Tyler Moss

Date of Birth - (approx.) Twenty years and three months ago [ed. yeah, that is nice and relative]

Favorite Toy -My favorite toy of all time would have to be... Legos, because they can be anything you want them to be.

When did you start coming to the Gat and how did you hear about it?

I heard about the gathering from some friends at school (Flowing Wells High School) a couple of years ago.

When/how did you get more involved here?

Matt asked me to play guitar, and so i stand here before you now

What do you dig about the Gat that keeps you here?

I love the atmosphere at the Gat. I like to think that everyone here is pretty much "shut up and follow God", that they don't really worry about "churchy" stuff, like not listening to rock and roll or dancing (lol)

What was your first guitar?

My first guitar was a broomstick when I was seven to twelve, then I got a real guitar for Christmas- a Yamaha acoustic. I thought, "Now i can get a girlfriend!" but alas, contrary to popular belief, it never works.

What do you spend your time doing when you're not at the Gat?

I play in my band (Cambridge), volunteer at the Tucson skate park, try to help out as much as i can with the living room, and i also teach music theory at Southgate academy. Ah, yes- I also play Tony Hawk 4 in my spare time.

Tell us about a couple of major influences in your life.... musical or otherwise.

Um well, let's see... Musically, I enjoy and recommend the jurassic five, ozomatli, jimmy eat world, the (international) noise conspiracy, jets to brazil, radiohead, the hives, dashboard confessional, sunny day real estate, sense field, thrice, dave matthews, U2, Dexy's Midnight Runners, oh, goodness I can go on forever..... I am a big fan of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Issac Asimov, and C.S. Lewis. I prefer the Beatles over the Stones, enjoy any film by Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, M. Night Shymalan, starring John Cusack, Harrison Ford, Gene Hackman, Bill Murray or any Arnold movie. But most of all, by far, the biggest influnce in my life was, and still is, my Dad. My Dad taught me a lot about life in general, like how to build a house, bake a pie, build a fire, but most importantly, strive to be a man of God. And I thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful and awesome dad.

For you, what is it about those authors that make them stand out?

Well, I first read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was eight, and I fell in love with the whole mythology that Tolkein created, and the fact that he created languages for his characters still astounds me today. C.S. Lewis of course, wrote the penultimate children's series, in my opinion. Lewis and Tolkein were best friends, and found extremely creative ways to share their faith with the world- through a great saga that parallels the bible, the greatest story- any good story is based off a biblical story. Asimov while not Christian, was another and still is one of my favorite writers today. I read his Foundation trilogy in third grade- that's a lot of book for a kid.

You said your dad taught you about striving to be a man of God... what made you decide to listen to your dad?

I tried listening to bands (mostly secular) to see how I should live my life when i was a teenager, and that only brought me darkness. although my life seemed fine on the exterior, internal affairs were a different matter. I was a fairly bitter and sarcastic individual, and that scared me. I was searching, and my experiences with my father showed me that God is the only way worth taking.

Did he convince you in some way or was it something else?

He did not convince me per se, but rather him just loving me and sharing God's grace with me. We spent a lot of time building a house, so we had some good conversations together and we built a pretty strong relationship. Sometimes I scare myself because I use some of his sayings.

Ok, last question.... is there something you hope happens when you and the band lead us in worship?

When I am worshiping, I am just a vessel that God’s love pours through. I believe that the worship leaders are really just “lead worshipers” and worship is an offering up to God that we all participate in, not just the guys and gals up in front of everybody.