Musical Motivation: Morris shares passion through faith and outreach

Jul. 7—Wayne Morris, minister of youth and music at Island Baptist Church, celebrated a milestone of 17 years with the church on Sunday, July 3.

But even before he

became a part of the congregation, Morris, 49, always seemed to have music around him growing up in the Barrett Hill area.

"We grew up with music in our family," he said. "My mother has nine brothers and sisters, so when we would do Christmas gatherings or Easter or Fourth of July or whatever, most of the time, someone would bring a guitar, and we would sing old hymns and stuff like that. I guess I just fell in love with it."

Morris was eight years old when he first performed publicly, singing "I've Got Peace Like a River" alongside his cousin at Buck Creek Baptist Church.

He continued his musical endeavors during his years at Livermore Elementary School, and was intrigued when the McLean County High School band came to perform and encourage students to join the beginner band in the sixth grade.

"I kind of watched that and thought, 'Man, I want to do that,' " Morris said.

Morris initially wanted to play football, but those plans didn't last long.

"I played for about a week," he laughed.

Morris and his mother got the OK to join the band program a week into the school year, where he played trumpet under the direction of band director Doug Calland.

It was during his sophomore year that Morris met new band director Stephen Riggs, who made a big impact.

"He really got me interested," Morris said.

Morris kept up the trumpet when he enrolled at Western Kentucky University in 1990 as a music education major. But he also learned "all the instruments," albeit "not all of them very well," before "God called me into the ministry" after an absence of not attending church.

"I just felt that I needed to be in church," Morris said. "I started going back to my home church ... and as I was there, the music person left, and people asked me if I would fill in."

Soon enough, some of the church youth began to ask Morris to fill the spot of the youth director, which was also vacant at the time.

"As that unfolded, I just felt like, 'Man, this is exactly what God wants me to do,' " he said.

Morris was brought on full time at Buck Creek Baptist Church in 2000, which he considers a "big year," as he also married his wife, Melissa, and became ordained.

After a collective six years at Buck Creek Baptist Church, Morris moved to Island Baptist Church where he's remained since.

His career, and the music that comes with it, gives Morris great purpose.

"It's an outlet just to be grateful to God, to adore God, just to love on Him, and as we come together as a church corporately, there's nothing like it," Morris said. "Just having that ability to lead in worship is just phenomenal to me."

Morris enjoys sharing his talents and the word of the gospel in various avenues.

Shortly after he left Buck Creek Baptist Church, Morris met Randy Lanham, a musician and education director of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, when Morris won a songwriting competition for the song "It Was Given to You."

"We recorded that together and became best friends," he said.

Morris and Lanham began volunteer performances at nursing homes and hospice facilities in the community, where Morris remembers he witnessed something that "only God can do" when they went to play for a woman who had not spoken for weeks.

"We walked into this room, and this woman was nonresponsive; she was just in her bed just staring at the wall," he said. "We started playing songs, and we started with 'Amazing Grace.' And as we got about midway through the first verse, her eyes started looking around. And by the end of the first verse, she started mumbling the words. By the second verse, she was singing on-key with a beautiful voice. ... And we got done, she looked at us and asked, 'Are ya'll going to play some more?' That right there — that was confirmation from God that we're doing what we need to do."

The experience led Morris and Lanham to start Volunteer Owensboro in 2007, which helps connect people with volunteer opportunities through community outreach, events and education awareness programs and partnering with nonprofit organizations.

The work includes helping with video promotion, public service announcements, jingles, live music and sound for events, which grew into their own television program "VolunTour Kentucky" — now "Project Volunteer" — hosted by Lanham and Theresa Rowe to take a "walk in the shoes of a volunteer for a day to experience real-life volunteering."

The show airs on a number of networks, including KET and PBS, and is available in over 100 countries.

Morris, who is one of the videographers for the program, said that while he feels "almost guilty" about the success, he couldn't be prouder.

"When we go to do these things, we're trying to get them to feel good," Morris said. "We almost get more out of it than they do."

Morris also keeps busy helping Rowe with her fitness show "Shaped by Faith," which has been picked up by the Christian-based streaming service Pure Flix.

While he didn't pursue his initial goal of working as a band director, Morris had his full-circle moment when he was invited to help the high school's trumpet section this summer.

"Starting July the 18th, I'll be doing my first band camp in over 22 years," he said. "Just to be able to do that is awesome, and it's just another way to minister to those kids."

Morris still finds it exciting every day to be a part of music and is appreciative of what it's done for him.

"It's my life," he said. "If it wasn't for music, I don't know what I would do. Music is just an outlet; it's something that I can do that inspires people and it's something I can do that can lift somebody's heart — and it's more than the music that gives me joy.

"I've been so blessed to get to know so many people through music. ... I thank God every day for allowing me to do something that He feels is something important for people."