One of my best concert experiences ever was at a gig by All Together Separate. The energy and presence of God was strong, and the music was exceptional. ATS is a band with worship at their heart. But if you just look at their outer shell of heavy guitar riffs and Dex's energetic stage presence, you might miss what these four guys are really about.

Andrew Shirley (guitar, vocals), Ben Rayls (percussion), Charles Rumahlewang (bass, piano), and Dex Alexander (vocals) are the band members. They love to make music. But what they love even more is that it brings glory to God.

You'll read below about how each event they do is unique. They've learned to take things in stride and to trust God with things that are truly out of their control.

"People from outside of the band remind us of our responsibility to each other and of our responsibility to our relationship with God. Our response to God and our response to each other has been heightened as we've reached a new level as a band. We're playing a lot more and we have songs on the radio. Along with those things, we're learning there's a lot more required of us.

"We've had some tense moments and some moments of release. As a band, we're challenged by each other, by people outside of the group, and by the Spirit of God. We're challenged to draw closer and to rely on each other and mostly to rely on his Word at times like this when we're feeling a little overwhelmed. That's a good lesson for anyone, in or out of a band."

Andrew: "A lot of our relationship with God is displayed in our relationships with people. 1 John says that we experience God by serving other people. I was intrigued by that. We actually experience God's presence by loving and serving other people! That made me think about how much it is connected to how we deal with each other on earth.

"I think, in the band, we have several relationships we have to focus on. The first and most important one is our relationship with God. If anything compromises that or if anything in this band draws us away from God, we would question it and say, 'something is wrong here.'

"The second is the relationship between the four of us in the band plus the relationship with our manager and people that work closely with us. If something is tearing us apart, we deal with it right away.

"I've realized something about relationships. The closer I get to know someone, the more work it takes to get along with them. I start seeing things that I didn't see before. But I've also realized over time we become more comfortable with each other. The band knows more about me than anyone ever has."

"Still other times, we go in and they tell us, 'You've got two hours, and we would like you to present the gospel." At those events, you could expect everything from fast songs to get the crowd moving to slower songs that are more thought provoking. We even include worship songs. A lot of times we have a worship service right in the middle of our concerts.

"We did a concert over in Johnson City, TN. It was great because it was mostly college students. We were able to do a couple of worship songs, and it was cool because there was such a close spirit of unity in there, right in the middle of the concert. It was a situation where it was mostly believers so it was a time to minister to the body of Christ. That was a cool situation.

Dex: "At the Johnson City event, the pastor there was telling me a guy they had been praying for decided to accept Christ that night. Everything really clicked. It's in those situations when we truly realize there's no way that all of these pieces could have come together without God's hand being over this."

Ben: "There have been other times when there's a lot of unsaved people at our concerts. We played at the Harvest Crusades out in Southern California last year, and all we did was lead worship. We were just one part of the event, but we got to see thousands of people come to Christ that night. It's really cool to be able to say that we've been just a small part of watching people come to the Lord. And at the same time we're also blessed to be able to lead worship and participate in worship with whomever we're playing for."

Charles: "I think that we usually don't see the most important part of the concert until after it's over. We play music, people clap, and that's all that we see at that time. But we've been very encouraged by the e-mails we receive, because we find out how people's lives were affected. Sometimes when we don't sound our best or when we make mistakes, God turns those situations around. It's amazing how he uses them.

"For example, at another event, we had flown to one of the Miles McPherson's crusades in northern California. We played there in a high school gym. The sound was bad. And when we were doing the concerts, feedback was all over the place. Afterwards, we were saying backstage, "Oh … that was just sooo terrible." But after Miles was speaking, lots of kids came forward. We were amazed. So, God still works despite of what we do on stage. That's the most important thing. It's not about us."

"Indonesia is one of the hotspots of persecution in the world right now. It's something that we have a strong passion for. It breaks our hearts. For me, it's a real prayer concern. It's something that God's allowed me to focus on in the past couple of months. I've been reading a publication called Voice of the Martyrs. I've been able to give money and lend prayer in an organized effort with this organization for people around the world who are dying, losing their families and their homes. They're being violated and harmed simply because they're Christians. It's something that totally offsets what we do here in America. We are actually paid, encouraged and receive awards for being Christians when there are people around the world who are dying."

Charles: "My family and friends have been impacted by the persecution in Indonesia. It wasn't really happening when I was there, but when I left two or three years ago, it started happening. Now my friends are experiencing this persecution. I pray. I ask questions. I wonder, 'Why are you letting this happen in Indonesia? Why?' If it started happening in America right now, the first thing we would say is, 'Wow, it never happened before. Why is it happening now?' But I started to pray and fast every other day for it to stop because I have so many loved ones over there. It keeps getting worse.

"A lot of Muslims have started to become Christians. A lot of conversions are happening because of the persecution. I went to the Bible and found that when this happened in Jerusalem, back in New Testament times, the gospel of the kingdom started spreading because of the persecution. I know God knows what he's doing."

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