Maverick City Music: Songs, Controversies and a Catholic Review

Who Is Maverick City Music?

Maverick City Music is a songwriting community, a recording collective and a business under one name. Tony Brown and Jonathan Jay were writing with the worship group Housefires when they began hosting songwriting camps in Atlanta in 2018. MusicRow reported in 2021 that the founders hosted seventeen songwriting camps, and they gathered more than 100 artists and writers. Tony Brown, credited as Anthony Brown, is a co-writer with Pat Barrett of Good Good Father, the Housefires song Chris Tomlin carried around the world.

Air1 described the mission in 2023 as breaking down "the unspoken rules" of Christian music and the gospel world and giving a platform to worshippers who had none. Maverick City began as a publishing company, its leaders said in December 2024, and only later became an artist with its own label, TRIBL Records.

The voices most people know are Naomi Raine, Chandler Moore, Brandon Lake, Dante Bowe, Joe L Barnes and Aaron Moses. Brandon Lake went solo, and Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine left in October 2025. Norman Gyamfi, once Moore's manager, joined around 2021 as a part-owner and executive and is now the chief executive, according to Billboard.

Maverick City has no parent church, unlike Hillsong Worship, Bethel Music and Elevation Worship. That fact shapes everything in this review.

Maverick City Music Timeline, 2018 to 2026

Maverick City rose from writing camps to the Grammy stage in four years. Here are the dates that matter.

• 2018: Tony Brown and Jonathan Jay launch the Atlanta songwriting camps that become Maverick City.
• 2019: The EPs Maverick City, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are released.
• 2020: Maverick City Vol. 3 Part 1 brings Promises and Man of Your Word, and the first joint EP with UPPERROOM of Dallas follows.
• 2021: Old Church Basement, recorded with Elevation Worship, brings Jireh, Talking to Jesus and Wait on You. Spanish-language albums and Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition follow, and the collective wins the Dove Award for New Artist of the Year.
• April 2022: Old Church Basement wins a Grammy.
• 26 September 2022: Maverick City pauses its professional relationship with Dante Bowe.
• February 2023: Four Grammys in one night, tying Beyoncé for the most wins, as The Christian Post reported.
• June 2025: Dante Bowe performs with Maverick City again, as Premier Christian News reported.
• October 2025: Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine announce their departures. Moore files a federal lawsuit against CEO Norman Gyamfi.
• 2026: Lawsuits involving Moore and Tony Brown continue in the courts.

What Are Maverick City's Biggest Songs?

Maverick City's biggest songs are long, live, choir-backed declarations of God's faithfulness, sung in a sound that blends Black gospel with modern worship. Here is the Scripture under the songs most sung in churches. Read it before you sing them again.

• Promises (2020, with Joe L Barnes and Naomi Raine). God keeps his word in every season. Billboard reported in January 2022 that it topped both the Hot Christian Songs and Hot Gospel Songs charts. Pray it with 2 Corinthians 1:20: all God's promises find their Yes in Christ.
• Man of Your Word (2020, with Chandler Moore and KJ Scriven). God does what he says (Numbers 23:19).
• Jireh (2021, with Elevation Worship, Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine). "The Lord will provide" from Genesis 22:14, joined to Jesus' teaching on the lilies and the birds in Matthew 6:25-34. It topped Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart.
• Talking to Jesus (2021, with Elevation Worship and Brandon Lake). Prayer as friendship (John 15:15).
• Wait on You (2021, with Elevation Worship, Dante Bowe and Chandler Moore). Waiting on the Lord as an act of worship, from Isaiah 40:31 and Psalm 27:14.
• Firm Foundation (He Won't) (2022, with Chandler Moore and Cody Carnes). Christ the rock that does not fail, from the parable of the two builders in Matthew 7:24-27.
• Kingdom and Fear Is Not My Future (2022, with Kirk Franklin). Both won Grammys in 2023. Fear Is Not My Future carries the promise of 2 Timothy 1:7: God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-control.

The awards tell you how far these songs travelled: five Grammys and five GMA Dove Awards as of October 2025, by The Christian Post's count. The Christian Post reported that their 2022 Grammy performance of Jireh made them the first Christian gospel group to perform at the show in 20 years.

What Does Maverick City Music Teach?

Maverick City Music has no church, no pastor and no published confession of faith, so its teaching lives in its songs and in its singers' traditions: mainly the Black gospel church and the charismatic evangelical worship world.

The collective's own leaders admit that they never set out to pastor anyone. On the first episode of their podcast Mavericks on the Mic, reported by ChurchLeaders on 10 December 2024, Norman Gyamfi said that "no one in the room said, 'I'm a pastor. We're starting a church.'" He added that "to a generation of people, we were pastoring a generation of people into faith." That honest admission names the problem: millions take their theology from songs by people who never claimed the office of teacher.

Across the catalogue five themes stand out: the faithfulness of God (Promises, Man of Your Word), provision and patient trust (Jireh, Wait on You), prayer as friendship with Jesus (Talking to Jesus), freedom from fear (Fear Is Not My Future), and unity across race and genre. Jonathan Jay told The Christian Post in 2021 that the collective wanted to "tear those boundaries down" between gospel and Christian contemporary music.

Catholics have to read it song by song. For the movements it draws on, see our guides to the charismatic movement and the Church of God in Christ, the largest Black Pentecostal body in the United States.

What Is True, What Is Missing and Where Do Catholics Differ?

Maverick City's best songs are psalms in the Black gospel tradition, and a Catholic can affirm most of what they say. The gaps lie in what they leave unsaid.

What is true

• God keeps his promises. This is the spine of the whole Bible and the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:20-21). Promises and Man of Your Word preach it well.
• God provides. Jireh points to Mount Moriah, and the Church has always read the ram caught in the thicket as a figure of Christ, the Lamb God provides. The Roman Canon names "the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith" at the altar.
• Waiting is worship. Wait on You teaches what the psalms teach and what Advent rehearses every year: "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits" (Psalm 130:5).
• Praise breaks fear. Despair is a sin against hope (CCC 2091), and these songs refuse it.
• One body, many voices. Gathering every race and tongue echoes Revelation 7:9, and catholic means universal.

What is missing

• The sacraments. The songs speak of meeting God in the room, in the music, in the heart. They rarely speak of meeting him in Baptism, Confession or the Eucharist, where Christ promised to be present (John 6:53-56).
• The cross carried daily. Victory and provision dominate. Jesus also said to take up the cross daily (Luke 9:23), and Paul's thorn stayed (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The Church prays the psalms of lament without editing them.
• The Church. A collective without a church can model worship without obedience. Christ founded one Church on the apostles (Matthew 16:18).
• Mary and the saints. Little in the catalogue will form you to ask for the prayers of the Mother of God or the communion of saints (CCC 956).

Where Catholic teaching differs

• Where God is found. Much charismatic worship treats God's felt presence in a worship set as the high point of Christian life. Catholic teaching names the Eucharist "the source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC 1324, quoting Lumen Gentium 11). A Catholic can enjoy the felt presence and still know the Mass is greater, whether or not he feels anything.
• Spontaneous prayer and its limits. Improvised sung prayer is a gift the Catholic Charismatic Renewal also uses, but it can carry teaching nobody has checked. The Church submits every charism to her pastors (CCC 801).

Can Catholics Sing Maverick City Music Songs?

Yes. Catholics may sing Maverick City songs whose words are true in private prayer, youth ministry, prayer groups and many parish events, judging each song by its text. At Mass the rules are stricter, and the fixed chants of the Mass are never replaced. Here are both sides, stated fairly.

The case for singing them

• Truth belongs to God. The Church recognises "many elements of sanctification and of truth" outside her visible structure (CCC 819, citing Lumen Gentium 8). A true line about God stays true whoever wrote it.
• Scripture commands song. Paul tells believers to sing "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Colossians 3:16). Promises and Jireh are Scripture set to gospel music.
• The Black sacred song tradition is a gift to the whole Church. Catholic hymnals, Lead Me, Guide Me among them, already carry spirituals sung in Black churches for generations.

The case for caution

• Lex orandi, lex credendi. What we pray shapes what we believe (CCC 1124). A playlist with no Eucharist, no Mary and no lament will slowly train a Catholic to forget all three.
• Who you are funding. Streams and licences pay rights holders, and some Catholics decline to fund a business caught in public lawsuits. Respect that conscience.
• Repetition as pressure. Long repeated choruses over a rising band can produce feelings the words do not justify.
• The forgotten treasury. The Second Vatican Council called the Church's musical heritage "a treasure of inestimable value" (Sacrosanctum Concilium 112).

The rules at Mass

The Council gave Gregorian chant "pride of place", other things being equal (Sacrosanctum Concilium 116), and taught that texts for sacred song must be "in conformity with Catholic doctrine" and drawn "chiefly from holy scripture and from liturgical sources" (Sacrosanctum Concilium 121). The General Instruction of the Roman Missal repeats chant's pride of place while allowing other sacred music that fits the liturgy (GIRM 41), and forbids replacing the chants of the Order of Mass, naming the Lamb of God (GIRM 366). So a sound Maverick City text may suit a moment such as a communion meditation if the pastor approves. It can never replace the Gloria, the Holy, Holy, Holy or the Lamb of God.

What Are the Maverick City Music Controversies?

Maverick City's documented controversies are one artist's conduct in 2022, a criticised 2024 collaboration, and lawsuits with two founding figures. None involves a criminal charge. Each item names its outlet and the response on record. Pending lawsuits are allegations, with no ruling on the merits.

Dante Bowe, 2022 to 2025

Dante Bowe joined Bethel Music in July 2019 (CCM Magazine). Premier Christianity noted in September 2022 that he no longer appeared on Bethel's artist list. We found no Bethel statement giving a reason.

On 26 September 2022 Maverick City announced on Instagram that, "due to behavior that is inconsistent with our core values and beliefs," it had decided "to put a pause on our professional relationship with Dante Bowe," as The Christian Beat and Premier Christianity reported, while pledging him "unwavering support" as a brother in Christ. The Christian Post reported on 30 September 2022 that Bowe had apologised publicly and vowed to recommit to God's purpose for his life. In 2023 he told Business Insider he had been working less with the group as his solo career took off.

On their podcast Mavericks on the Mic, the collective's leaders said the pause followed an explicit photo Bowe posted to his Instagram stories, and Norman Gyamfi said, "We didn't handle every situation right," as ChurchLeaders reported on 10 December 2024. In June 2025 Premier Christian News reported that Bowe was performing with Maverick City again after nearly three years away.

Read this with mercy. A man apologised publicly and was received back, which is the shape of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) and of every good confession.

The GloRilla collaboration, 2024

In October 2024 Maverick City appeared with Kirk Franklin, Chandler Moore and Kierra Sheard on Rain Down on Me, on the rapper GloRilla's album Glorious. Premier Christian News reported in June 2025 that some listeners called it a compromise, since the rest of the album is explicit, while others praised it. Serious believers answer that prudential question differently.

Chandler Moore's lawsuit, 2025 to 2026

On 1 October 2025 Chandler Moore sued Norman Gyamfi, his former manager and Maverick City's CEO, with Maverick City Music and TRIBL Records, in federal court in Atlanta. The complaint alleges that Gyamfi forged Moore's signature on publishing contracts and withheld more than $800,000 in royalties, The Christian Post and Billboard reported. These are allegations. Moore announced his exit on 6 October 2025, and Naomi Raine, who is not part of the suit, left the same week.

Maverick City denies the claims. Co-founder Jonathan Jay wrote on Instagram, as The Christian Post reported on 9 October 2025: "The claims being made against me, against Norman and against our companies are categorically false." The collective countersued, alleging Moore failed to meet his recording and songwriting obligations after taking advances. On 5 February 2026 a federal judge declined to block Moore's first solo single, finding the contract question unclear (Billboard). CHVN Radio reported in September 2026 that the case was still pending.

Moore has also said publicly that he went to rehab in 2023 and met God in recovery (CHVN Radio, September 2026). Pray for him.

Tony Brown's dispute, 2024 to 2026

Co-founder Tony Brown sold his shares to Norman Gyamfi in 2023, according to Billboard. Since 2024 Brown has sued in Georgia, alleging he was pressured into an unfavourable buyout and never paid in full. Maverick City denies wrongdoing and in December 2025 countersued in New York for $10 million, alleging Brown broke a non-compete by launching a rival collective, God Aura. On 29 April 2026 a New York judge barred Brown from releasing new music while the case continues (Billboard). Brown argues the non-compete is void because he was never paid. No final judgment has been reported.

The record shows a young collective that outgrew its structures, with leaders who admit mistakes. None of it concerns the words of the songs. Weigh it on documented facts, with every side heard. See also our guide to church scandals.

Our Verdict: Should a Catholic Listen to Maverick City?

Our verdict: Maverick City Music is among the most scripturally grounded and joyful worship catalogues of the last decade, and a Catholic can pray with its best songs freely, provided they sit beside the Mass, the psalms and the Church's own music and never in place of them.

Where it helps: Promises, Jireh, Wait on You and Firm Foundation teach trust in God's faithfulness better than many hymns. The gospel sound carries the hope of a people who learned to praise through suffering, and that witness belongs to the whole Church.

Where to be careful: the catalogue has no sacraments, no Mary, almost no lament, and no church to answer to. Spontaneous sections can drift, the business behind the music is in open litigation, and a live recording's emotional peak can teach you to chase a feeling in place of the Lord.

Our rating: strong on Scripture and joy, light on Church and sacrament, with a business record still before the courts. Sing the best songs, read the chapters behind them, and go to Mass. Pro's worship playlists and Bible studies are built for that balance: get Pro for $49 once, lifetime access, with a 30-day money-back guarantee if it does not help.

What Catholic Music Should You Sing Alongside It?

Sing Catholic music alongside Maverick City, and let it lead: chant, hymns, Catholic songwriters and the heritage of Black Catholic sacred song.

• Gregorian chant. The Church's own song, with pride of place at Mass (Sacrosanctum Concilium 116). Start with the Salve Regina and the Ubi Caritas.
• Matt Maher. A Catholic songwriter whose Lord, I Need You and Your Grace Is Enough are sung across denominations.
• Sarah Hart. A Catholic songwriter widely sung in parishes.
• Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. The Ann Arbor community's recordings of hymns and chant are prayer you can play in the car.
• Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Missouri nuns whose albums of chant and polyphony topped classical charts.
• Servant of God Sr Thea Bowman. A Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration (1937 to 1990) who sang the spirituals of her people into the heart of the Church and addressed the US bishops in 1989 on being Black and Catholic. She helped shape Lead Me, Guide Me, the African American Catholic hymnal. If Maverick City's gospel sound moves you, Thea Bowman shows it has a home in the Catholic Church.
• Audrey Assad's earlier albums. Fortunate Fall (2013) and her Catholic-era songs remain beautiful prayers. Assad said in 2021 that she no longer identifies as a Christian, as the National Catholic Reporter reported. Sing the songs and pray for her.

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What Does Maverick City's Story Teach Every Believer?

Maverick City's story teaches that gifts grow faster than character, and that every believer needs roots deeper than any band, label or leader.

• Fame is dangerous. Dante Bowe told Premier Christianity in 2022 that "no one's worthy of a pedestal." Do not put a singer where only Christ belongs.
• Money tests everyone. "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). Every ministry owes its people transparency, your parish included.
• Reconciliation is possible. The prodigal came home. So can you, today, in confession. Our step-by-step guide to confession makes it simple.
• Recovery is holy ground. If you are fighting an addiction, you are in good company, and help is close. In the US, the SAMHSA helpline is 1-800-662-4357. If you are in despair, call or text 988 in the US, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com.
• Do not wait. No one knows the day or the hour (Mark 13:32). The worship habit you mean to start someday has to start today.

How Do You Build a Daily Worship Habit From These Songs?

Take seven of Maverick City's strongest songs and root each one in Catholic prayer. Fifteen minutes a day, starting tonight.

1. Day 1, Promises. Read 2 Corinthians 1:18-22. Write down three promises of God you are holding on to.
2. Day 2, Man of Your Word. Read Numbers 23:19. Pray the Creed slowly.
3. Day 3, Jireh. Read Genesis 22:1-14 and Matthew 6:25-34. Give something away today that you were holding too tightly.
4. Day 4, Wait on You. Read Isaiah 40:27-31. Spend ten silent minutes before the tabernacle.
5. Day 5, Talking to Jesus. Read John 15:12-17. Pray the Jesus Prayer twenty times: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
6. Day 6, Firm Foundation. Read Matthew 7:24-27. Make an examination of conscience and book your next confession.
7. Day 7, Kingdom. Go to Mass. Pray "Thy kingdom come" in the Our Father with your whole heart, and receive the King himself.

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