𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐝
𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐝𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Effingham resident Jeremy Thomas Herren has a powerful message that he is sharing with the world through his musical talent. As is a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter he combines his love of music with the love of God, creating moving songs of spiritual belief. He has recently released “Stand in Faith” an LP of his own personal, yet very identifiable songs of faith.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧

Jeremy was born and raised in north Georgia, where his family has very deep roots.

“All sides of my family have been in Georgia a really long time,” he says. “In fact, my Great Grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee Native American.”

Like many southern families, music was ever present in his childhood, and he has been playing guitar since he was just a boy of four years old, trying to keep up with his grandfather and father.

“I started out playing an old guitar. Grandfather and dad played, and I wanted to be like them. My grandfather played acoustic guitar, and the harmonica, and my dad was into the electric guitar seventies sound.”

He grew up playing music by ear and is entirely self-taught.

“Twelve years ago, I was writing and playing country music. I did demos, went to Atlanta, and had a few songs on the radio,” he says. One note—he had success using his middle name Thomas as his stage name. “I did that for the ease of spelling, and now that I am doing music again, I decided to keep it like that for my musical profession.” So Jeremy Thomas Herren is known as simply Jeremy Thomas in the music world.

He and his wife Kara were high school sweethearts who married in 2011 when they finished college. They now have two children, Jason, 6, and Lydia, 4. Jeremy became a financial advisor and when he was offered a job in Savannah the family relocated to Effingham County. That is also when he stopped writing music.

After relocating, the family started attending Centerpoint Community Church. “We went to church but I didn't take it seriously. But one day I was sitting in church and the preacher said something that got me thinking.”

That led Jeremy to return to writing his own songs again—both music and lyrics—but with one big difference. “Today I write from a Christian perspective, which is newer for me, but a much better fit,” he says.

The Christian music industry is its own genre within the greater scope of the music business. From there, it splits off in many directions such as gospel, contemporary worship music, traditional church music, southern gospel, and the very popular contemporary Christian music subgenre.

“I write contemporary Christian,” says Jeremy. “That is the label that fits best, although sometimes my music is hard to label as I do have different musical stylings. The music I write and perform today is a combination of music I grew up on—blues, southern rock, gospel. ”

First came the new songs, and then came getting back on stage.

“After I wrote these songs, I wanted the preacher at my church, Moses Toole, to check me on authenticity because I was concerned if my lyrics were spiritually correct. I said ‘let me play some of my music for you, to see if I am on the right page.’”

Not only did Moses like the songs, he suggested Jeremy play his original music Sunday morning at church. Jeremy did and got a very positive response, which led to him thinking seriously about recording his new music.

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

The new music was recorded at Little Bird, Big Sound production studio in Pooler. The LP is entitled “Stand in Faith” and it includes a variety of Jeremy’s contemporary Christian songs.

“My song ‘The Answer’ is personal to my walk,” says Jeremy. “I thought I knew everything, but things changed, especially when we had our beautiful children. I had a rough patch where I thought I could just walk the world alone. So, this song is very meaningful to me, with all the emotions that come along with that.”

“I write in the moment,” he says. “My songs ‘The Answer’ and ‘Only You’ are more worship songs.”

However, the most popular song on YouTube and Spotify is the title track ‘Stand in Faith,’ which is a completely different song, in both concept and style. He says the message of the song is “don’t let what’s happening in the world shake your faith.”

𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭

Jeremy says his wife Kara “has heard years of me playing and she has always been there, always supporting my music. And my wife is very honest, she will straight up tell me with great feedback!”

Their children love hearing him play, he says, “My daughter likes to sing with me, but my son only sings in the shower! My daughter knows all the songs, and my son likes the rock and roll style best.”

The family is very busy with a jam-packed schedule. Jeremy is a successful Financial Advisor and has been with Edward Jones for ten years. In addition to demanding jobs, he says, “At church I am in the worship band, and my wife does work with the church youth. Our son plays basketball, and our daughter is in competitive dance.”

Traveling is a favorite family activity. “My company affords me the opportunity to earn trips, in fact we went to Maui last July and we are going to Italy in March. Traveling with two small kids can be exhausting but it’s also very rewarding.”

Locally they enjoy beach days, visiting wildlife preserves and spending time together outdoors.

𝐔𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬

By using production software, Jeremy has been able to record new music by doing studio work at his house. “Not having a label means I can write, record and release what I want so it’s fun in that respect,” says Jeremy.

(Although that may change down the road as a major Christian music label has reached out and complimented him on “Stand in Faith.”)

He plans on releasing new songs in the next few months and looks forward to more live shows. And he can be found every Sunday performing with the worship band at Centerpoint Community Church, playing the kind of music that matters to him—lifting his voice and using his God given talent to praise and honor the one who matters most.