Originally formed in 1999 at a missionary base in Lakeside, Montana, Rend The Heavens beginnings were anything but typical. Aaron Sternke, along with his wife Jillian and a few other friends, set out to make a recording of worship songs expressing the deep longing and desperation for God that they saw in so many people’s hearts. Instead of the stale sentiment of many modern worship songs, they wanted to experience a deep revelation of God in their music, like so many of the old hymn writers expressed so well…

Rend The Heavens self-titled debut was just that — although raw in its production, the passion and love of God was tangible in its writing and delivery. Brad Wigg from The Afters says of their music, “Rend The Heavens’ music and melodies are VERY compelling… combine that with their lyrical content and you have a very emotionally moving musical experience.”

The band began playing live, and it quickly became obvious that this was the strongest expression of their calling. Powerful, undeniable, and honest passion in their performances touched people’s lives as they experienced God as never before. The band continued their ministry with countless “God stories” during live performances, and two more albums, “Longings”, and “As Long As You Want Me”.

In the fall of 2002, the band was put on hiatus when Aaron and Jillian moved to Florida so that Aaron could attend Full Sail, an audio engineering school in Orlando. Also attending Full Sail at the time were Sarah Snyder and Matt Hellems. Sarah had been a big Rend The Heavens fan and longtime friend of Aaron and Jillian’s back in Montana. Matt and Sarah attended the same church in Orlando, and began hanging out a lot… and the rest is history! They finished school and got married shortly thereafter.

After the school, both Aaron and Jillian and Matt and Sarah (separately) decided to move to Nashville, TN. The idea of re-forming Rend The Heavens quickly came up. Aaron had been working for producer Brown Bannister since they had moved to Nashville, and Brown’s engineer Steve Bishir graciously helped the band record drums and bass for their newest EP, “Son Of God”, which they released in May 2006.

Luke Simpson joined the band full-time on drums in April 2007.  With the new lineup finally complete, the band began to focus even more on writing.  In the summer of 2007 they decided to record a new EP.  “The Bright Side” was released August 15, 2007.  One of the highlights is the song “Holy” which sings, “God, broken Lamb upon the altar, Holy.  I want to stare until my life is holy, and You, glowing eyes so full of love, You are all I’m dreaming of…”

“Through all our changes,” says Aaron, “the spirit of Rend The Heavens has remained unchanged — to express the love of God through our music. God’s love is never-ending, and is so deep we could never experience it fully.  Our dream in Rend The Heavens is to stay open, stay vulnerable, and stay connected to God. We know he is reaching out to us, and we want to reach for Him”

Website: http://rendtheheavens.com

source: rendtheheavens.com