Jebby Moates has dual calling

Jebby Moates, center, poses with the cast of the musical comedy "Elijah," which will start Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at Bear Creek Community Church. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Jebby Moates has dual calling — God and music

By Ross Farrow
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, November 7, 2009 7:24 AM PST

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Jebby Moates has portrayed everyone from Andy Griffith, and the Beatles to Jesus Christ — all in the sanctuary of Bear Creek Community Church.

Moates, who goes by the singular name of Jebby, has a dual calling — to God and music.

As worship pastor at the south Lodi church, Jebby writes scripts, acts, sings and plays a mean guitar.

"My first commitment is to serving God," said Jebby, 50. "As a Christian who happens to be an artist — or as an artist who happens to be a Christian — I enjoy the creative process."

In February 2008, Jebby and other Bear Creek musicians performed five Beatles classics, rewritten to include Christian lyrics. They were "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "With a Little Help From My Friends," "All You Need is Love," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "The End." While promoting Jesus, the group got a standing ovation that day for its long guitar riff on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

Two years ago, Andy, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea showed up at Bear Creek for "Christmas in Mayberry," with Jebby playing the Andy Griffith role. The focused on the TV classic's principles — loving your neighbors no matter what their quirks might be, God's love and the value of Christmas traditions.

And then there are a couple of annual traditions:

"Christmas Through the Ages," where Christmas carols are performed in costume from several eras, including Medieval times, the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression and the 21st century. It even includes Elvis Presley's rendition of "Blue Christmas." It was performed on Christmas Eve last year, and Jebby plans to do it again this year.

"Picture of Jesus," with Jebby playing the title role. The rock opera is an annual event that started in 1995 and has been performed in Sacramento and Galt as well as at Bear Creek. Based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, "Picture of Jesus" employs rock, pop and gospel music.

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.

Jebby Moates at a glance

1959: Born in Fresno.
1994-98: Worship pastor at new Galt church called East Side Baptist Church, which has since been renamed Horizon Community Church.
1998-2000: "Freelance" worship pastor all over the Sacramento area. Played guitar while brother Allen played drums and a friend participated in the band. Frequently performed at Galt First Baptist Church due to a friendship he developed with then-Pastor Rob Patterson.
1994-2006: Guitar teacher at The Music Box on Lodi Avenue.
2000-06: Part-time worship pastor at First Baptist Church in Sacramento, located near Sutter's Fort. Performed musical productions there and at First Baptist in Galt, though he was never on staff at the Galt church.
2006-present: Worship pastor at Bear Creek Community Church in Lodi.
Source: Jebby Moates

What they think of Jebby Moates

"He is a great guitar player, writes his own original music and is able to perform with our worship team in a manner that produces a tremendous mood that draws people into a spirit of worship. Jebby also has the ability to play in various styles of music — rock and roll, country, jazz, bluegrass, gospel, traditional and modern. Jebby's dramas are able to have your heart breaking in tears one moment and laughing later."
— Bill Cummins, Senior Pastor, Bear Creek Community Church

"His current position as music pastor at Bear Creek seems to provide him the opportunity to release that kid inside the man. He still leads others to put on costumes, sing some songs and tell a story. Most important is that everyone involved has fun doing it.

"I deeply admire Jebby's prolific creativity and his desire to make deep theological truths accessible and memorable through music with popular appeal."
— Rob Patterson, Bell Road Baptist Church, Auburn

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