Profile: Adrea LaRoche

“Life is such a process,” according to musician and songwriter Adrea LaRoche. After growing up in a Christian home, like many of us, she turned away from God throughout most of her teenage years. A series of events in her first year of college brought her to the point of recognizing she needed a change.

“I’d lost sight of God,” LaRoche says. “It was an independence thing. I didn’t want to make the changes but I was able to say to God ‘take over.’” While acknowledging she made plenty of bad choices, she also recognizes God used that time in her life to mold her into who she is today.

LaRoche has always been fascinated with music. Singing and writing songs from a very early age, she’s instinctively thought of music as God’s direction for her life. She learned to play guitar from her brother during high school and joined a Christian band in her college years.

By her senior year she was leading worship for a campus ministry group. Not long after graduating, she was leading worship for the young adult services at her home mega-church in Lexington, Kentucky, Southland Christian.

At 22 years old, right out of college, she was hired by the University of Kentucky’s Christian Student Fellowship as Director of Women’s Ministry and Director of Worship. “I was thinking God, what are you doing? Some of these students are older than I am. How am I supposed to lead them? It was an incredible time of growing and learning to totally rely on him.” Laughing, she adds “And reading Timothy a lot” referencing the admonishment in 1 Timothy 4:12 to not let anyone look down on you because you are young.

Processing the Music

She recorded her first CD, Daily Resurrection, in 2001 and her second, Fireside Session, in 2004. She wrote the words and music for all but one song on both projects. She is currently working on a third CD with a produce near Nashville, TN.

Her music has taken her to coffeehouses, bars and Christian retreats with audiences of all ages. “When I go out to any of those places [bars or retreats], I’m just singing to people as human beings – believers, nonbelievers, or sort of believers who are ignoring God. Whatever point we are at, there are some threads of commonality in all of us.” She explains that her experiences at churches or retreats are more like talking with God as she sings or leads worship.

“The songs I sing at a coffeehouse, bar, or festival are more about God.” She adds, “the audience [outside of church] can relate to the struggles or experiences I’ve had and then hear how God has shown up in that or what God has said about that or how he has worked it out.” The common thread LaRoche sees, is that we all have struggles. The difference is in how we talk about them.

Processing the Dream

Although she has always loved music, she’s had her moments of doubt as to whether it is God’s desired profession for her. “When you become an adult, a lot of people see the idea of being a musician as a joke. There’s this look,” LaRoche laughs, “like oh, there’s something not right about you.’ That type of response has challenged her to continually ask “is this my dream or is this God?”

Through Dallas Willard’s Hearing God she has learned that our personality and character are developed through our interaction with God in choices. LaRoche states, “Sometimes God is silent and he leaves the choices up to us. He created us to live and to love, not stand by idle until we hear his voice telling us the next move to make.”

“There is a line somewhere between foolishness and faith that’s sometimes difficult to see,” says LaRoche. “But if you have prayed, received prayerful insight from someone close to you – besides your mom and dad – and seen unsolicited affirmation from other people, then take a step. Pray for God to meet you and bless that step if it is not against his will for your life.”

Processing Tomorrow

LaRoche confesses, “I’m still in process.” Her music has been called acoustic rock and God continues to mold her passions. She acknowledges that “life, dreams, gifts are so fragile. In a moment those can all be gone. So my identity and my worth cannot be dependent upon those things. Who I am has to be rooted in Christ.”

With that, she expects to continue working on her third CD and hopes to book retreats, conferences, special events, and concerts. Underneath the music is a heart that longs to inspire women to look to God for all their answers and for all their hopes and dreams. She also has a love for missions and is an Independent Artist Associate for World Vision.

At the young age of 29, Adrea LaRoche is wise beyond her years. Her knowledge, life experiences, and love of God are sure to bring inspiration to any audience through her speaking and through the life stories revealed in the words of her songs.

Find out more about this gifted artist, listen to her music, and book her for your next event at http://www.adrealaroche.com/. Spending time with Adrea will encourage you, as it has me, to find peace in the process of life by learning to “Praise the Potter…Be the Clay.”

This article was written for The Cutting Edge (November 2007), monthly newsletter of Women in Service for Christ. Join the WISC email list and view newsletter archieves at http://www.grow2sow.org/WISCNewsletters.html.