Worship Arts Specialist, College of Fine Arts
Departments: College of Fine Arts
Office: Mensing Hall #100
Professional Experience:
- Founder, WorshipCityMinistries (www.jeffdeyo.com)
- Founder, Pure Worship Institute (www.pureworship.org)
- Founding Member of the internationally known worship band, SONICFLOOD
- Recording Artist with five solo albums, including ‘Moving Mountains’, his most recent release (available on iTunes).
- Actor in the movie ‘The Imposter’ with Kevin Max and Kerry Livgren (available on Netflix).
- Contributing author to James Goll’s book ‘The Lost Art of Pure Worship’ (available on Amazon).
- Author of new book ‘Awakening Pure Worship‘ published through Destiny Image Publishers.
EDUCATION:
- B.A. Music Business, Anderson University, 1992
About:
- While other six year olds were developing their hand- and foot-eye coordination with tag and kickball, Jeff Deyo cultivated his behind 88 ivory keys. Don’t pity his childhood – Deyo didn’t forsake the trees and outdoor adventures of Denver, CO, but it took little convincing of this precocious toddler from his mother to study piano. The kid with the big smile practiced hard yet began stepping away from the notes on the page into his own creations at the age of eight. Taking the time-honored “Heart and Soul” (most commonly known as the theme song from the movie BIG, where Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia played the foot piano), Deyo improvised and made it his own. And creative exploration in songwriting was birthed.
- Today, Deyo is known internationally as the original lead singer of the Dove Award-winning group Sonicflood. Jeff is the voice behind classic worship songs like “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” “In the Secret,” and “My Refuge”. As Sonicflood’s lead singer, primary songwriter and co-producer, Deyo saw the band’s gold certified, self-titled debut (1999) and its Grammy-nominated follow-up, Sonicpraise (2001), reach combined sales of over one million. Deyo followed up these accomplishments by releasing four acclaimed worship recordings “Saturate”, “Light”, “Surrender” (Live), and “Unveil”. Now, with “Moving Mountains”, his fifth and newest worship album (2012), Deyo’s music blends pop rock with soulful groove, and striking melodies with potent lyrics in modern congregational expressions such as “We Delight”, “Rescue Me”, “The Perfection of Beauty” as well as the salient title track.
- Deyo is the founder of Worship City Ministries, the umbrella under which he creates, serves and participates in a variety of ministries worldwide. From speaking at conferences, to leading worship with his band for small and large events, to working with church worship bands, Deyo’s music exists to help worshipers deepen their walk with God by leading them into his transforming presence in both “glory times and crisis times”.
- With a father’s heart, Deyo developed the Pure Worship Institute (PWI) from a vision which stirred in him back in 2004. After putting together a mini traveling worship conference, things culminated in the fall of 2007 when Pastor Sam Hinn of The Gathering Place Church exhorted Deyo to ‘pick up the new mantle of worship and pass it on to the next generation’. It was then that Deyo birthed PWI 2008, where singers and musicians would come together annually from around the country to receive practical and spiritual training, a musical family of sorts. So Deyo continues to multiply his impact by fathering and mentoring creative types to become effective Kingdom influencers in parts of the world he could never personally reach.
- In addition, Deyo now holds the high honor of being a full-time faculty member (as “Worship Arts Specialist”) at North Central University (NCU) in Minneapolis, MN. He teaches in the classroom, helps strengthen NCU’s already vibrant music department, recruits new students, leads worship, and produces new recordings for some of NCU’s top worship bands & artists. He is also an honorary pastor at his home church, Celebration Church in Lakeville, MN and has been married to his college sweetheart, Martha, since 1992. Together, they have 4 beautiful children, Roman, Evan, Channing, and Clara.