Elevation Church worship leader Chris Brown learned his craft as a worship leader at AU By Evelyn Beck
Chris Brown knew that his future lay in playing and writing music and that the church would be an important part of that. He had grown up in Hampton, South Carolina, with a dad who was a music pastor and a mom who played piano and organ and led the church choir—and he even played guitar in his own band for a while.
age 17, I felt ministry and music “Bymerge. I felt God was calling me into some type of ministry. The next several years were a journey of figuring that out.
“The music publishing arm of Elevation is producing original music and making materials available to churches all over the world,” said Wehunt. “The creation of new, original worship songs has inspired churches across America. Gat3, the recording branch of the organization, has built state-of-theart recording facilities to record Elevation projects as well as to be a resource for other churches as they record their own worship projects. Brown is an example of exactly what we are trying to accomplish here at AU with the Worship Leadership department, sending out leaders to reach people for the Lord in new and innovative ways through the vehicle of worship music.”
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— Chris Brown Worship Leader at Elevation Church
The Making of a Worship Leader Brown chose AU for its music program. “I wanted a great, professional music program that I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else,” he said. “I felt Anderson was the best fit for me.” Today, Brown serves as the worship leader at Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. In that position, he oversees worship teams on several campuses and spearheads the songwriting for services and for the new album that his team records each year. Their latest release is called There Is a Cloud. (See www.elevationworship.com for more information.) He also spends five to ten days per month on tour performing with Christian recording artists, such as Lauren Daigle and Jesus Culture. What Brown has built in Charlotte is guiding the style and look of worship music globally, says Joe Wehunt, assistant professor of Music-Worship Leadership at AU.
Left to Right: Beth, Adelaide, Chris, & Joah Brown
After high school, Brown enrolled at AU, where he majored in voice and led music worship for the Baptist Student Union. He also got involved with NewSpring Church, which has roots at AU, and found an important mentor in fellow AU alumnus, Lee McDerment, NewSpring’s music worship director. “Lee was learning how to lead a worship team and build a church while I was learning how to lead a team on campus,” said Brown. “I watched him grow and figure things out, and I would emulate it.” (Continued)
Brown also traveled across the state with a few campus ministry teams, taking charge of the music for neighborhood block parties after a day of rebuilding houses. He also met his future wife Beth at AU; the two, who became friends while leading worship together in the Baptist Student Union, married in 2005. After graduating in 2004, Chris Brown took a job as the student worship leader at NewSpring, followed by two years leading worship as a church planter in Columbia, South Carolina. Then came the role that he was born for at Elevation. Beth (Whitlock) Brown, who is from Lake City, S.C., and also graduated from AU in 2004, majored in Christian ministries and earned a master’s degree in social work at another school. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom with the couple’s two children—Joah, 6, and Adelaide, 4—Beth Brown worked in the counseling field.
Writing worship songs In regards to writing worship songs, Chris Brown says his process is “messy,” but he has learned to enjoy it.
“ It’s my way to help spread the message of what God is doing. ”
— Chris Brown
“I need a first draft to get to the second draft and a second draft to get to the third draft and a third draft to get to the fourth draft, and on and on,” he said. “It’s not glamorous, and it’s not fun to think that it will take nine months to write a song and that you’ll throw drafts away 20 times. But that’s creativity.”
Elevation Elevation Church, Church, Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C. N.C.
Chris Brown works with a team in a collaborative process that includes both the lyrics and the music. They might work together on one person’s idea or try to mesh separate contributions. It’s an organic process that can look different from one project and one team to another. Writing songs for worship, Chris Brown has found, is different than writing other kinds of music. “If I just write a song for people to listen to, the aim is for them to listen and enjoy,” he said. In worship music, he tries to engage the listeners on a deeper level. “There’s a higher level of accountability,” he said. “It’s so important to have that level of vulnerability or honesty in the lyrics but also to be able to lift someone’s perspective about whatever circumstance they’re going through that week.” The hope, he said, is that the song “can point them to Jesus and to know there’s still a better hope, there’s still a purpose, there’s still a God who’s walking with you.”
Chris Brown’s experience at AU helped deepen the musical expression of his spirituality through voice lessons with Associate Professor of Music-Voice, Deirdre Francis. “I owe so much of my development to her,” he said. Another formative experience was participating in the choir under the leadership of Professor of Music-Theory and Composition and Director of Choral Activities Dr. Richard Williamson. Chris Brown’s former mentor, Lee McDerment, is today a great admirer. “Chris definitely has a prophetic voice,” says McDerment. “He is able in his songwriting and as a worship leader to be a conduit for the voice of Almighty God to people who are listening. You don’t find many worship leaders who can do that who also possess Chris’ purity of heart.”