Ninth in a series
Trina Beecher was loving her freshman life as a Christian studies major at another university when her family began pondering the possibility of leaving its home in Eugene, Oregon.
“Do you want to move to Arizona?” her father asked her out of the blue.
“No,” was her initial reply.
Eventually, however, she agreed. And then she found her way to the Worship Arts program at Grand Canyon University.
Now look at her after two years on campus.
Beecher made the Canyon Worship album for the first time this year with “Here (I Will Be),” a collaboration with Edwin Lopez and Alex Ramirez.
Another new adventure during the 2021-22 academic year was performing on the Worship team at Chapel – with Lopez and two other Canyon Worship stars, Amanda Riffe and Madison Russell.
Best of all, she gets to collaborate with other student artists, which is exactly what led to her spot on the album.
Beecher was playing the keys and worshipping with friends on a Saturday afternoon when one of them began singing what would become the song’s chorus.
“We decided to stick to that chorus and write to it,” she said.
Later, she went to the GCU Recording Studio and ran into Lopez, who helped put together the verses.
“It’s very much a collaborative song,” Beecher said. “I just happened to be the one who submitted it.
“I’m big on collaboration as of, probably, this year. I used to write a ton on my own. I still write on my own a lot. But I really feel like I’ve really learned the beauty of collaborating with people in worship. I’ve learned so much from people’s styles and how they write.”
Recording Studio Manager Eric Johnson called it “a love song to the Almighty” and “a classic love song” that also has “a message of stillness.”
“Psalm 46:10 says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ That message is definitely in the song,” Johnson added. “If you can just be still and be reminded of the love that God has for you and declare your love to Him, that’s what the song is about.”
Beecher’s experience in the Worship Arts program shows what it is all about. Canyon Worship 2022 is like a collaboration collective.
“I think that’s cool because that’s showing the shift in worship culture,” Beecher said. “People are making it less about ‘OK, I need to be known,’ and it’s more of ‘Let’s all worship together,’ and then these songs just pop up. I feel like that’s really powerful. It’s becoming less about us and more about Him.
“Sometimes pride can get in the way where people are like, ‘I wrote this song. This is my song.’ This is the Lord’s song. It’s always supposed to be for the Lord.”
Those Recording Studio experiences alone would have been worth the price of admission to GCU. But being onstage for Chapel has added that much more.
“It was very much a worship culture on the team,” she said. “I just feel completely honored to serve the GCU community. All the students who come to these things and to have the weight of leading them into worship, not only is it humbling but it’s just really sweet and it makes me more in awe of the Lord and more in love with Him because of what I see Him doing.
“My favorite part is watching people worship. I love leading, I love the whole singing part of it, but I think our whole team can agree on this – just seeing people get into it, seeing them raise their hands and having them even lead themselves, is always the goal. And it makes us better songwriters.”
Johnson and Dr. Randall Downs, Worship Arts Coordinator, both noted how much Beecher’s personality adds to the Worship Arts culture.
“Students look up to her,” Downs said.
“In addition to being a great songwriter, she’s also a leader,” Johnson said.
So much so that Beecher was Vice President of the newly formed Songwriters Guild last year. It’s because being a leader also means being approachable.
“Every time she walks into a room, she is smiling, she is happy, she is full of energy and she’s bubbly. I don’t get it,” Johnson said, laughing.
Beecher is looking to a career in women’s ministry, not worship ministry. But, first, she intends to get the most out of her senior year.
“I’m always in awe of how far I’ve come and how I’ve grown here at GCU,” she said. “Now that I’m writing music and building so many great relationships, doing worship, honestly, I never would have imagined myself here, ever. I think it’s really cool how that was used by the Lord for me to be here and do all the things I get to do.”
Clearly, it was the right move.
Contact Rick Vacek at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
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Canyon Worship 2022 is scheduled to be released Sept. 9 on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music. It will be available in the iTunes Store.
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GCU News: Canyon Worship 2022 is in step with collaboration
GCU News : Fearlessness propelled ascent to Canyon Worship
GCU News : Freshman's talent is the talk of Canyon Worship
GCU News : Russell leads the way on album, with other students
GCU News : Canyon Worship displays Jasperse's sound skills
GCU News : God's voice resonates through Lopez's journey
GCU News : It's tough to throw off Bonaroti's perfect pitch
