Songwriting dreams often start at a young age. Tucson worship pastor and NCS Songwriter of the Month, Brian Goodall, recalls, “I remember laying in my bed as a middle schooler and pretending I was conducting symphonies that I composed. I didn’t know that that was abnormal.”
Brian would later complete a Bachelors in Christian Ministry at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix and go on to study theory and composition at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He is married to Kate, and they have two young teenagers.
Although serving in local church ministry since 1998, the dream of writing powerful songs that could reach a broader audience never left him. Brian put together a couple of bands along the way and kept plugging away at songwriting, but always knew there was more to it than he had discovered.
“I’m a pastor at heart,” he says. “It’s kind of been groomed in me. My Grandfather started Family Life Radio and I have lots of other family members who are ministry driven.” Brian himself started City Psalms in 2012, a non-profit dedicated to connecting musicians and creative collaborators to use their talents for Christ.
Along with inspiring deeper connection among creatives, Brian is bringing opportunities for growth through City Psalms. He hopes that it will stir a movement in Tucson that could make the city a hotbed of worship and the creative arts in the years to come.
“The heart of it is that we see a lot of Christian artists and musicians in our community who are looking for opportunities to use their talents to make a difference in our city. And so we’ve put together some ways that we can specifically engage in the needs of our city through music and art,” he remarks.
Because of his heart to nurture creativity and ministry in Tucson, Brian is already sharing the techniques and principles of songwriting he’s learned through NCS Coaching. “If you’d asked me before what my songwriting process was,” he comments, “I would have told you that I don’t have one. But I’ve come out of this knowing how to work on my music.”
When asked what he would say to aspiring songwriters, Brian is quick to respond, “The world needs you to write, even if it’s just to bless your kid, you know? We need a movement of selfless Christ followers who are helping the world see the answer in the music we create.”
You can view Brian’s NCS Coaching testimonial here: https://vimeo.com/manage/462053492/general
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I like what you mentioned “The world needs you to write even if it’s just to bless your kid….because the truth is I sang to them often when my daughter and son were just toddlers and I can tell they both have God’s gift of music on them during their growing ups. Our son would not admit it, he would do anything apart from his mom’s thought he is good at. Our kids are the main reasons I like to write a song because communications seems challenging as they reach their teenages years.