More With Phil Joel

When I mentioned to Phil that I thought the musical format of deliberatePeople’s important message made it helpful for young people, he was quick to clarify things. “I don’t see the “deliberatePeople Album” as being a teenager’s thing. I think a lot of teenagers can get it, or even gravitate towards it, but I see it as being a young adults’ thing, people from the age of 18-35. The age you are when you find yourself thinking, ‘you know what, I’ve been a believer for a long time, but when I get right down to it, what does my relationship with the Lord really mean? Have I really yielded my life to Him, put it all on the line and gone after Him with my whole heart?’ In my life, when I was confronted with that moment, my answers weren’t that great,” he admits. “That was five years ago, and I thought, ‘I’m gonna get up tomorrow morning and seek God, and then do it the next day, and the next. And I’m gonna expect God to turn up in my life. I really need Him to start moving in my life.’ I think this is a place the Lord brings people to after their teenage years. I’m sure there are teenagers already like this,” he adds, “but this project really resonates with people between the ages of 18 and 35.”

“I was a little worried when I was making the record. I thought, ‘this is a mature sort of record, musically and lyrically, and I’m not sure if the people used to the standard CCM music will take to this.’ Maybe I’m gonna miss everybody,” he laughs. “But the Lord is really opening up doors in young adult Bible studies, and small groups that get together to share music, and different ideas and resources. It is fun to watch this happening.”

When I comment that I’m glad someone is raising the bar like this, Phil says, “The bar’s been raised for me, and I’m not ever going back.” His voice is filled with determination as he adds, “There’s a battle raging out there against us all. My heart is for those kids who are graduating college and going into the workplace, but haven’t really been grounded in the Lord. They’re out there without a foundation. They may have given their lives to the Lord, accepted Him as Lord, but they haven’t truly met with Him! They haven’t yet had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. I know” he exclaims. “It happened to me! There I was in a Christian band, and I knew that my relationship with the Lord was nearly where it should be. It wasn’t a guilt thing, it was a relationship thing.”

“I knew there was supposed to be so much more, and I got a kind of righteous indignation with myself and thought, I’m getting up tomorrow, setting my alarm clock. I’m going to get aggressive about this. I’m going to seek after God, like the big guys in the Bible that went really hard after Him, like Daniel and David.”

“I didn’t set out to give this big message,” Phil shares earnestly. “It just happened. But now it’s become the passion of my heart to share that the Lord truly wants to meet with us everyday. I believe that that meeting should be in the morning,” he adds, “and take place today, and the next day and the day after that. He’s inviting us, but we run down the stairs right past the living room where He’s waiting to meet us. We shoot right out the door and head out into our day without Him. But He just wants us to slow down and be with Him, to have our lives changed through a dynamic relationship that comes from reading the Word, through praying, from being still and meditating on the Word. It’s very simple,” he finishes, “but so many of us just miss it.”

Listening to Phil Joel’s “deliberatePeople Album” will help a great deal, providing both an incentive and a soundtrack to that morning meeting in the living room. Read Suite’s review of “deliberatePeople Album” here. Joel’s DP website provides much more information, including testimonies of other lives changed through this vital message, and journals and downloads to help equip you for the adventure.

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