As the head of one of the nation’s most distinctive ministries, Adrian Ewings heads up a crew of Gospel steppers that have been seen and heard in some prominent places, including Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation Tour and televised presentations on both The Grammy Awards and The Stellar Awards.

Based in San Diego, Adrian Ewings & The Steps of Praise have now released their first album, Puppet Master. (See album review.)

Gospelflava.com spoke with Ewings about how his Steps of Praise are ordered.

“There are thirty members in The Steps of Praise. In Ecclesiastes 3:4 it says that there's a time to mourn and a time to dance. That is our mission; to bring the spirit of celebration back to the church through the expression of singing and dance.”

“Three is the number of completion, so we play instruments, sing and dance to complete praise & worship according to Psalms 150.”

“I’m the assistant pastor at my church and the youth pastor of a ministry called Eagles Nest Youth Ministry, which is the ministry that all the Steps are a part of. But many of them go to different churches. Their ages range from 13 up to 25. These are young people from the streets of San Diego that have sold out for Christ. We get together twice a week and study the Word and pray that God’s purpose will be done on earth.”

Many know The Steps of Praise through seeing you on Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation Tour. How did you first connect with Kirk?

“We met Kirk in a Taco Bell restaurant after one of his Magic Mountain concerts in L.A. Then, two years later, he came to San Diego on The Tour Of Life. While the concert was going on, his manager Jessie Hust came to us and told us Kirk wanted us to come backstage to meet him.”

“Kirk asked us what we did, so we did a dance to his song “Whatcha Lookin’ 4”, without music. Kirk, after talking with tour promoter Al Walsh, asked us to join him on the tour. He had to use his own money to pay for us to be a part of it, but he said he had just asking God to send him some dancers, so it was worth it.”

“After that, we did the Nu Nation tour, the Grammy Awards, the Stellar Awards, the Soul Train Awards and many other shows and videos with him. We thank God for Kirk and The Family, they taught us a lot.”

An album is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about steppers. Where did you get the idea?

“It’s quite ironic. My wife and I, along with my partner Marshall Anderson, were in the mist of writing songs and doing some remixes of songs for our group.”

“During that same time, we got a call from Tonéx and he asked if we would be interested in doing a album on his label, plus he had a song that he thought would be perfect for The Steps Of Praise.”

“We agreed and after about a year, we signed with his label. Two years later they let us out of that deal and formed we our own label called Eagle’s Nest Records. We joined with Eternal Funk Records, and here we are with a project that turned out great. This is called divine purpose.”

How would you personally describe your Puppet Master project? What are the highlights for you personally?

"Well, the title track “Puppet Master” was inspired by a message Bishop Jakes preached about eight years ago at Bishop Carlton Pearson’s church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

“There’s a song called “Who Dat” that features my wife on the second verse that really is a blessing to me because I was able to work with my soul mate.”

“Whenever I Call” is the first song that I ever wrote. It’s a worship song that says whenever I call Your name, You answer. “Sanctified” is a song of truth and wisdom about living holy. I love them all because because this was an opportunity to collaborate with with all of the Steps Of Praise. The best part of this album is that it is all based on the word of God. It's anointed.”

Album Review

Being from the same geographic region as Tonéx, perhaps it’s not surprising that there’s that heavy Nureau influence throughout the album. Add in those heavy boot-stomping sounds and....Full Review

Keite Young is a member of Kirk’s Nu Nation crew, and he’s featured prominently on your CD. What did he bring to the mix?

"Kiete is one of my personal friends that I met on The Nu Nation Tour. He helped me bring this album to life with some soul music. Listen to the first track and you can hear his skills, the boy is bad. He’s a great producer and vocalist, he sings on the album. Listen to “Heaven” and you’ll note some of the greatest placements on the organ that you'll ever hear. He’s the one who helped me bring “Whenever I Call” to life. It was great working with him because he’s a motivator. This guy would stay up all night working on our project. Look out for him."

What's next for The Steps of Praise?

"We'll be touring the country from know until the end of the summer. We’ve been doing this for eight years now so we just keep going. We’re putting our set together as we speak and it’s off the hook. God is good!"