"I want their takeaway to be Jesus,
that they would have an encounter
with Him first and foremost"
Seph Schlueter, currently leading worship on the "Counting My Blessings Tour" sat with us in Burlington, NC to discuss vital verses, the meaning behind it all (Jesus), and his tried-and-true Chick-fil-A order.
Interview by Cody Cooksey
March 7, 2026
It was just announced that you’re hitting the road this summer with TobyMac, what are your expectations for that?
To have a lot of fun and worship the Lord! It's kind of what we do for all things. You go out and you get to bring what you carry to whoever shows up, so I’m excited to be out with friends, excited to go worship, and to see what the Lord has in store for it all.
What music did you listen to growing up? Who do you think influenced your music today?
It’s kind of all over the place. I definitely listened to Christian music growing up, like Matt Maher, Rich Mullins, David Crowder Band, and Passion. Those are the classics my dad would play, but I feel like I didn't really feel influenced by music until maybe listening to Ed Sheeran, or a little Mumford and Sons... people like that in high school. I started picking my own music to listen to, like One Direction. I like those people. Getting little glimpses of things like “Oh it's cool the way they did that” or “Oh I felt moved by that”, then asking “Why was I moved by that?” I started studying lyrics and melodies, and seeing what about them made me move in that capacity.
What is your life Bible verse, if you have one specific verse?
I don't think there is a particular one. I feel like there's different ones for different seasons for sure. A common one is Romans 1:16, which is like “[For] I am not ashamed of the Gospel [of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek]”. I love Ephesians 1:10, where it talks about in the fullness of time summed up all things in Himself, it’s just like capturing God's heart for it also. I think [my favorite verse] depends on the season.
What do you want people to take away from this show, or tour as a whole?
I think I want their takeaway to be Jesus, that they would have an encounter with Him first and foremost, and that they would leave tonight more excited, and feel more equipped, and ready to just live Jesus out in the world. It's times like these concerts, these events, that are beautiful opportunities to maybe recharge a little bit, just experience God if they're going through a dry season, just be re-encouraged to follow the Lord and worship Him with their lives. That's kind of my hope for people is that they would leave feeling encouraged again and ready to share Jesus with the people around them.
What's your go-to Chick-fil-A order?
I eat Chick-fil-A all the time. If I'm eating it in the store, I will have the Spicy Deluxe, Large Fry. If I'm ordering it in the drive-thru, probably strips. With the strips, you can reheat a little bit if you need to. It's easy to work with.
Who are you listening to and taking inspiration from today?
I feel like most of what I listen to is less for inspiration and more just for edification. So I love listening to UPPERROOM, I'm a big fan of UPPERROOM and some of these worship groups that help me continue to stay connected to the Lord in that way. I'll go through some seasons where I listen to a lot of music. Right now, I'm in a season where I'm not really listening to much. I'm just kind of getting through it, and I listen to books or podcasts or whatever, but not a ton of music right now. When I do, I'll turn on a church's live stream or things like that, and just worship alongside it, which is fun.
Check out Seph Schlueter on Instagram, Spotify, and SEPH SCHLUETER.
Seph Schlueter with We Are Vessels Media's Cody Cooksey and Caroline Gutierrez