 2010 13:39
No Comments

It is still a surprise to many! Here is the explanation again…

WHAT? Me, Reina, Diego and Zion now live in East Nashville TN.  In 2007 after working for Univision in the News Production dept, we all packed up, left Chicago and relocated to Homestead Florida and lived there for 2yrs. There, surrounded by the beautiful ocean and endless beaches,I worked as the creative arts and worship director at Life Pointe Church…A really cool church in South Fl.

I recorded my first full length album with my band “the Saturn project” and donated 100% of all the proceeds to an amazing humanitarian project in Cambodia. Buy music, Do good. For every 1,000$ we sold in Cd’s, houses were being built by for families living in the dumps of Cambodia! Fresh water wells built as well…It was an amazing run, with tons of flight miles across the globe, Cool shows and beautiful people I hope to see again.

WHERE? After 2 yrs in Florida, my wife and I decided to take another huge leap. We packed up and moved to Nashville TN to pursue our passions and dreams. It was a rush, it was scary, and it was sad all together. But it was something we knew we had to do at that moment in time. So here are some of our crazy plans as we speak…

WHY? Just to give you a quick FYI, Reina is amazing artist/designer/decorator…She has a super gift with colors, materials, visions, ideas, and people! So…Reina is planning on attending an arts and design school for Interior Design here in Nashville TN, which we are all super excited about! I am currently looking for a job in the TV/Media world…It’s been a process but I know it takes time. In the mean time Reina and I have been working odd jobs to survive and pay our bills.

HUH? I am an artist/singer/songwriter…I write tons, play tons, and can’t stop and probably never will. My task has been to get out into the Nashville music scene share my music…see what the city thinks, network with other musicians, songwriters and artists and collaborate and see where this boat may go. I am still the front-man for the band “the Saturn project” which we hope to work on a 2nd record. In the meantime I have been writing songs for my upcoming Solo EP debut. It’s a scary thought to be on stage alone but I am looking forward to the challenge.

WRITING? yes I write a lot!! Some of it makes it on my blog, and others don’t. From poetry, short stories, screenplays and more. I have been compiling some personal stories with a creative twist and maybe try and put together a small book. We’ll see.

FILMS? Yeah, I have a few ideas that I have been chewing on for a long time. I’ve been working hard to develop these films and find someone who would want to bring them to life…That’s the surface of what’s going on in our Santoyo world…If I share everything, then it will spoil the surprises!  Thanks for Reading…I love when you guys visit me. Until next blog…peace

-fuser+

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Room for more…

Written by jessesantoyo
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 10:00
No Comments

Photobucket
There is always more room to grow. Ok, maybe not in height but in other areas of life. It’s been insanely awesome having 2 boys at home. One thing is for sure, I couldn’t  handle it without my amazing wife. She is an amazing wife and mother. Having 2 kids has it’s challenges, but I am all about that! Challenge!!!!  We will learn as we live and grow together. Just proves there is always more room to grow as a leader of my home. It is a daily adventure. Yesterday as I changed Zion’s stinky diaper I thought, wow…one day he will change mine. But until I grow completely old, my duty is to lead my boys in the best path possible and Instill in them a passionate love and desire for God’s heart. I invision them impacting the world with me, on stage, across the continent, in the streets, thru the arts…It’s a fathers dream…

After being in the hospital with Reina as they removed Zion from her body, I realized how much more amazing she is day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. It was scary seeing all these Dr’s operate on her. As I wiped her tears in that room, I felt so weak inside but did everything possible to be strong for her in the outside. Then within minutes there was a sound in the room that took all worries away. Zion’s firsts words in this world. It was amazing. He is God’s gift for us!!!  Having 2 children requires double the attention and work, but it made me realize there is so much room for us to grow as a couple, as companions and lovers.  New adventures, new words, new gestures, new jokes and dreams. There is so much more…Love my Reina more and more…

Performing in Asia was really cool. I felt like the saturn project was making moves so loud the whole earth can hear our anthems. It was cool walking out of that auditorium  to screaming fans who embraced our songs and our mission. It had it’s weirdness of course, flashing cameras and autograph signing everywhere, but it let us know we are up to something good on it’s way to being great. Arriving here to the US, we didn’t have screaming fans at the airport, nor billboards displaying “The Saturn Project Rocks!” Just proves there is so much more room to grow as an artist and a band. So much more to achieve, so much more to do and share the anthems for a broken world story. We are eternally grateful to those who have and continue to believe in our sound and what we do…the best is yet to come…

As the creative arts and worship pastor for life pointe I have a team of leaders, artists, directors and producers that I lead. There is always that challenge to be the best possible leader I can do. From time to time I drop the ball and maybe don’t lead as I am meant to lead. Just proves there is so much more room for me to grow. It is a blessing to be able to fly out from time to time with the Saturn Project to share  our talents with the world. From Cambodia to the Philippines, Europe to South America and the US. None of that is possible without the amazing  staff and teams I have the privilege of working with at LPC.  When you are encouraged to dream and follow those dreams by the people you work and experience life with, it really encourages me to be a better leader, artist and “pastor”. There is plenty of room for that…

Me and my crew live in Homestead Fl, many of my family and friends live in Chicago. I don’t have the luxury of driving over to my Mom’s for Dinner, nor hanging at the pool with my brothers and bust each others chops. I can’t drive over to see a show in wicker park with my fellow chi-town artists. Just shows me there is more room for me to grow as a friend, brother and son. I am challenged to constantly reach out and say “what up?”, or constantly post pictures and videos of my crew so my family in Chi-town can see them. Out of sight, out of my mind shouldn’t exist for me. But rather push myself to be available to all my distant peeps.

We are all constantly growing, learning, dreaming and living. The day we stop that process, the things that wage war against growth, lessons, dreams and living will begin to eat away at our bones and quickly lead us to our death bed.I wanna constantly live and grow. As my  1773 friends in chi town would say, “Constant Motion”.

-fuser+

“i should write a book”…Who would read it?