The podcast from Integrity Music, where people around the world sit at their tables and talk about life in all its colors.

Not to judge, but to love, share, listen, and learn. Whether you're rich or were poor, we.

All sit at a table, and when.

We gather, everyone has a part to play in the conversation.

So join us now as we share stories together at the table, where we gather to share stories and insights with extraordinary individuals. I'm your host, Andrew Phillips, and today we're thrilled to introduce Gilbert Nanlohi. Born in Indonesia, lived in Canada, now living in Nashville, gilbert is a deeply passionate man about God, people, and music. He currently serves as the A R Director of Integrity Music as a curator and gatherer. And Gilbert plays a pivotal role in the development of songs, songwriters, producers, and projects for renowned artists like Leland Matt Redmond, William McDowell, Thrive Worship, Phil Thompson, and many more. But that's not all. Gilbert is also at the helm of revere a multiardist community with a mission to inspire worship with Jesus. Furthermore, Gilbert works with more than over 50 independent artists I don't know how he does it. Assisting in the cultivation of their artistry and providing expertise in digital marketing and music distribution. Join us now as we sit with Gilbert Nanlohi and explore his incredible journey in the world of music and faith. Gilbert, welcome to the table.

Andrew, thank you for having me. It's good to be at the table.

It's a real pleasure. We're basing this whole conversation around a scripture, which is Luke 1137, and it says Jesus had finished speaking and a pharisee invited him to eat with him. So he went in and reclined at the table. And I've kind of felt that we always start these conversations with welcoming Jesus to the table. I wonder if you'd do us the honor of inviting Jesus to this table.

Absolutely. Let's pray. First of all, God, thank you. Thank you for your divine invitation for us to be a part of your family, to be at the table. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross, for coming down humbly as a god and sacrificing yourself as man. That's the most meaningful invitation of life. Thank you so much for dying on the cross for us, for our sins. And Holy Spirit, guide us as we have these conversations together at the table. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus'name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Gilbert, I want to start by asking you about the table you work at.

Yeah.

What is it you actually do? I mean, I've given a brief intro, but you tell me.

Sure.

That table you work at, what's it all about?

I work in the music business, also in the nonprofit faith sector of society. And I talk to people and I listen to them, and we make things happen in music mostly. So my table looks like a lot of organizing and managing and listening. So any tools that would help me, such as laptops and notes and phones. Phones mostly, but I used to help people navigate life in their faith and their art.

And because it's international, that table is on all the time, isn't it? I mean, you never turn it off.

Try to take it off, turn it off. For sure. There's a balance to life in every season, but yeah, it's exciting because God's moving somewhere on earth right now, every second, every day. So I'm trying to be as intentional and as much as possible. So, yeah, it's a global small world.

It is. Because the objective of all that you're doing is very Jesus focused and particularly in the worship aspect, songs that will bring us closer to Jesus and also helping artists who have chosen that as a ministry and choice of their life. So you've got a lot of big things to deal with. So when these things are on the table, these are not just a number or a name, these are people with a story in a life.

Yeah, absolutely. And those stories are important. They bring it to the table and we try to as best serve that artist's vision and make sure there's more people to that table. For any type of projects, for any type of movement for church, and particularly with revere, it is centered on focusing on Jesus, the reverential worth and wonder of I think sometimes in the general rhetoric of our songs and messaging for church and church music, it can be about us and we forget that we're here for God. We serve our pain, our sorrows, our joy and our experiences is to glorify God. And sometimes God is not in the equation of our worship music. That's what my work is all about, focusing it back to God.

And I guess, too, at times, there must be things in people's lives that come to the table which you have to be trusted with and you have to pray about. Is that common?

Yeah, very common. I mean, the fragilities of life is very real. And you listen well and you talk and walk with people as best as you can and relate when you can. And when you can't relate, you listen and then you respond accordingly.

Do you find that the worship songs that mean the most and really work on taking us closer to Jesus, that they've come with a price?

Those songs will cost you your life. Those stories, those hardships, those victory messages, they cost something. Sometimes it's your journey with your spouse, sometimes it's your journey with a church, sometimes it's God, your relationship with God, you name it. There's a plethora of reasons where we see it as a product, but the most meaningful songs came from something from a life experience.

Yeah, very true. Can we talk about your family table?

Absolutely.

The one you've grown up with and the one you might be building yourself. Any special memories about your family table and how important is Jesus in that?

I would say Jesus is at the center of that. I am here talking to you today. I'm working at this company, and I'm in America because of a mission. My parents are Indonesians. I was born in Indonesia, in Jakarta, and in the late 80s, early 90s, there was a move of God that traveled through the region, Southeast Asia, where salvations and miracles and signs and wonders was happening all around in the biggest Muslim country in the world. So my parents came into a movement where there was a lot of faith building things that was happening because of the church growth. So, yes, there's persecution, there is tension, there is religious caste type of system, and they form a worship entity that became a movement that eventually sent them as missionaries to the world. So I've lived in 13 different cities in my life, and I don't remember them all, but I mostly grew up in the west coast of America in Seattle, and we're church planters, and my parents are missionaries, musicians, and pastors. So at the table, as I said, we try to keep Jesus at the center all the time, but sometimes the dynamics, we grow apart and then we come back as one family.

But they're my best friends. Absolutely. Me, my parents, my sister, and we journeyed life together. So I feel a sense of mission. I feel like I'm an army brat, sort of. And I don't particularly call one place home. I have many homes, and where my family is, that's where I am at the table. So what I'm building here currently at integrity, music and revere and all that is an extension of how I was raised. Anybody's welcome? Everybody has their part. Everybody is at the table. We all are distinct, and we have dignity at the table.

One thing I've noticed about you when I've had conversations with you, you have a calmness about yourself, you have a gentleness about yourself, and yet your life seems to be one of, like, constant movement and constant changes and things like that. But you maintain that. What do you put that down to?

I think I just go one day at a time. I think my parents are super creative as well. I work with creative people. I am a creative being. We all have ADHD. I feel like and panicking about it or being sporadic is a part of the process, so I let it be what it is. I am perfectionist. I do have OCD. I do have all those things that prevent us. Not prevent, but just kind of like the challenges you have to go through. But I feel like I got that from my dad. He's very calm and my mom's very extroverted. So I'm kind of in the middle and I manage a lot of information, so I have to be calm about it.

You mentioned ADHD and other aspects and so on. And I think is that becoming more common and are people more admitting it more in the world of songwriting and artist work?

I feel like mental health in general has become the primary source of topic, not just in the church, but in songwriting. People are so open about their brokennesses or I'm not even saying it's a brokenness I think ADHD OCD, all of these mental health things are what makes you so special. Everybody's creative in different ways. So in our world, in music, in ministry and faith. And I feel like it's so accepted and common. And you can take a breather when you can, when the thing that you're a part of lets you be yourself. But in other cases, it's still hard to communicate. I'm celebrating people who says, oh, yeah, I overcame this to get to where I am. That's a beautiful thing.

You live alone, don't you?

I do.

So the table that you have at your place is just you. How do you approach that?

Oh, man, like I said, I try to invite as many people there as possible. So, yes, I do live alone, but I'm barely at the table, I feel like, by myself because I'm on the go. So my table is next to the kitchen, and that's where I work, that's where I eat. And it's nice because there's array of I'm not isolated in a room, so it's not that much bigger than this. It's black, it's simple.

Jesus spent a lot of time at tables. I find it intriguing that he was a carpenter and he made them, but he also spent a lot of time sitting at them and he spent a lot of time sitting with the marginalized, the people that nobody wanted to sit with or the people that are difficult to sit with. How do you approach that in your life?

Man, that's an inspiration to sit with the marginalized. How humble of God to do that in the form of Jesus. And that's what I'm trying to you know, listening is one thing. I mean, that's the best thing you could do when you're at the table. You listen.

Yeah. Yes. Breaking bread together, is that a big part of your faith and life at the table?

I love good food, so I think food and music there going hand in hand together, it is a big part of my I love cooking. Yeah, very much so. If I could be as hospitable to a stranger as possible, that's the goal. Together at the Table.

Stream the mystery of Christ Live, the new album from Revere, available now.

Hi, Andrew Phillips here. We've put together a resource for you to take your podcast experience to the next level. You can now bring the heartwarming conversations from our podcast to your very own table. Introducing the together at the table PDF listening guide. This guide provides a deeper insight into our series and offers you the chance to host your very own Together at the Table gathering inside, you'll find all the thought provoking questions we discuss in every episode. Use these questions to create meaningful conversations with your friends and family, just as we do on the podcast. It's a great way to connect and grow together. Download your copy now by going to Integritymusic.com togetheratable. We'd love you to share your responses with us. What insights did you gain and what conversations were sparked around your table? We've set up a voicemail so you can get in touch and tell us about your stories from your table. Call 160796 table. That's 1607-968-2253. We look forward to sharing your stories and thoughts on a future episode. Thank you for being part of this beautiful community. This question is a tough question, but I want to ask it anyway.

Sure.

And it's like, what do you think people say about you when you leave the table? Or what would you hope that they say about you when you leave the table?

I think my hope is that like you said earlier, okay, that puts my mind to ease. I'm more calmer that he's left, not because I've left, but I've provided somewhat of a calm presence or solution to something. Not that I have to fix every problem on earth, but I love to be of service to others. So I hope that's what people say about me.

If you could leave something at the table today, like give something to me or just leave something here, good or bad, what would you want to leave?

Man, you can have my phone. I feel like no, I think an analog life is pretty cool now that we're so digitized and everything is accessible. Maybe I would love to learn stuff without Google. Maybe I would love to be more unplugged so I could experience life before the you. And also you can sort through my notes and my text messages and emails and open up my life and hey, that's what Gilbert's all about. I don't know, because I'm so close to my I think a person's phone tells a lot about them.

That's a really good point. A really good point. Very good point. I want to talk about moments that you can remember.

Sure.

So looking back over your life, you've sat at a lot of tables, you've been to a lot of countries yes. Mixed with a lot of people. Is there one moment that you can recall that changed your life? At a table?

At the table. When I was ten years old gave my life to Christ at a Korean Presbyterian church in Alhambra, California. And I was sitting at the back of the church where this pastor was preaching about God's grace in our life and he's inviting us for this experience of a lifetime. And I remember sitting next to the front of House Guy, which is mixing the sound and all that. I've always sat at the back of the church because I'm a pastor's kid. So I just remember that table. The mixing console is here, the projection lyrics, whatever is here. And then I was sitting there. I think that's the most profound table that was in because of what it did to my life. It changed everything. Even though I grew up in a Christian home, I never accepted him as my Lord and Savior until then.

Do you remember the exact feeling that you had at that moment?

Excitement? Yeah, I was a kid. I think we're in a world where we make these decision as kids and teenagers, and we either stuck to it or we deviated somehow, or we deconstruct those ideas and build them up in a different way, whatever. But as an adult now, I could look back to that moment that's important because it was like a life changing decision that I'm not just quote, unquote, stuck with, but I committed to, and I'm living the adult life version of that decision. And I'm looking back at my life and looking forward. I'm like, okay, yeah, it's hard. It's not as exciting as it was, but I'm so glad I'm invited.

How did you know at that know, you talk about you were sitting there, but you knew something happened. How did you know that Jesus came at that point to sit with you at that table at that moment in your life?

Well, first of all, I grew up wildly charismatic and pentecostal, so people were speaking in tongues, people were crying, people were manifesting all, you know, that's how we grew. Know I grew up in that type of environment, but I just remember feeling a sense of, okay, this is different. You got to make a decision, because growing up in that kind of environment, sunday school where Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so type of thing was not good enough for me. I have to experience it for myself. So as a ten year old, you don't know what decision you're making, you're just making it. So I just sense, okay, this is different. I'm actually aware enough that this is an adult decision, so I made it.

And it felt like a relationship happened at that point.

Yeah.

If you could sit with anybody at the table who's here or sadly, maybe not be here yeah. Who would you choose and why?

I think I'd choose my grandma, my mom's mom. I think she left when I was twelve, went home to be with the Lord, and she's the evangelist of the family. She would just talk to anybody about Jesus, that bold type of old school faith where there's no rules. You are a Christian person who talks about Jesus. And I feel like our conversation would be about boldness, about realities of this generation and this time, but also as a reminder for me, okay, we all have goals, and as a Christian person, what that means for us. And I'm trying to integrate my life as much as possible. So there's only one Gilbert. What I say to you is what I say to anybody else. So my grandmother is a big important character in our family tree and of course, I would love to sit with Jesus.

Well, I want to ask you that. That is really the question, isn't it? Like, if you could sit at the table with Jesus, what would you say?

Thank you. Yeah, man, thank you. Thank you, Lord. Yeah.

What do you think he'd say to you?

You tried your best. I don't know, maybe somewhere along the lines of, you've done well, good and faithful servant, I hope when that time comes. But I would love also to be introduced to the martyrs, to people like Apostle Paul and man. I remember I was boiled alive for that. I remember I was stoned for that. I remember the same faith that you believe in. I died for that. I was hung on the cross upside down, all those people and just being awe and be small in that type of setting and say, Whoa, that's why you're here. That's why we're here. When that time will come and say and I'll just say thank you as well as those people, but mostly thank you, Lord.

Yeah. The culmination of all that we do is worship it's. To get to that point of where we're worshipping Jesus, I was going to ask you, your job is actually helping create worship.

Yeah.

So how do you maintain your own worship separate to it being a job?

Well, we can worship anything. We can worship the one thing that our attention, affection, we can worship literally anything, our kids, our love for food, whatever it is. But making worship music has become such an industry complexity of a giant that there's so many finances and business things that are tied to it. What I do, I try to as much preserve the sacredness of it in conversation with text message, to zooms, to phone calls, to why we've been doing this, and just keep asking ourselves in an oversaturated market of music, is this even God glorifying or this is something a product for church growth? That's the type of questions I ask all the time, or career growth, and is not wrong to have careers, to have art go out there to the world. But what we're trying to do with worship music is focusing on the person that we're just so in love and so revered or that sense of awe and respect towards God. That's what we're trying to do with my job. So in my own personal devotion in all my personal life these days, I'm finding it much more clearer and better if I don't listen to music all the time.

And I actually have moments of silence, moments of breathing, and just listening to friends, family, random people that God uses to speak to me because he's not only in music, he's in everything. But with the sacredness and the know being intentional about our art, I feel a sense of responsibility of this sacred music unto the Lord.

Yeah. It's been lovely to talk with you, Gilbert. There is one final question I want to ask you.

Absolutely.

If people are listening to this and they might be thinking about whether they should or should not get to the table with Jesus, what would you say to them?

I would say that stick to your decision. Being at the table with Jesus is risk taking. Being at the table with Jesus is thrilling and sometimes a little bit disappointing when you look left and right and compare yourself with other people. But being at the table with Jesus is the best thing you can ever do. Because when you decide, when you stick to it, you're not only benefiting in this life, but there's another life after this where it's eternal and you get to sit with him forever. So not everything's easy, but at the table we're graciously invited. And it's not just our voice, as you hear so many other voices and that's what makes the human experience unique.

Gilbert, thank you for coming to this table today.

Thank you Andrew, for having me. Together at the table.

Together at the Table is an Integrity music podcast and hosted by Andrew Phillips. The show is produced by Lasting Media Group. Our executive producers are Andrew Phillips and Jason B. Jones. Special thanks to Callie Argent, Bruno Balduino Olivia Buchanan madison, France alicia St Gelay, Matt Lott, Noah Newman and John Schneck Our theme music is Good God Lo Fi version by special music from their upcoming album Still Worship lo Fi Vol Two. To listen to more Lo Fi and Christian instrumental music, search for Still Worship wherever you listen to music. To learn more about Together at the Table as well as Integrity music, visit integritymusic.com. And to get more involved with the show, follow us on socials at togethertablepod. We've also set up a voicemail at 160796 Table. That's 1607-968-2253. If you have comments or questions or you'd like to be a part of the show, please call and leave a message. Also, be sure to subscribe rate and review our show. Wherever you listen to podcasts, this helps keep Together at the Table on the charts where people can find our show. Thank you once again for being with us Together at the Table.