My name is Gary Livingston and I serve as an elder in the Restored Church of Christ located in Salem, Oregon. I am married to a beautiful woman, have four wonderful children, and three grandchildren. I retired from teaching in 2009 after having taught elementary school for thirty-one years. I had a marvelous career.
I began playing guitar when I was about fourteen years old. Having never had a guitar lesson, I taught myself as I learned basic chords to folk songs. I began writing songs as an outlet to express my feelings and continued writing through college and on into my young adult life.
For the next twenty years my interest in guitar playing wavered between hot and cold.... on again off again. I'd go through periods of playing consistently and then go through phases of not playing at all. I never really improved musically during this period of time and found myself writing fewer and fewer songs until I finally stopped writing altogether. This trend continued until the late 1990's. That's when the Lord started bringing music back into my life.
In 1997 I became aquainted with some new friends and began playing music with them forming a band called "Cornerstone." I began to find within myself the inspiration to start writing music again. We had a lot of fun, but could never seem to find direction as to where we were going as a band. As "Cornerstone" was coming to an end, I was led to other friendships which opened the door for me to continue to grow musically.
In 2002 I became a member of a Christian trio called "Seeds of Faith." During this period of time I continued to write and develop the gift which I believe the Lord has given me. After "Seeds of Faith" disbanded in 2006, the inspiration to write stayed with me as well as my desire to continue to provide ministry through music.
The Lord has truly blessed me in countless ways. He has blessed me in my ministry, with my family, with my church family, and through my teaching career. He has also blessed me by bringing music back into my life along with the friends who helped make it happen. Praise God!