Jake Kreifels has a long musical resume. He’s been a vocalist and/or bassist in teen bands, a touring pop band, a Christian band, and as a worship pastor, learning a lot along the way about how to get good sound. Now he is the worship arts director at City Tribe Church in San Antonio, Texas. Jake is also a record producer and founder of Greenhouse Recording Studios, and he partners with San Antonio’s SongLab—with nothing less than a divine appointment leading the way. This issue, CP spends Five Minutes learning more about the leader.
“I was surprised how much I absolutely LOVED leading worship. For once, it wasn’t about me and wasn’t about my ability to entertain or perform. The focus was on Jesus and the whole church was singing to Him.”
CPM: Tell us about your technical background. When did you become interested in technical arts?
Kreifels: I became marginally interested in technical arts as a young musician because I wanted our performances to sound good and be free from the many catastrophic equipment fails that had albeit doomed some of my early concerts. I was a young teenager when I began to try and learn these things. “How do I get cables that are reliable and won’t short out?” That was a BIG question. Try singing a song and no sound comes out. That’ll take you down a few notches really quickly.
Later in my teens, I remember noticing more intricate things like, “How does this band get the kick drum and bass to hit so hard and in unison? Is it the mics? The amps? The players? The parts?” I really had no one to coach me, or who would teach me the secrets of creating a great audio canvas where artists can thrive. I later began recording original music and these same questions transferred into the studio experience. Ironically, it was a bit easier in the studio. I could Google “… what mic the Beatles sang into,” or “… what preamp Nirvana used.” Slowly but surely, I began building an incredible amount of knowledge based in musical equipment.
CPM: What is your current role in church technical arts and how did that come about?
Kreifels: I am the worship arts director at City Tribe Church in San Antonio, Texas. I was originally hired as the worship pastor, but our church was going through a renovation and needed me to step into a roll where I could acoustically design the room and outfit it with proper equipment. I didn’t do this alone. I had two brilliant friends who did most of the heavy lifting: Brian Pearce, an engineer with a background in acoustical design and John Perkins, one of the most gifted front-of-house audio engineers who has ever walked the planet. They helped me accomplish our complete audio experience, and it has served our church unbelievably well.
CPM: Tell us about your musical background.
Hear the latest release from Wild Party.
Kreifels: I was a founding member of Wild Party with my little brother and a couple of our friends. We had some great times traveling around the U.S. and the UK, trying to build a name for ourselves. Most of our audio experiences were at the mercy of in-house sound engineers, but we did figure out a few tricks that ultimately set us on a trajectory for greater success, but that’s a whole other tale …
CPM: How did you become involved musically at church?
Kreifels: I had been a touring bassist for a Christian band called The Afters. They remain great friends, especially lead guitarist Matt Fuqua. After leaving The Afters, I tried my hand at investment consulting. During this season, a friend asked me to lead worship at his wedding in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. I didn’t have much experience leading, but I was happy and honored to serve my friend on his big day. I was surprised how much I absolutely LOVED leading worship. For once, it wasn’t about me and wasn’t about my ability to entertain or perform. The focus was on Jesus and the whole church was singing to Him. It was quite an experience. When I returned home to Texas, word had gotten out that my wife and I were leading worship. Before long, we were traveling every weekend to lead worship for a variety of different churches. It was really fun. My wife and I had no clue we could do this together, as we had never sung together prior to marriage. After a while, we thought “Maybe this is our calling?” I made a phone call to a friend and had two interviews the next week. I was hired at my first church 14 years ago and the rest is history.
CPM: Tell us about your recording studio and your involvement with SongLab. How did that come about?
Kreifels: During a time of prayer and fasting in my church, my wife and I had decided to secretly pray about three things. One day I called one of my good friends named Ryan to see if he wanted to meet up. He picked up the phone and I asked, “Hey bro, I’m on your side of town. Do you want to grab a taco or something?” He sounded surprised and asked, “Wait, who is this?”
I realized I had called the wrong Ryan. I had no idea who the Ryan was that I was talking to or how I had his number. I said, “Pardon me, I called the wrong number, goodbye.” But before I could hang up, he says, “Wait, hold on, you know my name, but I don’t know yours. Who are you?” Trying to leave the conversation I said, “My name is Jake. I don’t know who you are, we sound like we could be friends—maybe we met on Craigslist or something? Anyway, I have no idea who you are. Sorry for the trouble, bye.” Ryan responded, “Wait, hold on, maybe we’re supposed to be friends.” And this just became hilarious.
We began to chat and we were shocked to find out that we were both in ministry. Ryan worked as the missions pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. I was the worship pastor for City Tribe in San Antonio. We had both done mission work in Uganda. We couldn’t figure out how I had Ryan’s number or why, but we had a long chat.
Before I hung up, Ryan asked if he could pray for me and I agreed. His prayer was something like this: “God, I thank you for this divine appointment with Jake and … wait! Do you have a kid? Do you have a kid on the way?” I responded yes, I have three kids and one on the way. Ryan kept praying “God, I pray for Jake’s kids and that they would know You, that they would dream dreams from You and get visions from You and that they would trust and follow You.” Then Ryan stopped again and asked, “Wait, Jake, do you have a business, something other than the church, something with technology?” I answered “No, we have some rental properties?” To which Ryan said, no, that’s not it. Then I remembered something. “Oh, actually I have an entire closet full of recording equipment. My life savings is basically invested in it, but I have nowhere to put it. My wife and I have been trying to find a place, but we haven’t been successful.” Ryan said, “That’s it!” He continued, “God, I thank you for Jake’s studio and I pray that you make it prosperous and use it for Your glory in a powerful way, and God, I see that you are raising Jake up like a father figure. You are going to use him to raise up younger artists and send them out like “Musicianaries,” and you already have people set aside who are going to help him and you are going to send them to him. He won’t do it alone.”
After this I was in tears. You see, my wife and I were praying for three things:
1. My children’s relationship with God. That it wouldn’t just be cultural Christianity, but that they would really know Him.
2. For a side business that would not take away from our ministry but would complementary.
3. For discipleship in our church.
Musicians fly in from all over the nation and even other countries to be a part. We learn about the importance of singing new songs, why our songs matter to God, and should matter to us. We write songs together, record them, and perform them. Then we send everyone back home like “Musicianaries.”
Ryan had just touched on all three in his prayer. I couldn’t believe it. My wife and I began looking for a place to put our studio. I found an old abandoned home [where] the city had been unable to track down the owners. I found them and had it under contract within 45 minutes. It took me 10 months to close the deal, because there were so many issues with the deed, but we got it.
Just before it was complete, I was invited to what I thought was a conference. It turned out to be a SongLab [worship songwriting workshops] led by Meredith Mauldin. I was so moved by the impact of the SongLab, I told her I wanted to host one and I offered my recording studio, [Greenhouse Recording Studios], as the venue. Since then, we’ve hosted many people [RISE with Jarrell Flowers and City Tribe Worship, for instance]. Meredith and her husband, Michael, lead the SongLabs with a team of people. Musicians fly in from all over the nation and even other countries to be a part. We learn about the importance of singing new songs, why our songs matter to God, and should matter to us. We write songs together, record them, and perform them. Then we send everyone back home like “Musicianaries.”
“The most important thing I can offer anyone is to learn to listen to God when He is leading you, and obey.”
CPM: Is there anything else you’d like to add that wasn’t asked here?
Kreifels: The most important thing I can offer anyone is to learn to listen to God when He is leading you, and obey. His plans are always the best.
