Transcribed from Religion Section, Quad City Times, August 7, 1999:

Musician shares his faith in song

Left a life of drugs, rock 'n' roll for Christian music

By Barb Arland-Fye QUAD CITY TIMES Fred Ricaurte's life spun out of control in the 1970's. He was enjoying success as a musician in a rock 'n' roll band and pursuing a reckless lifestyle. By 1976, the Quad-City man had been arrested for possession of heroin and marijuana. Some of his friends and acquaintances also had been arrested on drug-related charges. Fred understood his life had to change. "I could really see then, at a young age, I was 23 at the time, that my life could be pretty much over. I could spend my life in prison. I could see the emptiness in the lifestyle I was living," said Fred, now a 46-year-old husband, father, employee and musician of contemporary Christian music. Periodically during that troubled time, he received letters from a female friend who prodded him to ask Jesus into his life. The letters always seemed to arrive at a crisis point. She would remind him that there was more to life than what he was experiencing. She said she was praying for him. During one particularly dark time, Fred picked up a Bible tract and read it. He also acquired a miniature Bible and coincidentally opened it to a New Testament verse that has given many people comfort: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." In the back of his tiny Bible he read a prayer asking Jesus into his life. He thought there would be some sort of sign after he read the prayer gut nothing happened. He began his search for God.

Q: You wanted answers from God about how to conduct your life. You asked God whether you had to give up your music. How do you believe God responded to that question? A: "In a way, he was telling me, you can make music to glorify me, you can make music that glorifies Christ. It hit me. I had just lived my life for me. Now I had an opportunity to live my life the way he intended… for his glory and purposes." Q: Did you quit the rock 'n' roll band? A: "I quit the band." Q: How did you find the church you attend now, Community Christian Fellowship in Moline? A: "Through an old high school friend. I found the church I have attended ever since. Twenty- some years later and I'm still there and still learning about this faith." Q: When did you begin performing Christian music? A: "I began sharing special music in church, (doing solos for example) and I began to learn what we knew then as 'Jesus music.' I began to learn 'Jesus music.' I began to write my own and then I would play a combination of both in concert. I began playing at Crossroads Coffee House in Rock Island in 1980." Q: Where do you get the inspiration for the songs you write? A: "Just the experience of living for Christ, that personal relationship you have with God through Christ, the good and bad experiences that happen living the Christian life. Or, I would take actual sections of Scripture and put music to them. Also, there's worship music, where I would actually write songs that a whole congregation would sing in a worship service. Q: How has your spirituality helped you deal with life's problems? A: "The downside of find that Jesus is real is the fact that se is Satan. You learn how to deal with temptation, you learn that you still have a choice to give in or obey God. So, every day is an opportunity to live victorious, or to fail. So, I have had a lot of victories and I've had a lot of failures, and the good news is that God has seen me through all of it. And the daily struggle is to trust God with every single aspect of my life, be it spiritual, physical, emotional, financial, musical, everything. That is the daily struggle." Q: How hard is it to trust God? A: "I can sit here and say I believe in Jesus, but the question I ask lately is, 'Do I believe Jesus?' because he's made a lot of promises in the Bible. If I truly stand on those promises, I shouldn't' fail, but the fact I still do keeps me striving to have the total trust I need to have in God." Q: What is your music like today? A: "I still write worship music. I still write blues. I write Latin styles, and because we all experience so many different emotions and feelings, each style of music can bring about a different feeling." Q: What do you like about the Latin style? A: "The Latin rhythms have always been fun to play. I'm thinking about writing totally Spanish-type worship songs. Q: Why? A: "Because there is a demand for Spanish worship music." Q: At one time, you performed in a band that was good enough to open for some of the big rock 'n' roll bands of the '70's, such as Aerosmith, Kansas, and Santana. What is it like performing for smaller crowds of Christian listeners? A: "The whole conversion experience humbles you… (In the contemporary Christian setting) you seem to play in front of a handful of people. To share the Gospel in that setting ahs more eternal effect than anything I could have done to glorify myself."

Editor's note: Fred Ricuarte and Friends will perform at 7 p.m. tonight at Milan Foursquare Church, 202 W. 4th St, Milan, IL A freewill offering will be taken.

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