leading to express all of the music He inspired within me , and to be light and salt to whatever people I encountered in that process . As the Lord has opened doors along this journey , I ’ ve found myself on countless occasions sharing God ’ s love ( sometimes low key , other times quite overtly ) with people who would probably never step foot in a church building . Music is the platform God has given me to facilitate that ministry .
So , my perspective is definitely that the focus remains God , whether playing a mainstream gig or worship service . I ’ m always striving to offer my talents back to Him as an offering , with the sincere hope that listeners would be able to sense His presence and involvement in what they ’ re hearing .
[ WM ] Years ago at one of our Christian Musician Summit conferences we introduced you to Lincoln Brewster as we placed you two and drummer Will Denton on stage in a free form jam situation . Little did we know that a friendship that would be born from that . Tell us about your time with Lincoln and how that relationship is still moving forward ?
[ Norm ] Yes , I remember what a cool night and fun time we had — thanks for setting that up ! I didn ’ t become Lincoln ’ s regular bassist until a few years later when there was some turnover in his band , but we did become great friends pretty quickly .
I was part of his band for six years and it was a truly incredible time of ministry , music , friendship , and laughing till we couldn ’ t breathe . I ’ m so grateful for what God did in and through us during those years . I came off the road in 2012 to spend more time with my family , but we still worked together intermittently .
We have recently resumed actively working toward finally completing his long-awaited instrumental project ( featuring legendary drummer Vinnie Colaiuta ). I can ’ t wait for folks to finally be able to hear this music . And it ’ s fabulous regularly working with Linc again ; he ’ s been one of my closest friends for almost 19 years .
[ WM ] You wrote for our magazines for 15 years as a regular bass columnist . What I like about you is that you are an educator . Not only that , but you are a very organized person . Your bass columns were always full of good practical advice . I have a general question first and then I will dig a bit deeper in your teaching content .
One of your good friends Zoro the Drummer told me that the drum community is very much an open one that likes to share their skills and what they have learned with other drummers . We make jokes sometimes how some electric