We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Darrin Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Darrin, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Stepping into music is a risky business… for some people, it becomes all risk and no business, and there’s definitely a lot of money that goes into producing music long before you ever see a return… IF you see a return.
But, I didn’t start making music for money, I started making music because I was driven by purpose.
I started writing music in 2016, shortly after teaching myself guitar. I had never sung before, music wasn’t a hobby, or even much of an interest until then, but I had been serving full-time as a pastor and figured that learning the guitar would be helpful in case I need to lead worship occasionally. However, I quickly fell in love with playing guitar and singing and quickly began writing my own music.
In 2020, I took the step to find a producer and engineer in San Antonio and set off to record some of the 60+ worship songs I had written. But, right around that time, I started writing Christian Hip-Hop. It literally started with me playing around on the piano and making what I thought sounded like a rap beat. The joke of me being a Christian Rapper based on one piano melody, soon became reality as I turned that melody into a song, recorded it, and then started writing more hip-hop to the producer’s beats.
In 2021, I took another risk and published my EP, Entrance. This EP had 5 tracks and was a personal experiment of expressing the gospel and my testimony through hip-hop. What was both uncharted territory for me, and a very expensive project, soon became a part of me.
Today, I’ve released an EP, a full-length album, and performed in 7 cities across 4 states. Being a Christian Hip-Hop artist started as a joke, but is now a major part of my ministry life. The risk continues, as I have maybe broke even on my recording costs (maybe), and new projects and the need for more travel and better quality music continues to increase the cost.
However, the real payoff is that many people have given their lives to the Lord, been encouraged, and kept sober one day longer because of this music… in which case, I’d say it’s paid off quite well!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Darrin Miller, and I am an international ministry leader, consultant, and CHH/Worship Artist. I often tell people I am a professional “many-hat-wearer” as I have dabbled in so many things. I currently work as a business consultant and branding specialist, but my true work is found in the ministry I run.
Ordained as a pastor at 22 years old, I have been in full-time ministry since 2014. I have pastored a church, raised up leadership, planted youth, college, and outreach ministries, and worked with indigenous ministries around the world. Today, I am the founder and director of Faithful Fishers. Our mission is to help others experience the fullness of God’s calling through biblical teaching, coaching, and community. Part of our work is running and expanding the Living Word Bible School which I am also the founder of. Today we have trained dozens of leaders that have become pastors, missionaries, youth leaders, college ministry directors, and chaplains, and we are in the process of planting Bible Schools in 5 countries and 7 languages. In fact, we already have a waiting list for other countries to plant them in.
It was during my stint as a pastor in Kerrville (2014-2020) that I began to write worship and then later create Christian Hip-Hop (CHH). Because of the work, I do in evangelism and discipleship, helping others come to know the Lord, or at least know Him more deeply, has always been, and continues to be, the motivating factor in my life and music. My mission as a CHH artist is to make quality music that can be taken seriously in the CHH genre, but in a way that stays true to the mission and message of Jesus. Some songs may be to encourage believers, and some may be focused on sharing a message with those who do not believe, but every song is intentional in its purpose and lyrics.
If I was to share what I’m most proud of or blessed by, it’s the fact that God just keeps opening doors for me to perform, including an artist showcase in Nashville before internationally known artists and labels, and to interact with other artists like Hilgy, Adrion Butler, Brett Raio, ASAP Preach, and many others. More than anything, I’m blessed by constantly getting testimonies of people being touched, encouraged, convicted, and saved through this music… without that… it would all be for nothing.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Being a musician is hard… especially when you’re learning the skill and producing the music at the same time. But it’s difficult, especially in the fact that it’s a very costly endeavor. When you start out as a completely unknown artist, it’s a battle just to get your music in front of people. Networking, traveling and doing shows for free, trying to get other artists to work with you, and navigating recording and distribution are all learning curves and can be difficult processes that really just take time. There is no shortcut. Plus, you are paying out of pocket the whole way with no clear path to seeing a return.
Thankfully for me, my album was paid for due to preorders, and 90% of the shows I’ve done I got paid for along the way (unexpectedly). Each little win and every ounce of fan support really helps boost the drive and provide the encouragement needed to keep going. People really don’t realize how far a little bit of support goes for artists trying to make an impact, let alone survive.
But most of my resilience comes from believing that I was called to this for this time and that my music has a purpose… that is why I keep sacrificing and spending money I really shouldn’t be spending to make more music, and that is why I travel, sometimes on my own dime, to perform in new places. Because the more I do, the more God is faithful to open doors and give new opportunities to share the gospel and see people’s lives changed.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of being an artist is the level of creative freedom you experience in the process. I thought of myself as kind of silly when I first started rapping (a 28-year-old white pastor, who’s married with 6 kids, and wears button-ups and loafers), but as I’m embraced my image and identity as a CHH artist, I’ve come to really love it.
I love the writing process, the music, the production, and seeing a song come to life after being mixed and mastered; I love working with new artists who have the same passion and faith, and I love meeting new churches and people within the body and being able to show up with something new to give and seeing them all inspired and encouraged in their faith. Really every part of it is beautiful and life-giving.
Even just the creative aspect of being comfortable making art and experimenting and growing in new ways, it just opens up a new area or channel in your mind and Spirit that is very freeing. Before looking at CHH artists or Christian Rock Bands, etc, it seem just a bit taboo or was good for a very specific niche of people, but I really didn’t understand how deeply rooted it is as a viable ministry opportunity on a large scale, and how much God is moving in the creative area of a Christian Artist’s life, just as He is in a pastor or ministry leaders life… because I’m now both.
So not only am I rewarded by the experience but I’ve been rewarded by seeing music as ministry in a whole new light.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bookdarrin.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/darrin_miller
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/millerministry
- Twitter: @bookdarrin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFSThqfixvVrumowJfB9ZnA