November 2, 2025 • 45 mins
If you attended Mexicali Outreach with Azusa Pacific University from 1988 - 2004 +/- chances are you sung along to songs by Reggie Coates.
From 'Radically Committed' to 'Go The Distance,' and 'Take A Stand' Reggie wrote songs for three of Azusa's most popular themes of the 1990's.
Hope you enjoy this episode - walking down the dusty memory lane that was the Mexicali Outreach ministry.
Links:
https://heartfeltmusic.org/
https://www.youtube.com/ReggieCoates
https://mexicalioutreach.org/
Contact and more info on Alden:
https://www.aldenolmsted.com/
From 'Radically Committed' to 'Go The Distance,' and 'Take A Stand' Reggie wrote songs for three of Azusa's most popular themes of the 1990's.
Hope you enjoy this episode - walking down the dusty memory lane that was the Mexicali Outreach ministry.
Links:
https://heartfeltmusic.org/
https://www.youtube.com/ReggieCoates
https://mexicalioutreach.org/
Contact and more info on Alden:
https://www.aldenolmsted.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
She actually talked to me man here, Oh yeah, yeah, really.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Got in the bad hamor of asking a huge amount
of questions.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Just a question between friends, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
She actually talked to me. All right, well, welcome to
five Great Questions. My name is Alden Olmsted. And this
is actually the true title of this one should be
three Great Songs, because that's what we're going to talk
about with Reggie Coats, and we're going to talk about
(00:39):
the Mexicali outreach program that AZUSA Pacific University ran from
I don't know, I guess early seventies to maybe now,
or maybe a year or two ago, but it looks
like it's been going quite a long time. So I'm
hoping that a lot of those audience members and people
that went on those trips will really enjoy this episode.
(01:02):
I was searching for some of my Mexicali's shirts, and
I think in all of my moves, I think I
had to make the hard choice a few years ago
and let them go. So the best I could find
was kind of a retro one that says free hugs.
That is probably something that I would have you know,
I would have worn this back in the day. Yeah,
(01:24):
And it's the one that makes me think the most
of it. And then I do have my my Mexicali
blanket in the background here, and and the last thing
I do have, I do have one of the guide books.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh nice, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So this was the first year I would have gone,
would have been eighty eight, and this was the this
was the team member's manual, and so it would have
had all the basics of language and.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You know, things to pack and things not to pack,
and all those things that we that we know.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
So so yeah, let's we're gonna we're gonna kind of
get right into it. We the reason we're here doing
this is because I went to Mexicali for twelve years.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So I didn't celebrate Easter in the United States.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
During the entire decade of the nineties and one or
two on either end, and maybe twelve or thirteen years.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So every year the well, I'll get to that second.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
So I saw a post that you had done on
YouTube about one of the theme songs, and I thought, and
I thought, well, I love those theme songs. But you
had said that there were three, and I thought, wait
a second, I thought there were a lot more than three,
and because you know, in my mind, it's just a big,
you know, series of years, so many years and so
(02:54):
many memories, t shirts, designs, theme songs. So that's what
kind of to this connection. So all that to say
is that that's what got us here. My name is Aldenolmstead.
I'm grateful to anyone who's listening.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I don't have a huge audience.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I try to do this in my spare time, you know,
whenever I find someone that I think is good to interview.
So that's my introduction. Yeah, so that's that's my introduction.
And if you want to email me or ask me
any questions and the you know, the podcast link is
not working, then just go to my website Aldenomsted dot com.
(03:32):
Reggie's is Heartfelt Music dot org. Right, okay, so and
this is a good time to introduce mister Reggie Coates.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hey, great, thank you. Yeah, well, I was so glad
that you emailed me and that you're interested in one
of the songs. I think it was radically committed. But
we also have take a stand and go the distance,
and those are three that I wrote. The themes for
were but but there was a lot of other themes
(04:03):
like awesome God, and that they used uh songs by
you know, different artists and such and.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Like our God rerains, our God reins.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Yeah, so that's you know.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
So, but let's so I want to start very so
if there if there is anyone listening who doesn't know
what the Mexically outreach was at all. My I was
thinking about this just a little bit ago, that the
humorous description would be to say, uh, it was that
you know, the Christian burning Man before before burning Man.
(04:36):
But I only I only say that too, you know,
so people will understand. There was a big field, and
there was what we called tent city, and basically what
it was, and you can correct me if you have
a better description, was it was for youth in America
and some in Canada actually traveled a long way who
didn't want to spend their spring break, their Easter vacation,
(04:57):
you know, partying or going to Daytona beach or Cobo
or somewhere. They chose to spend it sleeping in a
tent on the dirt and to minister and share the
gospel message and give out food and clothing and befriend
small villages in northern Mexico in a little place called Quernavaca,
so is that and then for about a week and
(05:20):
then it was all channeled through a Zusa Pacific University,
which is east of Los Angeles and Azusa, California. And
somewhere around the mid late nineties, my church stopped going
with Azusa, but we kept going on our own. We
just found it was more enjoyable to kind of stay
with the stay with the in the churches, in the homes.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was a little bit of a different experience, but.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
At the peak, which I think the peak could be
maybe I don't know, eighty five, eighty six till mid
two thousands, when we're talking two to three thousand people
in this huge field. And so unless you have a
better description, we're going to watch a quick video which
is actually gonna be really fun. So because I don't
(06:04):
do a lot of the screen, the screen shares, but
let's share this.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And see what happens. Okay, here we go. This is
the nineteen nineties, and this is.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, this is our fifth year to be in Mexicali,
and it's something that we try not to miss every
year because it's really the heart of who the university
is in terms of its Christian commitment and it's commitment
to service and being with our students in their.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Ministry is absolutely the highlight of our year. So Jvidy
and I wouldn't miss it for anything.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
I think one of the things that I enjoy the
most are the chapel services. Is it's just so inspiring
to see those almost three thousand kids worshiping together and
see them and seeing them in their groups and bonding
and showing love for each other, praying for each other,
and it's always a really missing special time.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Welcome to is. There's a Pacific University's Mexico outs all right,
So I just wanted to I wanted to show that
for a little bit, just so we could that's great,
just so we could see how it looked like.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And anyone can watch that if you want to go
to Mexically Outreach dot.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Org you can see the theme histories. So I think
we've set it up enough. We know what we're talking about. Now.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Now I want to hear how did you get involved
in the thing? Before we talk about the songs, where
did you grow up briefly and how did you get
sucked into this Christian burning man?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh my gosh, Well I became a Christian in southern
California in Altadena Pasadena area, and when I was twelve
it became a Christian, but then moved up to northern
California when I was fifteen, picked up the guitar at fifteen,
and I ended up graduating from as I stayed with
(08:02):
a degree in vocal performance. And so I loved playing
guitar and I love singing, and I was in charge
of a large church of the youth music program. And
then I actually became a youth pastor in the Walnut
Creek area. And they had been going to Mexicali for
(08:23):
a couple of years already, and here I became just
their youth pastor, so I was going to go with them.
So I decided to go with them. And that year
they said we need someone to lead music. And I
mean there's three thousand high schoolers that go down there
at Cornovodka. And I thought, well, I'm going to be
actually with my group in tent City. And we were
(08:47):
going out during the day to you know, Mexico villages
to help build things and work you know, programs and stuff,
and then would come one in the morning. In the
evening we would sing worse songs. So that's how I
got involved. And so the first year I think was
that our God reigns, and then I didn't write any
(09:08):
music for that, but actually just led a bunch of music.
And then later on was able to during when I
knew what the theme was, able to write some songs
for those. And they actually had three different camps. They
had Corn of Vodka, which I was in part of
for about five years, and then Muscatel, which I was
part for five years after that, and there was Vera
(09:31):
Cruz which a friend of mine was doing the worship
for that one.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
So you'ree we just we didn't plan this, but your
first year was my first year.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think it was eighty eight. Yeah, and yeah, and
then yeah, so that's kind of fun that it was
about the same time. And then I'm not sure quite
why I stopped, but I think because I was a
worship pastor and it just became a little busy that
I stopp up to doing that. But I loved it.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
It was great, so at so so at the very beginning,
you were you were just I mean not just but
you were going out in the villages just like everyone
else during.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
The day, right, And so I did that for three years,
which was good because I got to experience what all
the students were and everybody else was too, and it
kind of gave me when they saw me up front,
they also saw me at the bathrooms you know too.
It's you know, it's kind of a relational thing, which
was nice. But then I think it was the fourth
year I didn't I was no longer youth pastor. I
(10:32):
was a worship pastor and that church was not going down,
you know, to MEXICALI. But I kept going during you
know those weeks, the holy weeks.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, and so let's start it. Let's talk about the
first theme.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
So who contacted you at Azusa or did did?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
How did you become the worship leader for three thousand people?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah? I think someone from AZUSA who knew we were coming.
I was calling them because I wanted to make sure
I understood what was happening with the group. And I've
got my dog in the background over here, all right,
But U and so they, well we in talking. That's
when they said, oh we didn't. We didn't realize that
(11:16):
you are into music and you lead worship. Would you
consider leading for us? And also someone from another camp
knew me and said that I would be a good
fit for that. But it seemed like it was quite
a bit of a chore to do both, you know,
to go into the villages with my team and uh,
(11:37):
you know, and also do that. But I'm glad I
did it and it was really fun for those years.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Yeah, and so let's talk about the first song. So
tell me how you how you wrote it? Was it
based on a verse?
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Was?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
What was the inspiration for radically committed?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Sure? Radically committed was as I was thinking about it,
I wanted to express that God was radically committed to me,
and that's the only way that we can be radically
committed to him is that he did something to love
on us, to get inside of us, to empower us,
(12:15):
and to give us the strength to live the Christian life.
And so basically that's where that theme came from, because
it sounds a little bit a little arrogant to say
I'm radically committed, you know, but to think that, you know,
humbly to say we have Christ inside of us and
he wants us to you know, he wants to live
(12:37):
out that commitment in us. Yeah, So that's kind of
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
And did you and did you test the song to
anyone in Walnut Creek First?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, to my youth group. I sang it to them first,
and then I had to, you know, sing it for
the staff as as a Pacific University and we all
four liked it.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Oh oh, so you so you tested it before they
would allow you to kind of yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I wanted to make sure that it would be something
that I could have as a theme, and because they did,
I had enough time. I actually created a cassette. You
know when there were cassettes. I had a cassette that
I had available that had that on it plus other
worship songs that I would use, so that it would
they could take it home with them and their churches.
(13:20):
They can learn these songs like you know, maybe Awesome
God or maybe even a fast version of Amazing Grace
type of thing. But some songs that I would use live,
they could take home and use those. So there's a sape.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So you were how many how many cassettes did you
produce that first year?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, I that was my first one. I had three
cassettes that were just me doing my solo songs. So
one called living in Jesus in eighty two, and then
one called No Greater Love and eighty five and Take
It to Heart in eighty eight. And so when I
(13:57):
went the second year in eighty nine, I already had
the experience of creating these cassettes. So I did one
called Radically Committed, knowing that it was going to get
out there and serve the church and they could be
able to learn these songs.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, all right, well, let's uh, let's let's hear it.
This is the this would be the best part, especially
for people that haven't heard this. You can give us
a little, uh, a little snippet of it and we'll
we'll link to the full songs.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, let's let's hear it.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, sounds good. So I'll just do a little intro
verse in the chorus.
Speaker 8 (14:31):
So let'sted, do you understand why I live in the suway.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Jesus came? Did it? Full from the doctor the Bradess
of day. I can't stand on my own, It's like living.
Speaker 9 (15:02):
My London danger, turning to Jesus, knowing that the power
of those games change in the power.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Nice, very nice, very nice.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yeah, so did you so when you when you came
back that week from that Radically committed year when it
was I mean I remember the masses of people. Uh,
it was a packed I mean I think we our
church had two full buses, a van and maybe two cars.
I mean we might have had I don't know, we
(16:01):
might have had seventy five or eighty kids from a
small country church in Sebastopool, California. So, yeah, that was
a massive event. When you came back from that. What
once you came down off that high, which takes a
few weeks as we know, and do the wash and
get some sleep, what did you you know, where was
(16:24):
your life at that point and was there any sort
of crossroads moment or maybe I should be maybe I
should work for AZUSA, or I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No, I was really happy being a youth pastor at
the time and working with the parents and the youth
of it was called christ Community Church, and it was
really a very fulfilling for me. And I had no
necessarily an ambition to be huge. I just wanted to
serve God and be faithful on that. So it worked
(16:58):
out really nice. But I didn't want to stop, so
I just I wanted to think what could I do
for you know, The next year to be able to
encourage folks, and that seemed to you know, I didn't.
I didn't feel like I needed to have a big
change of trajectory or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And did and did did a zeusa.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Like I said, after that first year, that was just
you know, it was your second or third year. I
think there was a holy sweat maybe in there somewhere,
all right. Yeah, But so after the radically Committed, then
did they was there any more pressure to come up
with a song quicker so that they could or was
or was it pretty much just a repeat and you
(17:40):
went into go the Distance? Or how did how did
the second you know take us through in between radically
Committed and Go the Distance?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Wow? Well, actually I'm not quite sure you know how
many years there were before we did another one, but
we kept dialoguing about it. And there was another, like
I said, uh, in Vera Cruz. It was another camp,
and a friend of mine wrote a song radically Committed also,
which was different. And so there was other camps that
(18:12):
were writing songs to help that particular you know group
of people. And usually people didn't kind of you know,
shop around or mix up their groups. They stuck with
a group for years, you know, unless they went off
on their own because they found it less expensive or
something like that, like you guys. But so you know,
(18:34):
it wasn't just me making the songs. There were some
other people too to serve that particular village and that location.
But you know, as we talked about it, when they
said like go the Distance, I thought, well, we can
do this again, and they liked what I did with
the cassette, and so I did another cassette I think,
(18:57):
with a CD that had Go the Distance on it.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Okay, and well let's.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And did do you remember any inspiration for that one?
Or was it Where were you at at the time,
I guess is what I You know.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I was still at Walnut Creek as a youth pastor,
and uh, this Go the Distance was kind of to
make a call, uh to say, and I kind of
thought of ready, set Go. So I thought ready means
you know, you're listening to God and you want to
get ready to obey him or to follow him, and
(19:31):
then set you know, you know where you're supposed to go,
and then you go, ready, set go. And that's what
kind of this song is about. And it's not just
about uh, it's kind of a call to keep it going,
so it's not just this week, but you know, go
the distance, meaning keep it going and let the Lord
use you in life as you continue to go.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I think there was now I think about it because
I'm thinking of the colors that radically committed was.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The bright orange?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I feel like there might have been a neon green
in between.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Radically committed and go the Distance. I just can't quite remember. Actually,
this is a good opportunity to do. We're gonna do
another quick screen share. We're gonna go to the theme history.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Of mexicali dot org.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
So we had okay, so our god reins, holy sweat,
there's the radically committed. Oh awesome God, that's what it was.
And there was already a song, so you didn't have
to do.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It, right, we used that awesome God.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Okay, and then there was and then there's and then
there's go the Distance, and then there's two more before
the second the taper stand one.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Okay right right, okay, okay, okay, great, Well that's it's
candy that they've that they've done that, and it helps
me out because you know, it's thirty years ago my.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Now radical Yeah, so radically committed was maybe ninety one
and then awesome God, and now we're in ninety three.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
OK.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Let's hear go the Distance.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Sounds good? All right, here we go.
Speaker 11 (21:04):
Listen, go the distance, Go the distance.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Your faith in Christ to the distance can be strong.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Wanting my pain the distance on your marm?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Are you made? Listen for God's gone?
Speaker 11 (21:41):
Get said, gave.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
The Lord who you're wrong? And go go leave the past.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Behind, leave what's.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Less on?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Full the rides you Jesus samee, don't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
It's very nice? Yeah? That one, Yeah, that one was good.
I forgot.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I forgot that that one was one with less intro.
It just kind of started right into it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, I could do a little bit more of ant
to make it short.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I teach it at al Christian School in San
Jose and for the junior high they have a missions
class that goes out and uh package packs food for
different you know, organizations and such. And they chose last
year to have Go the Distance as their theme song.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Oh very nice.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, all right, well let's keep it rolling. We've got
as we saw on the theme, there's there were two
more in between this and take a Stand?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Now were you at that time? Were you still kind
of doing the same pattern every year?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
At that time I had moved to be a worship
pastor in Kupertino and was still involved. I did skip
one year and and that's when I went from being
at corner of Vodka to muscatol. So I'm not sure
when Take a Stand was written, but it took a
(23:33):
little bit more of a serious theme like that. Those
two radically committed and go the Distance are kind of
entertaining and kind of fun like theme songs. But Take
a Stand is Do you want me to tell the
story of it real quick?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's just the story of Stephen and when he was
being challenged by uh, he was leading everybody to Christ
and so the the you know, the leadership of the
you know, Jewish church at that point was like mad
(24:11):
because a lot of people were becoming Christians. And so
they pulled him in and they held court and kind
of lied about him, and he gave a little history
lesson that actually was fairly long, and they could tell
that he knew what he was talking about. And then
when he started talking about Jesus and said, you stiff
neck men, you know, you're the you're the guys that
(24:33):
kind of turned against him, and they, you know, he
shared a little bit about God's love and they just
wanted to stone him. And at that point he it
says that he looked up into heaven and he saw
Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And in
every other place in scripture, Jesus is seated at the
right hand of God. So I felt like what was
(24:57):
happening is he was so bold to s for Jesus
that Jesus stood for him at that moment and allowed
him to see that. And it said that his face
looked like the face of an angel. So it wasn't
like he was angry or anything. He was just honest.
And then they actually took him out of the city
and stoned him. And I thought, how am I going
(25:18):
to put this into a song? But you know, I
really wanted to use it as saying, you know, it's
it's worth taking a stand because you know, God is
true and we need to stand for him. So that's
kind of what that's.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
So then looking at you, Yeah, so this would have
been ninety six ninety five. You took off and I'll
tell you a story about that and my brief stage
appearance while you were not on stage that I forgot
about and just remembered recently. Yeah, but let's do take
a stand.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, sounds good. I'm just going to do the first verse,
which actually doesn't talk about Steven. But let you know
a little bit about the song. So let's see.
Speaker 12 (26:01):
Okay, Oh gosh, okay, wait, m.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh my gosh, I gotta remember the let's see. Here
we go with a heart of cold difference. The church
now lives asleep, while the oar and broken hearted are
(26:35):
dying at the feet.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
God is calling us to wake up, to take a stand,
to love in Jesus' name and serve others.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We can. Is there one.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Will take the stand, take the stand, take a stample
is on, Take a stand the bory.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Of God, stand in industry and the love of the f.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Stand nat.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
You can do that. You can do the Stephen verse.
Let's keep it going. Yeah, do this you if you
remember it? Sure?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Sure. Let's see with a uh, with a heart and
nuts with the heart. Oh, I forgot that'll start with a.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Let's take a stand, oh, with a with a something
beyond measure seven came.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
To with I think I got it with a with
a hear it be on measure.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Stephen had to speak of the life and death of
Jesus and the.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Love of God.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
So dean, but their canger turned to uri when he
saw the Lord.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Had stood in honor of the one who would boldly
claim his word. Steven died Gus.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
He took a stand, to take a stand, take a stands.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Take a stand to the glory of God.
Speaker 13 (28:34):
Standing the love of God lent his pleasence is to
stand the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, very good, very good. Sorry to put you on
the spot there. I knew, I knew that the second
verse had Stephen in it, and I.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Right, yeah, that's a good one, because that's kind of
what it's about.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Yeah, and that was That was the first song that
I learned on guitar. I mean, you know, I bought
a guitar after I don't know, after the first or
second year of MEXICALI just inspired for different reasons.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And yeah, the.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Funny part is at nineteen I thought I was buying
a guitar too late.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Oh yeah, I thought I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
get it. This is what am I doing with my life?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, oh use it a lot.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
So no, that's uh, that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
And I do have a a I think a relatable
story to there and you're you're missing year and I
just realized that this is why. So that that year
in between, when you were in Vera Cruz, there was
a different leader and I don't remember who it was,
but they were playing somehow the the you know Psalm forty,
(29:53):
which you two does a version of song Psalm forty.
They someone had been playing that a lot, and it
was on our in our minds, on our on our hearts,
and we had kind of figured out, what you know,
kind of relearning about you two a little bit. And
but I love that song and I kept bugging the leader,
(30:15):
Hey why don't you sing this is? I kept bugging him,
and I think by Tuesday or Wednesday he was sick
of me.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
He said, well, why don't you come and sing it?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
And so it was a little bit of a smaller
year because some people had gone to Vera Cruz, so
it was maybe fifteen hundred people like half.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
But I got up there and played a forty.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
That's great opportunity.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, it was cool. I didn't I you know, I didn't.
I didn't get close enough to the mic at the beginning,
and I, you know, I just but but I did it.
I did it, and I finished.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The song and that was it nice, That's great. That
was my hard on yourself. It's too easy to to
think about all the things like plugging in and I
think you go right that it was.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
It was fun, it was it was it was a
good moment, good good. Okay, so we've got so we've
got the three songs now, So then was take a
stand your your last year?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
No, it wasn't. I actually went all the way, you know,
for ten years. So I started in eighty nine skipty years.
So I think I went to two thousand. Wow, right,
so all of the except one year in the nineties,
but I think I went all the way to two thousand.
And I I know that Carolyn Coons was in charge
of that of the Mexico outreaches, and she was kind
(31:30):
of transitioning to not do that, and so I'm not
quite sure again why I stopped. I'm sure it was
just other things were going on, you know, but I
really enjoyed that a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah. Well, and one of one of my questions was.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know what was your sounds sounds kind of a
typical question, But what's you know what, what's one of
your best memory or is the whole thing just a
good memory or is there one memory that you can
think of that you think that that one really stands out.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Well. I was thinking of two particular memories, one that
is not a good memory. Partably. The hardest thing is
that right before we got there, there was two girls
from the village that I was working with in Muscutel
and some guys picked them up and we're going to
(32:29):
take them. They went the opposite direction that the girls
wanted to go, these two girls, and they ended up
jumping out of the car because they want to get
away from them. They both died. So it really set
a very serious time for that year, which was close
to one of the last, you know years I was there,
but one of the best experiences. Which also is a
(32:51):
tough situation. But they had a prison in Muscutel that
it was a men's prison, but when men are arrested
and they're with a woman, they arrest a woman too.
I mean, it's kind of a weird thing. But this
men's prison had a woman's section that had about fifty
(33:12):
women in the men's prison, and so we went to
the women's section of this men's prison to give them haircuts,
to do their teeth, and I sang songs for them
while they're having pedicures and manicures and just treated them
like queens. And they really appreciated that. And you know,
of course I don't speak Spanish, but I was able
(33:35):
to sing like three different songs in Spanish, like Father,
I dare you?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
You know, right?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
And so because of those things with the kids, I
knew a few that I could sing and one Ain't
Nobody is a song that I wrote, and I sang
a lot for the kids too, But I was able
to learn just a chorus in Spanish and sing to them,
and they really appreciated that a lot. Talking about God's love.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, well that's a good segue.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
We did not plan this because that was the last
I told you this was about three songs, but it's
actually about four because I couldn't interview Reggie Coates without
talking about Ain't Nobody. So let's tell me how that
song came to be when you wrote it, and what
was the reaction the first time you played it for anyone?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Sure, I think I wrote it when I was in
college and actually sang it one of the first times
in my dorm, and there's about fifty in the dorm room,
and they actually liked the music and the message is
very positive. But these people in my dorm were just
(34:50):
kind of crazy. They did things that were probably not appropriate,
you know, But I was with them for the whole year,
so it was nice to be able to expect meant
to see how they would think about it. And then
I started doing in front of groups and it actually
became my most popular song that I've ever written, and
so there's a lot of views on YouTube, and I
(35:13):
do get royalties from churches that use the song, and
so there's a there's a time where this song brought
in probably about four hundred dollars every quarter from churches
using them and stuff. And so that's not why I
wrote it, but know that it got out there and
on c CLI it's one.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Of those yeah and what and what was the do
you remember what the inspiration was for it?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Or well, there's the chorus. There is a musician named
Andre Crouch, and I went to a concert of his
and he had so much expression and so much passion
you know, he wrote my tribute and a whole bunch
of different songs, and he sang one called Can't Nobody
(35:57):
that he wrote and it was very similar. But I
love that jazzy style, and so I went home and
wrote my own verse that is totally different called I've
Got a Friend and and and then put this chorus
that sounded a lot like that. You know, when we
first start out as musicians, we do a lot of
(36:18):
imitating people that we love, and you know, like I
learned a lot of John Denver songs too, and so
I have different songs that sound like is and so
this is one that I was inspired by. Andre Crouch.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Oh that's great, Yeah, No, that's it's it's sometimes people
can confuse, you know, inspiration with copying, but it's it's
it's the seed, you know, that gets that you can't shake.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
But then it's like a filter.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
You're the filter, and it comes out in your own version,
with your own expression and your own background and creativity.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I remember, you know, I remember very well when.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
We were exhausted and had spent all day in the
dust and the dirt, playing soccer with the kids and
sitting on the bus and Sweaty beyond Belief.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I remember coming.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Back and just you know, there was a release of
energy of a relief when ain't nobody would come because
it was just it was one of those songs that
we that we looked forward to, and everyone didn't care
what they looked like when they were singing it or
doing the motions or anything.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And so I really appreciate it, and I know.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
A lot of people do, and that's encouraging.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Yeah, And I think I think that's a good way
to go out. So I want to before we go out,
tell us briefly what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
What you're doing now? What do you do these days?
Where do you live?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Sure, I'm living in Mount Herman, which is a Christian
conference center in northern California, pretty much in your Santa Cruz, California.
And I am working at Vallet Christian School in San Jose.
I teach guitar there. I'm the head of the guitar
studies and I also am the president's CEO of Heartfelt
Music Ministry, which I started in nineteen ninety eight and
(38:15):
it's a nonprofit organization that actually five board members steward
the company. But you know, I'm kind of the one
doing a lot of the work. So I'm done like
nineteen recordings and eight of them are on you know,
(38:36):
you can get through Spotify or Pandora and listen to
all those songs. And I have a channel YouTube channel
that you can actually watch me play about thirty of
those songs. And right now I'm working on a complete
guitar course for guitarists that goes from beginning to advanced.
(39:00):
I mean, it's really thorough that has music theory in it, chords, exercises,
and it's going to be like forty nine videos and
going from beginning to advance. So that's that's what I'm
working on right now.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
That's great. Yeah, no, that's great.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
The do you ever have moments where you're doing you know,
maybe some I don't know, some serious worship music and
then somebody screams.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Out, you know what to play? Ain't nobody you know?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Definitely yeah, people no hand motions to it, you know,
I ain't nobody let me like Jesus, you know, there's
a lot of fun stuff that goes along with it.
Speaker 4 (39:36):
Yeah, So because I guarantee you didn't come up with
the hand motions at some point, you're.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Even the little uh which that was from MEXICALI. You know,
the group decided to do that and it caught on.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
You know, yeah, very nice.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Well, thanks for coming on, Reggie, and I will as
I said before, I'll have all the links to your
songs in the show notes and would courage encourage everyone
to UH to listen and to spread the word. And
if you've been on a Mexicaliti outreach and it's been
a few years, maybe maybe it's time to revisit the well,
(40:13):
the songs, but also the you know, the movement that
the spirit did over those years. Maybe maybe it's a
good time to for all of us to revisit that.
And I think of the intro to take a stand
a lot, you know, with the with the heart of
cold indifference, the world now falls asleep. And yeah, you know,
(40:35):
we go through those cycles every few years in culture
and society, and or sometimes when they're more you know,
prominent or evident to even non believers will we'll say, hey,
there's kind of a darkness out there or what's going on?
Even non believers will say that. And you know, we
know that the demon's knew Jesus' name, so that's not surprising.
(40:56):
But uh, I just think some of those some of
the truths that we you know ingested in between allah
I love it, you know, in between those other songs,
some of the truths that you put down are I
think important and still good to revisit today.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
So very much.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
I thank you for doing what.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
You did and for all those years of playing music
and going out to the villages.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
And I appreciate it. I know a lot of people
appreciate it too.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well. That's so meaningful. Thank you so much for saying
all that.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Yeah, So okay, without further ado, thanks for listening to
five great questions.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
And this version was called.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Three great songs, and we're going to end it with
the big one, Ain't Nobody.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I'll do the last little section in Spanish, which, okay,
I don't know a bunch of it, and I hope
it's correct. But so it goes like this, I've got
a friend. Nobody lived me, lie mine got a friend.
(42:04):
He nobody lies got a friend. Heint nobody nobody like him.
Je Jesus, he's my friend.
Speaker 14 (42:21):
Yes, Oh, nobody love me like Jesus.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
He ain't nobody. Now you got nothing like.
Speaker 14 (42:35):
A littld ain't nobody, nobody love me like Jesus please
my friend.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Well, I've got friends set him lead me.
Speaker 14 (42:49):
Down, and I've got friends that I keep by my side.
But Jesus Christ, he's more a friend. I'm satisfied. FID
(43:14):
CAM from.
Speaker 13 (43:17):
I'm not.
Speaker 14 (43:19):
Cam from CAMM from gez mad.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Very good, very nice.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
I do remember that now, I remember no I naughty?
That that had happened at some point.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, once I learned that little friend, I forgot how
to say he's my friend. But yeah, but yeah I
knew it then.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Yeah, I think I think I may have played it
one time for the kids in our village.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
No, the no I naughty version, Oh nice, that's not
not with all the verses. But you know we did, Yeah,
we did the best we could.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Uh wow, Well again, appreciate thanks for having me on.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
Sure, thanks Reggie, and uh yeah, I appreciate it. And
so you're down Mount Herman. If anyone, if anyone in
the South Bay area Santa Cruz gets a chance to reconnect,
just if you see him walking on the street, just yell,
ain't nobody's see what happens?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
All right? Thanks Reggie.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Hey, you're welcome all right, Radically committed to you.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
Understand why I'm living this way.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Jesus came and did it well. They found the doctor
the brightness of day. I can't stand on my own.
It's like living dangers. I'm turning my heart to Jesus.
No one he hasn't danna committmit to me.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
I'm radically committing, living in the power of God.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
I'm mad.
She actually talked to me man here, Oh yeah, yeah, really.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Got in the bad hamor of asking a huge amount
of questions.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Just a question between friends, you know.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
She actually talked to me. All right, well, welcome to
five Great Questions. My name is Alden Olmsted. And this
is actually the true title of this one should be
three Great Songs, because that's what we're going to talk
about with Reggie Coats, and we're going to talk about
(00:39):
the Mexicali outreach program that AZUSA Pacific University ran from
I don't know, I guess early seventies to maybe now,
or maybe a year or two ago, but it looks
like it's been going quite a long time. So I'm
hoping that a lot of those audience members and people
that went on those trips will really enjoy this episode.
(01:02):
I was searching for some of my Mexicali's shirts, and
I think in all of my moves, I think I
had to make the hard choice a few years ago
and let them go. So the best I could find
was kind of a retro one that says free hugs.
That is probably something that I would have you know,
I would have worn this back in the day. Yeah,
(01:24):
And it's the one that makes me think the most
of it. And then I do have my my Mexicali
blanket in the background here, and and the last thing
I do have, I do have one of the guide books.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh nice, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So this was the first year I would have gone,
would have been eighty eight, and this was the this
was the team member's manual, and so it would have
had all the basics of language and.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You know, things to pack and things not to pack,
and all those things that we that we know.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
So so yeah, let's we're gonna we're gonna kind of
get right into it. We the reason we're here doing
this is because I went to Mexicali for twelve years.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So I didn't celebrate Easter in the United States.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
During the entire decade of the nineties and one or
two on either end, and maybe twelve or thirteen years.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So every year the well, I'll get to that second.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
So I saw a post that you had done on
YouTube about one of the theme songs, and I thought, and
I thought, well, I love those theme songs. But you
had said that there were three, and I thought, wait
a second, I thought there were a lot more than three,
and because you know, in my mind, it's just a big,
you know, series of years, so many years and so
(02:54):
many memories, t shirts, designs, theme songs. So that's what
kind of to this connection. So all that to say
is that that's what got us here. My name is Aldenolmstead.
I'm grateful to anyone who's listening.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I don't have a huge audience.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
I try to do this in my spare time, you know,
whenever I find someone that I think is good to interview.
So that's my introduction. Yeah, so that's that's my introduction.
And if you want to email me or ask me
any questions and the you know, the podcast link is
not working, then just go to my website Aldenomsted dot com.
(03:32):
Reggie's is Heartfelt Music dot org. Right, okay, so and
this is a good time to introduce mister Reggie Coates.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hey, great, thank you. Yeah, well, I was so glad
that you emailed me and that you're interested in one
of the songs. I think it was radically committed. But
we also have take a stand and go the distance,
and those are three that I wrote. The themes for
were but but there was a lot of other themes
(04:03):
like awesome God, and that they used uh songs by
you know, different artists and such and.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Like our God rerains, our God reins.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Yeah, so that's you know.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
So, but let's so I want to start very so
if there if there is anyone listening who doesn't know
what the Mexically outreach was at all. My I was
thinking about this just a little bit ago, that the
humorous description would be to say, uh, it was that
you know, the Christian burning Man before before burning Man.
(04:36):
But I only I only say that too, you know,
so people will understand. There was a big field, and
there was what we called tent city, and basically what
it was, and you can correct me if you have
a better description, was it was for youth in America
and some in Canada actually traveled a long way who
didn't want to spend their spring break, their Easter vacation,
(04:57):
you know, partying or going to Daytona beach or Cobo
or somewhere. They chose to spend it sleeping in a
tent on the dirt and to minister and share the
gospel message and give out food and clothing and befriend
small villages in northern Mexico in a little place called Quernavaca,
so is that and then for about a week and
(05:20):
then it was all channeled through a Zusa Pacific University,
which is east of Los Angeles and Azusa, California. And
somewhere around the mid late nineties, my church stopped going
with Azusa, but we kept going on our own. We
just found it was more enjoyable to kind of stay
with the stay with the in the churches, in the homes.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It was a little bit of a different experience, but.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
At the peak, which I think the peak could be
maybe I don't know, eighty five, eighty six till mid
two thousands, when we're talking two to three thousand people
in this huge field. And so unless you have a
better description, we're going to watch a quick video which
is actually gonna be really fun. So because I don't
(06:04):
do a lot of the screen, the screen shares, but
let's share this.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And see what happens. Okay, here we go. This is
the nineteen nineties, and this is.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, this is our fifth year to be in Mexicali,
and it's something that we try not to miss every
year because it's really the heart of who the university
is in terms of its Christian commitment and it's commitment
to service and being with our students in their.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Ministry is absolutely the highlight of our year. So Jvidy
and I wouldn't miss it for anything.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
I think one of the things that I enjoy the
most are the chapel services. Is it's just so inspiring
to see those almost three thousand kids worshiping together and
see them and seeing them in their groups and bonding
and showing love for each other, praying for each other,
and it's always a really missing special time.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Welcome to is. There's a Pacific University's Mexico outs all right,
So I just wanted to I wanted to show that
for a little bit, just so we could that's great,
just so we could see how it looked like.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
And anyone can watch that if you want to go
to Mexically Outreach dot.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Org you can see the theme histories. So I think
we've set it up enough. We know what we're talking about. Now.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Now I want to hear how did you get involved
in the thing? Before we talk about the songs, where
did you grow up briefly and how did you get
sucked into this Christian burning man?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh my gosh, Well I became a Christian in southern
California in Altadena Pasadena area, and when I was twelve
it became a Christian, but then moved up to northern
California when I was fifteen, picked up the guitar at fifteen,
and I ended up graduating from as I stayed with
(08:02):
a degree in vocal performance. And so I loved playing
guitar and I love singing, and I was in charge
of a large church of the youth music program. And
then I actually became a youth pastor in the Walnut
Creek area. And they had been going to Mexicali for
(08:23):
a couple of years already, and here I became just
their youth pastor, so I was going to go with them.
So I decided to go with them. And that year
they said we need someone to lead music. And I
mean there's three thousand high schoolers that go down there
at Cornovodka. And I thought, well, I'm going to be
actually with my group in tent City. And we were
(08:47):
going out during the day to you know, Mexico villages
to help build things and work you know, programs and stuff,
and then would come one in the morning. In the
evening we would sing worse songs. So that's how I
got involved. And so the first year I think was
that our God reigns, and then I didn't write any
(09:08):
music for that, but actually just led a bunch of music.
And then later on was able to during when I
knew what the theme was, able to write some songs
for those. And they actually had three different camps. They
had Corn of Vodka, which I was in part of
for about five years, and then Muscatel, which I was
part for five years after that, and there was Vera
(09:31):
Cruz which a friend of mine was doing the worship
for that one.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
So you'ree we just we didn't plan this, but your
first year was my first year.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think it was eighty eight. Yeah, and yeah, and
then yeah, so that's kind of fun that it was
about the same time. And then I'm not sure quite
why I stopped, but I think because I was a
worship pastor and it just became a little busy that
I stopp up to doing that. But I loved it.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
It was great, so at so so at the very beginning,
you were you were just I mean not just but
you were going out in the villages just like everyone
else during.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
The day, right, And so I did that for three years,
which was good because I got to experience what all
the students were and everybody else was too, and it
kind of gave me when they saw me up front,
they also saw me at the bathrooms you know too.
It's you know, it's kind of a relational thing, which
was nice. But then I think it was the fourth
year I didn't I was no longer youth pastor. I
(10:32):
was a worship pastor and that church was not going down,
you know, to MEXICALI. But I kept going during you
know those weeks, the holy weeks.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, and so let's start it. Let's talk about the
first theme.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
So who contacted you at Azusa or did did?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
How did you become the worship leader for three thousand people?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah? I think someone from AZUSA who knew we were coming.
I was calling them because I wanted to make sure
I understood what was happening with the group. And I've
got my dog in the background over here, all right,
But U and so they, well we in talking. That's
when they said, oh we didn't. We didn't realize that
(11:16):
you are into music and you lead worship. Would you
consider leading for us? And also someone from another camp
knew me and said that I would be a good
fit for that. But it seemed like it was quite
a bit of a chore to do both, you know,
to go into the villages with my team and uh,
(11:37):
you know, and also do that. But I'm glad I
did it and it was really fun for those years.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Yeah, and so let's talk about the first song. So
tell me how you how you wrote it? Was it
based on a verse?
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Was?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
What was the inspiration for radically committed?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Sure? Radically committed was as I was thinking about it,
I wanted to express that God was radically committed to me,
and that's the only way that we can be radically
committed to him is that he did something to love
on us, to get inside of us, to empower us,
(12:15):
and to give us the strength to live the Christian life.
And so basically that's where that theme came from, because
it sounds a little bit a little arrogant to say
I'm radically committed, you know, but to think that, you know,
humbly to say we have Christ inside of us and
he wants us to you know, he wants to live
(12:37):
out that commitment in us. Yeah, So that's kind of
what that's about.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
And did you and did you test the song to
anyone in Walnut Creek First?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, to my youth group. I sang it to them first,
and then I had to, you know, sing it for
the staff as as a Pacific University and we all
four liked it.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Oh oh, so you so you tested it before they
would allow you to kind of yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
I wanted to make sure that it would be something
that I could have as a theme, and because they did,
I had enough time. I actually created a cassette. You
know when there were cassettes. I had a cassette that
I had available that had that on it plus other
worship songs that I would use, so that it would
they could take it home with them and their churches.
(13:20):
They can learn these songs like you know, maybe Awesome
God or maybe even a fast version of Amazing Grace
type of thing. But some songs that I would use live,
they could take home and use those. So there's a sape.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
So you were how many how many cassettes did you
produce that first year?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, I that was my first one. I had three
cassettes that were just me doing my solo songs. So
one called living in Jesus in eighty two, and then
one called No Greater Love and eighty five and Take
It to Heart in eighty eight. And so when I
(13:57):
went the second year in eighty nine, I already had
the experience of creating these cassettes. So I did one
called Radically Committed, knowing that it was going to get
out there and serve the church and they could be
able to learn these songs.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, all right, well, let's uh, let's let's hear it.
This is the this would be the best part, especially
for people that haven't heard this. You can give us
a little, uh, a little snippet of it and we'll
we'll link to the full songs.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, let's let's hear it.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, sounds good. So I'll just do a little intro
verse in the chorus.
Speaker 8 (14:31):
So let'sted, do you understand why I live in the suway.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Jesus came? Did it? Full from the doctor the Bradess
of day. I can't stand on my own, It's like living.
Speaker 9 (15:02):
My London danger, turning to Jesus, knowing that the power
of those games change in the power.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Nice, very nice, very nice.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yeah, so did you so when you when you came
back that week from that Radically committed year when it
was I mean I remember the masses of people. Uh,
it was a packed I mean I think we our
church had two full buses, a van and maybe two cars.
I mean we might have had I don't know, we
(16:01):
might have had seventy five or eighty kids from a
small country church in Sebastopool, California. So, yeah, that was
a massive event. When you came back from that. What
once you came down off that high, which takes a
few weeks as we know, and do the wash and
get some sleep, what did you you know, where was
(16:24):
your life at that point and was there any sort
of crossroads moment or maybe I should be maybe I
should work for AZUSA, or I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No, I was really happy being a youth pastor at
the time and working with the parents and the youth
of it was called christ Community Church, and it was
really a very fulfilling for me. And I had no
necessarily an ambition to be huge. I just wanted to
serve God and be faithful on that. So it worked
(16:58):
out really nice. But I didn't want to stop, so
I just I wanted to think what could I do
for you know, The next year to be able to
encourage folks, and that seemed to you know, I didn't.
I didn't feel like I needed to have a big
change of trajectory or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And did and did did a zeusa.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Like I said, after that first year, that was just
you know, it was your second or third year. I
think there was a holy sweat maybe in there somewhere,
all right. Yeah, But so after the radically Committed, then
did they was there any more pressure to come up
with a song quicker so that they could or was
or was it pretty much just a repeat and you
(17:40):
went into go the Distance? Or how did how did
the second you know take us through in between radically
Committed and Go the Distance?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
What happened?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Wow? Well, actually I'm not quite sure you know how
many years there were before we did another one, but
we kept dialoguing about it. And there was another, like
I said, uh, in Vera Cruz. It was another camp,
and a friend of mine wrote a song radically Committed also,
which was different. And so there was other camps that
(18:12):
were writing songs to help that particular you know group
of people. And usually people didn't kind of you know,
shop around or mix up their groups. They stuck with
a group for years, you know, unless they went off
on their own because they found it less expensive or
something like that, like you guys. But so you know,
(18:34):
it wasn't just me making the songs. There were some
other people too to serve that particular village and that location.
But you know, as we talked about it, when they
said like go the Distance, I thought, well, we can
do this again, and they liked what I did with
the cassette, and so I did another cassette I think,
(18:57):
with a CD that had Go the Distance on it.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Okay, and well let's.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
And did do you remember any inspiration for that one?
Or was it Where were you at at the time,
I guess is what I You know.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I was still at Walnut Creek as a youth pastor,
and uh, this Go the Distance was kind of to
make a call, uh to say, and I kind of
thought of ready, set Go. So I thought ready means
you know, you're listening to God and you want to
get ready to obey him or to follow him, and
(19:31):
then set you know, you know where you're supposed to go,
and then you go, ready, set go. And that's what
kind of this song is about. And it's not just
about uh, it's kind of a call to keep it going,
so it's not just this week, but you know, go
the distance, meaning keep it going and let the Lord
use you in life as you continue to go.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
I think there was now I think about it because
I'm thinking of the colors that radically committed was.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The bright orange?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Right?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I feel like there might have been a neon green
in between.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Radically committed and go the Distance. I just can't quite remember. Actually,
this is a good opportunity to do. We're gonna do
another quick screen share. We're gonna go to the theme history.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Of mexicali dot org.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
So we had okay, so our god reins, holy sweat,
there's the radically committed. Oh awesome God, that's what it was.
And there was already a song, so you didn't have
to do.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It, right, we used that awesome God.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Okay, and then there was and then there's and then
there's go the Distance, and then there's two more before
the second the taper stand one.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Okay right right, okay, okay, okay, great, Well that's it's
candy that they've that they've done that, and it helps
me out because you know, it's thirty years ago my.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Now radical Yeah, so radically committed was maybe ninety one
and then awesome God, and now we're in ninety three.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
OK.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Let's hear go the Distance.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Sounds good? All right, here we go.
Speaker 11 (21:04):
Listen, go the distance, Go the distance.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Your faith in Christ to the distance can be strong.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Wanting my pain the distance on your marm?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Are you made? Listen for God's gone?
Speaker 11 (21:41):
Get said, gave.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
The Lord who you're wrong? And go go leave the past.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Behind, leave what's.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Less on?
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Full the rides you Jesus samee, don't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
It's very nice? Yeah? That one, Yeah, that one was good.
I forgot.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I forgot that that one was one with less intro.
It just kind of started right into it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, I could do a little bit more of ant
to make it short.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I teach it at al Christian School in San
Jose and for the junior high they have a missions
class that goes out and uh package packs food for
different you know, organizations and such. And they chose last
year to have Go the Distance as their theme song.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Oh very nice.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, all right, well let's keep it rolling. We've got
as we saw on the theme, there's there were two
more in between this and take a Stand?
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Now were you at that time? Were you still kind
of doing the same pattern every year?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
At that time I had moved to be a worship
pastor in Kupertino and was still involved. I did skip
one year and and that's when I went from being
at corner of Vodka to muscatol. So I'm not sure
when Take a Stand was written, but it took a
(23:33):
little bit more of a serious theme like that. Those
two radically committed and go the Distance are kind of
entertaining and kind of fun like theme songs. But Take
a Stand is Do you want me to tell the
story of it real quick?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's just the story of Stephen and when he was
being challenged by uh, he was leading everybody to Christ
and so the the you know, the leadership of the
you know, Jewish church at that point was like mad
(24:11):
because a lot of people were becoming Christians. And so
they pulled him in and they held court and kind
of lied about him, and he gave a little history
lesson that actually was fairly long, and they could tell
that he knew what he was talking about. And then
when he started talking about Jesus and said, you stiff
neck men, you know, you're the you're the guys that
(24:33):
kind of turned against him, and they, you know, he
shared a little bit about God's love and they just
wanted to stone him. And at that point he it
says that he looked up into heaven and he saw
Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And in
every other place in scripture, Jesus is seated at the
right hand of God. So I felt like what was
(24:57):
happening is he was so bold to s for Jesus
that Jesus stood for him at that moment and allowed
him to see that. And it said that his face
looked like the face of an angel. So it wasn't
like he was angry or anything. He was just honest.
And then they actually took him out of the city
and stoned him. And I thought, how am I going
(25:18):
to put this into a song? But you know, I
really wanted to use it as saying, you know, it's
it's worth taking a stand because you know, God is
true and we need to stand for him. So that's
kind of what that's.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
So then looking at you, Yeah, so this would have
been ninety six ninety five. You took off and I'll
tell you a story about that and my brief stage
appearance while you were not on stage that I forgot
about and just remembered recently. Yeah, but let's do take
a stand.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, sounds good. I'm just going to do the first verse,
which actually doesn't talk about Steven. But let you know
a little bit about the song. So let's see.
Speaker 12 (26:01):
Okay, Oh gosh, okay, wait, m.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh my gosh, I gotta remember the let's see. Here
we go with a heart of cold difference. The church
now lives asleep, while the oar and broken hearted are
(26:35):
dying at the feet.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
God is calling us to wake up, to take a stand,
to love in Jesus' name and serve others.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
We can. Is there one.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Will take the stand, take the stand, take a stample
is on, Take a stand the bory.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Of God, stand in industry and the love of the f.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Stand nat.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
You can do that. You can do the Stephen verse.
Let's keep it going. Yeah, do this you if you
remember it? Sure?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Sure. Let's see with a uh, with a heart and
nuts with the heart. Oh, I forgot that'll start with a.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Let's take a stand, oh, with a with a something
beyond measure seven came.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
To with I think I got it with a with
a hear it be on measure.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Stephen had to speak of the life and death of
Jesus and the.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Love of God.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
So dean, but their canger turned to uri when he
saw the Lord.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Had stood in honor of the one who would boldly
claim his word. Steven died Gus.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
He took a stand, to take a stand, take a stands.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Take a stand to the glory of God.
Speaker 13 (28:34):
Standing the love of God lent his pleasence is to
stand the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, very good, very good. Sorry to put you on
the spot there. I knew, I knew that the second
verse had Stephen in it, and I.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Right, yeah, that's a good one, because that's kind of
what it's about.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Yeah, and that was That was the first song that
I learned on guitar. I mean, you know, I bought
a guitar after I don't know, after the first or
second year of MEXICALI just inspired for different reasons.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And yeah, the.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Funny part is at nineteen I thought I was buying
a guitar too late.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Oh yeah, I thought I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
get it. This is what am I doing with my life?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
You know, oh use it a lot.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
So no, that's uh, that's a good one.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
And I do have a a I think a relatable
story to there and you're you're missing year and I
just realized that this is why. So that that year
in between, when you were in Vera Cruz, there was
a different leader and I don't remember who it was,
but they were playing somehow the the you know Psalm forty,
(29:53):
which you two does a version of song Psalm forty.
They someone had been playing that a lot, and it
was on our in our minds, on our on our hearts,
and we had kind of figured out, what you know,
kind of relearning about you two a little bit. And
but I love that song and I kept bugging the leader,
(30:15):
Hey why don't you sing this is? I kept bugging him,
and I think by Tuesday or Wednesday he was sick
of me.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
He said, well, why don't you come and sing it?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
And so it was a little bit of a smaller
year because some people had gone to Vera Cruz, so
it was maybe fifteen hundred people like half.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
But I got up there and played a forty.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
That's great opportunity.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, it was cool. I didn't I you know, I didn't.
I didn't get close enough to the mic at the beginning,
and I, you know, I just but but I did it.
I did it, and I finished.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The song and that was it nice, That's great. That
was my hard on yourself. It's too easy to to
think about all the things like plugging in and I
think you go right that it was.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
It was fun, it was it was it was a
good moment, good good. Okay, so we've got so we've
got the three songs now, So then was take a
stand your your last year?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
No, it wasn't. I actually went all the way, you know,
for ten years. So I started in eighty nine skipty years.
So I think I went to two thousand. Wow, right,
so all of the except one year in the nineties,
but I think I went all the way to two thousand.
And I I know that Carolyn Coons was in charge
of that of the Mexico outreaches, and she was kind
(31:30):
of transitioning to not do that, and so I'm not
quite sure again why I stopped. I'm sure it was
just other things were going on, you know, but I
really enjoyed that a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah. Well, and one of one of my questions was.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know what was your sounds sounds kind of a
typical question, But what's you know what, what's one of
your best memory or is the whole thing just a
good memory or is there one memory that you can
think of that you think that that one really stands out.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Well. I was thinking of two particular memories, one that
is not a good memory. Partably. The hardest thing is
that right before we got there, there was two girls
from the village that I was working with in Muscutel
and some guys picked them up and we're going to
(32:29):
take them. They went the opposite direction that the girls
wanted to go, these two girls, and they ended up
jumping out of the car because they want to get
away from them. They both died. So it really set
a very serious time for that year, which was close
to one of the last, you know years I was there,
but one of the best experiences. Which also is a
(32:51):
tough situation. But they had a prison in Muscutel that
it was a men's prison, but when men are arrested
and they're with a woman, they arrest a woman too.
I mean, it's kind of a weird thing. But this
men's prison had a woman's section that had about fifty
(33:12):
women in the men's prison, and so we went to
the women's section of this men's prison to give them haircuts,
to do their teeth, and I sang songs for them
while they're having pedicures and manicures and just treated them
like queens. And they really appreciated that. And you know,
of course I don't speak Spanish, but I was able
(33:35):
to sing like three different songs in Spanish, like Father,
I dare you?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
You know, right?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
And so because of those things with the kids, I
knew a few that I could sing and one Ain't
Nobody is a song that I wrote, and I sang
a lot for the kids too, But I was able
to learn just a chorus in Spanish and sing to them,
and they really appreciated that a lot. Talking about God's love.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, well that's a good segue.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
We did not plan this because that was the last
I told you this was about three songs, but it's
actually about four because I couldn't interview Reggie Coates without
talking about Ain't Nobody. So let's tell me how that
song came to be when you wrote it, and what
was the reaction the first time you played it for anyone?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Sure, I think I wrote it when I was in
college and actually sang it one of the first times
in my dorm, and there's about fifty in the dorm room,
and they actually liked the music and the message is
very positive. But these people in my dorm were just
(34:50):
kind of crazy. They did things that were probably not appropriate,
you know, But I was with them for the whole year,
so it was nice to be able to expect meant
to see how they would think about it. And then
I started doing in front of groups and it actually
became my most popular song that I've ever written, and
so there's a lot of views on YouTube, and I
(35:13):
do get royalties from churches that use the song, and
so there's a there's a time where this song brought
in probably about four hundred dollars every quarter from churches
using them and stuff. And so that's not why I
wrote it, but know that it got out there and
on c CLI it's one.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Of those yeah and what and what was the do
you remember what the inspiration was for it?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Or well, there's the chorus. There is a musician named
Andre Crouch, and I went to a concert of his
and he had so much expression and so much passion
you know, he wrote my tribute and a whole bunch
of different songs, and he sang one called Can't Nobody
(35:57):
that he wrote and it was very similar. But I
love that jazzy style, and so I went home and
wrote my own verse that is totally different called I've
Got a Friend and and and then put this chorus
that sounded a lot like that. You know, when we
first start out as musicians, we do a lot of
(36:18):
imitating people that we love, and you know, like I
learned a lot of John Denver songs too, and so
I have different songs that sound like is and so
this is one that I was inspired by. Andre Crouch.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
Oh that's great, Yeah, No, that's it's it's sometimes people
can confuse, you know, inspiration with copying, but it's it's
it's the seed, you know, that gets that you can't shake.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
But then it's like a filter.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
You're the filter, and it comes out in your own version,
with your own expression and your own background and creativity.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
So that's right.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
I remember, you know, I remember very well when.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
We were exhausted and had spent all day in the
dust and the dirt, playing soccer with the kids and
sitting on the bus and Sweaty beyond Belief.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
I remember coming.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Back and just you know, there was a release of
energy of a relief when ain't nobody would come because
it was just it was one of those songs that
we that we looked forward to, and everyone didn't care
what they looked like when they were singing it or
doing the motions or anything.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And so I really appreciate it, and I know.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
A lot of people do, and that's encouraging.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Yeah, And I think I think that's a good way
to go out. So I want to before we go out,
tell us briefly what you're doing.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
What you're doing now? What do you do these days?
Where do you live?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Sure, I'm living in Mount Herman, which is a Christian
conference center in northern California, pretty much in your Santa Cruz, California.
And I am working at Vallet Christian School in San Jose.
I teach guitar there. I'm the head of the guitar
studies and I also am the president's CEO of Heartfelt
Music Ministry, which I started in nineteen ninety eight and
(38:15):
it's a nonprofit organization that actually five board members steward
the company. But you know, I'm kind of the one
doing a lot of the work. So I'm done like
nineteen recordings and eight of them are on you know,
(38:36):
you can get through Spotify or Pandora and listen to
all those songs. And I have a channel YouTube channel
that you can actually watch me play about thirty of
those songs. And right now I'm working on a complete
guitar course for guitarists that goes from beginning to advanced.
(39:00):
I mean, it's really thorough that has music theory in it, chords, exercises,
and it's going to be like forty nine videos and
going from beginning to advance. So that's that's what I'm
working on right now.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
That's great. Yeah, no, that's great.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
The do you ever have moments where you're doing you know,
maybe some I don't know, some serious worship music and
then somebody screams.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Out, you know what to play? Ain't nobody you know?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Definitely yeah, people no hand motions to it, you know,
I ain't nobody let me like Jesus, you know, there's
a lot of fun stuff that goes along with it.
Speaker 4 (39:36):
Yeah, So because I guarantee you didn't come up with
the hand motions at some point, you're.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Even the little uh which that was from MEXICALI. You know,
the group decided to do that and it caught on.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
You know, yeah, very nice.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Well, thanks for coming on, Reggie, and I will as
I said before, I'll have all the links to your
songs in the show notes and would courage encourage everyone
to UH to listen and to spread the word. And
if you've been on a Mexicaliti outreach and it's been
a few years, maybe maybe it's time to revisit the well,
(40:13):
the songs, but also the you know, the movement that
the spirit did over those years. Maybe maybe it's a
good time to for all of us to revisit that.
And I think of the intro to take a stand
a lot, you know, with the with the heart of
cold indifference, the world now falls asleep. And yeah, you know,
(40:35):
we go through those cycles every few years in culture
and society, and or sometimes when they're more you know,
prominent or evident to even non believers will we'll say, hey,
there's kind of a darkness out there or what's going on?
Even non believers will say that. And you know, we
know that the demon's knew Jesus' name, so that's not surprising.
(40:56):
But uh, I just think some of those some of
the truths that we you know ingested in between allah
I love it, you know, in between those other songs,
some of the truths that you put down are I
think important and still good to revisit today.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
So very much.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
I thank you for doing what.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
You did and for all those years of playing music
and going out to the villages.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
And I appreciate it. I know a lot of people
appreciate it too.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well. That's so meaningful. Thank you so much for saying
all that.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Yeah, So okay, without further ado, thanks for listening to
five great questions.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
And this version was called.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
Three great songs, and we're going to end it with
the big one, Ain't Nobody.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I'll do the last little section in Spanish, which, okay,
I don't know a bunch of it, and I hope
it's correct. But so it goes like this, I've got
a friend. Nobody lived me, lie mine got a friend.
(42:04):
He nobody lies got a friend. Heint nobody nobody like him.
Je Jesus, he's my friend.
Speaker 14 (42:21):
Yes, Oh, nobody love me like Jesus.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
He ain't nobody. Now you got nothing like.
Speaker 14 (42:35):
A littld ain't nobody, nobody love me like Jesus please
my friend.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
Well, I've got friends set him lead me.
Speaker 14 (42:49):
Down, and I've got friends that I keep by my side.
But Jesus Christ, he's more a friend. I'm satisfied. FID
(43:14):
CAM from.
Speaker 13 (43:17):
I'm not.
Speaker 14 (43:19):
Cam from CAMM from gez mad.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Very good, very nice.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
I do remember that now, I remember no I naughty?
That that had happened at some point.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, once I learned that little friend, I forgot how
to say he's my friend. But yeah, but yeah I
knew it then.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Yeah, I think I think I may have played it
one time for the kids in our village.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
No, the no I naughty version, Oh nice, that's not
not with all the verses. But you know we did, Yeah,
we did the best we could.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Uh wow, Well again, appreciate thanks for having me on.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
Sure, thanks Reggie, and uh yeah, I appreciate it. And
so you're down Mount Herman. If anyone, if anyone in
the South Bay area Santa Cruz gets a chance to reconnect,
just if you see him walking on the street, just yell,
ain't nobody's see what happens?
Speaker 3 (44:21):
All right? Thanks Reggie.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Hey, you're welcome all right, Radically committed to you.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
Understand why I'm living this way.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Jesus came and did it well. They found the doctor
the brightness of day. I can't stand on my own.
It's like living dangers. I'm turning my heart to Jesus.
No one he hasn't danna committmit to me.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
I'm radically committing, living in the power of God.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
I'm mad.
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