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Beginning his musical journey at a young age, Lincoln Brewster has had the opportunity to play and tour with some of the top names in both mainstream and Christian music. But leading worship is his passion. His latest album, Live to Worship, reflects his calling with a mix of original compositions and classic worship song meant to draw the listener into the presence of God.

FamilyChristian.com: What got you started in music?

Lincoln Brewster: My mom is a musician. My grandfather bought me a drum set when I was one and a half. My mom gave me a mandolin and had me start playing when I was five. I just loved it. She sat my brother and sister and I down when we were [young] and gave us each instruments. I guess I came back the next day and said, "Hey, where's that thing? I want to play it some more." She said I took an interest in it and that was basically how I got started.

I started writing songs the first time I ever picked up an instrument. I don't know if it was because I didn't know how to play another song so I decided to make one up. I was about 6 or 7 when I wrote my first song. I think it was called "If I Was the Only One to Love You." It was on mandolin. My mom was constantly writing songs and so I saw [that] you learn how to play and then you start writing your own music.

FamilyChristian.com: What inspires you to write?

Lincoln: Just about everything. Definitely emotions-happiness and pain-all those things. God's Word. Life experiences and people and sometimes sermons that I'll hear. Things that God's doing in my life. Really, it's limitless. There's no beginning and no ending to the things that can inspire me. It can be something really simple or something really complex.

FamilyChristian.com: Several years ago, you had the opportunity to play and write with Steve Perry, the former lead singer of Journey. How did that come about?

Lincoln: Honestly, I made a demo tape in my bedroom when I lived in Modesto, California and met some guys down that way. One of the guys ran a guitar center in Hollywood and we became friends. When I got the demo done, he arranged for me to bring it to a guy named Randy Jackson who had played with Journey on the Raised on Radio tour and album. He arranged for me to bring it over to Sony Music building. I didn't know where we were going. I drove up with my mom and it was like, "Oh my gosh, this is the Sony Music building!" We walked into the A&R department, which you just don't get to do, and [my tape] had my phone number written on it. Steve got ahold of it and called my house.

FamilyChristian.com: What was that experience like?

Lincoln: It was pretty wild. It was a whole new world for me, that's for sure! I loved playing the music and playing all the old Journey songs and, of course, getting to make a record and work in the studio with him.

Steve is actually a very loveable guy. I learned so much from him. I guess the sad part about that for me is [that] I didn't appreciate the lessons and the things I learned until more recently.

FamilyChristian.com: You've also toured with Michael W. Smith.

Lincoln: We would usually fly to the one-off dates or festivals so we'd have the plane ride to talk and play cards and goof off. He's a lot of fun to be around. He's a wonderful guy [and] I really can't speak highly enough about him.

FamilyChristian.com: At what point did you decide that you could earn a living leading worship?

Live To Worship by Lincoln Brewster

Lincoln: I never decided that, actually. What I do now has come out of serving in church ministry. It was just something I felt like God was asking or was calling me to do. And so I did it. The salary that I was offered when I first took a staff position wasn't enough money to pay our bills. [My wife and I] said, "Okay God, we don't know what this means but we'll take it." God has always more than met our needs. It's been wonderful.

FamilyChristian.com: If you were to write a review of Live To Worship, how would you describe it?

Lincoln: I just call it modern worship. I think it's a diverse album. There's a lot of high-energy stuff and then there's songs on there that are more intimate worship experiences. One of my favorite ones is a song called "I Cry For You." It's not probably one that churches will pick up [but] that's my heart. I remember getting choked up singing that song in the studio.

I don't feel like it's a demanding record to listen to. I want it to be something that people could put on and turn it down in the background and have a conversation or that they could crank it up and really enter into worship. I think it is a straightforward worship album [and] the lyrics are directed upward on the whole record. I love lifting up the Lord in music.

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