HOLLAND, Mich. — Considered one of the country’s very first record labels, Capitol Records is a known for signing some of the biggest names we know in music—from Frank Sinatra and The Beatles to Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg.
One of their newest musical groups is from right here in West Michigan: The worship team at Engedi Church.
“We just love giving God praise and singing songs to God,” said Yarian Rosado, the Engedi Church worship pastor.
He was born into a musical family and told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “My dad was a musician. So, I grew up around music and a family that played music in church my whole life.”
Rosado couldn’t help but to join in.
“I watched 'Back to the Future' and saw the Johnny B. Goode guitar solo and was like that’s what I want to do,” he said. “I was about six or seven years old when I got my first guitar.”
After some vocal lessons, he was ready to go.
“I play electric, acoustic, a little bit of keys and I played trumpet in middle school and then bass,” said Rosado.
He’s originally from Orlando, Florida, but moved his family to West Michigan three years ago needing a change. That’s when he joined Engedi Church in Holland as their worship leader.
“About three years ago, we started songwriting, and we just started introducing them in our church and our church just really fell in love with the songs that we were writing out of this house,” said Rosado.
Brian Aulick is lead pastor at the church. He said, “There is something so powerful about the really beautiful truths of our faith, that when you put them to melody, all of a sudden they take maybe what was up here in our minds and embed them in our hearts.”
It’s faith that led to the ownership of this church after the group ran out space in the building they were leasing.
“We look next door and here’s a 110,000-square-foot former Kmart building,” said Aulick.
He explained that they could afford the renovations, “but there is no way we can afford to buy the building and the land that it sits on.”
So, Aulick flew to New York to share his vision with the owner of the building at the time.
“They were really excited about that, and I said, ‘I’m so glad you’re this excited about it, because all we need you to do to make that happen is to give the building and land to us for free.’ And they said, ‘That’s not what we had in mind.’ And two weeks later they said they would do it, and here we are today,” said Aulick.
They’ve been leading worship out of the building on Chicago Drive in Holland since 2012.
When a friend of a friend at Capitol Records took notice of their music, again, they took that faith on the road.
“So, we got in a van, drove to Nashville, Tennessee, and we said, ‘hey, we’re just a bunch of people who love writing songs, and here’s our music and this is us,’” said Rosado.
The team came back home, and the discussion continued.
Rosado laughed, and said, “Honestly, I think we all felt a little underqualified going there because we’re just like a bunch of small people from West Michigan.”
Six months later, the deal was done. The group was officially signed by Capitol Records, spreading the sounds of gospel beyond Engedi Church.
Rosado listed off the places you can access their music and said, “Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, everywhere. We’re available everywhere.”
Aulick said, “Hands down, our biggest dream is that more people will just hear about Jesus.”
“It’s just been God just opening up doors and allowing us to walk through that. It was a Kmart building and now it’s a place where people are changed, and lives are saved, and it’s just really cool to see how God has done that over the years,” said Rosado.
In the video, you hear them singing their single, "STILL DO MIRACLES." That’s being released Friday, Oct. 11, and is part of their new album out next year.
There are three Engedi Church locations: Holland, Grand Rapids and the Español service.
►Watch a full performance of "STILL DO MIRACLES" below: