Sound crazy? Well David Crowder did it.

“People drove from Atlanta, Mississippi, Los Angeles, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and more,” David says.

The David Crowder Band needed background singers for a track on their third studio album, A Collision. They had already included fans in the album’s recording by documenting it all through blogs and four 24-hour webcams. Was it out of the ordinary to invite fans to drop by for barbecue and a sing-a-long?

Even David admits the idea was “a tad fanatical,” but it’s not a surprise. Watch him in concert and you may catch him talking 10 minutes about the squirrels in his backyard, or how he lives in the house once owned by the inventor of Dr. Pepper. And one look at the hair — make that, the explosion of hair — and you know David isn’t your typical worship leader. He can be theologically deep but also be goofy and off-the-wall.

David’s approach in showing the personal and unfathomable aspects of God resonates with twentysomethings and teens — along with people he calls “the fringe folk,” described as those who have trouble connecting with the Christian culture.

From One Night to OneDay
Humor has always been part of David’s personality. In high school he says he was “outgoing and always wanted to make people laugh.”

“I was an absolute dork,” he says.

But David was also heavily into his youth group and took his faith to Baylor College, where he and a group of friends started a church. They began to see a gap between Christianity and college students. Since he already knew piano and guitar (he says his high school youth pastor let him play “mostly the fast songs that were louder so I couldn’t be heard”), David helped with worship.

“In the beginning, I pulled together songs for services each week,” he says.

Then God stepped in and took the David Crowder Band to the next level using David’s college roommate.

“One night I was on the floor actually listening to worship CDs, trying to find music for the week,” David says. “My roommate walked in, heard the songs and basically freaked out and left.”

David pushed the stack of CDs away, realizing it was time to write songs that people his age could relate to. Unofficially, the David Crowder Band was formed.

And now the really short version of the rest of the story: The band writes songs and plays them each week for their growing church. The current lineup forms. They record an independent record and a buzz grows. Offers begin coming in for the band to play other places.

They play at OneDay gatherings and tour with Passion, an organization encouraging college students to become radical Christ-followers who are making God’s fame known on college campuses. On one tour alone they reach more than 35,000 students. They sign with a major record label, their songs are on the radio, big tours follow, more albums . . . well, you get the idea.

All About Worship
The David Crowder Band now has three studio albums and is splashed all over other worship projects. They are chock full of radio hits and have been featured in magazines, newspapers and on TV across the country. David even has a guitar named after him (can you say that?).

Despite the attention and success, the band is still about worship. In fact, David rarely misses a Sunday at his church. “We’re still attending the same church, writing for the same people,” he says. “It’s amazing how our songs are affecting everyone else [people outside of his church congregation]. Our hearts are still for these people here.”

If you haven’t heard the David Crowder Band, their music is as quirky as David himself. Songs range from alternative rock/pop to piano-driven ballads, pop to ambient-infused grooves.

A Collision even includes a bluegrass version of the classic gospel song “I Saw the Light.” At times the music is intense; at other times it is a whisper. It is simple then complex. It is worship without sounding like worship. “When you get six very different individuals together and their voices into this [album] kind of gets a shape and sound of its own,” David says.

Ideas for songs come from everyday life with bandmates, friends and church members. “The idea behind our church from the beginning was ‘What if ministry came out of relationship and just journeying alongside each other?’“ David says. “In the end we just try to use music to communicate our heart and affection to God.”

On the Journey
Sometimes the journey leads to songs of praise, but David also knows life can be messy — and holding onto faith becomes more complex and leads to questions.

“How do we as humans in relationship with the Divine — how do we cope with life and what it brings and express love to our Maker in the middle of it?” David asks. A Collision covers cerebral themes such as death and mortality, good and evil, deliverance and hope, oppression and springtime.

Then in the midst of the deepness, comes a brilliant expression of Christ, like the chorus of “Here is our King.” Here is our King/Here is our love/Here is our God who’s come/To bring us back to Him/He is the One/He is Jesus.

The contrast and complexity in David’s music has allowed him to reach a wide audience with an even wider array of comments. “A lot of people tell me, ‘Your music seems to come from a place of pain,’ and it helps them cope with their pain and express their faith during it,” he says. “Then someone else will come up to me and say, ‘There’s so much joy in your music.’“

For those in pain, Crowder points them directly to Christ. “There is hope for every desperate spot you’re in. There is nowhere God is absent,” he says.

Worship leaders aren’t exempt from life’s problems, by the way, and David has to stay sharp or see the consequences in his own life. “I’m constantly surprised at my motives and motivations,” he says. “With the hope and faith I have I’m still falling and picking myself up or having others pick me up.”

The basic tools for his spiritual growth include prayer and Bible study, but David believes in keeping his routine fresh — changing the times he reads or finding other ways to inject life into his disciplines. “Ritual can be dangerous and wonderful at the same time,” he says. “[Your time with God] can become devoid of the life that it had in the beginning. The risk is you can develop habits and patterns that stir things up, then at some point there is a lack of movement — you stop finding God and you find ritual.”

Friends can also spur spiritual growth. “It’s important to find yourself in the middle of a community whose pursuit is the same as yours,” David says. “You’ll find growth comes in a lot of different ways.”

David and his band have the same pursuit. He describes their mission as “all working together to be a relevant force in our culture, to give hope to those who have left the church and those who have come back, to bring art back to the forefront, to reflect God’s light as the moon reflects the sun. Six different people with the same goal; and six different ways to go about it.”

For David it’s translating messages about God into music, having some fun doing it and hosting a giant barbecue once in a while.

Random Questions With David
Answers taken with a grain of salt

What is one of your hidden talents?
“I can dance like you’ve never seen. Oh, and I can cut my hair in the mirror. This is harder than it sounds. One of my many super powers.”

Why do you talk about squirrels so much?
“I can’t stand them. They’re evil.”

Tell about your childhood pet.
“I had a squirrel, Simon. I found him in the woods as a baby and fed him milk from a dropper. And then he ran away and broke my heart.”

What’s a good day off?
“Watching hours upon hours of football with my wife, Toni, while lying on the couch. With a milk shake, a pizza . . . and some pancakes, pickles, Cheetos and a Dr. Pepper. I’m really hungry now.”

Favorite cartoon as a kid?
“I loved ‘Scooby Doo.’ I’ve modeled my fashion on Shaggy’s character. Man, to have a friend like Scooby. That had to be nice. They were pretty close, always sharing the Scooby Snacks.”