Singer, songwriter, worship leader and Christ follower, Debra Black grew up in a Christian home with an Opera Singer mother who taught piano and voice lessons out of the house. Growing up in the church, Debra developed a love for music, and even more so, for worship. She began singing as a young girl, and it wasn’t long before she heard the call over her life to lead the church in worship. “I remember having this moment with the Lord,” recalled Debra. “I started asking Him how He viewed worship and started searching Scripture on what exactly worship was.” She learned that worship is even more than a song; it’s a whole life surrendered to God. This ignited her passion to encourage the church to see worship with a wider perspective.

Through college, as God continued to teach and show her the importance of unity and worship as a lifestyle, she pioneered Worship on the Square, a non-profit bringing the church body together in a city center to worship God and bring awareness to social causes in the community.

After college, it wasn’t long before someone challenged her to pursue her passion for worship leading and to write what God was doing in her life in songs. A gifted songwriter was birthed. She began serving as a worship leader for churches throughout the Atlanta metro area. She wrote and released her debut single entitled “More Than Enough” May of last year and released her full-length album “God In Every Season” August 12, 2014.

“God In Every Season” is a testimony of the faithfulness of God and love throughout her life.  “This album was such a spiritual awakening, full of brokenness and painful times as well as times of joy and excitement,” explained Debra. “I realized the Lord’s desire for my heart to be pure before Him and thus I had to experience the truths, joys and questions of every word I wrote and sang for this album. God uses every single thing in our lives for our good and His glory if we just allow Him.”

Though Debra has now been leading worship for more than 10 years for multiple church services, conferences, retreats, non-profit organizations and events, most recently she has also been traveling for media and press outlets, performing and talking about her new album. Whether it is a Sunday morning service or singing on morning shows, her desire is to share the Lord through her music and the testimony of her life.

 “We are all leaders of worship, but I have a microphone in my hand and the ability to proclaim it to the body, the church,” said Debra. “If you breathe, you have life and are called to lead people to the Savior Jesus Christ through the way you live. It is my response to God’s love and my obedience to His calling on my life—that is why I sing. I want people to know I am real, genuine, and truly love the God of Creation. That’s what I hope people will take away from listening to my album.”

All of the songs on the album came from a personal experience with the Lord or something He had been teaching her. Two of her favorite songs off the album are “You Go Before” and “Be Free.” “You Go Before” shares a message of trust and beauty that comes through trusting God. “I wanted this to be an anthem for the church to sing, to choose to proclaim these words ‘you go before, so I’ll (WILL) trust you Lord.’ God really had to show me that it’s a choice to trust Him. Choosing to trust Him is not a feeling like feeling happy or sad; it’s a conscious decision to say ‘I trust you Lord,’” explained Debra. The song merges the old hymn “’Tis So Sweet” with new lyrics, to be a fresh sound for this generation to sing. It is Debra’s prayer and hope that the church adopts this song as a declaration of how beautiful it is to trust in the Lord.

“Be Free” is the first song on her album and was written from Isaiah 49:9 which says, “To say to the captives, and those who are in darkness ‘come out, be free.”  Debra commented, “When I was reading this verse, the words ‘be free’ struck me in a way they never had before. I said out loud ‘be free, exist freely.’ Realizing that Christ has done it all at the cross, forgiven us, made us blameless and said we are free, yet so often I have found myself not relishing in the freedom that I have been given. I tend to find myself pondering over my past or what I have done wrong instead of living in the victory of the freedom we have been given through Jesus today. The song just came alive from that statement “Be Free,” you are free, we are free so live in His freedom.”

Debra’s new single, “Bright,” is an upbeat song that charges the believer to be a light in the darkness. Her worship roots influenced the lyrical approach, and her producing collaboration with Josh Williams inspired the pop sensibility of the track. “Bright” was inspired by Psalm 18:12: "Out of the brightness of HIS presence, clouds advance..." Debra added, “The presence of God alone has the power to move things and to move people. We have His same presence living in us, which started the stirring in my heart. When we sat down to write this song, we wanted this to be a song for the new year to ‘come alive and find new life, we were made to be different, we were made to live so bright.’"

As a part of what God has been teaching her about what freedom means, Debra has been passionate about confronting the issue of sexual abuse and exploitation through awareness, training and treatment programs for women and girls. As a worship leader, advocate, and supporter for organizations whose goal is to lead the charge to combat issues like Wellspring Living and Hope for Justice, Debra wants to make it her mission to bring awareness to these social issues when given the platform of a stage. “I love these organizations!” said Debra. “I love what they stand for, but more importantly what they bring to these hurting men and women; hope through Jesus. I’m so excited to be working with them and to be an advocate of restoration.”
Debra’s desire is to be a beacon of hope to people; to offer Jesus as the answer. Her desire is for her music to speak truth, share the love of Jesus, and to encourage people to have an encounter with the Lord. Her passion is truth and sharing the truth with the world.