Join Angie Austin as she sits down with Aaron Rios, author and pastor, to discuss his new book, Spirit and Truth. Explore the depths of worship and what it means to truly reclaim the heart of worship in a world filled with noise. Aaron shares his fascinating journey from a musician to a worship pastor in Massachusetts, revealing how faith guided his life’s decisions. Discover how music serves as a conduit for worship and how you can rediscover the heart of worship through genuine faith and spirit.
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, friend. This is Angie Austin and Rachel Maines. Rachel has joined me over the years numerous times on the program. She was a Good News girl, and now she runs one of our stations, KLTT. Welcome, Rachel. Hey, Angie, good to be with you. You know, I know a lot about your testimony from our years and years of friendship working in TV news together. You were my floor director and we were prayer partners before I would do the morning show. I did weather and then later on anchored. And you and I were friends the whole time that we worked together. And I also work with you, obviously, in radio. So that’s been really a blessing as well. And now you’re running KLTT. But I thought, you know what? I’d love to hear your testimony because we bonded over some similarities we had in our background. So does that sound comfortable to you since you’re, you know, running the show now over there to share some of your story?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, thanks, Angie, and thanks for asking me to share my testimony. I know that for sure the Lord connected both you and I, and he planned for us to be lifelong friends. And I just consider you a sister as well. You’re like family. Yeah. But it was so interesting how when I got to learn your life story and my life story, one of the things that was similar is, well, my brother, you know, he got murdered. And so we could bond over that. Now, my brother was an amazing man. He had a young age, a successful company with my dad. However, there’s addiction in the family. I’m thankful I never had that. I’m just thankful I don’t understand why. But a lot of my family members had to really battle addiction, and my brother was one of those. You know, it’s interesting.
SPEAKER 06 :
Not many people bond over a brother being murdered. That’s a very rare thing. And your mom, I knew, suffered. dealt with alcoholism throughout, you know, your childhood. And my father did. And I was estranged from him for like 35 years. At redheads, you know, you’re a redhead. Your brother’s a redhead. Your mom’s a redhead. Your mom looked exactly like you. She was so beautiful. And I had red hair in my family. It was just little things. Like we both went to University of Colorado. We both worked in TV news. We both lost a brother. We had difficult childhoods. I mean, it was just a lot. And we loved the Lord. So sisters in Christ as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
yeah I know and how special and precious that you know in the Bible it says that the Lord directs our steps and never would I have had imagined a special friend like you in my life I’m so thankful that the Lord had planned that out and I didn’t think you know going into news I would necessarily meet strong Christians and I was very thankful that there you know you and I got to bond with our faith and Even pray, which was a surprise to me, too, that we were able to pray in news, which is very special.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, right before the show. I don’t know if anyone’s familiar with morning TV, but we’d get up at 2.45 in the morning, and every second is precious because you want to sleep in every extra minute you can. And so you are racing to get your makeup done. You’re racing to get dressed, to brush your teeth. I’d even wash my hair in the sink a lot because I wanted my hair to look really fresh and nice. So if I washed it the day before, I’d still want to wash it in the sink. And it was like the Indy 500 to get ready for the show. But you and I would always take a few minutes right before the show to pray in the makeup room.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I know. And that is so funny in news. I mean, if we had like a three minute break, I was like, wow, you know, what am I going to do? Three minutes. Right. Exactly. Commercial break. Yes. It’s like, let’s relax, you know. And but yeah. Yeah. So special. And just the similarities as well. And, you know, my mom has since passed and went home to be with the Lord. And she did accept Christ. But yeah, my childhood was a unique one, which now I look back and I’m like, Lord, thank you. You really blessed it in many, many ways. I was raised by my dad and stepmom, and the foundation of my faith came through my dad. My dad is, he’s just, he’s everything to me. I’m very close to him today. I’m so thankful. And we can bond over our faith and talk about things. I’m very thankful for my dad. He’s just a solid rock. And then my mom remarried, and so I had a stepdad. So I had two families, essentially. And what was interesting is so different. So I got to be exposed as a kid to different lifestyles, different mindsets, a lot of different personalities. When I visit my mom, and I want to interject here, I was thankful to have traveled. My mom and stepdad lived in Bolivia. And there they had maids and chauffeurs. So when we went, me and my brother, it was like a whole different kind of lifestyle at a young age to kind of learn, you know, about the culture. And I got to see poverty, you know, firsthand. One day my brother and I, we were young, you know, we wanted to walk the maid home. We wanted to be friends with her. And she was kind of hesitant. We couldn’t understand why. We didn’t realize until we got to her place that, we didn’t even think that she may have been embarrassed for us to see where she lived, you know. So just these kind of experiences were just amazing. My mom and stepdad lived in Australia as well, so when I was in high school I’d visit. So I was thankful for the travel and just to be around and exposed to different environments. And then very thankful that I had a solid faith and foundation with my dad and stepmom. So, yeah. Uh, but with the addiction stuff, yeah, I was kind of, I was the youngest and typically as the youngest, um, you wouldn’t have the dynamic, but for whatever reason, as a little kid, I, uh, became rescuer. I guess I put it upon myself that I’m, I’m going to rescue people. So that would look, look like rescuing my mom, you know, maybe if I was with her and she was drinking, I’d want to, you know, kind of be the mom, if you will, emotionally. So, um, Just an interesting dynamic for sure. And now, though, the Lord can use, I can see, looking back in the past, the Lord can use things for our good. Every experience, if we give it to him, we can see that, wow, Lord, you know, even though that was rough, you used that for my good now. And one of the things I want to explain with that is, you know, my parents got divorced. And, you know, divorce isn’t a good thing. I know that the Lord wants families to stay together. But in my situation, I look back and like, you know, I’m so thankful I got to know a stepdad. And now I have my stepmom. She’s just the dearest, sweetest friend to me. And I couldn’t imagine my life without these people in my life and imagine my life different without these amazing experiences. Because now as an adult, having been exposed as a kid to so many different situations, I feel like I’m better prepped to meet different people and different perspectives, even within my faith, which served me well at CU Boulder. And Angie, I know you went there as well. And, you know, it’s just to be able to learn and glean from people of different belief systems, yet still hold strong in your faith, I think is priceless.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, when exactly can you talk a little bit about how you became a Christian and the time surrounding that and your experience with that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so I became a believer at a young age. I grew up in a Lutheran church, and I went through the confirmation. And so I was kind of a unique bird at a young age, kind of stronger, I guess, maybe not, I shouldn’t say stronger, but my faith was really important to me as a young age. So I think that also probably played into my rescue role, if you will. I mean, I had the Lord with me. He was helping me, you know, with things. And maybe I just wanted to then, you know, show other people, my family members and our friends, you know, the amazingness of having Jesus walk with you. So at a young age, I would talk to my friends in middle school, you know, about the Lord. And we had deep conversations. I remember as a little kid, I’m like, wow, I look back and like, wow, that was a really deep conversation for a little kid there. But, um, yeah. So, and then, you know, just being able to have a dad where we could talk about, you know, our faith and science and how science fits in and, um, just kind of get really theological, uh, we had theological talks about, you know, deep things so that when I went to CU Boulder, um, I was grounded enough to even sometimes, uh, you know, challenge my professors, you know, uh, Hey, you know, let’s talk about this. And, you know, I had one professor at the end of it. I said, so you don’t really know. And she goes, no, I don’t know. Wow. Yeah. So I was just kind of, uh, a unique bird in that, you know, sense that, um, I was strong in my faith in college. I had an atheist, one of my best friends, Travis in college, he was an atheist and we’d talk about, um, things and, and, uh, you know, I, to this day, he’s still an atheist, but, um, I, I, we came to an understanding that even though we think differently, um, we can still be friends and still, you know, love each other. So, um, Yeah, I think we should share our faith. I think sometimes out of our insecurities, we don’t want to be friends or stay friends with people who think differently. But I think if we’re solid in what we believe, we can then be that solid friend or solid family member and always be there for somebody. They know how we believe. And I do have friends call me from time to time who think or believe differently, but sometimes they reach out because they… They know that my faith is my solid foundation.
SPEAKER 06 :
Exactly. Yeah, and I’ve always appreciated, like, you’re not timid about your faith. You’re not secretive about your faith. I would venture to say that for a quiet-ish person, you’re not an out there, like, really loud, I want to be the center of attention kind of person person. you are very gregarious but you’re not you know like the main center of attention kind of person with that said you are not shy about your faith and so I believe that you’re outspoken about that and I always admire too like if people were gossiping at work or you know something you’d say well i really don’t want to you know talk about anybody that makes me feel uncomfortable that’s not really it’s against my values or that’s not something i like to do and so you had no qualms with disagreeing with the surroundings because i found there was a lot of gossip in news probably in any office and um and If you’re standing there listening, they assume you agree with them. And so you’d get this person that’d be like the cancer of the newsroom that want to talk about everybody. And they’d just be like, oh, well, I was talking to Angie and Rachel and we were saying, no, you were saying. But we get lumped in there and we’re considered gossips if we’re just standing there. So you’re really one of the only people I’ve ever worked with that’s just outright said, I don’t feel comfortable, you know, gossiping about people.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, well, you know, and I don’t even remember saying that, Angie, but thanks for… for bringing that up. I know it’s been a pet peeve of mine, gossip. And I always thought, you know, if you’re going to be around a friend who gossips about other, well, definitely they’re gossiping about you, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Well, you’ll join me again and we’ll talk more about your testimony and just your experience. I’d love to hear about your career path that I know you love running the station. And Matt was in the position that you’re in You’re now running KLTT for many, many years as the station manager of KLTT. And wow, I mean, it’s I’m sure been a lot for you to take in over the last six months or so. I know you sing and you are very talented and you have your own show. So how do people find you?
SPEAKER 04 :
If they want to reach out, you can go to just RachelMains.com. RachelMains.com. I also have a radio show, CornerCafeRadio.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
And tell us when we can hear your radio show and are the podcasts up as well?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. So they can tune in on KLTT Saturdays at 5 p.m. And then Angie, a friend of ours, is Biff Gore, and he just now started his own radio show at 5.30 on KLTT.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, so he’ll be following you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so tune into the 5 p.m. hour on KLTT.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, he’s such a great singer. I’d love to hear him as well. Thank you, Rachel. I’ll talk to you soon. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks, Sam. Love you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Love you. Bye.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
Eerie, thanks for tuning in to KLTT, the Mighty 670.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the Good News. And joining me is author and pastor Aaron Rios. His book is Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship. Welcome, Aaron. Thank you so much for having me. What an honor. So give us an overview of your book, Spirit and Truth. Kind of put our toe in the pool.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. Well, I’m sure as you’re aware, church right now and culture is inundated. There’s a grand worship movement. Probably it’s unprecedented. It’s available. I went to a Starbucks, and worship music was playing. So it’s out there. And so the intention and the heart behind this book really is to take a step back and to consider, to ask some probing questions, because I really believe that God wants his people to reclaim a heart of true and genuine worship. I’m reminded of an instance visiting the Florida Keys. I was telling you I’m originally from Florida, and I visited the Florida Keys once. Quite a few times, there’s a pier down in the Keys, if you’ve ever been there. It’s known as the Sunset Pier, if I recall. And almost every evening, people will gather if it’s a nice night and if the sky is clear, and people will watch the sun just fall off the face of the earth. It’s a beautiful, breathtaking sight. And as the sun is setting, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever witnessed. People will just collectively just sigh and applaud as the sunset goes down. It’s so beautiful. And I sat back and I observed that moment, and I recognized something is that worship and celebration seems to be an innate response from people. something’s built in us. And that really influenced this book because I noticed when I came to church and I began to sit in worship services, sometimes people are very engaged. Other times people are playing on their phones or drifting off. And so my heart behind this book was, God, what are you looking for? What does the Bible have to say about true worship? And I discovered it went far beyond the music genre.
SPEAKER 06 :
And so that one, that particular one that you’re talking about, that pier, I’m just curious, that’s in Key West, right? The one that, the Sunset Pier? Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, that’s in the Keys.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m obsessed with the Keys. So just if you’re listening, just so you know, he’s not in the Florida Keys anymore or in Florida anymore. He’s up towards Boston. And so you’re a pastor of a church as well. So just tell us a little bit about you. Give us a little background because you’ve got an interesting story regarding your kids going right now as well.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, my goodness. Yeah, it’s kind of an unusual story. So. You know, I gave my life to the Lord back in 2009. And prior to that, I was in a band. I was trying to make it happen in the music industry and all that stuff. And so when I gave my life to the Lord, we had two children. And that quickly grew to five after that. I have five daughters, and we have a sixth one on the way. It’s a boy. Very excited about that. Didn’t expect that. I began to serve the Lord in Central Florida, really, just right out of the bat. God got a hold of me. It was a pretty miraculous encounter with Jesus, really. It’s just incredible. And it happened in my home. And then from there, I felt this just urge to just get involved. I felt like, you know what, I had this encounter with Jesus, and other people need to know about this. And so I took a direction towards missions. It was not expected. I remember Haiti had an earthquake. Yes. And I just felt compelled when I saw that earthquake. I said, I’ve got to go. So I called my record label up at the time and I said, I want to go on this mission trip. And they thought I was out of my mind and they were like, hey, that’s great. You know, but, you know, God had another plan. And through that, I actually ended up parting ways with my record label and found myself on the mission field. And for several years, yeah, investigated missions. And little did I know, step by step by step, as I backed away from music entirely and just began to pursue missions and how I can serve in the church, I found myself eventually leaving Florida after 36 years to step in as a worship pastor in western Massachusetts in a town I could not pronounce.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in terms of worship music, why do you think that music has such an ability to reach people’s hearts? I see that like the teens, my daughter’s going to a Christian camp. One of my, I’ve got three teenagers in high school, is going to a Christian camp. And I’ve always wanted that for my kids because I see the worship sessions really get into the hearts of young people, people in general, when they attend these big functions and they’re listening to music. Why so much power in that?
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, I think it goes without saying, music has such an entrancing power over people. I think music does the same thing that good food and good conversation can do. Again, being from Florida, we have a lot of soul food in Florida. Or if anyone’s ever been going through a rough time and they say, you know what, I just need to consume a pint of ice cream right now. There’s something, I think, intrinsic with things that can stimulate our souls. I think we find comfort. I think we find connection. I think we find relief. And so it goes without saying, I mean, come on, we’ve got soul music, right? And so if someone is feeling excited, they put on a certain kind of music. If someone’s feeling down, on and on. So I think it goes without saying that music has a capacity to reach an inner person. And so I think that’s where it starts. And I think God designed us that way. I think he designed us to be able to respond differently. certain things. So that’s a great thing, but I think also that could be a challenging thing if we don’t really investigate that and really kind of put that through the lens of Scripture.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in your book, Spirit and Truth, talk about what you’re teaching us in Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, thank you. Well, I think the first thing I want to say is that I’m not prescribing a worship methodology. I’m not I’m not trying to tell people how to play an instrument. I’m not trying to tell people you should do it this way. I’m actually going back, and I’m looking at a couple of things that I found in Scripture, and this is what I’m really pushing and considering in the book, is that we don’t confuse perhaps even going back on the whole soul stimulation, you know, soul stimulation for the presence of God, you know? I think that worship is really like the design that God has put in us. So I’m looking at A couple of different instances in Scripture, and even where I get the title from Spirit and Truth, that comes from John chapter 4, where Jesus takes a journey into a city, a town called Samaria, and he encounters somewhat of an unlikely person in this journey. He finds a woman sitting by a well. Some of your listeners might be familiar with that story in John chapter 4. It’s really fascinating because Jesus is a rabbi. And so he’s traveling through a region that most Jewish people, especially rabbis, they would have circumvented. They wouldn’t have gone through Samaria because they just didn’t really get along with that people group in that time. But Jesus marches right into Samaria, and it’s very intentional. It seems like he was intentionally hoping to meet this woman. And when he encounters this woman in John chapter 4, she has a little bit of some scandal in her life, I think. But he has this conversation with her. And the point of that conversation is really interesting. He brings a message to redirect her back to worshiping God. And I found that so fascinating because everything that’s in that journey, I believe it’s relatable. For instance, how often we take the longer road, like the Jews of that day would have went around Samaria because of kind of some religious preoccupied with some religious rules. And that’s a very wearying journey, and I think sometimes if we’re not careful, we can actually make our spirituality very wearisome. Jesus goes through unfamiliar territory, and I think sometimes Jesus calls us into unfamiliar territory. But the message, the kind of climax of that message is God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so that’s really the premise of where we’re jumping off with this book.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love your enthusiasm for, you know, worship. And I can see why you, you know, took a position and moved across the country to do that. Obviously, that must have been scary for you. Now you’ve got the sixth kid on the way and you’ve left, you know, your childhood basically state and where you’ve always lived. How did you really feel God’s prompting you to do that? And how did you face the fear of really just uprooting everything to move? I mean, outside of Boston, it’s so different from Florida. I mean, let’s be honest. Oh, my goodness.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Angie, if you want me to be like really kind of tell you how it was, I wasn’t looking for any type of an opportunity. I was just step by step trying to be obedient with those little inner promptings and circumstances that were beginning to unfold. But you know what actually happened is I went into this season of real intense prayer and dedication. I was really wanting to hear from God. I’m like, God, what do you have for me? What’s your plan for me? Because I was working a job with a religious organization at that time, and they were gently relieving me of my job. They gave me about a six to eight month window where they said, we’re going to be kind of phasing out your position here. but we’ll help you find a new job. And I saw that as an opportunity to trust God. Yeah, it was wild. In fact, this happened in October, and I knew we were getting around the holidays. I certainly don’t recommend this, but I actually didn’t tell my wife until after the holidays because I just wanted to enjoy the holidays. Now, again, I don’t recommend it, but I did tell her in January after the holidays kind of weighed down, and I said, okay, listen, we’re going to have some changes here. So now we’re into 2015. And I told her, I said, but let’s pray. I really believe God’s going to do something. And then over the course of the next couple of weeks, I got a random call from a pastor that I had crossed paths with. And in a short season, he’d spoken to my life. But he called me. He said, Brother Aaron, I’m calling you from Massachusetts. We’re looking for a worship pastor. And I just knew it was this ordained moment that I was like, this, it was such a confirmation in my heart. And within 30 days, we packed up. And we moved. Complete uncertainty of what the future would have, but knowing that I really believed God had ordained my steps. And so here we are.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in terms of being a worship pastor, and I love that story, by the way, do you feel like the pressure to entertain, like how do you balance that entertainment versus really trying to get people to embrace the Lord and have a relationship with the Lord?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, there’s no doubt. I think I could take the liberty and speak for many musicians. Like we take this pleasure in what we do. That’s a good thing because I don’t think God calls us to be miserable in our labor. So it’s great when you can do something out of your gifting or your talent. That’s a great thing. I don’t think it’s wrong to take joy in that. But I also try to navigate, and when I work with teams, I try to encourage teams and have them consider this. Kind of two things. Number one, I say, hey, look at these platforms. And there’s so many beautiful churches, and a lot of churches are inundated with glorious and beautiful worship setups. There’ll be drums and keyboards and lights and all the bells and whistles. It’s a beautiful luxury. But I also like to encourage teams like, hey, about 80% of what you’re seeing on this platform is not for the pastor. It’s for the worship team. Like, the churches have invested this. I realize not all churches look like that, but just kind of in that general sense. Perhaps most pastors could do fine with just a little microphone. So consider this platform. What an honor, what a privilege, and you want to steward this really well. And I don’t think a lot of people involved in worship teams really take a moment to consider, like, wow, look what’s been provided. And then the second thing is, what is the duty of the worship team? Is it important that we get a congregation to sing? Absolutely, but I think it’s more important that we prepare the hearts of people to receive the Word of God. In other words, the worship team is really working as a conduit to help kind of till hearts, so that hearts can receive the seed of the Word. So there has to be this cooperation and intentionality of, I’m here to serve the pastor, if there’s a structure like that. But really, I’m here to support this ministry that, honestly, the most important thing that we do is there has to be the ministry of the Word. And so helping worship teams realize, really, like, this is really your role, and this is a biblical role that we find as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I’m excited to have you on again after you have that next kid, because I think your life could probably be in Instagram, you know? Instagram following you could get with that. That is so crazy. Five girls and a boy. What an exciting time in your life. Give us your website, would you, Erin Rios?
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. It’s AaronRios.com. And Angie, just for your show, I put up a promo to anyone that’s interested, offering 10% off on Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship, just for your listeners.
SPEAKER 05 :
Awesome. Well, thank you, Aaron. It was a real pleasure to have you on the show, and I’m looking forward to having you back.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you so much. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
