Lamar Campbell — DailyPraiseTV Blog Post - WATCH INTV 11/5/2026

Nov 3, 2026 · @Humilitee

More Than the Run: Lamar Campbell on Worship, Family and the Music Still Coming

More than 25 years in, the voice behind "More Than Anything" talks about the song that feels like his middle name, the mother who kept him in church, and the season God called him to minister at home.

Most people know the song. Fewer know the man. In a conversation with Daily Praise TV and Magazine, Lamar Campbell set the stage lights aside and talked about what has kept him and Spirit of Praise standing for more than a quarter century.

The song that chose him

"More Than Anything" did not come out of a crisis, Campbell says. It came early. It was the third project he recorded with Spirit of Praise on EMI Gospel, from the days right after they first got signed, when they were turning out records fast. That year, he says, he did two records in one year.

The song has since been recorded and sung by many artists. Campbell still asks the same question he asked then: "God, what was it about me that You chose to allow me to be the one to introduce the song?"

His answer is the calling he says he is "very clear about": a ministry to help put people in relationship with Jesus Christ. "When you are in a relationship, you wanna spend time with that person," he says. "The way that we spend time in our relationship with Jesus Christ is through the Word and through prayer."

Industry-wise, he calls it a career song. "People probably think 'More Than Anything' is my middle name," he laughs. "That's how much it is a part of who we are."

The tenor nobody else wanted to be

Looking back at himself at 15, Campbell says he had no idea what was ahead. He was just being obedient and grateful for a gift.

The first time he led a song in the youth choir, it was only because none of the other tenors wanted to sing it. "So I said, 'I'll do it,' and I've been singing ever since." He describes that first moment as almost an out-of-body experience. "I turned into this different person when I got behind the mic and when I got behind the instrument."

He credits his parents, and especially his mother, who had the family in church every time the doors opened. "She would take us to church to see if they was having church," he says. His mother passed a little over three years ago. "The greatest gift that she gave her children was an opportunity to know Jesus Christ for ourselves." Today, he says, every one of his siblings has a relationship with Christ.

Worship is not a performance

Campbell is serious about the title "worship leader." Being able to sing, or hold a room's attention, does not make someone one, he says.

What drives him is the person in the room who is present but not ready. "I ask God to give me something to make a shift so that that person does not leave the same way they came." Raised hands, clapping and shouting are not the measure, he says. "God looks at the heart."

Ordinary people, real ministry

Campbell had a gospel group before Spirit of Praise and stepped away from it. When God called him back, it was to lead a choir. "I'm like, 'You gotta be joking,'" he recalls. "I don't consider myself a choir boy."

Listeners often assume he gathered the best voices he could find. He says the opposite is true. God called him to use ordinary people who sat in rehearsal week after week and let him train their voices.

Before their first concert, the group did what he calls missionary work: singing in nursing homes and prisons and cleaning up neighborhoods. "We understood that we weren't there to be gospel stars," he says. "We actually chased the music that God gave us." Over 25 years later, he adds, "we're still standing."

What the choir stand teaches

Of all his roles, Campbell says being a choir director and minister of music has taught him the most about people. "You have to know your sheep," he says. "And you can't lead where you have not been."

He is known for getting inside a lyric with his singers: What did you just say? What did that mean to you? How do you give that message to someone so they feel what you feel?

He also makes the case for the arts in schools. Choir, he says, teaches discipline, memorization, focus and how to work with people. "You can leave my rehearsal and go on your job and have a better day the next day."

His concern, and his conviction

Campbell calls gospel music "the number one music on the face of the earth," because it carries the Word of God and has the power to change lives, whatever the style.

His concern reaches beyond the industry. People do not go to church the way they used to, he says, and something is received in that atmosphere that cannot be explained. He notes that he has heard R&B artists say their genre lost its feel when artists stopped going to church, because church is where you learn passion and how to feel what people need.

Success, redefined

Every artist thinks their first record is headed for the Grammys, Campbell jokes. Then you hear it years later and say, "What?" But it blessed somebody.

Today success means the testimonies, and reaching every person God assigned to him. "Every morning I get up: who am I supposed to touch today?"

Sold-out concerts and standing room only are great, he says. But he wants it to be "more than the run, more than the catchy hook." He wants people to leave a Lamar Campbell and Spirit of Praise concert saying, "We've been in the presence of God, and this is gonna be a better week."

Asked what he would tell his 15-year-old self, he gave a quiet answer. Even if he could share it all, he says, it wouldn't be real to that young man. "There's some things you just have to go through, experience, and let those experiences shape who you are."

The ministry at home

Fans have waited for new music, and Campbell shares why. Beyond losing his mother, he served as caregiver for five family members.

Having started so young and spent so much time away, he felt God saying it was time to minister to his family. That ministry did not look like Bible study. It looked like going to the store for his parents two or three times a week and taking responsibility for an uncle in the hospital. "It looked like me being a loving son, a loving nephew, a loving cousin."

Now, he says, "the spark is coming back," and he plans to draw on those experiences for people going through the same things. The challenge is to be current without losing what listeners love about Lamar Campbell and Spirit of Praise. "When you do what God calls you to, your audience is gonna find you."

The new single: "Okay in the Morning"

That new music has started to arrive. Lamar Campbell & Spirit of Praise released "Okay in the Morning" on Friday, October 30, on all digital music outlets (listen).

The release announcement says the song came out of a season of personal loss, including the death of his mother. "You can love God, believe His Word, and still have days when you need encouragement yourself," Campbell said in the announcement. "God put those words in my spirit when I needed them. God is still faithful, and morning is still coming."

What's ahead

• New music with Spirit of Praise is underway, starting with "Okay in the Morning."

• Poland: Campbell said he is headed there later this year.

• Annual Christmas concert: a citywide gathering of singers in Indianapolis, now in roughly its 11th year. "I'm proud of my city," he says.

• A possible book in the future.

Follow Lamar Campbell on Instagram, X and Facebook. And he has a warning: beware of imposters. "If they're asking you something crazy and for money, it's not me."

Real people, real faith

Campbell closed by saying artists are real people too, with real families going through real things. "While we going through it, we know we riding through it," he says, "and we know who we riding through it with."