In a simple act and a big leap of faith (because no one on either side of his family is real musical), Crozier discovered God speaking -- leading him into a new place of ministry.
"My pastor and I came to this decision about the same time and it was getting close to time for me to move on from being a youth pastor. I had been a youth pastor about 2 ½ years and helped with youth since I was in junior high. I saw a (newspaper) ad in Oklahoma City for a music store. I didn't hear an audible voice saying you need a bass, it was this compelling feeling," said Crozier, bass guitarist for the indie band, Neviah Nevi from Moore, Okla., whose name means "Prophet/Prophetess" in Hebrew.
Crozier knew God wanted him to buy a bass, so he did.
"It was really scary because I have never been musical at all. I can't sing and I have never played anything before this," Crozier said.
But, he knew God had definitely spoke to him.
"I have found when you know God is speaking to you, it really scares you until you do what God wants you to do and it is totally against your (human) nature, so that is how I knew it was God," Crozier said.
Once he had his guitar, finding a new place of ministry wasn't such a puzzle as the pieces started falling into place.
"My wife (DeAngela) started playing acoustic guitar and doing worship music at a church and God just started giving her songs and she started writing lyrics," the youth pastor-turned-musician said.
Finding a drummer, the trio went from playing praise music to shifting to some pretty hard rock.
"We started out playing praise and worship (music) but it seemed that the more we did rock we went to kids woo were really into heavy rock...and usually the kids who are into heavy rock aren't going to be reached by playing acoustics. They are not into acoustics. We like pretty heavy rock and then to lead into worship (music). Our music has a pretty original sound because none of us played rock music before we started this band," he explained.
Now, not only has their music ministered to youth across the country, it has helped Crozier realize music can reach farther than we sometimes think...
"Just looking at music and how it affects people's lives...it speaks in our own lives whether its Christian or not. Music in general, it speaks into our lives and you remember hearing a song on the radio and it meant something to you. Music is kind of prophetic in that sense," Crozier said.
Armed with their songs, this trio of Crozier, his wife and drummer, Robert Dowdy, have shared a stage with bands Overflow, Blindside, mewithoutyou and Spoken and their song "Carcass" has been on Rebourne Radio's Top Ten list. But for this three-some, the focus is not on receiving accolades, it is on traveling and sharing the lyrics and music that they feel God has given them.
"Our vision is to travel full time and be more self-supporting to where we could book longer term things. Right now, I do all the booking. We would like to be able to book things and be on the road for several months. It would be nice to get signed to a record label if the opportunity arises," Crozier said.
Label or no label, the band isn't letting that keep them from using their music to reach out to youth across the country from California to especially the East Coast as they travel across the county on the upcoming Extreme Tour that is planned for April 16 through May 4.
"DeAngela basically wrote 'Bare The Scars' after talking with people who dealt with the issue who cut themselves -- Christian and non-Christian both and we went out to California and that was was really a powerful ministry tool. Every place we played there were kids and adults...that thanked us for playing that song. It has been amazing to see how our music offices older people. We met a 80-year-old woman that she loved rock music. She didn't want to listen to praise music, she liked rock music. Our music is real heavy and loud and it is neat to see how most older people who it can still minister to them too.
As they continue ministering, opportunities continue to come -- allowing the Croziers and Dowdy the opportunity to play to live audiences across the country and even better, minister to those they meet. And as far as Joey Crozier is concerned, those opportunities to minister cannot be simply taken for granted as the three wait what opportunities God has in store for them.
"God has blessed us with putting us in the right places at the right times," he said.
