Jason Redmond / Star staff Simi Valley 3/24/08: Erica Dean of Simi Valley plays keyboard as she rehearses with the Discovery Church band for Easter services in Simi Valley on Saturday, March 22. Dean was nominated for IndieHeaven's "Worship Artist of the Year" Momentum Award. She's also released a CD, "Devoted."

Jason Redmond / Star staff Simi Valley mom Erica Dean plays keyboard and sings during rehearsal last month with the Discovery Church band. She has been performing music in worship services since she was 8.

Jason Redmond / Star staff Erica Dean rehearses with the Discovery Church band in Simi Valley with worship arts pastor Ben Kolarcik on the guitar at left. Kolarcik also contributed to Dean's recent CD release, "Devoted."

Erica Dean is like the shy but reassuring guy who, before the wedding starts, offers you his arm and graciously steers you to where you belong.

Dean, however, ushers people in with her voice and heart.

The singer and pianist is a worship leader at Discovery Church in Simi Valley and other Southern California churches. She also leads music at retreats and conferences, and released her second solo CD, "Devoted," in December.

She and other contemporary worship leaders are not called to be conductors, choir directors or song leaders.

"When I was growing up," Dean said, "worship leaders had titles like music pastor or director. We don't conduct an audience or direct songs anymore."

Instead, she sees herself as "an usher at a wedding who gently guides you to your seat. With all my heart, with one hand toward God and one toward the people, I want everyone to join in."

Music hits people's hearts in ways a cerebral sermon can't, Dean believes. "Sometimes a line in

a song speaks to me more than an hour's worth of sermon," she said. "In music and worship we get a fresh glimpse of who God is, and that can't help but change us."

Building momentum

In December, Dean was nominated as Worship Artist of the Year for the third annual Momentum Awards, which honor musicians who are members of IndieHeaven.com, an online community for independent Christian artists.

Nominees were selected based on votes from fans and a panel of judges. Winners were announced March 29 at the CIA (Christian Independent Alliance) Summit, a music conference in Franklin, Tenn.

Dean didn't make it to the round of finalists, but she's still got plenty of "momentum." The singer is in demand as a worship leader at multiple parishes around Southern California, including the colossal Saddleback Church in Lake Forest (founded by Rick Warren of "The Purpose Driven Life" fame) in Orange County.

Dean's probably most proud, however, of the prayerful progress at Discovery Church led by her fellow musicians and wunderkind worship arts pastor Ben Kolarcik, 26. "We've seen such a growth in our worship, with people being more enthusiastic," she said.

Kolarcik, who came to Discovery Church one year ago from Nashville, is grateful for his musical partnership with Dean.

"Talent is obviously part of being a good worship leader, but there are so many nuances," said Kolarcik, who contributed vocal talent to and co-wrote many of the tunes for "Devoted."

"It's really all about heart and attitude and leadership over talent," he said. "What I've always respected about Erica is that she's genuine and real, and puts that above performance."

Classical training

Along with heart, Dean's got real, genuine talent. Trained as a classical pianist, she has a master's degree in piano performance from UCLA.

She's been a musical staple at Sunday church services — singing or playing keyboards — since she was a little girl. She sang her first solo in church at age 8, "This Is My Father's World," on Father's Day.

"I'm so glad YouTube wasn't around then," she said of the paternal salute.

In the 1990s, master's degree in hand, Dean planned to teach at a junior college, but she gave it up after giving birth to her second daughter.

Now she's back to teaching, with an ongoing trio of pupils. Although music is her passion and "sometimes obsession," Dean said, her No. 1 job is home schooling her children: Chelsea, 17; Hannah, 15; and Royal Jr., 11.

Dean and her husband, Royal Sr., a physician, have lived in Simi Valley for 15 years. (Dean had an itinerant life as a kid; she spent a chunk of her childhood in Oklahoma and lived in Texas, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.)

The shift from classical pianist to contemporary Christian artist was more dramatic than it might seem.

"I never thought I would be doing this now; it's definitely more pop-style music," Dean said. "I had to detach from the classical stuff. It was a whole new chapter."

Performing music at church "is a lot of playing by ear," she said. "I didn't develop that skill until after college. It also helped me write songs."

In the late 1990s, Dean recorded an EP of her songs and mailed it to different churches, then started getting calls to fill in temporarily for worship leaders around the Southland.

Two years ago, before she began singing praises at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, Dean was part of the music ensemble at Simi Valley Presbyterian Church.

Hopeful and Devoted'

Dean knows her songs are drops in an ocean of contemporary Christian music, but she sees nothing wrong with the overflow.

"There's a flood of worship music right now," she said. "When people at a church are able to write their own worship music, it's a very authentic expression. It's our song, what God is saying to us right now."

Dean released her debut CD, "Turn to Him," in 2003. For "Devoted," she wanted an "edgier" sound than the "mellow, jazz-oriented" vibe of her first album. "Devoted," she said, "is more contemporary. It uses interesting music samples and textures. It's more rock, and more upbeat."

Album producer Keith Everette Smith, a music director at Saddleback Church, "came up with some great arrangements; he even flew in musicians from Nashville," Dean said.

Dean doesn't dismiss traditional hymns but finds modern worship music more conducive to, well, worshipping.

"Hymns have a lot of information in them — it's like drinking out of a fire hydrant, with all these words coming at you," she said. "The nice thing about a contemporary worship chorus is that there are less words, so there's more of a chance to reflect and meditate. It also incorporates moments of silence."

Worship, with its soul-stirring mix of music, prayer and even silence, has glorious power, Dean believes.

If we "truly worshipped God, we wouldn't need to preach, and we wouldn't need missionaries," she said. "Worship is such a strong communication of Christ and who he is."

And who Dean is.