By Kharisma McIlwaine
Rev. Dr. Alyn E. Waller is the senior pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, one of Philadelphia’s largest congregations. As the leader of Enon for 30 years, Waller continues to be a staple in the Philadelphia community through his ministry and various outreach programs. Additionally, he incorporates his love for music as both a musician and vocalist into his ministry. Waller established Enon Music Group, a gospel music label with the intention of giving Christian artists an opportunity to be in the music industry with the added shield of integrity in a very cutthroat business.
In celebration of his 60th birthday, Waller released his single, “I’ve Decided to Make Jesus My Choice,” through his label Enon Music Group. He sat down with the SUN to discuss his call to ministry, which was in tandem with his musical journey.
Waller unexpectedly discovered his calling through tragic circumstances during his senior year of college.
“I was called into ministry in 1987,” Waller said. “It was actually my super senior year in college, because [during] my first senior year, I had a really good time. I was a music major, and I was kind of going in that direction when God helped me understand what His plans for my life were. I accepted my call to ministry at the death of my brother. Somebody walked up to me at Ohio University, gave me a catalog to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and said, ‘The Lord told me to give you this.’ Back then, if someone came up to me and said the Lord told me to tell you anything, I would normally curse you out and say get out of here — but I took it.”
Rev. Waller and First Lady Ellyn Jo Waller celebrate his milestone 60th birthday! Here he is surrounded by his children, grandchildren and parents. Photo courtesy: ENON
“Within the same hour that I was given that catalog, my mother told me my brother died,” Waller continued. “At the moment I heard it, my heart was so heavy and hurting. God didn’t kill my brother to call me, but the death of my brother made me so open to hearing God, that from that very moment I heard God say, ‘It’s time for you to preach. So, I moved away from my musical dreams and went to seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. From there I started pastoring in the Pittsburgh area back in 1990. Then in ‘94, which was 30 years ago I came here to Philadelphia. I was relatively young — 22 turning 23 — when I got my call to ministry.”
Rev. Alyn E. Waller and First Lady Ellyn Jo Waller Photo courtesy: ENON
Waller came to Philadelphia both to pastor Enon and do his doctoral work at Eastern University. He received his doctorate in marriage counseling and family. A focus on family and community remains a quintessential part of Waller’s ministry.
“The greatest need in our community is to connect people back to their families,” Waller said. “That’s ultimately what we’re called to do. If you ask me what is sin, it’s broken relationships. To the extent that I can help you be related to your mother, father, brother, sister, cousins, uncles and aunts — our families are the training ground for how we treat each other.”
Phillies Phans! Rev. Waller with his son-in-law Pastor Corey Maurice Johnson.
Photo courtesy: ENON
The importance of family was demonstrated for Waller in his youth. He grew up in the church and followed in his father’s footsteps in becoming a pastor. Through his experiences at his father’s church, he came to understand very early on the power of music in ministry.
“I grew up in the Black church,” Waller said. “I grew up playing in my father’s church and my mother was my father’s minister of music.
Black church music is kind of just what I’ve done. When I was doing music in college, I was really running from the church then. Gerald Levert and I went to the same high school. Way back it used to be me, Gerald and Mark singing before Sean was old enough to sing with the group.”
“I had thoughts of that whole life back then,” Waller continued. “During my wrestling with my call, I negotiated with God. When I was trying to avoid preaching, I was, like, ‘Ok, I’ll sing inspirational music. I won’t do the R&B stuff — I’ll just do gospel.’ [During] my first three years in ministry, I didn’t really believe I was going to be a pastor. I thought I was going to be a minister of music. In fact, I was a minister of music at the Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Back then, I would’ve stayed there for the rest of my life, because that was my comfort zone, but the Lord really pressed on my heart that He was calling me into pastoral ministry and that I should not pursue being an artist.”
There’s two musical sides to Rev. Waller! Here he is performing with his trumpet at the City Winery Philadelphia. Photo courtesy: ENON
“I like to sing, and the Lord would allow me to sing, leading hymns in church, and I honestly believe that my gift was for people at funerals,” Waller said. “So, music was always a supportive role, and when the Lord would give me an opportunity to do something else, I’ve tried to do it. In this season, the Lord is allowing me to have a little more flexibility doing music as artists would, but not in an artist way. I am a pastor.
That’s what I’m supposed to do, and that’s my emphasis. If there ever comes a choice between what the role of pastor is and what the role of an artist is — there’s not a choice. I have to do what God called me to do and that’s pastor God’s people. But I do enjoy music — it’s a lot of fun, and I believe there’s a medium to minister to people and connect the community through music.”
Waller continues to share his musical knowledge, gifts and the connections between Black music, the community and the church.
“It’s a fun season. I just did a thing at City Winery the night before last, doing Donny Hathaway stuff and Marvin Gaye stuff, but also doing the stuff that I do. You can tell a complete story, because to understand the Black community is to understand the church, but also to understand the street and the tension. I personally believe that the answer for our community is to be found in Jesus Christ. The limited voice of the church… we’ve got to open up our voices so we can include everybody, and music is key in that.”
“We said at Enon, we wanted to be a place that if you came to Christ at a Kirk Franklin concert, then you want to come to Enon Sunday morning — that you’ll have an experience that’s a bit more grounded in tradition, but still meets you where you are,” Waller said. “We want to be that place where it’s tied in the principles of tradition, but expressly relevant to right now.”
In this season where Waller is being led to incorporate more music into his ministry, he also stresses the importance of being a guide for young people interested in pursuing it as a career.
“I’ve tried to help educate the next generation of musicians to be well rounded musicians,” he said. “I enjoy teaching. What I’m hoping to do is more teaching around the role of the Black church in the development of Black music in general, and [about] how the Black church has even informed secular music. I try to help younger musicians see that if you really want to be what you think you want to be, it’s training, it’s practice, it’s spirituality and it’s commitment to the craft. I’m grateful that the Lord has given me a level of success, because sometimes with younger musicians if you haven’t put any plaques on the board, they don’t want to hear you say anything.”
Waller is also sharing some of his knowledge through his Philadelphia-based record label, Enon Music Group. Enon Music Group is dedicated to providing uplifting experiences in the music industry for gospel artists.
“My cousin Garland Miche Waller was really a part of gospel music history,” Waller said. “When you go back and hear about John P. Kee and that whole era — all of that music was my cousin Garland. He’s been in the industry, and knows the industry. What we wanted to do is follow both his passion and my vision of creating a label that would give a good experience for younger musicians who want to be in the industry, and also send a message to the industry to come back to church.”
”The Enon Music Group is part of the ministry of Enon,” Waller continued. “Enon Tabernacle is a church — we have a CDC, and we have this for profit thing called Enon Music Group. It’s intended to give artists who would not normally have a shot to have a shot. We frame it in such a way that the artist keep most of their royalties and their rights to their music. We just help them get out and we wanted to intentionally make sure that our artists sing about Jesus.”
Waller discussed his latest music project and the process that led up to it.
“We realized it was time for me to do a project,” Waller said. “This is my 30th year pastoring Enon and I turned 60 this year. So we said that’s what we’re going to do for my 60th. We’re going to take some of the music I’ve written, some of the music from my journey, record it and let it out. My single that’s out — “I’ve Decided to Make Jesus My Choice” (which was released on March 29th) — is old and traditional, but we wanted to say [that] this stuff still works. This is the message that we still want to get out to people. My message to the community is make Jesus your choice.”
“So, the Enon Music Group is me living into what God told me, which is that I wouldn’t be an artist, but I would help artists,” Waller added. “I wanted to give artists a good experience, because the sad reality is that when you get off the stage or pulpit, the inner workings of it are no different than a hip hop, gospel or punk rock concert. There’s a piece of it that’s ugly and hurtful, and I don’t want young men and women to be turned off of God or their craft because of what they saw behind it. When you’re young, gifted and talented, people want to take advantage of your gift and they want to use you. There’s a sexual component to it, there’s an ugliness in it and I did not want that thing to hurt anybody on my watch. So, with Enon Music, we’re trying to do it a different way.”
Waller reflected on his life journey so far.
“As I look over my life, it’s been a good life, not that I’m ready to go anywhere — there’s still some fuel in the tank,” he said. “It’s been a good life, and that’s because of the Lord — it really is. From the day I accepted that call to this day, I have not been without a church to serve or a place to play. I’ve not been without an income or the ability to take care of my family and myself. It’s been an amazing journey, and it’s all because of Him.”
Waller’s single “I’ve Decided to Make Jesus My Choice” is available to stream everywhere music is sold. Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church is located at 2800 West Cheltenham Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19150 — all are welcome to attend.
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