Red Rocks Worship living a dream
Sony Music signs Jeffco Christian band, releasing CD/DVD Sept. 22
Tyler Roberts felt a surge of excitement as he took his seat in the balcony at the Paramount Theater to see one of the world’s best-known Christian worship groups, Bethel Music. That show in February 2016 was his first at the venerable venue in downtown Denver, and instantly he envisioned his own worship group on that stage.
“I texted my team as soon as I got there,” recalled Roberts, ministry leader of the music team at Red Rocks Church, a rapidly growing nondenominational Christian church with “campuses” in four Jefferson County suburbs.
“I was like, ‘One day we’re going to do a worship night here.’ A dream, a bucket list.”
That dream became reality faster than he could have imagined. This past February Red Rocks Worship signed a deal with Sony Music/Essential Worship, which publishes some of the best-known bands in Christian music, including Casting Crowns, Tenth Avenue North, Matt Maher and Steven Curtis Chapman. And only 15 months
after Roberts saw that Bethel show at the Paramount, Red Rocks Worship recorded a live album there before a sold-out audience.
That album, “Here,” will be released Sept. 22 (a DVD/CD will be released later), and Red Rocks Worship will play Red Rocks Amphitheater on Sept. 19 as part of Worship on the Rocks with Jesus Culture, United Pursuit and Josh Garrels. The album was produced by Jeremy Edwardson, who has worked with Bethel, Jesus Culture, Kari Jobe and other top Christian groups.
“Any time you have a strong partner come in like Sony Music Group, you know you’re on to something,” Edwardson said. “I think they probably saw the same thing I did: just a huge community in Denver that’s growing so fast and an amazing worship team that is growing along with the church and awesome songs being written.
“At that point, it’s kind of a no-brainer, like, ‘We should partner with these guys and get behind them and see what can happen.’ “
Red Rocks Worship previously self-published two EPs for distribution within the church, but the Sony deal has the potential to take it national. It’s an opportunity Roberts couldn’t have foreseen that night he allowed himself to dream at the Paramount.
“Back then we thought, ‘Oh, if we could just do that,’ “Roberts said. “Now, we’ve got to the point where it’s like, ‘This is the catalyst to whatever God has for us,’ how he wants to use Red Rocks Church through worship and minister to people who are maybe un-churched, unfamiliar with God, maybe bring a fresh and really authentic sound to the world.”
Red Rocks Church has seen spectacular growth since it was founded in 2005, with just 107 people at its first service in a rented room at Heritage Square. The church now attracts up to 13,000 worshipers weekly at its four campuses, with attendance at Easter services this year topping 24,000. It also has satellite campuses at two Colorado prisons and another in Brussels, Belgium.
“One of the first things I noticed was a lot of songs, and a lot of good songs,” Edwardson said. “It goes to show there’s a lot going on in the church community. Then, also, just amazing singers. You can tell everybody on the worship team really wants to go after God in worship and has a passion for that.”
Red Rocks recorded the album at the Paramount on May 11. When the show was announced on March 26, 2,800 tickets sold out in two minutes.
“I never thought our church would get the honor of doing that downtown,” said Nicole Serrano, one of the group’s songwriters and lead singers. “And selling out that fast, it was like, ‘What?’ It was really, really, really humbling. We were talking about how beautiful (God) is and, how beautiful his grace is, and there’s this beautiful theater that we get to have really cool shots in. It’s a cool conglomeration of heaven and earth in a moment.”
Roberts got his first guitar at age 13 from his father, who was a drummer in the band at their church. Soon after that, his father began a two-year battle with cancer that took his life. Worship music became Roberts’ refuge.
“I just remember locking myself in my room playing guitar,” Roberts said. “I had no idea what I was doing, I was terrible. But I would put on a Hillsong worship CD and just (play) that. That is what the Lord has used to speak to me, to heal me, to encourage me more than anything.
“Music is the universal language. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what language you speak, you can feel music. When you couple that with the presence of God, there’s just nothing like it.”