Paige Pearce - Interview

In this interview, I got to sit down and talk with Paige Pearce. You may know her as one of the vocal lessons teachers, worship leaders, and songwriters of Praise Church. She's been working with Praise for a number of years now, and I have had the privilege to work alongside her many times on many Praise Church projects. We discussed our experience as interns, her experience as staff, her opinions on worship leading and worship culture as a whole. Overall, it was a wonderful time with a good friend of mine. Here are the highlights of our conversation

There is a lot of discourse between worship leaders about the purpose of high production value versus just 1 person with an acoustic guitar and every variation between, do you see an inherent value in the environment you lead in? 

I see value in all the environments. I think there are elements of both extremes that can enhance or distract. In my own personal experience, I’ve been encouraged and spurned on in huge worship moments or very small and intimate worship moments. 

Do you think there’s a genre of music that Contemporary Worship Music could take some notes from? 

Yes, actually Elevation just put out an album that has very gospel and country vibes. Lauren Daigle put out an album a bit ago that has some jazzy feels to it. It’s very cool to see worship artists push the genre envelope. I think worship music should take notes from everyone. I know that sounds vague, but it’s what I really believe.

What’s one thing you think worship/church teams focus on too much and what’s one thing they don’t focus on enough? 

I think worship teams focus a lot on what is the right way to do something. This is hard for me to say, because I want to always be sure that I’m doing something the correct way. Let me use a real world example, if I’m leading worship and I nail a song, that’s great, I did it the right way. If, however, I mess up, does that make my worship any less valuable? No. While maybe I didn’t do it perfectly, it’s still glorifying to God. I think worship teams focus too much on stressing about things being exactly right. I think looking above the method and just focusing on who we’re worshipping is more useful. 

So as a worship leader and songwriter, I think you’re uniquely qualified to answer this, what lyric from a worship song has stuck with you the most and which from a secular song? 

That’s such a good question. Let me think. A worship song called “Prince of Peace” by Hillsong Worship. It says, “your love surrounds me when my thoughts wage war. When night screams terror, there you hold my heart. Come storm or battle, God I know your peace will meet me there.” That beginning phrase is very meaningful to me. I’m very logical and my thoughts are very pervasive. I can get really held up by my own thoughts very often. We are finite creatures trying to fathom an infinite being, so there will be things that we cannot understand. So even if my thoughts are raging war inside of my mind, God is still going to love me. There’s enough grace for my wrong assumptions and incorrect thoughts. 

A secular lyric now… hmm… I think I’m gonna go with something by Paramore, surprise surprise. I’m gonna go with “26”, which says, “Hold onto hope if you got it, don’t let it go for nobody. They say that dreaming is free, but I wouldn't care what it cost me” That hits pretty hard. Like, even in my darkest hour I will still hold onto hope and light. 

So as a lover of music, I wanna hit you with some bands and I want you to choose which one you like more

Elevation v. Hillsong 

Ooh… this is so tough. I like them both for different reasons. I love both, but I think Hillsong has more bangers for me, personally.

Young & Free v. Highlands Worship 

Uhhh… I’ll go Young & Free. “III” was an awesome album. They’ve definitely been on my playlists a lot. 

Movements v. Knocked Loose 

Hmm, I’ll have to go Movements. Although, I did really enjoy Knocked Loose’s “A Different Shade of Blue” album, I have to go Movements. 

Tame Impala v. Valley 

VALLEY! I love that band so much. 

All Sons & Daughters v. Mosaic MSC 

That’s not even a comparison, Mosaic MSC

Steffany Gretzinger v. Brooke Ligertwood 

Ugh, they’re both so good. I have to go Brooke. She’s probably my favorite worship leader to hear. 

LANY v. the 1975 

Ethan, why are you doing this? I HAVE to go 1975, but you know I love LANY too!

The band CAMINO v. Paramore 

*gasp* No! That’s literally not allowed. My allegiance belongs to Paramore, you know that, but I love the band CAMINO. I have to say Paramore though. 

So in June of 2019, you tweeted, "should i pull a mariah mcmanus and release a solo EP? Discuss” are you still considering releasing solo music, if so, where’s that going? 

Oh my gosh, you’re the best for asking that. Yeah, I would love to pull a Mariah McManus. Her solo stuff is so goof and so L.A., which I appreciate. I have no plans in the works, currently. I am always writing though. Maybe one day. 

So you’ve worked a lot with Praise Church, and so have I, so it made me curious; is there a Winter Retreat/Summer Camp story that stands out in your memory?

I loved this past Summer Camp a lot. The Junior High Camp specifically. I don’t know what it is about getting out into a place where we’re just focusing on God. I guess that’s just surrender. That was super powerful. To see a group of teenagers already giving they lives to God was so inspiring. I think last Summer was great. We did “It Is Finished” then “I Surrender” and the finished up with Aaron’s “Only You Can Save Us.” It was super amazing. Going from a moment of Holy Spirit Power with “It Is Finished” into a moment of Surrender with “I Surrender” and wounding all out with submission to God with a message of, “Only You Can Save Us.” So powerful.

So we live in a time where masculinity and femininity are more hotly debated than ever before, and I was wondering: how has your experience as a Christian Woman been affected by the current culture? 

Wow, yeah, that’s a super hot topic. I have had some hard times, honestly. There have been times where I feel like my womanhood has been devalued by some Christians. I think what I’ve learned is that the way God chose to make me is valuable. Not necessarily because of my gender or race, just me. Truthfully, I try to avoid elevating my identity as a woman over my identity as a Christian. I’m not going to elevate any identity over my identity as a child of God. I think my being a woman is valuable and there are experiences I’ll have that others might not. However, I think God wants me to find my identity in Him rather than anything about myself. There have been times where the American Church has devalued me due to my womanhood but thee have been other times whee they’re done well to champion myself and other women. 

You’ve been in many different areas of leadership spanning from worship leader to church staff member and several in between and I wanted to ask: How has your experience in being a LEADER helped you become a better FOLLOWER of Christ?

That’s so good. I think a leader is only as good at leading as they are at following. I think leadership incentivizes following a good example. As more weight is put on your shoulders, it causes you to either take it on yourself which will break you,  eventually, or turn to God and he’ll help you.

So during your time with the Creative team and other background parts of ministry, is there anything you learned from the Behind the Scenes part of church leadership?

Yes. I think I’ve learned even more the purpose of prayer. I think behind the scenes can make people get very self-reliant. Like if you create a system for managing volunteers and it works, or you fix a tech issue before service starts. It has made me more reliant on God. Acknowledging that ministry is FOR him, so we need to rely on Him. I realized that maybe I could plan a set without prayerful consideration, but it’s not gonna be as good, I don’t think.

Have you learned anything onstage that has informed your life offstage?

Yes. I think when you say “yes” to God is the most thrilling thing. There is some kind of thrill with saying yes to God. So onstage when God is tugging at my heart to say something or do something, it get’s me so excited for what he’s about to do. That has informed my attitude offstage in elevating my view of God and submitting to what he wants from me.

In June of 2019, you preached a sermon to Praise Youth (then called FOUR12) called “It’s not about you” and in that, you had a quote I really liked, “When we die to ourselves, we are dying with Jesus.” How has that philosophy shaped you personally since that moment last year?

Wow, that sermon was so deep inside my heart. That is so real. When you die to yourself, you are dying with Christ. Since then, every moment I consider that I am dying with Jesus and I will raise with Jesus. Now I don’t have to be afraid or uncomfortable when God asks me to give something up, because he will bring something better. It’s very strange, because that sermon was so heavy, but I fail in that exact area all the time, but there is certainly grace. That’s what I love about Pastor Reg. He’s always willing to admit that he doesn’t know everything. It makes me feel so much more included.

If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be and why is it Pickett House Dumplings?

Literally! The freaking Pickett House! Y’all, I ate myself so sick last Winter Retreat. I ate a whole bowl of just dumplings. I may have been in the restroom for about 3 hours when we got home later that day. That’s not even that much of an exaggeration. I have a picture of me looking VERY full from a previous year. Like, my stomach looks distended. I did look 6 months pregnant, but I was not. I don’t know what it is about the dumplings at Pickett House, they are on another level. 

So I remember back in 2016, we both served at Praise’s student takeover. You were playing acoustic and I was directing the video team. When you first started singing, what is a lesson you learned that you still use today?

Hmm, that’s good. There’s a quote I love that says, “What you are part of is bigger than the part you play.” Whatever you find yourself doing serves God. That’s what I learned then. No matter the size of the part I think I’m playing ultimately serves God and that’s what needs to be important to me.

So I know you have seen Hillsong and other large Worship Bands perform live many times, when you see a massive worship band like that, is there anything you take away from that experience?

I love to see them trying new things. I also love to see more seasoned worship leaders. I love to see how they ad lib, or choose moments to speak. It doesn’t always seem like they’re a massive band, they’re just people happy to lead others in worship. That’s very inspiring. God wants our authentic worship, not anything dressed up or trying to be something different.

I hear a lot of Christians talking about ‘life verses’ what do you think your life verse/favorite verse is?

I love John 15 about the vine and the branches. That reminds me of what God wants from me. I’m a very task-oriented individual. I’m very focused on being productive. But John 15 just says, “abide in me”. So I can't depend on my own strength. I have to lean on him and not myself, which can be very difficult. I’ve experienced the dryness of not abiding in God and wondering why my life was getting so difficult and hard. I’ve also been in places where I was consciously abiding and I’ve seen the fruits from that. Think of plugging a power strip into itself, it doesn’t work. You have to connect to God.

So I know you got baptized on April 12th (4-12) back in 2015, do you see a big shift from your life then to now, if so what are some of the highlights?

Oh yeah, I think 2015 was THE year for me, That was the year I got saved and baptized, I think the act of baptism was special to me because it was my final step on surrender. In front of my whole church family I surrendered to God and showed everyone the decision I had made. I gave my life to Christ and got baptized to show it to people. That was the coin drop moment of surrender for me.

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Thank you so much for reading this interview. 

Please check out some of the other interviews I've done. Have a wonderful rest of your day!