Mathew Mossburg: I grew up playing guitar and writing songs. I was involved in various Christian rock bands, worship teams, and studio recording. I also had a prolong period of backsliding, living as the prodigal son. When I came back to the Lord in 2004, I started playing again on church, worship, teams, and writing again. Jason has been playing Bluegrass his entire life. He grew up in a musical family that used to tour all around the southeast. As things progressed he met some Christian recording artists in the studio then meeting other artists like Mac Powell from Third Day. Mack asked Jason to go on the road with him and he did for a while. He also started producing other Christian artists and built a name for himself over the past 20 years in the Christian recording industry.

Mathew: The Joshua Band is fairly recent, and is the collaboration between Jason and I. We met through a mutual friend, Mack Brock. I had asked Mack if he would produce some of my music, and Mack was unable due to time constraints. Mack introduced me to Jason and they immediately hit it off. After recording a few songs, Mathew asked Jason if he would be interested in pursuing a project together called The Joshua Band and he agreed. The name came from my lifelong struggle with accepting and receiving the grace of God versus a system of performance oriented works righteousness to please God. I found it fascinating that even though Moses was the la giver and greatly respected, he was not allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience. It was Joshua, the man who by faith trusted in God‘s promises, that eventually lead the children of Israel into the promised land.

Mathew: "Scandalous Grace" was the first song I wrote after my return home to God. For 12 years, I lived out every aspect of the prodigal son story. I was greatly humbled and greatly thankful, but I would have constant doubts about my standing with God and bouts of depression because of my past behavior and inability to live out the Godly life I desired. After reading back through the book of Romans, in serious reflection, the idea of a righteousness that is a free gift, and received by faith, blew me away. It was almost too good to be true… But in fact, it is. The song is a representation of God‘s response to his children when they are acutely aware of how far short they fall.

Mathew: The Joshua Band is all about bringing the guitars back to Christian music, and in a big way. Since I am doing the songwriting, my background and love for classic rock, and really all rock music, definitely comes through. We are not sure if some of the songs could be used in a worship setting, but our primary objective is to write good rock n’ roll songs that have memorable melodies and a solid drive.

Mathew: Read the Bible, especially Romans and Galatians. Pick out a few verses that speak clearly of God’s grace and commit them to memory. Nothing is more powerful and effective than the word of God.

Mathew: We currently have enough music in various stages of production to do a full-length album. Right now we are releasing a new song every three weeks to build our audience. In addition, we are going to start looking for opportunities to do live shows.

Mathew: The best way to get in touch with us is to visit our website, www.thejoshuaband.com and sign up for our email list. Our email list is the main way we correspond with our followers.

Mathew: I was working on my pilot's license, but needed to stop when I realized I have absolutely no sense of direction. I think we would take the train across Europe.