Gary Stripling

Gary Stripling has always been a musician. Called to full-time ministry as a teenager, he attended Columbus (GA) State University and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Licensed and ordained, he began leading worship in 1989. He applied his business background (Master of Divinity in Christian Education / Church Business Administration) managing his first Integrity-labeled artist in Dallas, TX in 1991. Prior to founding The Management Agency in 2005, Gary was the personal manager for Paul Wilbur (recording artist with Integrity Music) in Jacksonville, FL.

Gary has worked closely with some of the leading figures in the contemporary worship field including Ron Kenoly, Paul Wilbur, Alvin Slaughter, Steve Fry, Carl & Leann Albrecht and many others. He has served as personal manager for Paul Wilbur, Lynn DeShazo (Integrity Music), Bob Fitts (Maranatha & Integrity Music), Michael Gungor (co-wrote Dove nominated & ASCAP Song of the Year “Friend of God”), Meredith Andrews (now with Word Music), and many other independent artists world-wide.

Internationally, Gary has ministered in nations including Israel, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Nigeria, Ghana West Africa, the U.K., El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Canada. His specialized understanding of the music ministry coupled with formal training in church business and ministry administration provides him with the ability to help others see the Kingdom of God come in power on the earth through their own ministries. As a conference speaker, Gary brings years of experience in the church and business worlds to help others develop a mature understanding of their calling. He regularly consults with touring artists and bands worldwide providing career counseling and developing customized management plans that are strategically implemented to help take their ministries to new levels.

Gary and his wife Laura live in Jacksonville, FL. They recently celebrated 38 years of marriage!

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Jesse Phillips

Jesse Phillips is a session musician and producer based out of Franklin, TN. He has been playing worship music in church for the last 19 years and has been doing it professionally for the last 12 years. In his time of playing, he’s worked with artists including Aaron Shust, Mack Brock, Chris McClarney and Christy Nockels.

Jesse grew up in Seattle, WA (#GoHawks) where his parents bought him his first guitar at the age of 8. When he reached Middle School, his family moved to the Philippines and while on the mission field he was able to plug into the worship ministry at their family’s church.

It was there that both playing in the worship band and writing music became a passion of Jesse’s. For his 13th birthday, his family bought him 2 days at a recording studio and that became the driving force behind creating his music. While in Middle School, Jesse wrote a song that won a contest to become a part of the UMC worship song book in the Philippines.

In High School, Jesse’s family moved back to the US and plugged into a church in Savannah, GA. It was there that Jesse learned that music could be more than a hobby, but a potential career. He started teaching lessons at 15 years of age and started traveling with his worship pastor and a couple of worship leaders in the area. 

When it came time for college, Jesse auditioned for a traveling worship band at Liberty University. He made the team and earned a full scholarship as he worked for his Bachelor degree in Worship and Music Studies. That group (called The Sounds of Liberty) was featured on television on Fox News, TBN, and JCTV but he also traveled with them all over the US and Canada performing at churches and other events.

After graduating he moved to Nashville to pursue a career traveling with various bands and artists. It had been a year in Nashville before Liberty contacted Jesse to come back and play music for their campus worship team and get his Master’s degree in Business. He played bass for their team for each of the convocation services (10,000+ students 3 times a week) and for the school’s campus church service at Thomas Road Baptist Church. Jesse stayed at the school and became a part of the staff that auditioned and trained new students for the traveling worship bands.

In 2015 Jesse moved back to Nashville, TN and continued traveling with worship leaders. He currently owns a studio in downtown Franklin, TN and serves on the music team of Church of the City (where his beautiful wife is on staff as the graphic designer).

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Andrea Olson

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Aaron Watkins

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Alyce Metallo

Alyce Metallo is the 2017 winner of the Worship The Rock songwriting contest in the Contemporary Christian category with her song "No Rivals"!

The extraordinary journey of this D.C. native started when she was merely two years old. By the time she was in lessons at five, it became evident that playing the piano and making music would be at the center of her future. Metallo studied at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at the Catholic University of America and earned a degree in Music Education and Piano from the College of Fine Arts at Howard University both in her hometown.

Her love for music is paralleled with her passion for foreign languages. As an exchange student at the University of Madrid (Studies: Arabic, Hebrew and Portuguese) and a graduate student at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Metallo honed in on this passion, fully embracing the language that has greatly influenced the path of her ministry and musical career.

Along with the gifts of songwriting and arranging, Metallo’s faith is the heartbeat of her lyrics and the driving force behind her talent. In the face of her father’s disappearance and subsequent death, Metallo turned to songwriting as the catalyst of her healing, writing the song "No Rivals" in response to his death and her testimony to God’s sovereignty. Metallo’s unwavering commitment to sharing the Gospel through music is the reflection of a life serving others as she serves God.

Metallo’s astonishing collaborative credits include opening for Paul Baloche, performing with Matthew West, Jaci Velasquez, Gloria Estefan, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Yolanda Adams, Luther Vandross, Kenny Rogers, Aretha Franklin, Keith and Krystyn Getty, Richard Smallwood, and Charles Billingsley.

Metallo began full-time music ministry as a worship leader at McLean Bible Church in Tysons Corner, VA in 2009 and eventually became the Director of Creative Arts for two of their satellite campuses in Bethesda, MD and Manassas, VA. She currently leads a vibrant ministry of over 50 volunteers at a wonderfully diverse congregation in Northern Virginia.

Metallo is married to her husband and biggest supporter and treasures her roles as wife and mother of their three beautiful girls.

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Kellie & Kristen

Kellie and Kristen Fuselier are twin sisters with a singular purpose – to see the glory of God both exalted and delighted in by people from every nation. Nashville, TN, is where both live, work, and serve the local church body.

Music has been a constant for the girls throughout their lives, Kellie singing from the time she was just three years old and Kristen picking up her first instrument at age eight. The pair have ministered through music in some capacity for more than ten years. They each felt God whisper the call as teenagers. “Our task has been to serve here, locally, in our church and our community,” explains Kellie. “But this is a new season, one we feel the Lord has been preparing us for over the last decade.”

While being rooted and grounded in the local church is of utmost importance to the sisters, the time to reach out to the universal church has come.

In January 2016, the team released their first EP entitled "We Receive" which hit #43 on the Christian & Gospel iTunes chart during its debut weekend. Their first full length album entitled "In The Name" was released in May 2019 which landed at #12 on the Christian & Gospel iTunes chart on its release date. Both We Receive and In The Name were recorded by Georgia-based producer Sean Hill (Uphill Studios, Dacula, GA).

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Nathan Gifford

Nathan grew up in the church as a PK (Pastor’s Kid) and was involved in the worship band from a young age. Growing up, he played saxophone in his dad's church, but also in various worship bands, events, camps and recording projects. He graduated from Indiana University School of Music with a performance degree on saxophone. While in college, he began doing some worship leading, which lead to a full-time music pastor position right after graduating, which is also when he began writing worship music. Nathan served in that capacity for about 8 1/2 years. Then he switched gears and started his own business, while doing music ministry "part-time". He took on the worship leadership in a church plant and helped grow the church to about 550 members in 8 years.

Nathan has recorded 9 live worship CDs and been a part of many others during his 20 years of worship leading experience. Much of what has been recorded over the years has been original music. He is also the co-founder of WorshipReady.com, which is the parent company of WorshipTheRock.com.

Nathan and his wife, Rebecca, have 10 kids. Four are older and out of the house (2 married). Five of them are foster kids that are in the process of being adopted. They live in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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