Jebby, who lives in Galt, says he incorporates musical influences from several artists, ranging from The Beatles, U2 and Johnny Cash to Andrew Lloyd Weber and several Christian rock artists.

"Christian artists should be as innovative as non-Christian artists," he said.

Born in Fresno and raised in Sacramento, Jebby comes from a musical family. He performed in dramas at Elk Grove High School and First Baptist Church in Elk Grove. He also joined his sister and two brothers in plays in their backyard.

"We were always interested in show business, one way or the other," Jebby said.

After attending Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, Jebby's life changed when he met Steve Lemke at First Baptist in Elk Grove. Lemke was in the process of forming Horizon Community Church in Galt in 1994, and he needed a band. Jebby's band was enlisted to perform at the Galt Festival to promote the new church. He then became worship leader at Horizon, first under Lemke and then under current Senior Pastor Tim Stevenson.

While at Horizon, Jebby struck a close friendship with Rob Patterson, who was pastor at Galt First Baptist Church in the time and has since moved to a church in Auburn.

Patterson frequently performed "Picture of Jesus" and performed his music at Galt First Baptist, though Jebby was never on staff there.

"I was just like a friend of the church," he said.

Looking for full-time work, Jebby was saw a listing on churchjobs.com that Bear Creek was looking for a worship pastor.

"Bear Creek's doctrine was exactly what we're about," he said.

In addition to his work at Bear Creek, Jebby and his son, Graeme, 16, perform in a Christian rock band called "Seven Flags." The band went to Naples, Italy this year and performed with several other bands at an outreach festival sponsored by a Baptist church in Naples.

So what's next on Jebby's to-do list?

"I'm thinking about a western," he said. "I haven't done a western yet, and I always wanted to."

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.