Meet the Cooleys: From Brownsville to Grace Church

Nestled in the outskirts of Nashville, in the city of Franklin, sits Grace Church. It is pastored by a man and woman of God who were part of one of the biggest revivals in America’s Christian history. Recently, I was given the chance to spend a few moments with this couple to talk about their lives before, during and after the Brownsville Revival. It is with honor that I introduce Lindell and Amber Cooley.

Though I had been saved for about 14 years, it was in the early 2000’s when I became a really sold-out-on-fire for God soul. I remember the moment I first heard the songs that would become a part of my worshiping heart. “We Will Ride,” “The Happy Song,” “We’ve Come To Praise Him,” “Enemy’s Camp,” and “Open Up The Sky” were songs that just hit the sweet spot for my worship time. I just had to learn more about these songs and who was behind the lyrics and music. Little did I know that I would find myself immersed in one of the greatest revivals in America’s Christian history. The voice is so distinctive that once you hear it, you will always recognize it as Lindell Cooley’s.

Years down the road, this same man was the pastor of a church near the Army base where our son was stationed. My family and I ventured to Franklin and I was overwhelmed with the Spirit of the Lord as we entered Grace Church. The voice I had heard only on YouTube, was now resonating from the platform as the worship team began to open up the services and glorify God in a way that one would expect when worshiping with Lindell. Lindell’s music is described in various ways, but the greatest description is gospel and soul sprinkled with a bit of rock. When you hear Lindell Cooley’s music, there is a sense of overwhelming anointing. You can hear it in his voice and feel it in the lyrics. One of the most popular songs during the revival was,“We Will Ride.” While it may start off a little slow, the gradual crescendo into what I call a “knee-buckling” worship song, will bring most people into a place to position themselves in the saddle of a majestic horse and gallop into battle for the souls of the lost. Any music connoisseur will understand the depth of the wonderful mix of Lindell’s music and will appreciate the gift that God has given him.

Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and raised in church as a preacher’s kid, Lindell has lived in several areas of the United States. But he refers to home as a little bitty town called Red Bay, Alabama, just on the outskirts of Muscle Shoals. This is part of Lindell’s musical background and inspiration, because anyone who knows music, knows that Muscle Shoals was the birthplace of many artists. Especially during the 1960’s and 1970’s; when artists such as The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin were recording in the studios of this Alabama town. Even “Old Time Rock and Roll” by Bob Seger was recorded in the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. It was and still is an incredible place. Being musically inclined, Lindell was influenced by the sounds and songs of this time in his life.

He grew-up in an era when most people would either marry or go to college right out of high school. While he had tried dating, he found it to be a perplexing situation when girls wanted to know where the relationship was going. He could not understand why there was so much pressure to have commitment in the early stages of any relationship. Lindell shared, “I was single when I went to Pensacola and I had just about given up on the fact of ever being married.” So, he became content with the single life. “I thought I am just going to be an ol’ bachelor and I wouldn’t end up being what my grandmother would call a skirt chaser.” he stated with a chuckle.

Amber grew-up in Pensacola, Florida where her parents owned a restaurant. Her grandfather was a Methodist Pastor. Growing-up, Amber spent summers with her grandfather on his farm, where she would ride and eventually begin a business involving horses. Amber’s church experience as a youth was a little different from her husband’s since she was not a preacher’s kid. However, she recalled a church memory that occurred when she was about ten, while at her grandparent’s one summer, “I didn’t know what was happening, but I can tell you now that the Holy Spirit had fallen on the place. I just know there wasn’t any preaching. There was a lady who fell back in her pew and tipped the pew back. She was quaking and shaking and speaking in tongues. I didn’t know what was going on with her, but I remember feeling something stirring in my spirit. I laid my head down in the pew and I felt wave after wave of the Glory of God. I really didn’t know until years later what it truly was.”

Some years before her grandfather retired, there was a tent meeting being held near her grandparents. It was during this meeting that her grandmother received the baptism of the Holy Spirit; consequently, this was an event that would spark a change in the lives of her grandparents. It wasn’t long after that, they would start attending an Assembly of God Church. Her grandfather was a presbyter (elder) and superintendent and he preached all over Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida until he retired and became a pastor in a small country church.

Fast forward to the Brownsville Revival. Amber was not even thinking of marriage or a family at this point in her life. She had no idea what God was doing behind the scenes in her future husband’s life. But God in all of His wonders, was positioning every aspect of their lives into place. He was preparing their hearts, the hearts of their parents, and their lives for the union that would come.

In the1980s, Lindell started playing professional music with an artist named Rusty Goodman of the Happy Goodman Family. One weekend they traveled to Pensacola and Rusty sang at the Brownsville Assembly of God Church, a little chapel where John Kilpatrick was pastor. After services, they went to eat lunch at an amazing little seafood place. Lindell recalls, “It was the first time I had ever tried soft-shell crab.”

A few years later, Lindell suggested to his parents that they take a vacation to Pensacola. Being a pastor, Lindell’s dad was not going to go on vacation and not attend church. After hearing some of John Kilpatrick’s teachings, it was decided that they would attend Brownsville Assembly of God. After service, Lindell asked a young man about the restaurant where he had eaten the soft shell crab in hopes of visiting again. Lindell went to this oyster bar to have dinner. This time he met the proprietor, yet another instance of God preparing the way.

About seven years later, Lindell was living in Nashville, working as a producer and musician while singing backup on a number of country and gospel albums and still not thinking about marriage. Then came a day that was pivotal in his life. Lindell recalled, “Pastor John Kilpatrick called me and asked me to come work at the church [Brownsville].” Worship has been part of his life for many years, ever since he was a little bitty guy growing up in church. Lindell headed to Pensacola and thus began another season in his life.

Amber had been attending Lee University and was already in a relationship with a young man from college. She was not interested in Lindell, who she had seen when she was home on weekends, but they did become good friends. This was a result of the revival breaking out about six weeks after Lindell had moved to Pensacola. Lindell would frequent the oyster bar to grab a meal. He became really good friends with Gordon and Charlotte, the owners, who happened to be Amber’s parents. He particularly connected with Charlotte because she too, was a preacher’s kid.

One day Charlotte and Lindell were chit-chatting about the revival. Charlotte made mention to Lindell about how all the girls were circling the keyboard. Lindell just couldn’t fathom why some women would behave that way. Nonetheless, Charlotte let him know that he was safe at the restaurant because her girls were too young for him. Still not thinking about marriage, Lindell continued to frequent the oyster bar and grow a friendship with this family. He recalls that it was a “sweet, sweet time” with Gordon and Charlotte. Though Amber and one of her sisters were attending Lee University they were going back and forth between school and home, so that gave him the opportunity to meet Gordon and Charlotte’s children. Amber’s parents had adopted him into their home and began to feel like family.

Thirty-six days into the revival, Pastor John encouraged people to come up to the altar for prayer. He pulled Amber up on stage and talked about her being present at the revival each night. He spoke of how she was persistent even though she had not experienced an intimate time with god. Knowing that she was Gordon and Charlotte’s daughter, Lindell was happy to see her dedication. He was happy about the friendship that they had cultivated during this time, but never thought of Amber in a romantic way. After all, they are thirteen years apart in age and she had a boyfriend.

Though it didn’t seem like God’s plan at the time, Amber and her boyfriend broke up and she was distraught. She had come home for the weekend, and as usual, she attended the revival on Sunday. Pastor Kilpatrick called Lindell up to the pulpit and introduced him to the church. As Amber looked at him, she heard a voice telling her “That’s going to be your husband.” She was shocked and thought it “was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.” She tried to occupy her mind with the boy who had broken her heart. Amber talked to Lindell about this guy and how badly she wanted to resume the relationship with him. Lindell indulged in the conversation, but thought her ex-boyfriend was a loser for dumping such an incredible girl.

During a July afternoon, Lindell and Pastor Kilpatrick were in the Pastor’s lounge and here comes Amber, “walking across the parking lot in her pretty blue dress with her little white purse and those beautiful red curls.” Lindell knew it was her, but before he knew it, a big “WOW” escaped from his mouth as if he had never seen her before that day. It was a response that would click within his soul and begin the journey of finding himself the right woman. Lindell recalled the conversation with Pastor Kilpatrick:

“John elbowed me and said ‘I’ve been telling you that she’s a pretty girl.’I said, ‘You never told me she’s a pretty girl. You’re ridiculous!’ I said, ‘she’s a pretty girl, but I’m way too old for her.’ and he said, ‘well, maybe not.’”

Not long after that conversation, Lindell decided to investigate the possibility of a romantic connection with Amber a bit farther. He went to Charlotte and discussed it without giving any inclination that he was talking about himself and Amber. He was curious to know. Charlotte would think about the age gap. Her reply was,“Well, you know Gordon and I are eight years apart.” At that point, Lindell knew that if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. After all, they were in the middle of a revival and the last thing that was needed was for something to distract from the move of God.

Lindell found himself infatuated with Amber and was now exploring the idea of pursuing more than a friendship. He chose to do things the old fashioned way. In his words, Lindell recalls that “it was like an old Victorian movie.” He chose to go to Gordon and ask his permission to date Amber. In a simple and respectful conversation, Lindell went to Amber’s father about his interest in dating her. Lindell remembers with a chuckle going to Gordon and saying,  “Mr. Gordon, I have noticed your daughter.” Amber’s father, Gordon, had no problems with the idea because he and his wife had always prayed that their daughters would find the godly men that were intended for them. Lindell fit these attributes well according to Gordon. However, there could be the issue, as Gordon put it, of “Amber may think you are too old for her.” It wouldn’t take Lindell long to go downstairs and talk to the very person in the middle of this, Amber. She agreed to date him on September 7, 1995. He proposed a year later. While still in revival, Lindell and Amber were trying to plan a wedding in three months, because that would be the only break they would have in the revival. Then, much to their surprise, Pastor John stood up in front of the revival and invited everyone to the wedding. Gordon was almost overwhelmed thinking about how to serve food to that many people. But Lindell said, “it would just be a matter of ordering extra cakes, some mints, salted nuts and punch” and calling it good. It was going to be old school and to the point. What a remarkable story of how a revival connected two families for a lifetime of blessings and love. On December 8th, Lindell and Amber were married.

While Lindell was busy leading worship, Amber was having her own experience at the revival. Before the revival, Amber was part of the youth group, going to summer camps and other youth-centered events. However, she was never really taught how to have a true relationship with Jesus. As she began to see how the revival was changing the church and the people within, she knew that it was something she wanted. She was not even sure she would continue attending the revival. She had been there every night and still hadn’t had a touch, word or anything from the Lord. She was just exasperated at not being able to feel God as so many others had been during this time. Then one night after going through the prayer lines, she was returning to her seat to gather her belongings and recalls, “The next thing I know, my legs are leading me in a different direction. I was heading to the front of the church. I could feel the Holy Spirit flooding me and I began weeping uncontrollably. Pastor Kilpatrick came up to me and put his arm around me asking what was happening. I couldn’t speak and so he asked that someone come and pray for me. All the while I was trying to tell him that I had already been prayed for by everyone in the prayer line. Well, here came this little lady who reached out and touched my head, I spun around like a little top and hit the floor.” She stood up and headed toward the one man that she truly wanted to pray for her, Steve Hill. Once she was in front of him, he would simply say “fire, fire” and she would hit the floor and get a Holy Ghost download into her spirit. Her relationship with God was changed and He became so concrete and real in her life.

When you get to know the Lord in such a personal way, you cannot help but be changed. Amber was changed and went from “knowing” the Lord to truly “KNOWING” the Lord. According to Amber, she “has not been overwhelmed by the presence of God to that degree since Brownsville,” but she continues to walk in relationship with Him as if she had just experienced that moment of God’s beautiful and powerful touch to her spirit.

It came time for Lindell to end his season at Brownsville, which found the Cooleys moving to Nashville and beginning the life that they now lead. They  pastor a church, own two businesses, and have raised two boys. One might assume they lead a more quiet life, but their life is far from quiet. Lindell travels a few times a month and has just finished a music project in the studio. While Amber grows her coffee roasting company.  Lindell shared that he was “going to go back into the studio and work on a project where I take older gospel music and put a fresh spin on it for the newer generation.”

While Amber loves to sing with Lindell during worship at Grace Church, that is about as far as her role of being a pastor’s wife can be labeled as “average.” Starting out, she knew she was not going to fall into that role as many would expect. This would be one of the challenges that she would face. As Lindell said,”people have this expectation that is affirmed by previous experiences that they have seen or heard. People will put you in a box and shut the lid.” Amber by no means is just an average pastor’s wife. She is a horsewoman and she does cutting horse shows, thanks to her Grandpa and his horse ranch. In 2019, she launched a new coffee company, of which she is the president. She has a mind for business and a heart for God. She is sometimes provided the opportunity to minister one on one with people that would not ordinarily be in services at Grace Church. She doesn’t fall into the stigma of the “social butterfly” that most pastor’s wives feel is the “proper” place. Yet, if given the opportunity, she will bring Jesus to the front of the line and begin to share Him with anyone who needs to know they are loved. Sometimes the best thing is to just let the person bloom as they are designed to bloom by God.

As with most pastors, Lindell knows that today’s society is different from the society that he and Amber remember as children, a heritage of strong women of faith in their families. Lindell shares how his mom “could preach circles around his dad, a pastor, yet would not ever have thought to call herself a woman preacher because of the stigma that was surrounding that topic within the churches.” Because of this, Lindell states that “at Grace Church we try to remove that stigma and encourage the ministry that God is designing in our women. We don’t believe that women should be in the back cooking meals because these young girls are facing issues and they need strong women to teach them about business.” This is where Amber feels most comfortable when it comes to ministering and equipping today’s women.

According to Lindell, “Nowadays we say that a person is a Christian when they answer an altar call, but the faith of my mother and grandmother was that there is a change that happens and a new birth. It was a conversion and people came out of the old lifestyle in a new way of life. Today we see more churches saying it’s okay to live immorally and then just confess on Sunday and everything is fine.”

As parents, they face the same concerns that the rest of us do. With two young boys in the home, they have always held to the philosophy of speaking about the things of God. Each morning they grab their cups, pour the coffee and come together to talk about what is going on in the world that day. The talk about the relationship they need to have with Jesus so they can experience the greatness that God has for them. “Teenagers and twenty-somethings are so very influential and we have to be able to pour into their lives.” said Lindell. He suggests that we talk to our children about the things they see their friends doing and how to experience the world without becoming of the world. He and Amber chose to send their children to college that was closer to home. Not to hover, but to be the “community” that will affect their decisions as they grow older. Lindell believes that as parents and mentors we should influence our children “By being what we want them to be!”

Being one of those who loves the stories of the great revivals, I wanted to get Lindell’s insight about revival in today’s society. While we know that revival is not something that you prepare for in advance, we can prepare through prayer. One single person can step out in faith and pray on behalf of this “broken society” and revival will come. Just like in the past, all revivals can be traced to one person who took the initiative to pray for it from their spirit. The people who were leaders of past revivals weren’t praying for a five night meeting from 6 -9; they were praying for a change, for a touch, and for the presence of God. Several of the great revivals started when someone desired something more. Amber stated that when Pastor Kilpatrick became filled with this hunger “he took his keys and laid them on the altar and said, it’s all or nothing. In or out.” Lindell stated that “anyone can lead a revival. For instance look at the young man, Evan Roberts, who was a mere teenager when he led the Welsh Revival. Without a revival, we won’t survive.” stated Lindell.

When asked how he views himself, Lindell replied, “Depending on the time in my life that you knew me, you would say that I am one of these three things: a musician, worship leader, or pastor.” When he first started Grace Church, he made sure people knew that he wasn’t sure if being a pastor was his calling or not, but they would find out really quick if this was in God’s plans. It is so important to Lindell that people understand their own identity in Christ. “We are first, sons and daughters in the Lord.” Lindell states, “In other words; I am first a son of God and secondly I serve in the office of pastor or worship leader.” Worship has been a part of Lindell’s life since he was a little boy, therefore, that has always been a part of who he is as a person. However, for the last 16 years, he has been the Senior Pastor at Grace Church in Franklin Tennessee. Yet, before Brownsville most knew him as a musician. Consequently, if you had the pleasure of knowing him during the Brownsville revival, you would have thought of him as a worship leader.

From the Brownsville Revival to Grace Church, Nashville, Lindell and Amber Cooley have been on a journey with God that has not only touched many through song and sermon, but also through their authentic and genuine love for God and His people.

On behalf of Christian Women Living Magazine, I would like to thank Lindell and Amber Cooley for the opportunity to chat with them about life after Brownsville and the things we face today as a nation. If you would like more information about Lindell and Amber, you can use the following links to reach out to them.

https://www.facebook.com/LindellCooleyMinistries
https://gracechurchnashville.com/