Chad Brawley: The WeWorship Project (Interview – Part 1)
Chad Brawley is a man who wears many hats. He currently serves as the Director of Worship Arts at The Luke Church of Humble, TX. However, he is also songwriter, musician, consultant, workshop facilitator and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Chad recently released his gospel LP, The WeWorship Project. I was able to pull him away from his busy schedule to chat about his new music, what inspires him and even some interesting facts you may not already know. Here is Part 1 of our interview. Check out part 2 HERE.
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Chad Brawley. I’m a native of Houston, TX. I went to Prairie View A&M University for a year and graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Music. I have a Master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Worship. I hope to begin a doctoral program in January at Boston University in Transformational Leadership. I’ve been doing music ministry full time for over 20 years.
I worked at the Potter’s House during the early years. I worked at Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in North Dallas for a while. I taught inDallas public schools. I also did full time ministry in Denver, then moved back to Houston. I worked at Good Hope Baptist Church for about 12 years. Now, I’m at The Luke Church, serving as Pastor of Worship Arts. I oversee music, dance, drama, media and everything that has to do with the worship experience.
I also run a music company where I help put on events and provide musicians for churches. I do that for free. I do church consulting and I teach music lessons as well.
How did you balance your busy schedule and the recording process for The WeWorship Project?
When we recorded this CD, my life wasn’t quite as complex as it is now. I wasn’t doing everything I’m doing now.
What was your inspiration for starting the CD?
Every week, at many churches, praise teams and choirs do concerts on Sunday mornings for an audience. The audience sits there and waits for them to finish and claps. Or they just stand there and watch the team do praise and worship but everybody doesn’t engage. So, at Good Hope, we did a whole year of worship renewal to get the whole church to transform its culture and learn more about worship as engaged participants – personally and corporately. This project is a contribution to a body of music that I hope will help to facilitate worship renewal in the local church. There’s music on there that’s good for choirs, praise teams and congregations.
Most of this project is congregation friendly and also friendly to any race or denomination. Most of it is praise and worship friendly. There is theological truth and weight to all of it. That’s another concern that my colleagues and I share about some church music, the need for Theological strength. Some of our music feels good and sounds good, but it is theologically flimsy, in error or controversial. Most of the music on The WeWorship Project is intentionally Christocentric – Christ centered.
Where can people purchase the WeWorship Project and follow you on social media?
The easiest thing is to go to my website, www.chadbrawley.com. There are buttons to all of my social media and all the digital stores. My handle on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, is @CKBMusik. On Facebook, it’s Chad Brawley.