Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everyone, Welcome back to your favorite show on the
planet earth, the Christian Music Worst Podcast. I would say
a weekly conversation where I get to talk and hear
people's stories from Christian music industry, but lately it's been
one that we're good. We still have like eight episodes,
so now we're at like one episode per week. I'll
still post, but I have like three or four episodes
(00:22):
to stockpile. Just have a safety net. But welcome back,
and hope you don't forget me in the meantime. But
if you did this, okay, Yeah, So new channel. We're
doing a rebrand right now that's still going live. It's
going pretty well. Have some more fun announcements I want
to share with you guys later, but I can't go
into details right now because I don't know if I'm
in liability to say. But if you remember, if you
(00:44):
like what you're hearing, the like following, subscribe dated channel.
And I'm going to introduce our guest today. Today I'm
with Melanie and Waldman, and I'm gonna let Melanie introduce
yourself and everything.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I am Melanie Waldman. Thank you Brendan for having me today.
I'm a singer, songwriter, ministry leader. God just did an
incredible work in my.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Life, and I am called to tell people about it
and to remind people that God is still working miracles today.
And I do that through sharing my testimony and sharing
my songs, and that's mostly what I do.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
That's really cool. And can you just tell us a
little bit about your backround, like how did you get
started in music and doing all these like ministry things
you do? Just like give like a look at your background,
so people who are new to you, like who do
not know you, can tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Sure, well, the ministry was really born out of the
work that God did in my life. But the music
started when I was very young, started singing, probably at
camp when I was a kid.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's very cool. I think I was just gonna like
you continue. I have a notepad too with my notes too, psychologist.
I like to keep following my notes too, so I
don't go two off topic because that things happened in
this channel but a lot. So that's pretty cool that
like they started when you were at a camp. I
used to be a camp coouncer for back in the day,
like four years ago, I should say, back in the
day that's like four years ago. But but the camp
(02:24):
is really influential, and you have an album called Stories
and Songs. Can't tell us a little bit about that
story as a song album.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, So those songs have been written over the years.
Each are really like me sharing my testimony about what
God did in different ways through different songs. And then
my husband and I kind of started touring the beginning
of this year, going out to communities and churches to
(02:52):
share the story and share the songs. So we put
them all together and called it Stories and Songs.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
They have a favorite song or all the album and
a story with that song, because if it's called story
in the song there, it has to me a story
with some of these songs.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
There's probably a story with every one of the songs
for sure. Radical Love is my favorite. And the premise
of radical love is that when we allow God to
dwell in us, to have his way in and through us.
I mean the theological way I say it is that
(03:28):
his glory unfolds through our audience. But like the regular way,
I guess I would say it is just that when
we let him have his way and we don't put
up the walls and the barriers between us and others.
He can do just beautiful things. And I call that
the radical Love of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And that's the song how Did That Lie? And you
also released that an epay. I was vostening to some
of your music before we met, and some of those
songs are really cool, and the one I stand out to
you was I Like to Believe. It's like the simplicity
of it, but the deep meaning and behind it. And
do you have a favorite song off the EP too?
Because I feel like that if Radical Love is your
(04:07):
favorite song of looks like you made the EP, then
you made the album. So just really cool to see
merge into an album like a single or hit track
off the album.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I love Believe because it reminds us that this faith
we have is not about what we do and that
we have to jump through all these hoops. It's really
just having faith in Jesus and it's about like this
world throws us a lot of Kurve walls, and there's
a lot of, you know, bad things that happen around us,
(04:38):
and we're not we're not supposed to be able to
figure out why things happen, and you know, we don't
have the answers. We just know the one who does,
and we can trust him. And also what I love
is like in the Gospel of Luke, who was the doctor,
he always referred to Jesus's miracles, and so often Jesus
(05:04):
would say, it's your faith that healed you. And so
in this tour that we're doing, I love to remind
people to just kind of try to silence the doubter,
ignore the doubter. We tend to give the doubter lots
of space and lots of room in our life, and
(05:24):
we kind of write it off as if we're being
you know, discerning or you know, using our minds to
to discern what's true and not and like in some
way like we think, like that's good. But we know
who loves who is the doubter. We know who is
the author of lies and doubts, and following his way
(05:46):
led me into death and destruction. And since I've been
living according to the truth and asking the Lord to
continue to reveal his truth in me, my life looks
like the fullness and the above. And so I just
encourage people to try to silence the doubter and just believe.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Thank you for sharing that and Fardosh who are listening, watching, streaming,
or whatever you're doing with this podcast. So many of
you just playing me in the background, like talking to
this sweep like a Bob Ross video. I'm kidding, that's
my joke. Make sure to check out Melanie's EP and
check out her album. She has another two albums, but
her Stories of Songs is like the most recent album.
You're also a part of the wk ND Worship Collective.
(06:28):
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Well, the Weekend Worship Collective was something that my husband
and I during COVID sold our house in New Jersey
and we moved down to Florida and we're part time
in Florida, part time in Nashville now, but in Florida
we had this just beautiful space and it was like,
it's like paradise is how we, you know, like on Earth,
And so we wanted to bless songwriters and other people
(06:55):
we knew from Nashville with just kind of a beautiful
place to come and write music. And so so that's
where we kind of birth this retreat for songwriters and
it kind of culminated in the writing of many new
songs for the church and so we're right now praying
(07:15):
about how to get these songs out. We've hosted I
think three of the Weekend Worship retreats, and we're trying
to pray and ask the Lord how do we get
these songs out to people? Because there's some of the
most beautiful songs I've been a part of. And so
(07:36):
that's the Weekend Worship Collective. It's not any specific group
of people, although I do have some consistent people that
have come. It's a variety of people that the Lord
has brought into our lives that happen to write.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Music that's very exciting, and make sure people check out
that as well. I want to just rewind a little
bit because you also brought up your tour a little bit.
Can it also about any future dates or any goals
with the tour? For so I an audiest. I was like,
I'm interested to hear what Melanie is all about. They
can come and support you.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Oh, thank you. We just got back from just three
weeks in New England and we did a couple of
dates in New Hampshire and a couple in Massachusetts and
New York in Pennsylvania, and again, what this program, it's
it's similar to any concert that you might want to
(08:27):
go to. If you like the music, then yeah, come.
But I also tell the testimony about what God's done
because He worked incredible miracles in my life. And I
want people to know that it not just in their
mind that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
but that he is. He loves them, He's near, and
(08:49):
he he has more for you no matter where you
are in your journey. I encourage people not to settle
for their there's you know, their lot, and and press
in for all that Jesus has. I started a ministry
called Replacing the Lies, and for me a lot of
(09:12):
I had this encounter with Jesus and he healed me
from a trauma in my youth and gave me like
a new belief system. And my ministry I call replacing
the Lies because basically I tell people like what we
believe dictates how we live. What I mean is, if
(09:34):
you believe it's going to rain, you don't just believe it,
but you also then act according to it. You grab
an umbrella or you you know, wear a raincoat that day.
And it's the same what we believe about this world,
about God, about ourselves will influence and guide not just
(09:54):
what we do today, but really to the trajectory of
our life. And so replacing the lies, meaning look at
looking at the scripture and asking the Lord, you know,
what is it I'm believing that doesn't align with the truth.
And that's really the heart of my ministry. And tell
people about that in stories and songs. And we are
(10:16):
coming back out in September. Scott, my husband and I
are taking a little break here over the summer and
then we're going to go back out in September. And yeah,
do basically the same thing or whatever the Lord leads
us to ministry and waking his church to the truth
about God.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And for those who are nearby, Melanie comes nearby. I
don't know if you guys, I'll have like cities or
dates and everything. Say it.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Send you like.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Melanie's Instagram page and website for all the tour dates
and everything, and check out when she's coming near you
and check it out. Yeah, you have so many different titles.
You have like retreat leader, you have ministry leader, you
have a singer. You now can add author to that list.
He tell us a bit abou about your book you
just released.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yes, thank you I mean, it's all really ministry because
it's all about awakening people to the truth about God.
But the book is Look What Love Has Done. It's
the same name as a song I released about the
same uh, you know, the same idea that the Lord
took me from the ashes and may is making something
(11:24):
beautiful out of my life. And so this book gets
pretty short. How many pages is it. It's like eighty pages,
so you can read it really quick. But it is
my full testimony of yeah, my childhood and the things
that happened, and then the restoration and what it's like
living in the fullness of God.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That's is that you undercovered scar Sorry.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
That's me. You can get this on Amazon or you
know anywhere online, Barts and Noble, and it's called Look
What Love Has Done, My Journey to Freedom and Fullness,
and that is is me. And this picture made it
through a fire. Our house had burned down, so you
can see some of the singing from the on the
picture right here. You have to see it up close.
(12:11):
You probably can't tell.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
I can see a little bit of it. And when
I'm done at the time when I post this episode,
I'll make sure to drop the Amazon link the ordered
book if you prefer, I'm just going to drop the
Amazon link versus eight hundred lines because eight hundred licks
get messy.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But that's great. I think the story really like when
we go out, we sell the store, we sell the book,
we sell t shirts and other stuff, and this really
is the one that people want to get because I
think even though they hear the story in person, they
wanted them be able to share it with other people
or maybe somebody that they feel went through trauma as
a child. And my husband and I did some research
(12:47):
and we found out that sixty five percent of adults
are living with some form of unresolved trauma. And in
my experience, I spent decades in psychotherapy. He's you know, uh,
trying to get help, and it wasn't It wasn't until
I went to really restoring the foundations. It was it
(13:08):
was the Lord who healed me and restored me. I
would say, the psychotherapy and also sometimes you know, antidepressants
that definitely like kept me like above water. But but Jesus,
the blood of Jesus, the restoration He's done in my
life just yeah, just made me completely new, so that
I'm not even yeah, I don't even carry any of
(13:32):
those things anymore.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Praise the Lord, and I'll definitely keep an eye out
for a book. I read a lot of Christian Memore's.
I have like six on the shelf right next year.
This is the green screen, so if you got so
if you guys, sorry you can't see my question.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
But oh well, if you read this, I would love
to hear what you think for sure, definitely.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
All I had to time summer reading with so.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Awesome we we would love to hear what you think, Brandon.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
We will, and we just have a few extra minutes
for you today. And I like to keep these convers It's
nice and simple, easy if so little laying back. Some
people don't have to listen to me talk or whatever
for like twenty five minutes because yeah, do you have
anything else you want to share, anything in your heart
you want to share with the audience or anything.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Yeah, I just want to encourage you, like wherever you
are in your journey, that God is not finished. And
do you know if you have even a little faith
that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came,
you know, to save us, whatever little amount of faith,
(14:36):
I just encourage you to press in, and if you've
been going to church your whole life, I also encourage
you to press in because there is always more until
we meet him face to face, there's always more that
He has for us. And so I want you to
know that you are so loved, that God is so near,
(14:58):
that he cares, that He is ready for you to
look to him. Whatever situations you're presently in, He's ready
and willing to help you. And I just encourage you
to look to Jesus and know that he loves you
and grow in that confidence, because that confidence will change
(15:21):
your life. He will change your life. I promise you that.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I agree with everything say I used to spake somewhere
like you don't give up and all that. I'm like
a big self love slash motivation person too, so that's
why I post a lot of my socials. So if
you're friends with me on social people, you already know
I talking about. But Melanie, I want to thank you
for your time today, thank you for joining me talking
a little bit about your album, a little bit about
your new book, and everything is so exciting to see
(15:49):
and everyone who's listening. Make sure to follow Melanie's journey
on her website. I'll attatch that with the description of
this video and the Amazon link, and support Melanie if
she comes to a city near you. Melanie again, thank.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
You, thank you, Brandon, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Welcome and everyone who's watching will take care and see
you next time. Take care, everyone,