CHORDS FOR CHRIST
Houston churches amp up the music to attract congregants
It’s a Thursday night at the Heights Theater, and the venue is packed with the faithful.
Groups of young, beautiful people in their 20s sit in rows of folded chairs, whooping and hollering as an eight-piece band performs. The musicians are professionally lit and playing music that gets people to move. Video cameras zoom about from both sides of the stage and the acoustics are sharp.
This isn’t one of the many concerts on the venue’s docket. It’s a worship service for the West End Church, taking the service out of the traditional building, away from a preachy Sunday morning and into a night of entertainment with drinks, fellowship and Jesus.
The band perform covers as eclectic as Queen’s “Save Me” and Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready.” Justin Roelant, the lead singer goes through a few of his original songs off the album “Music to Change the World By.” At the end of the evening drummer Robert Darrett’s bare chest is glistening in sweat. His shirt thrown aside.
“We probably couldn’t get away with this at church!” Roelant jokes as he points at the shirtless drummer before the encore.
Houston churches have realized that competition for the attention of the faithful is steep, and many will choose their place of worship like they choose their friends: by their choices in music. Which is why many church services stack their stages with musicians who could just as easily be filling the ranks of bands playing the city’s nightclubs — with some pulling double duty.
There’s an economic, and artistic, bonus to this influx of churches competing for musicians: Thanks to these church bands, musicians all over Houston have gigs that pay the rent, sharpen their skills and enable them to follow their passion.
“Anecdotally I would say a solid 80 percent or more musicians in Houston of all types are playing at a church in some capacity. It is one of the largest sort of market areas,” said Josh Moore, a local musician and
producer who toured with the contemporary Christian band Caedmon’s Call. “It’s kind of a well-kept secret.”
A gig at a small- to mediumsized church in Houston can earn a musician as much as $75 to $300 a service. It’s also steady work, with weekly services. At the large, megachurches such as Lakewood and Second Baptist, being in the band can be a full-time job, and musicians can be compensated very well, some in the six-figure range.
“What most people don’t realize is that without the local churches these musicians would starve to death.” said Patrick Kelley, pastor at West End, which is located just west of downtown.
In turn, the churches draw congregants who might otherwise ignore the worship service.
“Music, for us, is the open door,” Kelley said. “People invite their friends for an evening out, have a beer and listen to a great band for a cheap price. … That’s how important music is to us in terms of a calling card to the community.”
‘Iron sharpens iron’
Houston is known for its gospel music scene, thanks to churches producing talent such as Hanq Neal, Kathy Taylor, Yolanda Adams and Kim Burrell. In recent decades, perhaps the most well-known church for talented musicians is Pastor Rudy Rasmus’ St. John’s Downtown, or “Beyoncé’s church” as it’s often known. After Hurricane Harvey, the pop star visited the church while fundraising for victims and reminisced about singing her first solo there.
A former musician, Rasmus has created one of the most prolific training grounds and destinations for musicians in Houston. Brian Courtney Wilson is a member who was recruited to Mathew Knowles’ music label through Rasmus. More recently members of Khruangbin, a Houston band playing an eclectic mix of ’70s Thai funk, soul and surf that is getting national attention, met while playing in the St John’s band.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Rasmus said, quoting Proverbs, when asked about the music culture he’s created. “The more these guys play together the sharper they get.”
He also invests in professionals who can react to the demands of Rasmus’ musical ears.
Davon Jamison Sr., for instance, was hired from Florida specifically for his skill and his personality that complements the rest of the band. The organist has been with St. John’s for five years. He recently returned from an Australian tour with rapper Aminé and played a gig at the Coachella music festival.
“This might be controversial … at church services you come to worship. At a concert you come to worship too,” said Edwin Hamilton, the St John’s drummer. “As humans, all we can do is worship. That’s what we’re created to do.
“You’re there for a reason, that emotion. The give and take is there, the energy is the same.”
Jermaine Williams, church creative director and bassist, compares the experience to how a DJ works. “They might play something and watch for the response. Based on the response they get, they might know that worked, that didn’t work, let’s try something different or let’s stay there,” he said. “It’s very much the same in church. It’s a call and response.”
Competing for musicians
Though music has always been an essential part of the church experience — especially in the South — the focus on better music during the service has parallels with the rise of megachurches.
Moore, worship arts director at downtown’s City Church and former member of Caedmon’s Call, has been in the unique position to see it all unfold. Just in his 30s, he’s spent almost two decades in music and a lifetime at church. He’s the son of a previous music coordinator at Second Baptist, one of the Houston megachurches (along with Lakewood) that revolutionized the use of a music program for outreach. It’s a trend that started in the 1980s and exploded in the ’90s.
Music, churches found, was a way to reach a larger number of people and connect with them quickly. In some sense, modern churches are immersed in the attention economy in the same way any media or advertising company is. They’re interested in social media, search engine optimization and video. Music isn’t just a huge part of the message but also the medium, Moore explained.
“Music tells people in a way that’s very clear what kind of people are in this church. If you go in and hear something that’s no different from what you would have heard 200 years ago, you have a good idea of a lot of the other tenets of the worldview of the people that are there,” Moore said.
The quality of the experience motivates people to move beyond just showing up, filling the pews and the coffers.
It encourages them to participate. It’s a kind of “preworkout calisthenics” that gets people loose and “open to transcendent truth,” he said.
Moore, with the permission of his parents, left home at age 16 to perform in Caedmon’s Call, a Christian rock group that grew out of Second Baptist in the early ’90s. While still finishing high school, he toured the world playing the keyboard. During this time, he grew interested in producing. At 17, he helped produce the band’s album “In the Company of Angels.”
While his own career had him touring the world, producing in Nashville, New Orleans and Los Angeles, he needed to settle down after marrying a studio engineer and starting a family. He needed to find a way to make music and make a living in Houston. His position at City Church, as well has his work as a producer, has allowed Moore to support his family in his hometown.
Church, Moore said, is a revenue source that keeps a lot of talent here.
Nolan Burke, a guitarist in the West End Church band, grew up in Houston and started playing at the age of 9. After high school, he picked up gigs that took him on tours around the world. Ten years ago, he’d spend two or three weeks on a tour in Australia, then rush back in time for his regular church job. He never wanted to miss too many Sundays, musicians who get these positions tend to do everything they can to hold onto them.
These days Burke sticks closer to the city. He’s the music coordinator at River Pointe Church, which has three campuses, one of which is West End. He hires the musicians and plans the music for all the services.
“I’m kind of on both sides of the coin because I was a working-class musician. I have an appreciation for churches who are willing to invest in musicians,” he said. “Musicians don’t sometimes feel valued the way other professions are. Churches around here honor their time, which means a lot to someone who’s worked so hard on their craft.”
“We pay very well,” Rasmus said of his church. “We have never diminished the value of this person’s craft by underpaying them. We pay a competitive wage as any other customer of a musicians’ talent.”
francisca.ortega@chron.com