5/27/2009 God Is Never Late My name is Jessica and I am Aaron’s (AZA) wife. I got saved October 1999. A lot of my story starts after I got saved. I realized how much of my life needed to be changed. I have been saved for a while now and I still have so much that God has been teaching me recently and showing me so much of myself that needs change still. The last few years of my walk with God have been the hardest, most rewarding and eye opening for me. I was in a marriage that I feared was headed for divorce. I was in a horrible job that I felt compromised everything that I believed was ethical. I lost my innocence and hope in so many other instances in my life. However, no matter how dark my life felt or hopeless my situation was, God reminded me that I was not alone. It is weird how in the darkest times, we forget that God is with us or somehow that we think that He abandoned us for someone more worthy of His love. How did I come out of all this heartache and hopelessness? God started to call me back home to a closer walk with Him. Once I let go of my religious mindset, my limitations, fears, doubt, and insecurities and remembered that God was more than enough for this heart of mine, I started to see change. I think sometimes we miss the blessings or the miracles because we expect something magical to happen. Sometimes He just uses a friend, spouse, family member, a message over the pulpit, a word you read or a song you hear. He reminded me of who He was and what He had for my life. God healed my heart and removed the doubt that I had rooted in my heart. God is not ignoring you if you do not have a prayer answered immediately. He did not ignore me. He was listening to me the entire time. He knew better than I did for the things that I needed and wanted. He is like our parents; holding us back on the things that He knows will only cause us trouble down the road or only hurt us. I used to put on my mad face when I did not get what I wanted but when I grew up and matured I realized why my parents did a lot of the things that they did. We are like that too with God when we feel that He is making us suffer or miss out on certain things but our Father in Heaven only wants the best for us and knows better than we do. My marriage was honestly restored. I could not stand the man that I was married to, but now when I see him, I am grateful because I realize that God did not make a mistake with us. God changed and restored my heart and reminded me that He had a better plan for us than what I could ever imagine. I just recently got a job at a place that I have wanted to have for 2 years. I could not imagine where I would be if God had not led me to the place I am today. He has better plans for me than I could ever imagine or think of. God loves me and He loves you too. He has not forgotten you, no matter how many lies you hear that say otherwise. I can testify to that. It may not happen when you want it to, but He has everything under control. He knows what is best. Do not doubt or fear because you will see that He is never late, He always remembers you and He will always be just on time. - Jessica

4/22/2009 Through It All Hey everyone. My name is Siobhan Duran. Well, I’m not very good at these blogs and giving testimonies and that sorta thing, but since geno asked me to write it, I suppose I’ll give it a try. First of all God has brought me a long way. It’s been a long journey! I’ll start by telling you where my whole life started! At 9 years old I lost my dad in a drowning accident. It was horrible because I had to be there when it all happened! Being the only one in my family that was there, my mom thought it would be best to put me in these therapy sessions to make me open up and talk. Well it didn’t happen! I remember crawling up and just crying in one of the sessions. I just wanted everyone to stop asking me questions and leave me alone. Soon after that my mom became addicted to heroin. I think it was the day before Easter that my older sister told my younger sister and I that my mom was addicted to drugs. After my sister confronted her it got crazy. My mom took me and my little sister and we lived in our car for awhile. Honestly I have no idea how long it was. I remember sleeping in parking lots and graveyards. Places like that where nobody would bother us. After some time I think my mom finally got tired of keeping us in the car so we stayed at my uncle’s house one night and the next day he took her to the rehab home in Victory Outreach. God began to change her life there! We visited for the first time on a Mother’s Day and it was the coolest church I had been to. I had never seen people worship God like I saw them do there. For about 2 or 3 months me and my sister went from one uncle’s house to the next and then to my grandma’s house. This part is pretty hard to get into because it’s pretty awful, but I think I need to write it. During the time we stayed there, my grandma’s husband molested me and my little sister. As those of you who have been in that situation may know, it’s a confusing and obviously horrible thing! We told my mom about it and she decided to leave the rehab home to take care of us. After that we went through more struggles with life. I don’t really want to get into that part. I’ll just skip to when I was 16 years old. My mom, little sister and I stayed involved in the church. I didn’t have a good relationship with my mom growing up. I felt a lot of pressure, loneliness and things that just overwhelmed me. One night I really couldn’t handle the feelings anymore and I had some suicidal feelings and thoughts. I believe it was a Halloween night. I fought and fought with the thoughts for a long time and was this close to taking my own life. For some reason I decided to get online and there was my old friend Gabe! I spilt the whole thing out and he really helped me get through it. Of course it was all through God, but He was able to use Gabe. I think that’s when my WHOLE transformation really began. It was then that I really felt that God loved me. That’s the inspiration behind my song "You Love Me". (You can hear it on the front page of this website in the music player). I think God really started talking to me then and He began showing me things. I had a really hard time after that but God was able to bring me through it all. Some time later, I’m not sure how long, I started singing in the youth worship team at church and soon after that me and my friend Shell "JUMPED" into the regular worship team for the church. I began doing church specials and leading worship at youth. That was years ago and despite some other crazy stuff that has happened, God has kept me through it all. I have been through a lot of tough times in my life, but I’ve grown a lot these last couple of years. From a feeling of insecurity about myself that "I’m not good enough to lead young people into worship" to feeling like "I can’t record a song” to feeling "I can’t sing in front of people or talk in front of people" or "I make an idiot of myself on stage when I have to talk" or "I can’t feel free to worship God because I’m scared people will laugh." NOW I see that all of that doesn’t bother me when I worship God. I can truly worship Him how I want! HAHA! That’s the best feeling to just be comfortable with who I am. I know God is going to keep challenging me, calling me and changing me! Through everything though, I KNOW WHO I AM IN CHRIST JESUS!!! - Siobhan

4/21/2009 This Is My Testimony My name is Benito Valdez Jr. I go by Benny. Chris Valdez (PHF guitar player) is my younger brother. I'm new to the PHF family and just wanted to share with everyone a little about myself. First let me start by telling everyone that it has been great working with PHF in this short time we've known each other. I believe in my heart that the hand of God is all over this ministry (PHF) and I can’t wait to meet the rest of the crew. I’ve been involved with a cousin ministry called "Outcry in the Barrio" for about the last 3 years. My younger brother Chris was in the victory home 3 years ago and that's how we (my entire family) came to know the Lord.....going to church to visit Chris. When I was 16 years old I left my parents’ home to move in with my girlfriend at the time. Not long after that I hooked up with my cousin who fronted me 25lbs of marijuana to sell for him. I did it, liked that fast money and continued to do it. Although I always had good paying jobs, I still liked living fast. Splurging with the homies every time I hit a lick. Spending my money foolishly on drugs, women & alcohol. This lasted for a few years. Then one day I tried cocaine for the 1st time. I would sell it but never used it. Well, I liked it also, and drinking and using cocaine became a big part of my life. In the mist of all that, I was trying to do different things like manage one of my other brothers who sings R&B, then trying to manage my brother Chris’s rock band. I tried to open up a furniture store. I tried to be a manager of a huge retail store for a few years. I tried to be a good man to the woman I was still living with, then we tried having a family and I thought this would definitely change me...WRONG!! My beautiful little girl (Bianca) was born 3/26/00. And I "TRIED" once again to change, but it only lasted for a month. So now I'm trying to make all the money I can to be the best father & so called "common law" husband to these two beautiful women. But still nothing changed. I was still drinking and druggin. Finally in 2000 I bought a 150K home close to Sugar Land, TX and thought this is it. I have finally achieved the "American Dream". All this hard work really did pay off. I'm out of the hood now, living in the suburbs, driving a nice caddy, no more drug dealing. That's it. Now all I had to do was pay off my mortgage, die and leave everything to my daughter...NOPE. Not happening...In 2002 my wife then, (because after 14 years we finally got married) got tired of my drinking and druggin. She and my daughter left. A year and a half later she divorced me. I lost EVERYTHING. All but my life. So I moved back to my mom’s house and for the next 2 years the drug use and alcohol abuse got worse. This time I was doing it along side of my little bro Chris. Satan had set a time bomb in our family and it was about to blow. The addiction to alcohol got so bad that if I didn't drink for 2 days I would have withdrawals. My body needed it or I would get sick. On January 1, 2006, while my bro was in the victory home, I was at Memorial South East Hospital overdosing on cocaine. Family, friends, and anyone else who reads this, I tried finding happiness in everything (the real "Pursuit of Happiness" starring me), and let me tell you that I never found it. Maybe just for a little while, but it never truly filled that emptiness in my soul. It wasn’t until I met a very special person who did a heart transplant on me on 03/05/06 at the altar of a small church in the east side of Houston. Right there, that very day, on that special hour, I met Jesus Christ, my personal Lord and Savior, to whom I give all the honor, glory and praise to. On that very day, that bondage that had me addicted to drugs & alcohol was broken. That problem that was so hard for me to quit on my own, was the easiest thing for me to overcome once I turned it over to the Lord and cried out to Him. Thank You Jesus!! He has given me a second chance to live, a second chance to be a father to my daughter, and a second chance to be a husband to a very special women one day (I know you’re out there). So, like my man AZA said, what am I going to do with my time? For this second chance at life I choose to follow the Lord. Everything happens for a reason, good & bad I would say, but in the bad it’s actually good. We just don't see it yet, but we will. So it’s all good. And I believe the Lord has given me a chance to work side by side with this great family (PHF) for His kingdom...Oh, by the way, that bomb that was about to blow in my family, never did. The Lord put the fuse out. The only thing that blew up was us when He filled us with the fire of the Holy Ghost. This is my testimony. - Benny

4/17/2009 What about the souls? What about the lost souls out there? I know you see them when you drive. When you walk out the door of your house. I see them all the time. At the park, mall, movies, corner store, driving in the horrible Houston traffic. Can you look past the toughness and pain in their eyes and see they are crying out for help? Can you see past your own problems of debt and financial struggles? Can you see past your family issues and disagreements to recognize there are people headed straight to hell like a man in a Corvette going full speed toward a brick wall. I was there. I was soo there. I made plenty of mistakes...and at one point in my life I was so cold and lost that I kept people at a distance, put my mean mug on, and did my own thing. But deep inside I was hoping to get a call, email, myspace, text, or something from someone who cared. I would have settled for a dude on the street preaching the gospel trying to get me saved again. I remember those days like if it were yesterday and it really makes me think. God has brought me so far from that time in my life and I can actually have peace and joy in Him now. But it did not come over night. So I must remain conscience of the lost and hurting people around me. This is my challenge....directly from God! I can try to ignore it, run from it, or do it my way but God's will is unstoppable. If he wants souls saved...he will use me, my neighbor, the kid down the street, or whom ever he chooses but ultimately souls will be saved. Jesus commissions us in Matthew 28 to go out and make disciples of all nations, teaching them and baptizing them. So my question is to all of us....What are we waiting for?!? I asked a couple of brothers the other day a question; "If you only had one week to live, what would you be doing for that week?" Think about that...Now here is the kicker. Who is to say you don't only have one week to live? Tomorrow is not promised and life is like the morning dew, here one moment and gone the next. What are you doing with what could possibly be your last week.... Is it all about you or a last effort to reach as many dying people as possible? Would you be wasting time with material things, watching movies, playing video games, or hanging at the mall? Or, would you be out talking to people who are lost? Trying to right some of the wrongs in your life. Would you be seeking forgiveness and making amends with those who you had problems with? So what about the drug dealers, crack and weed heads, alcoholics, gangstas, prostitutes, rocker emo kids, single parents, dead beat dads, jocks, clubbers, bar hoppers, students, white collar executives, and stay at home moms out there? What are we doing to reach them? - AZA

4/14/2009 Siobhan Writes Easter Drama for V.O. Albuquerque Hey everyone, this is Siobhan Duran and geno asked me to write a little bit about the Easter Drama I wrote. Well first of all I was very surprised that they decided to use the play that I wrote for our Easter Service at Victory Outreach Albuquerque this year. I think I wrote it about 2 years ago. God gave me it in little visions which was pretty cool. Here's a quick outline of the drama so you can know what it was all about. The drama starts off with the a video of the Crucifixion. Scene 1 THE CALL The disciples are fishing and Jesus comes to tell them to throw their nets out again. Scene 2 THE CALL TODAY It's modern day and guys are hanging out, drinking and making fun of a drug addict. A minister comes by and starts to talk to the drug addict. Then he starts to minister to the rest of the guys. Everyone freezes & one by one they say stuff like "Look at me, I don't have any hope." Then the last guy says "I used to know stuff like that" and he sings a part of the song "East to West" by Casting Crowns. Scene 3 FORGIVENESS Woman caught in adultery. The high priests bring up the woman & question Jesus. After He tells them "you without sin cast the first stone" they all leave so it's just Jesus & the woman. She sings part of the song "Go & Sin No More" by Rebecca St. James. Scene 4 FORGIVENESS TODAY A couple where a man is forgiving his wife for her not being faithful. Scene 5 LAST SUPPER The disciples are sitting around the table and just joking and talking. I come out & sing the 1st verse of the song "With A Kiss" by Trinitee 5:7. As I sing I walk around the table and one by one I touch each of the disciples' shoulders and they look at Jesus. When I tap Jesus He stands & when I get to Judas he stands. Judas goes and takes the money and then goes to betray Jesus with a kiss. Then the choir sings "Now behold the Lamb". And while the choir sang they had clips from the movie "The Passion". Wow it went awesome. I can't explain everything that went on but it was amazing and I love how we incorporated music and the part with the "With A Kiss" song was so cool. Pastor loved it and he said it was another level. The altar call was full with lots of people crying and really getting touched. I'm just amazed that God used something that I wrote to touch so many lives. - Siobhan

4/7/2009 Introducing CRS Yo whats up, this is ya boy CRS. Just to let you know a little about myself, I am 28 years old, married to my beautiful wife Celina and I’m a brand new father as of March 31st. I was born and raised in Houston, TX. My real name is Chris R. Sanchez, so I get my stage name from my initials, CRS. Here’s a little bit about my testimony. As a young man I had no purpose in my life. I used to spend my time messing up, drinking, getting high, doing graffiti, but my mom would always drag me to church. I always knew about God but never developed that relationship with Him. It was about when I hit 20 years old that I really gave my life over to the Lord. It wasn’t easy but in time He changed my view on life and ended up taking me all the way to the East Coast where I went to an evangelism school called the Urban Training Center (UTC). It was there that I learned a lot about reaching people for Jesus and God put a passion in my heart for lost souls. I came back to Houston and got involved with the worship team at my church. I sang and led worship and that’s when I hooked up with my boy Geno. We both had a heart to worship God and reach people for Jesus, so we started to write, and the songs that came to us had a message for the lost. We started work on my first album “No Holding Back” but it ended up being a long process to get it done. I was not ready to go forward because I had my eyes focused on man and not on God. I ended up slipping up and running away from my calling. I left my church, my family, my friends, my music and tried to run as far as I could. I even tried to join the Navy, but God had other plans. I realize now that I had to go through all those things to really bring me to where I am today. Without Christ I was lost and had nothing going for me. I thank Him for His grace and mercy and for giving me another chance to follow Him. So here I am today with PHF. I thank God for my boys who gave me time to work things out and who never gave up on me. God called me back home and now we’re on fire to reach this world for Jesus!!! - CRS

3/25/2009 The New PHF Blog Hello everyone. Welcome to the new PHF Productions website. We’re excited about what God is doing through our ministry. He’s opening up doors left and right and I really do believe this website is going to be a better representation of who we are as a record label. Much kudos go out to Gabe and CRS for getting this site up and running. CRS did most of the artwork and Gabe is the web-producing mastermind behind everything we do at Put Him First. And myself, geno, I try to get the content flowing for all of you to stay up-to-date on everything PHF related. I wanted to start this PHF Blog so that people can get better acquainted with the PHF Family and all that we do. I don’t want this to become just another “geno blog” (I already have a column if you want to read it at www.PutHimFirst.com/geno.aspx), so I’m challenging all of our artists to write a little something every now and then. We’ll try to post new blogs as frequently as we can. We’re going to be writing concert reviews and sharing our testimonies of how God is working in our lives. You’ll get behind-the-scenes glimpses of future projects and you’ll see the process that goes into writing lyrics and producing music. We might have some video and slide shows on here as well. We’re going to be doing some fun stuff here too, such as prize giveaways in the very near future. You don’t want to miss out! Sign up to be a part of our mailing list today and remember to “Put Him First” in all you do!!! - geno

3/16/2009 Albuquerque Update YO, Friday night I got the chance to preach at the Victory Outreach youth service. It was kinda crazy because we had no sound for worship or mics, but either did Jesus, so I dropped the swagger cuz I got it from my daddy daddy, (yes I still think I'm cool). Anyway, the title of my message was "Stop Dating God". The message had three points and a poem, jk, but it did have three points. The first point was the initial attraction. This is where we were introduced to God. Also, this is where someone has to make the first move. We all know that God made the first move by sending his Son to die for us. The second point was getting to know God. This is where we build our roots. Read Psalm 1:1-6. Then the last stage is where we want more. We don't just settle with coming to church, praying every once in a while and reading when we have a chance, but we truly depend on God with all of our lives and in all that we do. Sunday night, Siobhan had the opportunity to open up for Braille in concert at Victory Outreach Albuquerque. She went on second and did two songs (“Dyin Inside” and “So Young”) and she “tore it up yo”. It was a sweet concert. There were about 200 people and Braille gave away a CD to everyone who came out. - Dre

3/2/2009 AZA and CRS went to prison!!! OMG it was awesome. We had a chance to go with VO Houston to the Pollensky Unit in Livingston, TX yesterday. It took me by surprise because we had to wake up at like 4:30 am and meet up at the church at 5:00 am. I was willing to go because I understand how much of a blessing it is to do God's work, but my flesh was dying. I went to sleep at like 1:30 am and got up all early the next day to hit the prison. I was exhausted but God gave me strength. I am glad I went because we saw so many men, behind bars and broken in Christ. It was really encouraging! My spirit was lifted up and God reminded me once again of the reason why I do music. Its all about worshiping God and reaching souls. We had a chance to play live because they would not let us bring in a CD. So I got behind the keys and CRS got the mic and we worshiped God like nobody's business. I was in awe of how God moved because it’s kind of nerve wrecking being up in front of about 300 or so hard core dudes. But when it was all said and done God showed up and showed off. People were broken and even the brothers that we went with were like "wow". It made me smile to think of how God can use me if I am willing to "go" when He says so. Stay encouraged and remember that if you don't feel like doing something for God...just think of how He felt going up on that cross. God Bless - AZA