Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Tuesday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff here. Hope you're having a wonderful morning. James, chapter one, beginning in verse two, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. That has been, my go to those two verses. My go to whenever I travel by air because you're out of control, they tell you what gate this and that and things get delayed and weather and stuff like that. So you just have to roll with the punch. Well, I have sitting, ah, across the table from me today, a dear friend. I've known him for, Gosh, probably almost 25 years, Denver Bierman. He's the multi talented frontman, band leader, composer, arranger, lead vocalist and trumpet player of Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, a Nashville based horn driven band known for. I love this phrase. Denver known for its distinctive power funk sound.

Denver Bierman: I wonder who wrote that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, this is from AI. I think they said they got it off your website.

Denver Bierman: Well, there you go.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Did you call it power funk?

Denver Bierman: No, no.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Power funk sounds good.

Denver Bierman: Yeah. Well, there you go.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: AI, do you think, do you think that's accurate? Is it power funk?

Denver Bierman: I don't know. I think that I think edgy is probably the word I'd probably say. I always felt like our band are arranging my arranging that I was going to write for us to play. Had a youthful energy to it to a style of music that's timeless is the word I would use.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.

Denver Bierman: Some people would say old. So I think that I thought we brought an energy and a feel or we do bring an energy in a feel that's just a little bit unique and to me it sounds edgy. I don't know. Power, there's some power in it. We do some things that are a little funky and groovy. So I mean, I think both those words would be accurate and maybe bring an image to People's minds.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, it's not really earth, wind and fire sound. It's got some Soon Chicago sounds good.

Denver Bierman: Absolutely.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: well, I grew up. My dad loved big band. He loved Harry James and Glenn Miller and all those guys.

Denver Bierman: So cool.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And so when I first heard you guys back in the, probably 2003, you formed the band in 1999. but in 2003, I was introduced to DMHO, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. And I said, man, I love these guys because you don't hear a lot of, horns in a church. It's a lot of guitar and drums and organ and keyboard and vocals and things like that. But as far as just a really solid horn band, you're not going to hear that in.

Denver Bierman: What's interesting to me is that many of us in America and all over the world during, you know, school, they would put together bands. And these bands are full of wind instruments, flutes, clarinets, French horns, trombones, trumpet, saxophones. So it's wild that for many of us, we have some experience with these instruments that my band plays. and we have memories attached to them. We have experiences attached to them in some of the more formidable years of our lives. And then we have, pop music that has nothing to do with any of it. And so the wild thing for me was I grew up playing the trumpet starting in sixth grade, and I thought, I want to listen to music that has my instrument in it. Yeah, I want to listen to music that has the trumpet in it. And I searched, and there wasn't much on pop radio that did. There were some, maybe in Christian music that did. but I had to go to big band music to be able to find where my instrument was featured. And I fell in love with that music at a young age.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, we were talking yesterday, and so Denver was here at First Baptist Texarkana last night doing an event for us and did a great job. And, he plays and sings along with most of your songs and your arrangements. you did Route 66. That's not your song.

Denver Bierman: No. I do a lot of music that I don't write, but I will find some unique arrangements, either that I write myself or that I find from others. And I love. Route 66 is a great song.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you grow up. Who's your trumpet hero as a kid?

Denver Bierman: There couldn't be just one. I mean, I do love Louis Armstrong. Harry James is probably my most favorite of favorites because he could play high, he could play technically perfect, and he just, He was such an Efficient player. But, I mean, there's so many modern people, too, that I love. Leroy Jones, trumpet player from NewSong Orleans, played a ton on, all of Harry Connick Jr's records. Even guys that are. Even have kind of come on the scene more during the Internet year. there's just so many. When I hear somebody who just plays their heart out, and is so good, I know what it takes to try to do that. And it takes so much time. It takes so much focus, to perfecting a really, really physically difficult instrument to try to master. And. And I love them all.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so I was thinking we had talked, off air. Doyle Dykes is a good friend of mine. And guitar has lots of different styles. So you got the finger style, you got the Eddie Vanliere Halen style, you got all these guys that do different things. And it's pretty hard to find somebody that can do all that stuff. Of course, maybe Tommy Emanuel's the closest to being able to play all styles in with the trumpet. Are there lots of different styles, or if you can play it, can you pretty much play across the board?

Denver Bierman: Oh, no. The styles are all over the place. I mean, if you think about a band or someone in a symphony orchestra and they're going to be playing mostly classical music, that is a style all of itself. and it's a very technical style. It's so much of a controlled playing that can be incredibly difficult to do for somebody like me who plays swing music and big band. And we're slurring through these things. We don't have to triple tongue them. classical music, you're not going to have to play a G above high C, like, ever. But I play like eight of those a night. So there's certain parts about it. If you do mariachi music, I think that that might be the most difficult thing in the world because they're triple tonguing and they're screaming in the stratosphere. And not only that, they're doing it for, like four hours at a time. I mean, the guys that I watch online that are playing mariachi and, my jaw just drops and I'm like, how are they not passed out on the floor?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: They have a big head.

Denver Bierman: It's truly an art. And some of these styles, for us, they all come from different parts of the world. They all come from different cultures. And so some of the folks that really do a particular style incredibly well, they've been doing it since they were very little. They've listened to it their whole lives. It's ingrained in who they are. and I love all of it. I really do.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. So it's very evident, Denver, when you sing your voices, you is, really in tune with, like, ah, a Dean Martin, a Frank Sinatra. You have that, yeah, that crooner kind of voice. Would you agree?

Denver Bierman: Absolutely. Except it's very early in the morning, so mine's probably a Southern gospel bass singer this morning. But, yeah, I love the crooners. They're my favorite.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, your voice just seems to fit that really easily. when you were here last time, you sang that Dean Martin song, ain't that a Kick in the head?

Denver Bierman: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And, you know, I like that old music. You sang, Fly Me to the Moon yesterday. And, Frank's. Frank's got so many great songs.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, he was the great. One of the things he did the greatest, him and Nat King Cole, in my opinion, is their phrasing. The way that they would sing something they, Back in the day, that was truly an art to be able to sing something that sounded like they were talking to you. We call that phrasing. and I heard once a guy named Dave Boyer, incredible, incredible singer. And, I was talking to him once, and he was close with Frank Sinatra. And he said, frank taught me everything I needed to know about phrasing. I just said, what is that like? I mean, I wanted to know, does he hold out things extra long? I was thinking about it from a very technically musical standpoint. He said, well, he said his name's Dave and he's like, Davey. Davey. You got to know the lyric. You got to know the lyric. You got to know it, like, inside and out. You got to be able to say it and sing it frontwards, backwards and sideways and. And then sing the lyric. It's so simple. And yet it's like. That makes a whole lot of sense, because when you listen to him sing, he could even sing the same line 12 different ways. But however he's experiencing that lyric in that moment, he's expressing exactly what that lyric says in light of his own life. And, I really try to emulate that when I sing. I didn't do that in the early parts of my career because I didn't get that advice yet. But that's some really good advice. If we're going to say something to someone, whether we say it in word, in deed, or in song, we need to know what we're saying, and we need to believe what we're saying, and we need to live what we're saying,

Pastor Jeff Schreve: well, one thing I notice about people that are exceptional singers or musicians, it never looks. Even guys in athletics, it never looks like they're trying hard. It's just so natural to them. And obviously the trumpet was pretty. You picked that up pretty quick, didn't you?

Denver Bierman: Yeah, but no, I mean, I really challenged. There might be. Be a tiny, tiny handful of the world's population that it just naturally comes to them. The ones that are truly professional to me are the ones that have worked it so hard that it becomes natural even though it's not natural. There's nothing natural about playing a trumpet. I mean, you might have the perfect shaped lips, which I do not. You might have the perfect sized head, which we've talked about. Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: You said the big head can play the big notes.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, it really can. the physics of it.

 : Yeah.

Denver Bierman: but, that's such a finite amount of people. So the rest of us that try or get to a place where it becomes natural, it's because we've worked it really, really hard. and I want to tell people that I don't want people to think around, oh, look at that person. They're so magical. It just naturally happened for them. God just gave it to them. God gave us some, ability, but we worked hard.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Denver Bierman: When you're talking about overcoming and you're talking about endurance and perseverance, this is where life is won and lost. This is where it happens. And it doesn't happen by accident.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?

Denver Bierman: Never happens by accident.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I still remember, and I was watching a clip today from Lee Trevino. And one of the things, you know, the great golfer Lee said, golf always came easy to me in terms of being able to get the club back to square. And I've said this to a lot of guys that play golf. I said, okay, these pros, I said, they never went through years of stinking. You know, I mean, it's just like, I can't hit the club, I can't hit the ball. I mean, they pick up on that pretty quickly. you and I like to play basketball. And a guy like Micah Jordan, you know the famous story, he got cut from his high school team when he was in 10th grade. But Micah was six' six, could jump out of the gym. Sure, he has the tools now. He had to work real hard. Larry Bird had to work really hard. But those guys had tools. You can't make yourself 6 foot 9. It's true. Like, Larry was right. And. But now Larry couldn't jump much, right? And he wasn't he wasn't fast, but he was quick.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, he's quick. Was quick mentally.

 : Yeah.

Denver Bierman: He anticipated what people were going to do.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, he had some great fakes, but. But, you know, you know, I think about that with. With music. Yes. Those guys have to. You have had to work. I mean, playing screaming notes on the trumpet doesn't come just because you want it to.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, you're exactly right. And in life, there are going to be certain things that God gives us that are going to be more natural for us than others.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Denver Bierman: I had a natural tendency to understand music or hear music from a very young age. So that was something that was in my wheelhouse that I didn't even know I had. God just kind of gave it to me.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. And putting together music, because you've written so many scores, putting together that stuff that comes into your mind pretty easily,

Denver Bierman: I hear it easily. But putting it together for other people to hear it or to play it did not come easily. I didn't get a lot of formal training in what we call music theory or how to be able to write these things until I got to college. So I'd written songs, songs that you could kind of sing and I could play out on the piano. I could hear things from a very young age, but I didn't know how to translate what I heard to let others be able to be able to be a part of the conversation, to be able to play along with me, how to be able to write these things, what different keys for different instruments are, why those instruments are in different keys, and how to put it all together to make something beautiful. I did not understand that until college. And it was hard. My first two years in music theory, I got bad grades because there were certain very basic principles that were not really explained in a way that I could understand. and God was gracious to me in my thick headedness to be able to learn them eventually. He's like, this boy is not going to make it unless he gets it today.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, it amazes me, Denver, how many songs you've written and some of those that you've written quickly. remember you told me, I think you were playing for the Olympics? you had to. You had to come up with another song or something. You wrote it pretty fast. I mean, what, in a couple days you put that together and it's a great song. It's not like it's junk creativity.

Denver Bierman: There's no, there's no, Listen. Sometimes it hits us in an instant. Sometimes, an incredible song Takes a year. Just the creativity is a magical thing that God gave us that there's no time frame to it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, that's really cool. Well, we're talking to Denver Bierman, and Denver is the, founder, the frontman, the heart and soul behind Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. And he's, a graduate of Belmont University there in. That's in Nashville.

Denver Bierman: Yes, sir.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. And, incredible, talent and, his ability to put together music and to put together a band that's just fun to listen to. And he loves the Lord. And so when we come back from the break, we're going to be talking about overcoming difficulties, because Denver has had some difficulties in his life and, you don't want to miss it. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. We'll be right back.

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 : This is real truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here talking to my friend, Denver Bierman. He is the, creator of Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, a horn band that plays hymns and new arrangements and just fun stuff. It's Denver. Your label was Real Loud, Real Loud Records when that it was.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, they let me name the. The label. It was Reed, Reed Ribble's label. Our drummer, Jared, of over 20 years, his family gave us a chance to have a voice in Christian music. I wouldn't know you, I would not have had a career without them. They are some of the most incredible people I've ever known. And so we made, I think, seven albums together. Something like that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that right?

Denver Bierman: And, yeah. And so they're like, we're gonna start this label, and it's independent and Denver. What do you. What do you want to call it? When does the artist get to name a label? I said, well, we make really loud music. Let's call it Real Loud. And they're like, it sounded good.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I think he told me one of the first times that you came to First Baptist Texarkana with your whole band, it's like, this is going to be loud.

Denver Bierman: Yeah. We used to sell earplugs before as people are walking in. Like, they're like 50 cents if you want them. Or don't complain when we're so loud.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, but I mean, if you have that many, you would have. How many trumpets? Four or five trumpets on today.

Denver Bierman: I mean, we. In early days, we were evolved very young. I mean, you got to think about. We're like 21, 22, 23 years old. We're living our dream. We're traveling around the world and singing and playing. And so I think we were just so excited, and we had all this youthful energy that we were playing. We were just over what they call overblowing in our horns. We're just blasting it till the cows come home. Right? And it was like, for a lot of these churches that were built 100 to 120 years ago to be very, very acoustic spaces where there's a piano player and a singer singing and M for everyone in the room, lively. And then you throw a bunch of trumpets playing way too loud with saxophones that are microphoned, with a guitar player with a distorted amp that's, you know, jamming out like Brian Setzer. Like, it was a lot going on, and. And, And. And some people really loved it, and some people really hated it. The best. The best compliment gotten in 27 and a half years. It was at a Christmas concert around 2004, maybe. and we got into intermission, and Rick Kilby, who was our tour manager, as well as our booking agent, as well as our baritone saxophone player. And then he eventually ran sound for us for a long time. And a guy had come up to him at the break, an older gentleman, at the break, and said, you're gonna have to turn that band down. They are way too loud. And he goes, man, I'm so sorry. You know, it's a lot of people. He goes, listen, that band is louder than World War II. And I know, because I was in it and I said boys were louder than World War II. And so, it's just. It was a unique comment.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so we all.

Denver Bierman: Respect. To anyone in World War II, we

Pastor Jeff Schreve: had, the, the Kingdomnomics. What's the group? we the Kingdomnomics.

Denver Bierman: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So they came here a few years ago. They were so loud that the plaster started coming off the walls in the back.

Denver Bierman: We did a concert once, and we were still in the first three months of our existence. We did a swing dance at Belmont. And my guitar player, Scott Knight, was just ripping this rockabilly solo. And I literally saw. I don't know if it was an old speaker cabinet that just had an enormous amount of dust, but I saw smoke floating out of the speaker. It's the only time in my entire life that I ever did. And somebody has. Somebody out there has a video of that. Yeah, Yeah. A good buddy of mine, Tony, he was our Sunday school teacher. He was. There he goes. Denver. Denver, Look. And I did. There was smoke coming out of the speaker, but it was. It was like 112, 115 decibels. It was insane.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, we had. I take that back. It might have been King and Country. King and country has the big drums.

 : Right.

Denver Bierman: King and country is when you. M. When you said we the Kingdomnomics. M. I have. I was instantly thinking. I think he's thinking of King and

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Country because we had both of them come.

Denver Bierman: They have a big sound.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, Big sound. But now the most we've ever recorded on DBS in our worship space, the Gaithers.

Denver Bierman: Really?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Denver Bierman: There you go. Which Bill's still rocking it out.

Caroline: I love it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: He was on the program the last time they were here about a year or so ago. I had him on the program. I love Bill Gaither. He's just such a cool guy.

Denver Bierman: And really what I love about him is I've always appreciated his straightforwardness from a professional standpoint. When you're working with him, he's going to tell you exactly like it is.

Caroline: Yeah.

Denver Bierman: And as a young artist, sometimes that can be hard to hear.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Denver Bierman: Because he's honest about it. But. But listen, there. I don't know if there's been anyone in our industry of or in our realm of Christian music that has had such a profound stretch and influence.

 : Yes.

Denver Bierman: And provided so much opportunity for all of us.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Denver Bierman: There's this guy. He was a music teach in the middle of a cornfield in Indiana, and he and his wife are writing music and they're selling it out of the trunk of their car. Their names are Bill and Gloria Gaither. And just traveling around to these little country churches. And what God has done with all of that and his determination and his own endurance. I don't know a whole ton about his personal story, but I can tell you this. If you do what I do or, what Bill Gaither has done for decade after decade after decade, it, it doesn't happen by accident. It's not just because it all just magically is happy hunky dory day in and day out. It's because there's a lot of perseverance going on.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, you're slugging it out.

Denver Bierman: and you're slugging it out. Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I still remember Mark Lowry saying in an interview, he said, you know, I would drive singing these little churches, and he said I'd barely get enough money for gas.

Denver Bierman: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: you had mentioned off air about playing with your whole band playing at a church. And, they didn't pay you at all. They gave you a trumpet and said, well, here, this is your.

Denver Bierman: We even had a written agreement and everything. Life doesn't always go the way we expect it to, the way we planned. And we can even make really great good godly plans. And in a broken and sinful world, things are not always going to go okay. And we got to figure out how to get through it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. So consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith, Faith produces endurance. two things that, come to mind with you, Denver. number one, if you're going to do what you do and you're going to be a traveling musician and share the gospel through your music, you have to be willing to travel. And travel is hard, especially in today's world. Air travel is really brutal because you're totally out of control. you're under the mercy of the weather, of the air airlines. They'll, cancel your flights, you have a delayed flight and then you miss your other flight. Bags can with you. If they lose your instrument, you're in hot water. I mean, you gotta have that. And have you ever had things damaged with, all the travel?

Denver Bierman: No. I have something that's even worse than that. I did a concert. I was in San Diego, California. This is like three years ago, so it's somewhat recent. It wasn't like 25 years ago. we did this concert and we. It was on our Christmas tour. So this is December. we were going to be in Louisiana at a church, for a Saturday Afternoon choir rehearsal, and then a Saturday evening Christmas concert as well as a Sunday morning. And so it was a very large weekend for us. This is a very, very large choir. we were very honored to have the opportunity. But because we didn't know about the rehearsal until later, after we had booked these other things in California, we realized we're going to have to take a red eye in order to make sure that we're there for the choir rehearsal on time. And it was. The pastor was very critical for him for us to be there at that rehearsal. So I went, okay. So I started looking at flights, and there's this flight that leaves LAX at, you know, 11:30 at night or whatever it was. And we're going to be able to land in Dallas at this time and then get on another flight to Shreveport, where the church was. So it all looked great.

Caroline: And.

Denver Bierman: And our show in San Diego gets it on time. And, there was only three of my guys that were with me in California. We're meeting the rest of the band out here. And so we get to the front of the gate at lax, and it's. There's nobody there because it's a red eye, right? And the guy just said, if you'd been here five minutes ago, I would have checked those bags, and we still have plenty of time for our flight. He's like, yeah, our guideline here is like, 90 minutes or a little bit more, to be able to check the bags. And, And you're five minutes late. Well, we didn't know that. And, I tried offering him cash money. I'm like, I have $300 cash. We didn't know this. There's nobody here. See that gate over there? Like, that's ours. And, he wouldn't do it. And, he goes, I can reschedule you. And so he's looking at the schedule. He goes, I can get you out of LAX, tomorrow afternoon at like, like 4:45. You'll be in Shreveport by like, 11:30 Saturday night. Well, our concert's Saturday night. That's not going to work. I have to be on that plane. He goes, well, you will not be on that plane with those bags. And so I looked at the janitor.

Caroline: Yes.

Denver Bierman: Cleaning the floors, because there's nobody there, right? And, I took my. I took my suit jacket and my tie, put it in my backpack. I shoved about maybe 20 of my CDs that I could sell. And I scrolled my bags over to that generator and said, I need you to throw These away from me because I have to be on that plane. I was kind of infuriated.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, for sure.

Denver Bierman: The guy's jaw was on the floor because he'd already told tsa, you can close up because these guys won't be on this plane.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, okay.

Denver Bierman: And so then we had to run outside three concourses. No, three terminals. To the international terminal that was still open for another 15 minutes.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Minutes, yeah.

Denver Bierman: So we could check in and get on that plane.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Goodness.

Denver Bierman: The ironic part is that we get on the plane that has. That has malfunctions, and we sat on the Runway for an hour and a half.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, no.

Denver Bierman: And, yeah. And my bags were going to be in the trash somewhere. That is part of the thing.

Caroline: Right.

Denver Bierman: And, that was a very frustrating moment. They're not all like that. Praise God. But sometimes they are. And you just gotta decide what's really important about this situation. What is it that God really wants me to do in this situation? And then we just go through it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Okay. Well, let's talk about losing your voice. For how many months?

Denver Bierman: Eight and a half months. I couldn't sing.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: This is what year?

Denver Bierman: 2020. It was during the pandemic.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. as you told me yesterday, you were singing all the time. Then Covid hit, then you weren't singing. Everything gets canceled. So you go months without really singing because you weren't really practicing your voice at that level. You go back to singing. You're not ready. So you're the athlete that tears his hamstring because, you weren't in shape.

Denver Bierman: Yeah. And I didn't know it. I've always kind of sung properly. I was taught properly how to sing, what's healthy for your voice, all of that. So when I went back to it, I didn't think that there was probably anything wrong. I thought I had allergies, but I lost my m voice. I couldn't even speak at all. So, I texted my brother, who's in the medical industry in Tennessee. So he got an appointment at Vanderbilt Hospital. So one of the world's most renowned voice doctors, they did about an hour test. He said, you've had major bleeding on your left vocal cord. And so, couldn't speak. He didn't.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: This is just like whispering. You can't make noise.

Denver Bierman: Can't make noise.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Wow.

Denver Bierman: Nothing.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's scary.

Denver Bierman: It was terrifying. So he said, if your voice starts coming back, he said, I don't want you to speak for seven days. You're gonna come back here and we're gonna do another test to see if it's improved or how it's changed. So I didn't need surgery at that time, but I did need vocal therapy. around six months into my therapy, my voice reverted back to what it was when it first got injured, and that was pretty devastating. I thought I might not ever sing again. at that point in time, for about a good three or four weeks, thought maybe that's really, truly it. And started to ask God, you know, what are some of the. What is it that I need to do? Where is it?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you couldn't speak either.

Denver Bierman: I could at that point. I could literally make noise with my voice, but I could not sing a note.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. but still play.

Denver Bierman: Yeah, you can still play a trumpet because, you don't reverberate your vocal cords. You're just blowing air through your. Through your throat. So I fell back in love with my first love, which was playing my horn, and started, like, inventing new little things for horns to try to make them easier to play. So God used a really hard situation, and, has made it one of the greatest inventions of my life. but those words that you speak about in James are some of the most precious that we have.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Denver Bierman: James is not a long book. I think six chapters. Yeah. He just kind of throws it out there, right? He just kind of says some things pretty blankly, pretty, you know, cold, hard truth kind of stuff.

 : Right.

Denver Bierman: And sometimes in life, we need cold, hard truth. Sometimes we just need it set in a way where. Where it's like you strip all the cuteness away, because life can be hard. And we need to know, how do we get through this and what's lying on the other side for it? and so for me, I went through a season, long after I lost my voice, of just losing some joy, like I was gutting. And, you know, our industry has evolved a lot since I started, but even since the pandemic, where we're having to evolve and do things differently in ministry and in music ministry than we've ever done before. And so there's a. Trying to navigate all that can be somewhat complicated when you're used to doing something for 20 years a certain way. And I think along the way through life, I just had lost some joy. I'd lost, some life in me. And I was at this event, and I saw these three guys. They were veterans, and we were honored. These guys, we were down in South Florida, and these guys had done. Had gone through incredible things. One was a prisoner of War for over two years in Vietnam. They'd go into his hut or wherever he was every day and say, today is the day you die. And they would just torture him. And I saw this man and two other men that had been through horrific things in war, and I saw them worship God. I saw them with their families, and there was such a freedom and life in them. And I'm the one leading in the worship. And I'm so mesmerized by what I'm seeing that when the whole thing's done, I make a beeline straight for these guys. I'm shaking their hands. I'm looking them dead in the eyes. I want to know, is this, like a used car salesman trick or is this real? It was real, bro. It was real. And I walked away from that experience. I'm still. Still in the sanctuary. I'm walking away from these men, and I'm praying to God, going, I was probably whispering out loud like, what's up with that, God? What's up with that? Those guys who have been through things that I could never dream of going through in the joy that they have, the life that they have, the life that I don't have. What is up with that? And God said one word to me. Perseverance. Denver, you need to learn how to persevere.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Denver Bierman: And it sent me to James.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Amen. James. 1:12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial for afterward he'll find the crown of life. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, talking to my friend Denver Bierman of Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. And when you hear the music, you know we're up against a break. When we come back, we'll be taking your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 888-589-8840. If you have a question or a comment, we would love to hear from you. And, we are talking about overcoming. You know, sometimes we get the idea that these guys on stage that are so talented, they don't have problems. Guess what? They do. And they have to overcome, just like you and I have to overcome. But God is faithful, and we can trust him. We'll be right back.

 : If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email Pastor jeffromhishheart uh.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here, talking to my friend, Denver Bierman. We're talking about overcoming and, key Scripture I had been using James 1, 2, 3. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. In Denver just shared how the lord used James 1:12 in his life. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Now, one of the things that is important to remember that I have to remind myself of often when I'm going through trials is the purpose of our being, of any of us as believers being on the earth is to be his witnesses. And the witness for Jesus is the one who's going through a hard time and still trusting him and still praising him. Anybody can praise the Lord when everything's going great. It's during the hard time. It's when the guy at LAX says, I'm not letting you on the plane with your bags. And you're still able to trust the Lord. Now people get upset. we are human and punch us in the face and it hurts. but if we turn that over to the Lord, he gives us grace. And so. So, that's such a powerful reminder because, I mean, Jesus, he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Hebrews 5:8. And so if the Son of God had to go through difficulties like that, we shouldn't think it's strange, as Peter says in 1st Peter 4:12, don't think it's strange that this difficulty has come upon you as it's like a weird thing. That's life.

Denver Bierman: It is.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And so, Denver, I'm, I appreciate you sharing that story. Well, we are going to the phone lines 888-589-8840. If you have a question or comment, love to hear from you. And Denver, before we get into the calls, I wanted to mention this to you because you and I both like to play basketball, although you can still play. I can't really play anymore, but we used to play together when you would come with your band.

Denver Bierman: Epic, epic adventures.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. And you're a big celebration. Celtics fan. And I like the Celtics, wnba, Women's National Basketball Association. I think they forget that the W is there for women's because now they're having this big, you know, controversy over trans women, which, what is a trans woman? It's a biological man who is deceived into thinking he's a woman. Clay Travis, because of all this stuff that's gone on. Clay Travis, who has a big, podcast radio program he's offered $10 million to the WNBA to play a high school team.

Denver Bierman: Interesting.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: He says, I'll pay you $10 million. Win or lose, I'll pay you $10 million. But you let me pick the high school team and you put your best out there. Put you on the spot. So high, ah, school team plays the wnba. What's the final score?

Caroline: Boy?

Denver Bierman: Boy, I don't know. That's a really, really good question. I mean, I think the biggest thing for me in all this is that I, love professional sports. You know, I watch probably more college than professional on every, in every kind of sport that there is. But it's like in a society where we've come to this place where we've escalated these things to such a high level that we argue over the craziest things, the craziest things. And I'm just going, why can't we all just really enjoy these sports for men and for women in like, get along and it's just, it's kind of crazy right now the way, the way these things escalate in our societies. I don't know what the score would be. I mean, because I've been on both sides of this. I tried to play basketball. I was not very naturally talented, but I worked really hard. I played in high school. we would play picket ball at 5:30 in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays at First Baptist Hendersonville. I did that for probably 15 years. We had a female come and play with us. She played in the PAC 12 in the late 80s. she was extremely short. She was the wife of, of ah, one of the pastors. She's an incredibly good ball player. She could score on us. She was quick. so there's really, really talented players out there on every side of the ball. But, but I just don't understand why the wnba, why some of these people keep fighting amongst themselves. I think that's the part that really kind of bothers me with it. Yeah, I'm not trying to be critical, but it's like we can really get along and be competitive and really we can, can all enjoy this great sport, together instead of making it so divisive.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I'm very partial to, men are bigger, stronger, faster, they can jump. Women aren't known for their jumping ability. How many people in the WNBA are dunking? how many people in the NBA are dunking? Pretty much anybody in the NBA. If you can't dunk, you're probably not playing in the NBA.

Denver Bierman: Well, I'm not playing in the NBA and I couldn't dunk. So there you go.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So I think it would be extremely lopsided. You get some high school guys that are quick and they can press and it would be difficult, for them. Well, we're going to the phone lines. 888-589-8840 and we have, ah, Elvis on the line from Arkansas. Elvis, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Thank you, thank you very much, Denver. I just want to do a couple of. It's always a pleasure.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's good.

Caroline: I want to, I want to touch on a couple of notes before I ask the real question. But When I was 8 years old, my father in law or my, my stepfather used to play in a big band, in Phoenix called Giovanni's. And we had no idea that this man was going to show up. And lo and behold, it was Buddy Rich. And I had the pleasure at eight years old of meeting that man. He was kind. He inspired me to play music. I started playing guitar at the age of 14. I am now 60. I'm pretty good at it. But now I've also ventured into playing mediocre keyboard. and at the age of 60, I'm now starting to play drums.

Denver Bierman: But love it.

Caroline: My question for you, Denver, is when I, when I get stressed out or I have anxiety, I go to the instrument.

Caroline: Is that the way you feel?

Denver Bierman: Yeah, in some ways, yes. for me, when I get really stressed out because I build ah, a lot of these horns now I will, I will work on the horns themselves. If we can find something in our lives that really can refocus our mind from our stress, that's the most important thing. And I think for some of us as musicians, because we have such a close emotional tie to the music that we get the chance to play music can be an incredible outlet for us to begin to do what Romans kind of says. Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's when we can start to focus our brains in a different direction that is more helpful, that is more productive, that can be a source of stress relief for us in a really godly way. These are great things. So you're exactly right. Like if we can. Playing music will always be one of these places. For me that is a place of respite. when I get too stressed out, I usually write songs. I got to get the stress out, so I got to write about it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: We think about David. David did a lot of that. I mean, psalms are all his. His writings and pouring out his heart to the Lord.

Denver Bierman: Absolutely.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Sing that. All right, Elvis. I appreciate it, brother. Thanks for calling in. we have Dennis, on the line from Missouri. Dennis, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Well, good morning, Pastor, and good morning to your guest. Love listen to you.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Thank you.

Caroline: Whenever we get to you. And, my question may seem kind of silly in some ways. I love old music. My mom was raised during the Depression and she had these albums of Glenn Miller and all those from World War II and, different ones. And I love the big band music. I like to listen to it. My question is, is it sinful to listen to that music?

Denver Bierman: No, no, it's not sinful at all. Like, you know, there's so many things in our lives that can be sinful if we intend them to be sinful. but, you know, when I listen to a lot of that music, it brings so much joy. It puts a smile on my face. And, much of it is very, very uplifting. There's been a lot of things culturally I can remember when playing a piano, pinball machine was considered a sinful thing. you know, there are certain things culturally that might be considered, but I can't really see anything in scripture that tells me, specifically about that style of music that it's just inherently sinful. People have written it in an un. Sinful way before, but people have written in a very uplifting way before too. it's just like anything in our lives. We can kind of twist it and turn it it and manipulate it to be something ungodly. But, I don't. I don't experience big band music that way.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I don't either. I gotta ask you this, Denver. So, you know, when you have. When rock music came in and the rock bands and all that stuff, and you guys were learning guitar and drums and keyboard and. And then the. We got away from big band and so people weren't learning to play the trumpet like that. And you play it, you play in bands in school, which is totally different than the Harry James Band or the Doc Severinsson Band or anything like that. I personally. Because there are not a lot of those guys that could play like that. I always gravitated toward that because I was like. Because I see a ton of guys that can do the drums and the guitar. And granted they're talented, but those guys that can scream on the trumpet.

Denver Bierman: But there weren't a Lot of them, yeah. It's not easy. It's easy to do it. It's I could get into the science of it, but yeah, I mean, it's like. It's like climbing Mount Everest. You know, there's thin air up there and, and so when you're having to create a vibration, which is what sound is, that is so small and finite, but energized. It's, it's a, it's a sound wave that's intensely fast. And it takes an incredible amount of energy to do that and to be able to resonate on a tone like that. it's not easy for anybody to do. Some guys might be able to do it physically a little more easier than others. I've been trying to find ways to make it a little bit easier for all of us to do it. but yeah, it's rarefied air up there.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you mentioned Harry James. He has a video where he plays Flight of the Bumblebee.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Which is so incredibly fast. Have you ever tried to do that?

Denver Bierman: I've tried. I don't play it as good as he does. I can get clips of it. But I think what's so amazing about him was he had this. He was considered what we would call a virtuos. There was a very virtuosity about him. this is a kind of playing that's very flamboyant. It's kind of over the top, but he does it to his perfection. Allen Vazuti is a, is a modern trumpet player who is like Harry James. He can take these very technical aspects to playing the instrument along with these very kind of just crazy insanely high ranges and kind of marry those two worlds together. It's like you're taking some hints of classical music along with hints of some commercial music and you're kind of making something very unique. And when you do it perfectly like these guys do it, your jaw's on the floor, it's like, man, there's nothing like that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: It's unbelievable. If you've never seen that, go to YouTube and do Harry James Flight of the Bumblebee. And you're like, how in the world can somebody.

 : And he's.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is he double and triple tonguing that stuff? How's he doing that?

Denver Bierman: Yeah, there's going to be some sections where he's double and triple tonguing. This Allen Vazuti, gentleman that we have now. He can play Flight of the Bumblebee and he can, do it without taking a Breath. You know, he's got called circular breathing. I've seen this man do this, and he does it in the stratosphere, and you're just in your. Just. It's just amazing.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. All right. Thanks, Dennis. I appreciate you. We have Thom on the line, our friend Thom from First Baptist Texarkana. And, Thom, welcome to the program.

Caroline: Hi. Good morning, Pastor. And I really appreciate your vast variety, of information that you have on your program, every week. But my question is, is what. What is the intent with designing your own instruments? And like, I. I'll make the, you know, the reference to Wagnerian horns. I. I designed and built string instruments for quite a while, and I know that there were a lot of decisions made on, like, what tone, you know, what tones you were trying to get, is what the materials were. So are you shooting for something specific, or are these more like just kind of fun, sculptural kind of, endeavors?

Denver Bierman: No, I am going for some specific things more. It's about maybe the ease of playing them. especially in the brass world, where, we have what we call back pressure in some of these places where we're playing in extreme ranges, whether it's extremely low, like a sousaphone, or extremely high like a piccolo trumpet. And so I'm trying to find scientifically ways and metals that we can use to make some of these jobs a little bit easier. you know, our designs in the brass world have not shaped the physical shapes of the instruments, matter for how the vibrations flow through them. And so there's nothing wrong with the way the standard has been for the last 120 years. But I've been experimenting and doing some things that have made it easier for me. But, you know, it's just like any of us that pick up an instrument, the shape of my lips are different than the shape of Pastor Jeff's lips, which are different than yours. And so a lot of these things that are very personal to us, matter. We've been all taught mostly a certain specific way of playing because it's a foundational way that we can all play these instruments. But due to the nuances of our own physical bodies, some of those things are more attainable for us than others. And so what I think I found is that we can make these horns more specific to the way we play. We can find our best player when we play them.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Amen. Good question, Thom. Well, I'm sorry, Linda and Joe, we've run out of time. I appreciate you calling into the program. And, Denver, I appreciate you being here and coming last night and, playing for our crowd. And, man, it's just cool to have that friendship that we've enjoyed over these, almost 25 years.

Denver Bierman: Absolutely, brother. Thank you.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, we wish you all the best and your wonderful wife and two kids. Well, thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. I'll be with you again tomorrow. Go out today, shine for Christ, and share what great things the Lord has done for you. And know this. God will use you as his witness. God bless you.

Psalm 103:1–5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

This episode begins by reflecting on Psalm 103:1–5, emphasizing God's many blessings—including forgiveness, healing, redemption, steadfast love, and renewed strength. The discussion encourages believers to remember God's faithfulness, respond with gratitude and worship, and trust Him as the source of spiritual renewal and hope.