5-Time Grammy Winner Brandon Lake Still Serves as Worship Pastor: 'It Benefits Me'
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Aug 04, 2023
A five-time Grammy winner who recently won an award for K-Love Male Artist of the Year says his local church is the inspiration for much of his music.
Brandon Lake, who has been nominated for 11 Grammys during his career and won twice at this year's show, told Christian Headlines that his service as a worship pastor at Seacoast Church in the Carolinas has been a blessing to his music.
"I tell writers all the time, it benefits me to be still connected [with my church]," Lake said.
Lake won Grammys at February's show for Best Gospel Performance/Song (Kingdom) and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song (Fear Is Not My Future).
Describing the benefit of a Christian artist being embedded in a local church, Lake said, "a tree planted by streams of water" will have "tree roots that flourish." The local church nourishes his soul, he said.
"And that's important to me, I was raised in a local church, I'm a PK, and that's not changing. And so I stay healthy when I stay planted," he said.
Songs are best when they have a "face," he said.
"I tell writers all the time: You've got songs walking around in your foyer everywhere -- you've just got to go get to know them," he said.
Lake referenced his 2021 song Too Good to Not Believe.
"Every lyric of that bridge – I've seen cancer disappear, I've seen metal plates dissolve, I've seen families reunited, I've seen broken bodies healed, I've seen addicts finally free. … Those are lines that have faces to them. And they are people in my church, and we have seen the reports. And that's why I feel so encouraged and challenged when I'm out leading worship is to lean into that.
"The thing we all have in common – right? – is pain and disappointment. And so I don't want to just come out and entertain and sing some songs. I want to go after the things people need the most, and they need healing."
Lake added, "There's testimonies all around me, which gives me the faith to continue to do what I feel called to do."
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Terry Wyatt/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
