By Stanley O. Williford
Director of Publications
Many would not guess it, but Jimmy Rodgers, the director of worship arts at Crenshaw Christian Center, is not a formally trained musician. But the fact that he is supremely gifted few would deny.
Besides music, being director over worship arts includes dance, visual arts and drama.
It is not generally known, but from about 1998 until 2002 Jimmy was a staff producer for Death Row Records, the notorious Los Angeles music company co-founded by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and others. While there, he produced two songs on rapper Tupac Shakur’s triple platinum album Till the End of Time. Healso produced music for the Queen Latifah Show.
Jimmy noted that his ability was gleaned from a variety of sources. “My grandparents had a piano in the living room of their home, right around the corner from the church. Since I can remember, I would always sit at the piano and try to play. I would try to figure it out.”
Clearly, he did figure it out.
Jimmy said his parents, longtime CCC members Jimmy and Janet Rodgers, bought a piano when he was about six years old. “My father could play a couple of songs and I’d watch him,” he said.
Former youth minister Rory Shoaf “would allow me to play in children’s church,” but only one song – Jehovah Jireh. Another big influence in Children’s Church, he said, was former teacher Lynette Jones.
As he continued learning, other important CCC influencers were music directors Marciael Holmes and Tommy Freeman, as well as former assistant pastors Gilbert Burns, who played guitar, and former youth minister Stephen Wylie, who played drums.
“Pastor Wylie became a big encouragement for pursuing music with his Christian rap album Bible Break,” he said.
He also recalled the influence of Officer Tony, a former police officer and CCC youth minister, and his song called I Walk by Faith.
“CCC was the only place where I was influenced. It was about the closest thing musically to me,” he said.
Though few outside the family know it, Jimmy also tried the violin for about a year. But it quickly became clear that he was made for the piano, and the piano was made for him.
“We were only allowed to listen to Christian music in the house,” and the recordings were on old vinyl records, he said. “We wore those things out.”
One of his favorite singers back then was Evangelist Kenneth Copeland.
However, strong influences eventually came from outside the church. Such artists as Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder were huge to him.
And, of course, mainstream rappers.
Some CCC members may remember the rap group Seven-Nine, which was comprised of Jimmy, Frederick Price Jr., Alan Evans, DeAndre Burns, Brian Van Norton and Christopher Boyd. They were all good friends who loved rap.
“We grew up wanting to be rappers,” said Jimmy. “Deandre Burns introduced me to beat-making, the production of the instrumental tracks that we rap to.
“I had the personal relationship with them all, so I suggested we come together,” he said. He described the group as “a sort of Christian version of the Wu-Tang Clan,” which is considered one of the greatest rap/hip-hop groups.
Jimmy rapped under the name Jim Gittum.
Such gifts are typical of the whole Rodgers family. Next to Jimmy in age is his brother Jonathan, who is on the CCC board of directors and is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) with a degree in business. His youngest brother is Elder Jeroll Rodgers, a graduate of California State University at Fullerton with a degree in communications. Both Jimmy and Jeroll attended Cottonwood Leadership College, which is part of Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos.
Jimmy has one sister, Jessica Golden, who graduated from Pepperdine University in 2014 with a degree in business administration. She works for USC.
All his sibling’s spouses have worked for Crenshaw. That includes Jessica’s husband, Aaron, as well as Jonathan’s wife, Sheree, and Jeroll’s wife, Brianna.
Jimmy and his wife Nicole have three children. Nicole has a master’s degree in education.
You may have noted that Jimmy’s parents and his three siblings’ names all begin with “J,” but Jimmy says neither he nor his siblings continued the tradition.
