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RC Talk | Writer finally puts face, voice to his songs

By Rich Copley Herald-Leader Culture Columnist

Mark Cornelison | Staff

TobyMac, who was at Rupp Arena for Winter Jam in March, will be in Louis ville Nov. 29 for Winter Wonder Slam.

Brenton Brown's music has been played in churches for years, but it's usually performed by other recording artists, including Chris Tomlin, who made Brown's Everlasting God famous.

Now, Brown is stepping from behind the lyrics and into the spotlight, billed as "the most popular worship leader you may have never heard of."

"I guess that's probably fair to say," Brown says. "I have been a worship leader for a long time and a writer, but I haven't really been an artist.

"I don't even know how I feel about the term 'worship artist,' but I guess that's what I am now."

Listeners can get to know Brown right now through Introducing Brenton Brown, a six-song collection of some of his best-known tunes, including Everlasting God and Lord Reign in Me.

In January, after the proper introductions, listeners will get a new batch of Brenton Brown music performed by Brown in a new solo album. People will get to know Brown's story and understand why one of his most effective songs, Everlasting God, is based on the promise in Isaiah 40 that God will strengthen people who follow him.

Brown grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied politics and law, first at home and eventually as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England.

That's where he was introduced to contemporary worship music spearheaded by the Vineyard Church and worship leader Brian Doerkson.

Eventually, Brown was writing and participating in recordings. As his music career was taking off, Brown's health took a bad turn: He was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. It derailed a career as a church worship leader, although he says he can tailor his schedule to be at peak energy levels when he needs to perform.

Then, last year, Brown and his wife lost their daughter just days before she was expected to be born.

These are circumstances that color his latest music.

"My friend Paul Baloche says that a worship album is a chronicle of your spiritual journey at the time, and that is definitely true of these songs," Brown says of Amazing God and Adoration, the new songs on Introducing Brenton Brown. "Encountering death right at the start of this young life lifted my eyes to the idea that there is more than this earth. ... It focused us on the reality of heaven and the hope that it is for us, and that all our burdens and heartbreaks will be vanquished, will be beaten, and we will know the comfort of God, forever."