Ricardo is also a guy with an incredible story. He was (and still is) a Worship Leader who was singing in his church one Sunday. A man came to the service and after hearing him sing, asked him to sing background vocals on the CD he was recording. Ricardo agreed, not knowing that God was using that moment to change his life. Ken Mary, former Alice Cooper drummer and the man who discovered and produced LaRue, was working on the project. After the session Ken asked Ricardo if he would be interested in recording a demo or a full CD. The cost was high and, Ricardo explained, "My salary didn’t equate or make any practical sense." He went home to talk it over with his wife, sure that her level head would prevail, and he got his second surprise of the day. "My wife said 'I really feel in my spirit that it’s time.' It felt like all of Heaven was going 'Ricardo – just go.' So we borrowed, pulled out Christmas money, got money from family ... whatever we had to do to get in the studio."
From the stage in a church in Arizona to stages all around the country, it's been something of a whirlwind for Ricardo. He explains it far better than I could ...
- "The way that God is doing it is just blowing my mind. I think that it’s the Holy Spirit leading us down a path. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28, verse 1 – 15 that if you’re obedient to the voice of the Lord your God and observe carefully all of His commandments that He commands us this day, that He’ll set you high above all of the nations of the earth and blessings shall come upon you and overtake you. Kim, I guess we just feel like we’re in a river and it’s taking us. You know, you can take one step, but if the river is moving it moves you quite a distance. All due respect to all of those people that are in music and not experiencing some of the things that we are. And we humbly receive it. Meeting people like you and other people from around the country, it feels like there is something in us to say. It feels like people around the country don’t just want to hear it, but they need to hear it. The whole Hispanic side of the record is who I am. I’m Ricardo Sanchez – I’m not German so we’re not going to be doing polka songs on the record! (laughs) It seems to be in vogue – the ethnicity of it – which is fine. My thoughts on that are, 'God – use what people need you to use to communicate the eternal message of Christ.'
It’s kind of a whirlwind for me. A friend of mine called me and he said, 'Rick, what do you think about all of this? You know, about this record and all of the attention that’s starting to come from it?' I said, 'You know man, I’m just a dad. I’m a dad, I’m a pastor and a husband.' Then he said something pretty profound … he said, 'You know, just remember that … Because at the end of the day, people will tell you what you are and they’ll tell you what you’re not. They’ll tell you what you should be and what you shouldn’t be. You’ve just got to remember what you are and what you go home to.' It was pretty powerful. You know that saying, 'Some things are taught and some things are caught?' I just suddenly caught it. I suddenly realized that regardless of where I go, I am always Ricardo, daddy, hubby and stuff like that. So with that perspective in mind, or that being said, it’s been a blast! We made the record about a year ago and all of a sudden people are starting to enjoy it. My mantra since that day on the phone with my friend has been, 'God take it where it should go and don’t allow it to go where it shouldn’t. I don’t want any dead ends and I don’t want any pain.'
That’s kind of where we are and what we’re doing. I’m from Phoenix, Arizona and the record is called Unmerited. The songs are vertical in nature. It’s worship. It’s praise to God. That’s what I am. I’m a Worship Leader in Scottsdale. The whole horizontal factor of writing songs about people’s lives and about how people’s lives in Christ affects me or how Christ affects me, I guess that’s part of it. But the majority of it is very simply 'Lord I worship you. I bless you. Thank you for blessing me. I call on you and you reply. You bring your kingdom to stand by my side.' It’s not just a person, it’s your whole kingdom that comes. Just songs that have come from pain … songs that have come from joy. It’s just an ecclectic group of words I guess. In some genre’s it’s a pop/latin/rock-driven record. But the lyrics are all about glorifying God. We’re excited about it and excited to see where God is going to take it."
