Alumni Natalie Grant Featured
In Today's Pentecostal Evangel
September 13, 2004
In an interview for the September 12 edition of Pentecostal Evangel,
Northwest University alumna Natalie Grant discussed the role that her Christian
college education played in preparing her for her future as a singer
and songwriter in the contemporary Christian music industry. Grant says
in the article that traveling with a Northwest University music group called
Truth confirmed her call to music ministry and gave her the courage
to pursue this call.
Grant recently returned to Northwest University to sing for alumni at
a special chapel service during the University’s Alumni Weekend.
At the chapel service, her sisters Allison Sankey, Bethenee Engelsvold,
and Jennifer Shaub joined Grant in leading alumni in a time of worship.
Living The Dream - From Today's Pentecostal Evangel
As a freshman at Northwest University, Natalie Grant thought she wanted
to be a schoolteacher. She tabled her passion for music ministry, content
— she thought — to limit her musical gifts to sharing with
her local church. What she learned at Northwest, an Assemblies of God
college in Kirkland, Wash., was how to find God’s true calling
for her life. She auditioned for the traveling music group Truth, which
launched her career in contemporary Christian music. Today the 32-year-old
singer/songwriter is living her dream. Nominated for multiple Dove awards,
including female vocalist of the year, the Seattle native has found
her niche in Nashville. She spoke recently with Assistant Editor Ashli
O’Connell about her Assemblies of God heritage and the effect
that an A/G college education has had on her life.
PE: Why did you choose to attend Northwest University?
GRANT: I grew up in an Assemblies of God church, and
the Northwest choir came to sing at my church every year. I knew it
was an environment where I would be surrounded by Christian students
and receive a quality education.
PE: Tell me about your experience there.
GRANT: I’ll never forget it. I made lifelong
friendships at Northwest, but the thing I remember best is that’s
where I received my call from God to do music ministry full-time.
PE: Your husband went to Evangel University. Both
of you have had the experience of an Assemblies of God college education.
What impact has that had on you?
GRANT: Even though both of us were raised in church,
we realized in college how little we actually knew about our faith.
Being able to enroll in Old Testament and New Testament survey classes
and apologetics and similar courses gives you such a firm foundation
not only for your faith but also for your life. Whatever career you’re
going to go into, an Assemblies of God school gives you that strong
spiritual foundation.
I think that’s a key thing for students considering going to
an Assemblies of God college or university. These are schools where
you can receive a quality education for whatever it is you want to do
with your life. Plus you get an incredible spiritual foundation to build
your life on. I think it’s important to know that this isn’t
just where you go if you want to be a pastor, but this is a place where
you can go if you want to be a teacher or a nurse or a businessman.
You can get an incredible, quality education.
PE: What advice do you have for young people about
pursuing their dreams?
GRANT: I think that I am a prime example of somebody
who really is living her dream. I used to hold my hairbrush and sing
to my stuffed animals, and now it’s turned into a real microphone
and real people. But I never thought I could do it. Honestly, that’s
why I decided to be a schoolteacher. I was too afraid of failure. And
there’s no faith in that. It really wasn’t until I got to
Northwest and came to the place where I really felt like God had called
me that I put my faith into action.
What’s really important is allowing God to illuminate your path.
I’ve had so many challenges in my career, so many tests. My first
two record companies went out of business. I lost my deal. There were
challenges. It wasn’t something that just happened overnight.
But in those moments I had to lean back on, “Is this what I am
really called to do?” And as I sought the Lord, He illuminated
my path so that I could walk on the path that He has designed for me.
PE: Tell me a little about your recent album, Worship
with Natalie Grant and Friends.
GRANT: When I got the chance to be involved with producing
this album, I thought, What is it I wish I had more of? We have tons
of worship CDs that cater to the guitar-driven, acoustic-driven style
of music. But really there’s not a whole lot out there for that
urban church or multicultural church. I didn’t want to do just
another worship CD. I wanted to do something different that was a style
of music I loved my whole life. I got to pick songs I liked singing
and do them the way I always wished I could hear them.
PE: Is there something in your background that drew
you to that multicultural approach?
GRANT: For some reason, when I was growing up and
all my little girlfriends were listening to Amy Grant, I was listening
to CeCe Winans and Andraé Crouch. That was just always the kind
of music that I loved. I grew up listening to Motown. Nobody can figure
it out — because I grew up in the birthplace of grunge, but I
missed that whole scene and fell in love with black gospel music.
PE: Tell me about your involvement with Redeem the
Vote.
GRANT: It’s basically the Christian music industry’s
answer to Rock the Vote, which is what MTV does. We’re not telling
young people to vote one way or the other, but we’re saying that,
as an American and as a Christian, you have to stand up and be heard.
It’s an incredible privilege that we cannot take for granted because
we have men and women who are losing their lives every day in another
country in order to give those people that same right.
Printed with permission from Today's
Pentecostal Evangel
