HEEDING THE CALL // SEAN O’ BRYAN SMITH
I was raised up as part of the latchkey generation in a small suburb of Chattanooga, TN. It was the‘ 70s and much simpler times by today’ s standards. As for my family, we didn’ t have much of anything other than laughter, but we did that regularly so, I really didn’ t know if I was missing out on anything or not. That also meant that I didn’ t know that there was an inherent lack of God’ s presence in our family.
I am the child of an atheist father and an always searching mother with an obsessive need to dominate those she felt beneath her. As you can imagine this made my childhood interesting at times due to the parental dynamic but, my saving grace was that we were in the Bible Belt so church influence was all around me and occasionally I’ d pick up a tidbit here and there from friends or neighbors. Nevertheless, the lack of focus on God in our family made things tough even though I didn’ t know it. Perhaps that was partially what led to me discovering what a“ broken home” meant at age 7 along with the word“ divorce.”
Obviously, I was way too young to grasp what was really happening in our family then, but at the same time there was something in my life that I did grasp, and it seemed to always be there for me … music. My welcome escape from an increasingly uneasy at best childhood, quickly became a pair of headphones and my family’ s extensive record collection. I would immerse myself for hours listening and absorbing. It masked the troubles and helped seed the passion I carry with me to this day.
At age 12, the greatest day of my childhood happened. I got my first bass guitar. I quickly took to the instrument like a duck to water and that was just the beginning. Soon after I rapidly found myself immersed in all things musical eventually diving headfirst into guitar and then piano / keyboards as well. I even played the Tuba in my marching band at my high school. Yup, I was THAT nerd and loved every minute of it plus, it filled the lingering void in my life that seemed to always be just under the surface. The skills continued to grow and by age 15, I was playing professionally on a regular basis.
A lot of my early gigs were restaurant and club dates where I would have to sit in the kitchen on breaks because I was underage. It wasn’ t glamorous but, I was a“ professional musician” so, I was happy. What I didn’ t realize however was that God was already fulfilling part of his plan for me because the other playing opportunities I got came from local churches. Keep in mind that this was Tennessee in the‘ 80s and there were churches on every corner. I am a young buck bass player who just wanted to play so I took the gigs even though I had no idea what it meant to follow Christ. That wouldn’ t come for MANY years later but, God was already working on me by feeding me the word in short doses.
With my head in the stars and an abundance of
98 June 2026 Subscribe for Free...