In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I watched helplessly as the Bush administration led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions. It became painfully obvious that the executive branch of our government did not trust its military. It relied instead on a neoconservative ideology developed by men and women with little, if any, military experience. Some senior military leaders did not challenge civilian decision makers at the appropriate times, and the courageous few who did take a stand were subsequently forced out of the service.

My assessment is that we have a crisis in national political leadership. When will America recognize the danger we face? When will the corrosive partisanship of American politics end and allow for a bipartisan solution to arguably the most dangerous threat our nation has faced in over 60 years?

I do know that the effect of the tremendous cutbacks on education that we're seeing are going to create a major problem for the country if we don't provide the opportunity to a huge swath of our society. These impacts are going to have an effect across national security, it's going to have an effect across our social services, and of course on the economy, in broad terms. So there is, I think, at least a level of concern that we ought to have at this point in our history.

I've never been intimidated to write music, to minister through leading worship, preaching or teaching, or even writing a book or acting. Who knows what God will put before me? Regardless, my heart is settled and content doing what I love to do above all things.

I write and produce what is on my heart - whatever I'm going through and whatever God is taking me through, and I've been blessed to have people record, produce and buy our music. I'm a Christian man who happens to be Latino, not a Latino who happens to be a Christian.

I do think in the present state of both the Church and society we have a long way to go toward accepting and loving others that look or act differently than we do.

Sometimes in life, my failures speak louder than my victories and I need to be constantly reminded that though my enemies surround me, my God surrounds my enemies. If we're truly honest, we've had to mentally battle failures or fears more than once in our lives.