Ministry
Silencing the Stones is a Christian music ministry, with a mission to spread the fame of Jesus Christ with Spirit inspired and empowered music. They are not trying to “cross over” or become “mainstream” by hiding their message in double entendres and thinly-veiled metaphors or masquerading as a mainstream band to garner wealth or fame. Silencing the Stones blends modern musical styles with poignant lyrics founded in scriptural truths and spoken from their individual experiences, invoking tones that cover the worshipful, the testimonial and the evangelistic, but using language that anyone can understand.

They approach their craft by fully employing Psalm 33:3 - “Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise”, and therefore may not fit into a traditional Sunday morning type experience. Although their style would normally appeal mostly to those who are younger, they have experienced a unique ability to cross generational and traditional barriers. This success is a testament to their firm belief that the music alone is only making noise; but when touched by God, it gains the ability to reflect His goodness, and work to draw everyone closer to Him. Silencing the Stones takes its name from Luke 19:40 in which Jesus states: “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

Psalm 98:4 - Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Bio
What would eventually become Silencing the Stones had its initial beginning in the summer of 2003. John Williams, Michael Morton, Jay Lewis and Daniel Taylor had shared the stage together through many Sundays of leading worship after John had become the worship leader at God's City of Hope near Oneonta, Alabama in February 2000. Michael and Jay had been bandmates throughout several of the previous years in bands True North and DoubleNickel, but by 2003 were not active in a band after DoubleNickel went on hiatus earlier that year.

Up until this time, John had expressed no ambitions of being a part of a band or any musical endeavors outside of leading praise and worship. He begun to change his mind as he and Michael began to share their respective visions for ministry. John and Michael came together that summer to collaborate on their first song, "Find You There." And so began the planning and praying and trying to put a band together. Unfortunately, this lead to a period of frustration for John and Michael. Jay would receive and accept an offer to move to Nashville to drum for Niacin Flush in the days to follow, leaving John and Michael looking for both a drummer and a bass player. Finding musicians who both shared their vision and were willing to sign on with a start-up band proved impossible for them, leaving the plans for a band in a figurative limbo.

Another pivotal moment would come later that summer, when John, inspired by the testimony of a close friend during a youth service, sat down after praise and worship during a Sunday morning service and penned the lyrics of what would become "One More Second Chance." He previewed the song for Michael and a few others at a Labor Day barbeque at John's house, but the song would gather dust for a period of time after that. This marked the beginning of a dry spell that would carry on through the end of 2004.

The jumpstart that the band needed happened in December 2004, when John's brothers TC and Josh unexpectedly started showing up at the church where John and Michael were leading worship. They had previously been working with a band that was playing small clubs and festivals around the Southeast, but had recently broken up. Josh had been playing drums for several years at that time, so John immediately began to recruit Josh for the band. In the process he managed to talk TC into picking up the bass to round out the line-up. The band met for its first rehearsal in January of 2005 in John's living room, and shortly after adopted its new name - Silencing the Stones.

It was during those first few rehearsal sessions that the band began to collaborate on its first song. Drawing from discarded lyrics in one of TC's notebook and a groovy guitar riff from Michael, the band began the process of building the song. John would wake up one morning during this time with the words to the chorus to finish the song, and suddenly "Pressure" was born.

STS would spend 2005 arranging, rearranging and writing the songs that would define their sound, drawing from John and Michael's past attempts and building on new ideas. The band began sponsoring monthly youth events called ONENight and played guest at several youth services in the process. The structure of the band began to change after the last event of the year. Josh began to have a strong urging for the band to get Jay back to play the drums. This was a very difficult proposition for Josh, as in doing this, he would effectively be replacing himself. Jay had returned from Nashville earlier in the year, but had not expressed any interest in getting back with John and Michael at the time. Josh really did not even know Jay that well then, which made his feelings that much more unusual.

After discussions between Josh and Jay, the band convened at the end of December for an official meeting on the matter. In addition to offering the drummer position to Jay, there was also the matter of figuring out what Josh would be doing with the band. At the meeting the solution would become clear, but would not make sense until much later. Upon hearing this news, TC began to explain to the rest of the band his frustrations with learning the bass and his desire to pursue a different role as the bands audio engineer. With TC giving up the bass, it was only logical to give Josh an opportunity to take over.

In January 2006, the band convened for its first rehearsal with the new line-up, this time in Jay's living room. With Jay back in the band, this brought Daniel back around the group, as Jay and Daniel are close friends and hang out together quite often. John and Michael, remembering the early days together with Daniel on percussion, began to discuss the possibility with Daniel, but were not sure if Daniel would be interested in the band. Daniel did not hesitate in joining up and becoming a part of what has become Silencing the Stones.

STS is currently working on a soon to be released EP; you can hear the in progress tracks at www.silencingthestones.com or at www.myspace.com/silencingthestones.