|
|
 |
| |
ASHER in the Bible: |
|
| |
The idea for the name ASHER came from scripture and the word
translated in the original Hebrew means 'happiness.' ASHER is
the name of one of Jacob's twelve sons, whose descendants, over
time, grew into the tribe of
ASHER, who is later mentioned in the New Testament when a woman
named Anna met the Messiah Jesus face to face because of the
lifestyle she had dedicated herself to. . . ministering before the
presence of God in the temple, day and night, with prayer and
fasting.
Numbers 1:40-41
From the descendants of Asher:
All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in
the army [experienced and prepared for war] were listed by name,
according to the records of their clans. The number from the
tribe of Asher was 41,500.
Deuteronomy 33:24-25
Most blessed of sons is Asher;
let him be favored by his brothers,
and let him bathe his feet in oil.
The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your
strength will equal your days.
2 Chronicles 30:10-12
The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as
far as Zebulun, but the people scorned and ridiculed them.
Nevertheless, some men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled
themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God
was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what
the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of
the LORD.
Luke 2:36-38
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of
the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her
husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow
until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but
worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them
at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the
child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem. |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
| The
Beginnings of ASHER: |
Asher was birthed out of a small church
meeting in Redlands, California, started by Jannie Barnard
(Joel's father & Asher's pastor) just two years after his family
and he moved to the United States. The drive behind these
meetings was the hearts of people in the area who were fed up
with the barrenness of their own spiritual condition and were
desperate to find God in a real and tangible way. That's when
Joel (vocals/bass), Dustin (keys/vocals), Adam (guitar) and Nick
(drums) joined together to form their weekly worship team.
However at that time the guys were already members of other
bands; the Hollow from Riverside and God Sessions from South
Africa, so they had to make a choice to leave those groups
behind to start this new thing; Asher.
The guys were encouraged to be as free and
expressive as they possibly could, so consequently, every
Thursday night meeting was filled with high-energy praise and
deeply intimate worship where they introduced all kinds of new
worship songs to the people and even began writing some of their
own. The songs, having come from many rehearsals and moments of
spontaneity, created such a momentum of music that Asher was led
to produce and record their first album, 'California.'
After a few years of playing shows and
leading worship, Asher took a break from its band goals to
pursue a deeper place in God and to focus their energy on their
individual lives, as a few of them started heading towards
marriage. It was during this
time that new songs and new desires began to emerge and with
help from their church family, they booked time with Joe
Marchiano and Tyler Chester in Redlands to begin creating their
second full-length album, 'The Tumults of War Will
Subside.'
..............................................................
|
What ASHER is About
About a year after these church meetings started up, Jannie
became aware of a 24/7 prayer movement that has been springing
up worldwide over the last five to ten years, and overtime, he
became absolutely confident that God's intent in bringing him to
America was for him to join this prayer movement by raising up a
House of Prayer in Redlands. One of his first acts in fulfilling
this mandate was flying the Asher boys back to the Kansas City
House of Prayer [ihop.org]
for the One Thing [onethingglobal.com]
& the Call [which is now called the Cause:
thecauseusa.com]
Conference where they experienced a deep awakening to the fiery
spirit of intercession and became aware of how God was moving in
the Earth today. Entering into this new reality along with
surrendering themselves to the Matthew 6 lifestyle
[prayer/fasting/giving] would be the very thing that defined
Asher and the music they created. In the summer of 2002, Jannie
secured a building and the Ethnos [meaning all nations] House of
Prayer was born; EHOP [ehop.us].
From the beginning the guys have played three distinct roles at
EHOP; leading the congregation in worship at least twice a week
as EHOP's main worship team, helping to raise up new worshipers
that come along, and creating their own music which they then
take 'out of the house' into the world and into other churches.
Asher's music has always had a drawing factor with the unsaved,
so they see their future with equal amount of time spent in the
church as well as outside of it. This new album has been
inspired by a radical prayer group who have been challenging our
government to bring God back into the center of our country.
This group is called Bound 4 Life [bound4life.com].
»
Watch the Bound 4
Life promo video |
|
