Scott Swanson
Sweet Home is, in many ways, the last place Maverick Duante (pronounced “Danté”) expected to find himself.
But when Duante, who turned 40 on Valentine’s Day, got a software tech job transfer that brought him to Oregon, he decided he’d better start looking for a church.
“I’m a church baby,” he said. “My grandfather was a pastor. My dad is a pastor. My younger brother is a pastor. My older brother is an assistant pastor. I’m a youth pastor. Church is in our blood.”
He said he prayed for guidance because things weren’t looking too promising.
“I’d never heard of Sweet Home. When I came here, I was kind of skeptical of coming. It wasn’t the fact that there are no African-Americans. It was that there were no churches I could relate to. I didn’t find anything close to what I grew up in.”
But he did discover the Full Gospel Church of Sweet Home, which had just been founded by Pastor Thomas Grenz and his wife Debbie in the building housing the former Oregon Jamboree offices in the 1300 block of Long Street, and decided that was the place for him.
Duante is serving as youth minister at the church and he’s got a vision for how he can help Sweet Home’s young people.
He wants to start a gospel choir.
A native of Fairfield, Calif., in the Bay Area, Duante has been involved in gospel since he was a child, he said, in a family that is known in the Bay Area for its singing.
“Muscially, I started when I was young. Dad had a group that played in the garage. Dad played saxophone, my uncles bass and guitar. My older brother played drums.”
Duante started on the trombone, when he was “7 or 8 years old,” then moved to the drums and later started playing the piano in church.
There are five kids in his family, two sisters and three brothers.
“I started singing young,” he said. “We’d sing before Dad got up to preach. Mom played the piano, Dad played the sax. We were a typical church family.
“You know, if your dad’s a pastor, you either sing, play or preach. We do all three.”.
His family was involved in the Church of God in Christ. His “dad,” who is actually his step-father, Michael Lyons, is a “very sought-after teacher and preacher,” currently serving in San Francisco.
“He’s been there since I was very little,” Duante said. “My mother is a very heart-felt and compassionate missionary.”
Duante served two tours in the Air Force, eight years in all, and attended Marin College, where he ran track. He is unmarried and has one son, who attends college.
His true love, he says, is music.
He and his older brother, Richard Smith, perfected a style he calls “gospel funk.”
“I’ve learned how to improvise gospel music, put it into today’s sound and old-school sound. It’s a mixture of old tradition and new. Old people like it, young people like it, all races like it. We became known for that sound in Northern California. We sing the same songs, just different melodies.”
Before Duante moved to Oregon, his family’s church became associated with the United Holy Church of America, in which he served as minister of music for the Central Pacific District.
“It’s not as big as the Church of God in Christ, but they’re very strict on ministers and standards. That’s what I like,” he said.
Now that he’s in Sweet Home, he’s found a community he appreciates, he said.
“I found that people here are not really racist. They haven’t been around Afircan-Americans, and, give or take a couple of knuckleheads, people are so nice and accepting. One of my good friends now used to hate black people, but when I went to church here, he was first to come up and greet me. He’s a kindred soul.
“Sweet Home is one of the sweet spots of America. It’s small and people may think it’s country. But people in Sweet Home have one thing straight, one thing right. They treat you like family. They take care of each other.”
His gospel choir, he says, will be a way of reaching out to young people who aren’t involved in church – or who are and just want to participate.
“I think the reason a lot of kids don’t go to church is because they see their relatives who are professional church-goers” Duante said. “Their mom, their dad, their uncle and aunt go to church. Then they go home and get cussed out.”
He sees “much potential” in the teens he sees passing the church.
“As a youth pastor, I’ve started choirs before,” he said. “I found out that when kids get into music, it keeps them occupied and they go on to do incredible things. I see nothing different than to do that here. Kids are walking up and down the street with guitars, with horns. No matter what instrument they play, I will find them a place. Even if they can’t sing, they can sing.”
His goal in establishing the choir is to “bring awareness” to youths and their abilities and to reach out to them, particularly the ones who are struggling with substance abuse or other problems.
“This isn’t just for the church. This is for Sweet Home, the youth of Sweet Home,” said Duante, who said in the Bay Area he worked to steer youngsters away from gangs. “They need someone to understand what they’re going through.”
In the long term, he said, he’d like to have his choir record an album and he’d like to teach youngsters the technical side of the recording business.
“Music will keep their minds occupied, he said, noting that he wants them to write their own songs. “I’ve found music is the universal language. When it comes to music, people communitcate. It brings down walls.”
Duante has written a play, “Confessions,” which will be performed the Saturday night before Easter, March 30, at 6:30 p.m. At the church. After that choir starts.
“You do not want to miss this one,” he said, chuckling. “We’re rehearsing now.”
To learn more about the choir, Duante said to call him at (707) 430-6072 or e-mail him at [email protected].