Steadfast Worship
Our story as a ministry started back in 2018 when Gabe and Joseph were asked to take over the music for the youth ministry at St. Barnabas Parish in Scarborough, Ontario. Both Gabe and Joseph had different types of experience in music ministry, with Gabe’s previous involvement with praise and worship in charismatic communities, and Joseph’s work as a cantor planning liturgical music for the Mass. Over time, we started to see our music ministry grow to include more young adults from the parish. And before we knew it, we were playing for many of our parish missions, retreats, and various youth ministry events. When Gabe and Joseph started, they would often spend late nights in conversation about the music ministry they started, and in those conversations between two friends, the seed of a dream was planted: a Catholic music ministry creating original, authentically Catholic music that could be played along with contemporary christian and gospel music usually attributed to Protestant denominations. They saw the lack of representation from Catholics in the contemporary christian music world, and felt called to action. They asked the simple question of “What if?” and it led to the most beautiful journey of discovery of a call to be “Steadfast.”
It turns out, it wasn’t just Gabe and Joseph who shared in this vision, it was also shared by Erica, Jacob, and Camille who formed our music ministry at the time. In 2019, after coming up with a few bad names, we landed on “Steadfast.” We had a conversation with our youth minister at the time, and he shared with us that the word “steadfast” when used in the Hebrew text is always with “love” to form “steadfast love.” We were touched by this idea that “steadfast” was always connected to “love.” It was never separated from love in God’s word.
Our debut as “Steadfast” was also in 2019, during an EDGE Camp for middle-school-aged youth. At first, being introduced as Steadfast by the emcees, or even when we would introduce ourselves, gave us a weird feeling. It was the good kind of weird, though. It marked the start of a new journey to enter into the mission of music ministry in the Church. We gained a couple members in 2022, Rhon and Adrian, after being reconnected through a young adults ministry event in Toronto called Spiritus, and now Steadfast is comprised of seven wonderful, God and Church-loving missionaries: Gabe, Joseph, Erica, Jacob, Camille, Rhon, and Adrian.
Each member of Steadfast can attest to the truth that music is powerful. Paired with the Gospel, we have every confidence that prayer through praise and worship transforms. We’ve seen walls come down, hearts stirred, and lives changed. We’ve seen how deeply others have been convicted to know Jesus more because of a simple song.
Our mission as Steadfast is: to worship straight from the heart, leading from a place of deep, personal relationship with Jesus and propelled by devotion to His Church. Our overall vision is: to be vessels of the irresistible beauty of God which moves every heart, from generation to generation, to the ends of the earth, to rise up and worship the God in whose heart they find their home. We desire to lead people to Jesus, through His Church by creating music that proclaims the truth, reveals the beauty, and expresses the goodness of God.
The Lord has taken us on the most wonderful journey since we started dreaming over late night conversations. Over the years, we’ve released original music. It started with “Great Things” which we released in 2020, based on our Lady’s Magnificat; then “Living Bread” in 2021, which you’ll often hear us play for adoration or communion; and in 2023, we released our debut EP called “Wherever You Go” which was an echo to each of our “Yes” to Jesus and our willingness to go wherever He takes us. We’ve had the privilege of playing at various events throughout our Archdiocese in Toronto and beyond, including, EDGE Camp, Steubenville Atlantic, Renew Conference, and most recently, March for Life Canada. We also started hosting our own praise and worship nights called “Harbour” which has been an exciting new way to connect with our families, friends, and listeners.