[ WM ] I ’ m going to give you a little bit of kudos for a minute . Over the last 10 years if you looked at my personal Top 10 worship songs list … you ’ ve got two of them on it . “ Run to the Father ”. I love that one , the lyrics are terrific . And then “ Nothing Else ” has really ministered to me many , many times . So I just want to thank you for those great tunes .
[ Cody ] I love that .
[ WM ] So let ’ s discuss your acoustic guitars . You have a special relationship going with C . F . Martin Guitars . Tell us what you ’ re playing and how you like your Martins ?
[ Cody ] I do . I ’ ve had the same Martin , Kari gave it to me for our wedding gift when we were married . It had been one of my favorite guitars up until that point , but I didn ’ t own one . The church I played at owned a couple , it ’ s the Martin OMJM . It ’ s the John Mayer model . I just fell in love with it . And so Kari knew that . When we got married , that ’ s what she presented to me as a wedding gift , which I was blown away . And I ’ ve used the same guitar on everything recently and everywhere we go on tours , every recording session . I mean , that is my guitar and it ’ s getting pretty worn now . I ’ m kind of starting to build a Willie Nelson hole in it .
Is kind of amazing . I ’ m excited about it getting worn from just so many moments leading worship with it . I love that . I also have a Martin D-18 now that I used on some sessions and it ’ s my second guitar on the road . So those are the two that I have that I just love . But really , I just can ’ t not play the OMJM , it ’ s like my baby . I play it everywhere . I love it . I have a K & K Pure Mini pickup in it , which I couldn ’ t recommend more for those smaller body guitars . It ’ s a simple passive pickup ( no microphone , nothing like that ) but it sounds really incredible in that guitar with that smaller to medium body .
[ WM ] Wow ! Now you also use a DPA d : facto microphone with a Shure wireless transmitter . You mentioned in our Worship Leader BUYER ’ S GUIDE , it ’ s got a talkback
Run to the Father
Nothing Else
button . So what kind of stuff do you use the talk back for ? You ’ re not ordering lunch when you ’ re on the talkback are you ? What kind of communications are you sending to the board and to the band ?
[ Cody ] Funny story , Kari has ordered tacos one time using that talkback button and it was while I was leading a song … and I had to say , “ Please don ’ t order tacos while I ’ m trying to lead worship . I just can ’ t ”. ( laughing ) But yes , for the most part it is used to just communicate arrangement changes in the moment .
As a worship leader , obviously there ’ s times when you ’ re sensing something in the moment , and you need to communicate that change to the band . A lot of times it ’ s a quick way because it ’ s right there in my hand . I ’ m not having to push a pedal on my foot , I ’ m not having to run back to a different talkback mic . Sometimes I ’ m even using it in the middle of phrases as I ’ m singing , which is a really good trick . ( laughing ) So I could just say something quick like , “ Hey , let ’ s end it right here , end it big on the one ”. And they know what that means , where maybe we planned to go a little longer and I just want to end it right there .
Or maybe I say , “ Hey , let ’ s keep going ” or “ Hey , bring it down after this ”. Or I ’ m going to go to this song , this tag , maybe that wasn ’ t
planned . Things like that . I ’ m able to just quickly communicate those things in the moment . Or I can communicate a monitor change as well . A lot of times I ’ m saying , “ Hey , I need my vocal up a little bit more or a little bit more this or that ”. So yes , it ’ s super helpful .
[ WM ] So you ’ re unique in that you ’ re one worship artist , married to another worship artist . Many of our readers are couples that are in ministry together , either on worship teams and / or church staff . Can you throw in any advice for couples in ministry ?
[ Cody ] Yes ! I love that Kari and I get to do this together . It really is such a joy , and we feel very fortunate that God has brought us together as a married couple and that He ’ s gifted us and called us to do very similar things together .
So , we really experienced in the “ one could put a thousand to flight and two could put 10,000 to flight ” concept and particularly to worship leading . And I ’ m thankful for that .
I think the biggest challenge for us often is finding ways to separate it in our own lives . I think really trying to get away on a date night and don ’ t talk about worship leading is important . Or things that pertain to what we would call work now is really hard as we are so passionate about it . And so , we ’ re just trying to create some of those healthy boundaries in our life .
And there ’ s vulnerability that happens . Obviously , this is the person , the closest in your life , the most vulnerable that you are with a person is this person , your spouse . And that can have pros and cons sometimes as you ’ re working together , as you ’ re ministering together . The pros are definitely that Kari and I can really read each other . We really know each other so well that in moments we don ’ t really have to say what we ’ re feeling and where we ’ re going . We can read each other . So we ’ re able to just pick up on each other , which is amazing . And then at the same time , there can obviously be times when if we have a disagreement about
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