Justice League Band members:

    Jon Krombein – guitar

    Caitlyn Stark – vocals

    Dave Robinson – bass guitar

    Chris McGilliard – drummer

    Chris Mulder – guitar

Justice League. “An amorphous group of superheroes with a few regulars.” And one of four amazing bands at Mars Hill: Lake City campus.  

Nerds leading worship for nerds. Truly, contextualization at its finest.

The band started with veterans Jon and Chris McGilliard and ex-member Katie Payne. The current band has only been playing together for one month, which doesn’t bother them in the slightest – you don’t tell Hawk Girl how to swing her hammer, after all.

-Caitlyn Stark

We started with a breakdown of each member’s musical superpower and origins:

“My dad was musical,” Chris Mulder says. “He bought me my first guitar when I was 12, and I started playing it a lot in high school. I started listening to Bob Dylan a lot; I even covered a bunch of his stuff at performances.”

-Chris Mulder and Dave Robinson

“Did you ever record any of it?” Jon asks.

“Yes,” Chris answers, “but they will never see the light of day.”

Chris McGilliard’s parents were also musical, which got him involved in bands, drum lines, jazz bands, orchestra, percussion ensemble, and worship bands. I theorize that he would be the Batman of the band with lots of little gadgets and the utility belt.

-Chris McGilliard

Dave’s parents, on the other hand, were not musical, though he did play bass clarinet in junior high (a memory he admits is difficult to recall). He got into music with a passion in his 20’s with bass guitar, driving rhythm to reggae and Matisyahu. He reflects on the irony of God’s providence in getting him interested in reggae (with lots of Old Testament references), and Matisyahu (with lots of New Testament references), which led him on a musical journey towards Christ that culminated in Mars Hill and a life dedicated to God’s glory.

- Dave Robinson

“Now me,” Caitlyn says, “I’ve always been singing. I was never in band, except for maybe ‘The Stark Raving Band.” I didn’t even take my first voice class until last year, though my sisters Joanna, Elizabeth, and I were always singing. As for musical inspirations, I am all about musical theater: Julie Andrews, Kristen Chenowith (think “Mary Poppins” and “Wicked: The Broadway Musical”).

Then we come to Superman, which is the consensus of the group concerning the band’s leader, Jon Krombein, and the commitment he gives to Justice League.

- Pastor John Krombein

“My family wasn’t musical at all, though my dad had this guitar and he was always playing these same 2 songs over and over.”

Though his parents weren’t musical themselves, they did put Jon and his siblings through music lessons, starting in 1^st grade.

Jon then takes a deep breath and goes over his instrument repertoire: “saxophone in 5^th grade, bass and guitar in middle school; self-taught guitar, jazz theory lessons, mandolin, and banjo.” He was also a member of the original Sons of Thunder, and when asked about his musical inspiration, he doesn’t skip a beat, defining his musical sound as a fusion between Dave Matthews Band and Van Halen.

Not skipping a beat myself, I see a natural transition from musical contextualization, to the heart of worship, and what it means to be a worshipper of God.

Chris Mulder points out an obvious, but often overlooked aspect of worship at Mars Hill. “It’s a big deal. It’s way edgier than usual worship music, and it’s a huge part of what Mars Hill is about.”

Chris McGilliard follows up this observation with a sobering reminder. “Worship is not a production. I really don’t like it when people clap after a worship band is done playing. I often wonder if they are clapping because the band is so cool, or are they clapping to worship Jesus?”

“Me?” Caitlyn says. “I love watching people worshipping with song, and knowing that I am helping with that. Sometimes I’ll take out one of my earbuds and just listen to brothers and sisters singing to God.”

I expect my next question, “How do you balance life and music?” to draw a bit more conversation, but once asked, everyone’s gaze shifts over to Jon, and he is left with this, “What?” kind of look on his face, though he admits that his life is a bit of a juggling act.

“We are not a normal band by Mars Hill standards,” Jon explains. “We don’t play more than twice per month. There is nothing extra-curricular about our playing; we do the rehearsals needed, and we practice only when we have to. But we can do this because the band knows their instruments well.” 

“Well,” I say, “that’s pretty much all I’ve got, except for one last question: what kind of books do a bunch of comic book nerd worship leaders read?”

“The Twilight series for me,” Caitlyn says, “although I’ve been reading through a lot of Jane Austen stuff, too, and I am really enjoying the Westminster Confession of Faith.”

“Anything by Christopher Moore,” Dave says. “It’s some of the funniest writing I’ve ever read, though it’s not very theological, and I certainly wouldn’t hand it over to the Stark kids!”

Chris McGilliard says that he really enjoyed “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, and he reads everything by John Grisham, or any book that even vaguely reminds him of John Grisham.

Chris Mulder really enjoyed reading through The Problem of Pain, and he also blasted through the 1^st three of the Dune series.

“You know, fiction’s not bad,” Jon says, “but I almost never read fiction. Although, my wife and I read through The Wrinkle in Time series every few years, and I really enjoy C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. We tend to read a lot more non-fiction. We just read through this great book, “Real Food: What to Eat and Why,” which got my wife and I started on this organic trend. We even have a freezer full of animals now – a pig named Runt, and a cow named Herman. Herman is delicious!”

It’s hard for me to say much more after a joke like that, so I keep it nice and simple: thanks for your time, and if y’all need it, I could sub-in as a tight spandex-wearing Flash.