Rick Silvestri developed a love for music early in his life. At age seven he began both piano and trumpet lessons. Today Rick's love for music continues and one of his favorite family times is playing for and singing with his wife Wendy.

As a pastor for fourteen years, Rick and Wendy loved to lead praise and worship singing in their local congregation. In addition to the wonderful hymns available, they enjoyed teaching their members many of the ""new songs"" that touch our hearts. On many Sabbaths, Rick would play for Wendy as she sang a song that summarized the message for the day.

Since the summer of '98, Rick has served in the Youth Ministries Dept. of the Oregon Conference. His duties require that he and his family live at Big Lake Youth Camp each summer, where Rick serves as associate camp director. Among other things, he is very involved in planning the campfire program every night and enjoys playing in the Big Lake praise band. This setting provides for a unique opportunity to stay on the ""cutting edge"" of the latest youth music.

For years, it has been a dream for Rick and Wendy to find a way to share some of the wonderful music they were discovering--music that youth love to sing and speaks to their hearts. Praise Time! is Rick's attempt to share this musical treasure in a more complete way. He is not the songwriter of this music. Rather, he took songs, many of which had no written music, and created arrangements that hopefully will be fun to play and help kids sing praises to their God. ""I remember how much I enjoyed playing and singing choruses as a kid. Now I hope that this book will be a tool that will bless the youth of today.""

Rick and Wendy now reside in Vancouver, Washington, and have four children, Nathan (13), Andrew (11), Jesse (8) and Autumn (7). They are following in mom and dad's footsteps in their musical education. The Silvestris often hear the sounds of the saxophone, violin, guitar, and piano as their kids are practicing.