singing-wise ." And then anything from guitar to singing , just those who I ' ve been around .
But I grew up in the church , and I ' m still a local worship pastor at my church now here in Charleston , South Carolina , called Sea Coast . I would say the common thread throughout my younger years with where I am now has been my faithfulness to the church , and just wanting to build the church . And I believe it ' s the hope of the world . And I ' ve always been a local church dude , and so as I grew up , I mostly listened to Christian radio . Obviously , like Chris Tomlin being the GOAT and my ultimate hero . And now to be able to call him a buddy and have worked with him , it ' s just absolutely insane .
And Phil Wickham has probably been my biggest inspiration when it comes to an artist , but also a worship leader . And I imitated him probably more than any anyone in my life . I remember in my high school years , and coming into college age , I remember just sitting in my room and listening to Phil Wickham songs , and just trying to write songs that sounded like that .
They say imitate before you innovate , and so I did a whole lot of that in my younger years and honestly continue to . I ' ve worked for a few churches , and it just began as my heart for songwriting , which was really discovered , honestly , through a kind of prophetic worship . I didn ' t even know what that meant at the time . It was more like as I was leading this college ministry and in high school , those years , I began to find the songs between the songs , and start singing things that I heard .
As I discovered that spontaneity , it kind of simultaneously increased my passion for songwriting . And so , I got around a few people who had written the songs before , and just asked them , " How do I do this thing ? How do I get better at it ?" And they helped me with my first few songs . And then few years later , I would go on to do my first record . I fundraised my very first record . I raised about $ 28,000 .
[ WM ] And so you began your entry into the worship world of recording with a 2015 crowdfunding effort . You must have had a strong network of friends by that time . Would you recommend that route to others ?
[ Brandon ] Pretty funny story there is , to get the last about 10 grand , I did a GoFundMe and I said , " If you give me a certain amount of money , I ' ll tattoo your name on my leg ." And so I have 23 last names tattooed on my leg . That ' s how I ended up doing my first record ! And honestly , it was a song called “ Closer ” that would open-up many doors to write with people , maybe on a professional level , you could say . From there , honestly , I ' ve just tried to steward every relationship that ' s