Jon Buller

I love music. I love to worship God. The natural intersection for me then is writing and singing music about God, to God and for God. Sometimes it is my own music (I have 3 original CDs, That's What Id Like, Sinner & the Saint and Broken Drum), and sometimes it is other folks music (I have recorded a worship CD series called And Your Praise Goes On, volumes 1, 2 and 3 out of print now - long story). Recently I realized I was getting old because I released the Best of Jon Buller Worship. I cant quite figure out how time flew by so fast, but I know that I've written some poor songs, and I think I've written some good ones too, so I tried to pick the best, most worshipful ones and put them on one CD. At the end of the day I was quite proud of it, and I think that's ok (to be proud I mean).

I wonder if I may be on to something when I figure that to some degree its healthy to have some pride. The main reason I have come to terms with being proud of what I do (I'm only realizing this now) is how often I find myself telling my 3 year old son how proud I am of him when he does even the most insignificant things. When that happens I hear echoes of God's voice saying to me well done my good and faithful servant, for the few times that I seem to have actually done something right in loving Him and serving Him. By the way, speaking of love, I have been married for 7 years to Sandra (thats how Jackson came about) and that's all going quite well, thank you.

Many of the great things that I've got to experience happened not because of my own giftedness or work ethic, but because of God's faithfulness, His call on my life, and His sense of humor. Here are just a few...

I was nominated for a Juno award for Sinner & the Saint. This was back in 1999/2000 (old news, but still meaningful to me). That year the Juno's were sponsored by FINESSE shampoo. I didn't win the statue but I got free shampoo, which was cool. A couple years later some friends and I decided to record a live DVD of one of our worship concerts called Hear the Music LIVE. That was a ton of fun, a great deal of work, and expensive to say the least. But ultimately it was a very worthwhile project which had a lot of ministry value. I believe it brought people closer to God, which was also cool. Over the last 10 years, I have traveled throughout Canada, the US, eastern Europe and Latin America. In Ecuador I was mugged at gunpoint which wasnt so cool at all but that's another story.

In the process of those 10 years of itinerant and local ministry, I started to figure out that I really loved helping other musicians develop their faith, their ministry calling and their musical careers (discipleship I suppose). I also came to understand that leading groups of people though music into God's presence was another big piece of what I was meant to do. So I put those 2 pieces together and founded a charitable organization called Hear the Music Ministries to do exactly that. Lead people in musical worship experiences of God, lifting up the name of Jesus while discipling young artists. You can find out more about Hear the Music Ministries at www.htmministries.com.

Ok were getting close to the end! I must pay homage to the gods of bio writing that demand me to write what's current. I now live in Vernon, BC having moved from Winnipeg last August to become pastor of Worship and the Arts at Vernon Alliance Church. My musical endeavors are still very much alive in the form of continued ministry with Hear the Music Ministries, worship events, traveling and discipleship with young musicians, which really means that I now am experiencing the best of both worlds! Together with a few friends I am planning to record a CD of hymns this summer, something I've wanted to do for a very long time.

I am going to force myself to end this autobiography here. I am tempted to try and find a clever way to also include nice things that other people have said about me, but I have decided to put those nice things on another page. Besides I have almost doubled the one page bio limit and that is just wrong.

And now that weve arrived at the end point I would like to conclude with a favorite quote of mine from Dan Allender which sums up for me what life and ministry are all about. 'The wager of faith is that God is telling His story through mine'. So maybe an autobiography is quite appropriate after all!

Juno award nominee Jon Buller is engaging at his craft. He is a worship leader and a story-teller, who unassumingly takes his place on the stage and invitingly welcomes you into a living-room-like conversation of words, worship and song. The experience is as much soul satisfying as it is entertaining; which makes sense considering the message in the music.

Last year, Buller was the catalyst in beginning a monthly worship and praise evening for his church community. Only one year later, that small community worship night has grown into a city-wide worship event which hosts an average of 1500 faithful attendees.

"I’m passionate about life and about what I believe. Days are full of good experiences and ones that make us wonder. Those moments are God’s gifts to us. Sharing those gifts through music, story, and worship is my contribution."

Jon continues to share those gifts. His standout CD release ‘Sinner & the Saint’ has already brought him critical praise and a Juno nomination for Best Gospel Recording.

The American music industry has also stood up and taken notice of this eclectic Canadian worship leader and songwriting treasure. ‘Sinner & the Saint’ has just been released nationwide into bookstores all over the United States on True Tunes Records. Recently, Jon inked a deal with Christian Marketing Canada (CMC) to distribute ‘Sinner & the Saint’ across the country, with an eye on distributing the rest of Buller’s four CD independent catalogue.

Jon Buller has been making his living in the music world for seven years. He has toured across five Canadian Provinces and seven American States and now with sales of nearly 10000 units collectively, this independent artist is making a name for himself. And that is not all. Jon has just completed his second CD recording of this year, his fourth overall. After only three months, ‘And Your Praise Goes On’ has already sold over 1000 copies.

Buller continues to sing full time, playing upwards of 120 dates a year, performing all over Canada and the United States. He has claimed John 12:32 as his statement of purpose and philosophy of ministry, to change lives by lifting up the name of Jesus.

Jon's music ministry is called Hear the Music Ministries Hear The Music Ministries offers valuable resources for your Church or Para-church Ministry. We also offer Worship Seminars - of which we have had Worship As Story Chapter 1 and Worship As Story Chapter 2. We hope you had a great time and we would love to hear how it has impacted your life, ministry and vision. We have also begun compiling PowerPoint Slides of Jon Buller's songs. http://www.htmministries.com/mission.htm

Music on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=160467400

Blog: http://www.myspace.com/jonbuller

web site: http://jonbuller.com/

e-mail: info@htmministries.com