Nathan Strong
Singer & Songwriter
Music has always been a passion for Nathan, even as a child. He started playing classical piano at age 5 and wrote his first piano song at age 7. He admits that he really didn't enjoy piano lessons as a child (who really does?), but fortunately that didn't stop him from pursuing music as a major part of his life.
During Nathan's senior year in high school, he and a couple of friends started a Bible study on campus which quickly grew to a large group, and there was no one there to lead the group in some singing. So Nathan picked up an old guitar and decided to learn how to play. He soon found that when he was leading worship, his hands worked just fine on the guitar. But when he tried to show off, he could never play it right -- so despite his efforts to get attention from girls through guitar playing, the guitar had a special place in his life as a tool for leading worship.
After attending college at Seattle Pacific University and receiving his bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, Nathan returned to Petaluma, California to embark on a career in telecommunications and volunteer as a part time worship leader at his local church.
But even as Nathan worked in the high tech field, he never forgot the deep joy he experienced as a worship leader and a songwriter. Part of his job involved extensive travel (over 33 countries over the span of 8 years), and he found himself penning lyrics and composing fragments of songs in the midst of his travel; seeing inspiration while walking the streets of Paris, Johannesburg and Shanghai, or during quiet moments in the back of a taxi on his way to a meeting.
Today, Nathan splits his time between working full-time during the day, and working over-time in the evenings writing music, planning worship services, performing and/or leading worship on weekends, and recording in his home studio that he and Jenna built in May of 2002.
Growing up as the son of a pastor, Nathan is no stranger to being on stage; "Every time I did anything even remotely rebellious, it ended up in a sermon the next weekend!" Nor is he a stranger to the ups and downs of a life of ministry: "I remember how tired my father would be in the evenings, coming home after spending a day helping to save a marriage, praying for someone in the hospital, or counseling someone through a tough issue. But even though he was tired, I could tell that there was nothing else in the world he would rather be doing. He taught me how joyful life could be when you are taking part of God's work on earth, loving, healing, teaching ... and always learning."
Nathan's spiritual growth has been heavily influenced not only by his father, but also by the music and ministry of Rich Mullins, and by his friendship with Mark Almlie, his best friend. Listening to Rich's songs while growing up, God planted in both Mark and Nathan a passion for ministering to people, both ones who already know God personally, and those who don't yet know Him. Mark (the composer of Uncle Bob and Prodigal Lullaby) recently graduated from Fuller Seminary and now is working as the Young Adults and College Ministry Pastor at Redwood Covenant Church.
Nathan is a singer/song-writer and instrumentalist (guitar, piano, B3 organ, bass, and learning the hammered dulcimer), as well as a regular guest worship leader at several churches in Sonoma County, California. He is an avid reader of both fiction (C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Orson Scott Card) and non-fiction works (C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Gregory Boyd, Brother Lawrence, to name a few), he loves playing 2-on-2 volleyball, and occasionally dabbles in many other hobbies including, tennis, golf, basketball, weight lifting, ping-pong, web page design, building computers, building remote-controlled airplanes, and napping. He also loves gadgets - and you can read his reviews of gadgets at his gadget review blog.
Other musical influences include: Keith Green, Michael Card, Andrew Peterson, 100Portraits, Waterdeep, Indigo Girls, U2, Sting, PFR, and Chris Rice.