Joe Pace: Serving “The Front Line of Worship Ministry”

By Bob Marovich of The Black Gospel Blog.

Joe Pace is a busy man these days.

He just released Praise for the Sanctuary, his first CD for Tyscot Records and the latest in the popular Joe Pace Presents series. Listening parties around the country are giving fans a chance to meet the artist and sample the new album.

Meanwhile, Pace participated in the Stellar Award 2011 Nominee Press Conference. It was the first time the annual announcement aired live on television, broadcast on the Gospel Music Channel.

Pace took a breather to visit with TBGB and share his gospel music journey to date.

“Praise for the Sanctuary is doing pretty well,” Pace said. “It is the first CD we’ve done in about three years, after taking some time off, and so we’re pleased that it was number eleven on the charts in its first week.”

Pace said that the listening parties serve a dual purpose. “They give us an opportunity to talk with people who are being blessed by the project, but also with worship leaders and music ministers and choir directors who want to use the project as a resource.

“That’s one of the underlying aspects of the project, and of the Joe Pace Presents series,” he explained. “Praise for the Sanctuary is not just something to bless the body, but something the church can use to teach a praise team or choir, and in fifteen or twenty minutes be singing from it that Sunday morning.

“The series harkens back to the days of the Tommies and choirs like that. For example, when the Thompson Community Singers put out an album, every minister of music of every church grabbed the album because you knew you had at least eight or nine songs’ worth of material you could do at church. I wanted [Joe Pace Presents] to be something that ministers of music, choir directors, worship leaders and musicians could get excited about and help them move their ministries to the next level.”

Pace added, “Most people are not on a stage in front of ten or twenty thousand people. They just do what they do every week, but they want to do it better. They want more choices and resources to enhance the worship experience right where they are called. Part of my call, therefore, is to serve those on the front line of worship ministry. We want to walk them through an order of service and do fresh music for all areas of the worship experience.”

While “And We are Glad” is the album’s first and current single, listening parties are giving Pace feedback on other album tracks touching his audience. One is “Forever.”

“’Forever’ is a cross-cultural CCM-type mix that is grabbing the hearts of worshippers,” Pace said. “‘Speak a Word,’ with Tonya Baker, is also impacting people as the perfect song for a sermonic selection, something to set up the preached word on Sunday morning. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the second single.”

Gospel music has been part of Pace’s entire life. “I grew up a ‘PK,’ a pastor’s kid,” said Pace, “and so I have been in church all my life. I also played in the band at school, but when I was about twelve or thirteen years old, one of the mothers of our church threw me on the piano. She said, ‘You play in the band in school, don’t you? Well, then you ought to be able to make music.’ And you don’t ever tell the mother of a church ‘no,’ so I jumped on the piano, and it’s been a love ever since.

“I never dreamed at that point I’d be able to do what I’m doing full time, but the seeds were planted many years ago. I’m thankful for the opportunity that God has opened up for me to be a part of what He’s doing.”

Pace came to national attention through his work with the Colorado Mass Choir.

“The Colorado Mass Choir started in the Colorado Springs area as a choir workshop with the late Rev. James Moore,” Pace explained. “Rev. Moore made a call to Benson Records and said we have a pretty good combination of people here in Colorado and have you ever thought about recording a choir? Things moved pretty fast after that. I think we did the workshop in late September, and we were recording the first project in January.”

Pace was writing songs in those days, “but there were multiple producers on the first couple of [Colorado Mass Choir] projects, and I was still paying my dues. I got to produce and write more on or around the third project. Now, with the Joe Pace Presents series, we’ve probably done fourteen projects in fifteen years.”

Of all the songs that define the Joe Pace sound, such as “Stir Up the Gift” and “We Worship You” – the latter with Fred Hammond – “Speak Life” was the tipping point, the composition that transformed the singer-songwriter’s life.

“’Speak Life’ was born out of personal angst and turmoil, a time when I was questioning God. I was watching what seemed to be others being blessed ahead of me, and I was about to give up on all the dreams I had. But I audibly heard God say, ‘Who told you that it was finished, that it was over? Did I ever tell you that?’ And the words to the song just began to come out of that [experience], not as some magic words or hocus-pocus, but as a realization that nothing is finished until God says it’s finished.

“God has demonstrated that to me throughout the years.”

Read more: TBGB review of Praise for the Sanctuary.