Watch & Listen
Explore selected teaching from my years in leadership, then listen to Radio—an album our group recorded more than forty years ago when we were young friends who loved Jesus and loved making music together.
Selected teaching
These three presentations grew out of my years of leadership in the marketplace and my involvement in the local church.
Leadership · Purpose · Full presentation
For many years, this talk was part of the welcome I offered every new hire. I also presented it on college campuses. It grew from a lifetime of observing, reading about, and talking with people who lived successful lives.
Explore the companion paperCulture · Leadership · Full presentation
This talk began with leaders in the marketplace and later reached college campuses. It eventually became the foundation for a broader way of thinking about culture. We discussed it in small groups and followed it with practical conversations about what honor looks like in action.
Church · Faith · Full presentation
A message I shared at my local church about why we were never meant to follow Jesus alone. Community gives us a place to be known and encouraged while surrounding us with people who will challenge us when necessary and help us continue growing.
The story behind the album
Philadelphia began in 1980 as Calvary Chapel Outreach Band Number One. Al Pittman, our lead singer, was a pastor on staff at Calvary Chapel in Colorado Springs, and I was leading worship there. We were simply a group of young people who loved Jesus, loved music, and wanted to bring those two things together. We did not really know what we were doing. We just wanted to make music, share our faith, and enjoy the journey.
The group remained together for nearly four years, playing wherever we could—churches, parks, prisons, auditoriums, and other community settings. Al wrote most of our songs. I composed the music for “Lover of My Soul,” with lyrics by Al, and Jim Westbay wrote the instrumental “Autumn Flurry.” Norma Pittman sang the solo on “Make Me.”
We recorded Radio in a modest eight-track studio in Denver that was partly owned by Jim. A band our size probably needed a twenty-four-track studio and far better equipment, but none of us had much money. We simply wanted to preserve the music we had created, and this was the way we could do it.
During the recording, I began experiencing the hand pain that would make playing keyboards difficult for much of the rest of my life. “Where Will You Be” was the final song we recorded. As I played the Fender Rhodes in the studio, the pain was so severe that I was not certain I could finish the song.
Very few physical copies of Radio still exist. Thankfully, I had my copy digitized about fifteen years ago. What you can hear here is that preserved recording—music copyrighted more than forty years ago and now shared freely with anyone who would like to listen.
The musicians
Al PittmanLead vocals · primary songwriter
Norma PittmanVocals · featured soloist on “Make Me”
Ceana LuskVocals
Jerry ForteKeyboards · music for “Lover of My Soul”
Alan CombsSaxophone
Kevin NavarroTrumpet · flugelhorn · percussion
Todd WilliamsDrums
Lowell HighlandBass
Jim WestbayGuitar · backup vocals · writer of “Autumn Flurry”
Guest musicians
Wayne Wilkinson played jazz guitar on three songs. Tom Whitaker added trombone to several horn arrangements.