Andrae Crouch

The decision to answer the call to ministry was made all the more difficult in light of the extraordinary professional accomplishments Andrae had made in recent years. His 1994 Qwest Records release, Mercy, had landed the artist his seventh career Grammy, this time for Best Pop / Contemporary Gospel Album, attesting to his proven ability to reach audiences on both sides of the pop/gospel divide. Andrae's universal appeal was also the impetus for the Grammy-winning Tribute: The Songs Of Andrae Crouch, the 1996 album saluting his enduring musical contributions. The collection was performed by artists ranging from The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir to Take 6, and Michael W. Smith to The Winans. Small wonder Tribute was named Best Contemporary Gospel Album at the 1997 Grammy Awards.

Simply put, Andrae Crouch was at the pinnacle of an extraordinary career when he was faced with a choice that would change, once and for all, the direction of his life. The death of his mother, followed in quick succession by the passing of his father and brother, placed the future of the Christ Memorial Church, built by the Crouch family over forty years ago, squarely on Andrae's shoulders. "I thought that if I took up the mantle of pastor I wouldn't be able to make music my first priority," he reveals, "and at first I was filled with doubt about making such a choice. But God just pointed out to me that He had given me everything I had and that He wasn't about to take anything away. I slowly came to understand that He was adding to my life and ministry, and that music was as much a part of both as it had ever been."

While actively fulfilling the role of pastor, including everything from preaching to counseling to community outreach, Andrae found himself inspired to write some of his best, most direct and honest, new music. "I was really seeing God move in individual lives in the congregation," he recounts, "and at the same time He was moving in my life to meet these new responsibilities. I found myself getting up at 6AM every morning to pray for the day ahead and, more often than not, a song would come to me in those early hours. A lot of the material on this album was written that way."