Photo by Detavius Niblack
[ Chris ] Yeah! Outcry is such an amazing tour to be a part of. One, because of what it’ s promoting. It’ s promoting unity within the church and it’ s promoting the local church. So, every single stop has a big piece in the night where we are championing the church in whatever city we are in. We really can’ t wait to go back for the next leg of the tour.
[ WM ] You mentioned having 17 campuses. How are you developing and filling teams for the entire Elevation Worship across all campuses?
[ Chris ] So we have a pipeline to identify and raise up leaders. There are a couple of different chutes up the pipeline. One is our internship. So, there may be three staff worship leaders now that started as interns. Another program we have is called“ 2K2”, which is from 2 Kings chapter 2. It’ s an apprenticeship that is a sixmonth deal and it’ s for people with a little bit more experience. For the internship, you can come in at the age of 16 or 17 to intern for the summer. The apprentice program is a little more hyper-focused on identifying people for staff specifically. The goal would be for at the end of their 6 th month, the church and the individual would be able to figure out if it was the right fit to be on staff.
As far as musicians, we have auditions a couple of times a year that happen in most of our cities. Actually, our musicians who have been here a long time are running our auditions. They used to be run by us who are staff, but we have tried to empower and cultivate our musicians to do that. Some of them have been in the ministry for eight or nine years. Once someone goes through the audition and is brought onto the team, there is a six-week period after being invited on where they will shadow a specific position before they are placed out on the platform. We have the buffers to make sure the right spirit and heart are there. So we ask them to serve behind the scenes for six weeks and be willing to learn from the other musicians.
[ WM ] That’ s a great plan. Let’ s talk gear for a minute. When you write, what’ s your main instrument?
[ Chris ] I would say primarily keys. I have an upright at the house and I do a lot of writing on that or if we are away, I’ m usually bringing a midi controller. I’ ll always have an acoustic guitar with me.
[ WM ] What midi controller are you using?
[ Chris ] I have the M-Audio Oxygen 88. Because I love our upright, I always want something with weighted keys. I’ m really not much of a keys player. I block chords enough to write songs.
[ WM ] What is your writing guitar?
[ Chris ] I’ ve had a Gibson J185 that I’ ve written for years on. I’ ve got a Collings CJ that I love also, so those two.
[ WM ] What are you playing live?
[ Chris ] More recently, I would say the Collings for sure. I’ ve been playing it a lot. The Gibson has had years of travel and stage time as well. It’ s a jumbo model after the J200.
[ WM ] What’ s on your pedal board?
[ Chris ] I don’ t have one! I just run straight, usually with a wireless pack.
[ WM ] What is your favorite sound on stage that you’ re not playing?
[ Chris ] I would say anything coming from the keys. We usually have two keyboard players, one playing piano and one playing a bass patch. Aaron is one of our keys players who has been in the ministry for ten years and he’ s producing the next album. He is usually creating all of the pads and all of the strings …
28 April 2018 WorshipMusician. com