Blog Archive - May 2008

This is another post in my "Prophetic Musician Interviews" series. If you haven't read the first one with Gabriel Hancock, be sure to check it out, and be sure to check out the next one with Jordan Vanderplate here. Today's interview is with Francisco "Paco" Arteaga, a drummer here at the house of prayer. Paco and I used to play together with Todd Ganovski before he moved to Nashville to help with the house of prayer there. Paco has most recently been playing for Misty Edwards, one of the main worship leaders here at IHOP.

Josh: Hey Paco, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. Before we jump in, give us a little of your story.

Paco: I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the states when I was about 12 years old, first landed in Michigan then moved Orlando, Florida. There was when my parents heard Mike Bickle preaching about the house of prayer at a conference and that’s when they decided to move to KC. My parents moved us to Kansas City around 8 years ago to join IHOP. I didn’t like it at all at first, but after a couple of months I began to see what was happening here and my little world changed. I did the very first Fire in the Night Internship (I got saved there, no joke). I tried to go to college after the internship for about a year to get degree in either music or culinary arts (I couldn’t make up my mind) but that was re-routed by God because He had a different plan for me. I've been here at the House of Prayer full time ever since. In June 2005 I got married to my beautiful wife Liesl and now we're about to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. Time is flying by! I’ve been playing drums now for about 8 years and my favorite thing in the whole wide world is “Reggaeton” music; that beat just never gets old to me even after 15+ years of every song using the same beat (just kidding)...

This post is continuing a series called "Prophetic Musician Interviews". If you haven't yet read part one of Gabriel's interview, make sure you check it out.

Josh: Gabe, how do you keep things fresh for you and for those worshipping with you day after day? And are there any other thoughts you want to pass along to your fellow drummers?

Gabriel: As a drummer, I find it so easy to get caught up in the pursuit of the next cool drum lick. Or even worse, simply checking out and falling into cruise control. Lately I have been feeling the weight of what the Lord desires to do through music and rhythms.

It takes much more energy to communion with the Holy Spirit and seek to communicate what is on the heart of the Lord then to try to fall into a pocket. (A pocket being a tight groove.)

But I believe that the Lord is calling musicians to ask for melodies and rhythms from heaven. These melodies and rhythms will bring forth healing and deliverance.

Drums have always been an instrument used for communication dating back to the ancient tribes. Even those in the world know this and recognize its power to communicate to people. The problem is that apart from the word of the Lord, this communication is infinitely shallow. The highest vision is to simply communicate to folks that it is time to dance and be happy or stressed.