Faith, Formation and a Full-Circle Homecoming

At 14, Elliott Powell ’97 moved from Los Angeles to Lubbock, Texas, where his father became pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Twenty-five years later, he returned to West Texas to minister to the same congregation. In the meantime, he had graduated from Westmont, fronted a short-lived power pop band and earned a Master of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Elliott not only experienced culture shock in Texas, he encountered the Christian faith through a youth group. Then a close family friend, Jason Berns ’95, sent him a Westmont marketing brochure. “The more I looked at the photos of Westmont, the more I thought about attending a Christian college back in California,” he says. “My first day as a student marked my first time on campus. I based my decision on that publication and the testimony of a close friend.”

He encountered the rigor of Westmont’s academics and the depth of its Christian fellowship in his first 8 a.m. New Testament class. Professor Thomas Schmidt said, “You’re going to look back at college as either the last part of your childhood or the first part of your adulthood.” “That phrase stuck with me, and I experienced it as both,” Elliott says. “I was growing up and putting down roots in the Christian faith.”

Elliott had developed his talents as a singer-songwriter and performer in high school, and he intended to become a professional musician. “While I was gigging and working toward that dream, I received encouragement from key professors that bore fruit later in my life,” he says.

Robert Gundry, scholar-in-residence and professor emeritus, encouraged him to go to seminary after his music career. And Elliott still uses lessons he learned from Greg Spencer, professor emeritus of communication studies.

“I loved the willingness of professors to see and work with the uniqueness of my situation,” he says. “As I’ve gotten older, I see the wisdom in that.”

Elliott’s band, Joy the Bug, performed at such iconic music venues as the Troubadour, Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy and House of Blues. The Los Angeles Music Awards nominated them for best independent album in 1999.

In addition to pursuing his music career, Elliott attended Fuller part time, and his priorities began to shift. “At a Good Friday service at Hollywood Presbyterian, I sensed God calling me into ministry,” he says.

A door opened for Elliott to lead worship at a megachurch in Pennsylvania, where he created a new contemporary service. Later, he followed a pastor from that congregation to plant a church in Ashburn, Virginia, where he was ordained as an associate pastor.

In Virginia, he reunited with Shannon, whom he’d known at Westminster. The two married and now have three children.

Next he created Elliott Powell Ministries, an itinerant concert and preaching ministry, and Elliott rooted his family back in Lubbock. In between pastors, Westminster asked him to fill in. After six months, they gave him the position permanently.

“What an honor to stand at the dais in the People’s House, where so many important historical speeches and moments have occurred, and open in prayer,” he says. “It was a real highlight in my life.”

“It was a full-circle moment for me at a special place in my heritage of faith,” he says.

Jodey Arrington, a member of his pastoral search committee, became the U.S. representative for Texas’ 19th congressional district in 2017. The two kept in touch, and in September 2025, Arrington invited Elliott to serve as guest chaplain at the Capitol. “What an honor to stand at the dais in the People’s House, where so many important historical speeches and moments have occurred, and open in prayer,” he says. “It was a real highlight in my life.”

“Westmont made good on its promise to me — I still have close relationships that continue to nurture my faith,” he says.