ABOUT

Good things are worth the wait. Just ask singer, songwriter, and worship leader Jaime Jamgochian. Waiting seems to be a perpetual theme for the 25-year music veteran. Yet, threads of persistence, determination, and perseverance are also woven throughout Jamgochian’s remarkable story as she’s navigated not just the highs and lows of a challenging, ever-changing music industry, but also the peaks and valleys of life over the past two-plus decades. Her valuable experience and hard-won perspective all culminate in her latest project, Sacred Surrender, an album she never expected to make.

Jamgochian, a classically trained pianist and vocalist who studied at Berklee College of Music, first honed her craft playing jazz in bars and on cruise ships. The first in her family to become a Christian, Jamgochian was saved at 21. She eventually helped her family find the Lord and began using her musical gifts to serve the local church. Still in the infancy of her faith, the Boston native signed a recording contract with Centricity Music that launched her career in Christian music and secured her a No. 1 song with “Hear My Worship.”

Since then, her life has had some unanticipated twists and turns. Yet, she’s never wavered in her faith. “I have a track record with the Lord,” Jamgochian insists. “I’ve seen Him be too good.”

It’s a truth she’s had to consistently remind herself of as she continues to believe in desires of the heart not yet seen. It’s a history she’s had to rely on as she’s battled health issues and overcome Lyme disease. And it’s a faithful account she’s had to review when her career has ebbed and flowed.

After being diagnosed with Lyme disease, Jamgochian wasn’t sure if she’d ever work again. Forced to move back into her childhood home with her parents, the draining illness affected her ability to function normally with neurological disorders and extreme fatigue. “When I was sick, I had to fight for hope. I had to fight for peace. I had to fight to keep believing in the goodness of God in the land of the living. I was confused by how I could end up being able to barely get out of bed when I had tried to honor Him throughout my life,” Jamgochian confesses. “I wanted to throw in the towel and found myself in a dark place wondering if I would be healed or if this was the new normal.”

Fortunately, innovative treatments in New York, as well as a change in diet, exercise, and routine, have allowed Jamgochian to overcome the most debilitating side effects of the disease. As her healing journey continues, her struggles with chronic illness have simply become an avenue to share a message of miraculous victory with people from every walk of life as she leads worship at ASPIRE women’s events all over the country.

After treatment proved successful, ridding her of Lyme, she was also able to finally return to music in 2020 with All Things, a beautiful testament to God’s faithfulness in suffering that garnered the seasoned singer the first GMA Dove Award nomination of her career, for Best Inspirational Album of the Year, two decades in.

Yet, despite the celebrated affirmation, Jamgochian wasn’t sure if she’d ever release another full-length collection again. It took a new team of people who expressed belief in her talent and heart for the Dove-nominated artist to truly be convinced that she still had something to offer. “It was really a wake-up call from God,” she shares. “I felt convicted about making sure I don’t end something before God wants me to. Now, I hope I get to continue to minister until God says I’m done.”

These days, ministry looks like assuming her favorite place — behind a piano — and pouring out her heart in worship, encouraging other women, and mentoring younger female artists. “I want to offer hope and connect people with the heart of the Father,” Jamgochian remarks of her aspirations. “And I want to see people healed and whole and walking in their purpose because I know the joy you discover when that happens.”

This mission comes into full focus on Sacred Surrender, the flagship project for new indie label Avodah Music. “I feel like the overall theme of the record is surrender and letting go and really choosing to live an abundant life — even in the empty spaces,” says Jamgochian, who can undoubtedly speak to this topic firsthand. “Really, surrender is the only path to peace. When we’re holding onto things, it makes it worse than when we’re letting go of what we want and just totally trusting that God’s got it, even when we don’t see it.”

Six out of the ten tracks on Sacred Surrender are collaborations — a rare occurrence throughout Jamgochian’s lengthy tenure. Coming full circle, the respected worship leader enlists award-winning vocal trio Selah — one of the first artists Jamgochian ever toured with — for “Our Father.” After several hours of fruitless inspiration during a co-write with Selah’s Todd Smith and songwriters Jay Speight and Phoebe Scott, Jamgochian emerged from a brief respite and asked her collaborators if they could simply take a minute and pray. As she recited “The Lord’s Prayer,” she began to sing the familiar refrain aloud, which led to the regal selection the assembled group swiftly finished in under an hour.

Meanwhile, after bringing the reverent lyrics for “Holy, Holy, Holy” to life alongside Rebekah White and Ben Calhoun, Jamgochian couldn’t imagine the song without the Citizen Way frontman’s voice on it. Together, the two artists unite their harmonies on the classic, easy-to-memorize vertical declaration. “To me, there’s something so refreshing about getting my mind and my eyes off myself and just thinking about who God is; and I can’t think of a better word to use than ‘holy,’” she concedes.

Elsewhere, singer/songwriter Tommy Iceland is featured on surrender-focused “Release.” Additionally, Andrew Holt, a worship leader at Nashville’s The Belonging Co. — Jamgochian’s longtime church home — sings with her on “Visions,” a hopeful anthem for future generations Jamgochian used to lead when she first began her faith journey at a church in Seattle.

Finally, a poignant, minimalistic moment of reflection is shared with one of Jamgochian’s favorite singers, Ginny Owens, on “By Heart.” “Only God could have put this together,” she says of the divinely-orchestrated pairing. “There’s Ginny, who can’t see, singing this chorus, ‘I know my God by heart,’ and I’m bawling, watching her with her beautiful machine that tells her the words to sing. She was literally singing the song by heart.”

The album closes with “Revelation,” a standout selection penned solely by the songstress. Overflowing with raw emotion and pure adoration, the final track showcases her greatest strength — the ability to facilitate space for authentic surrender and spontaneous worship from behind the piano. Adding a personal touch, the earnest outpouring instinctively morphs into a prayer of healing for others.

From original intimate offerings and congregational-friendly anthems, to upbeat pop selections, and even a hint of Southern Gospel territory explored on “If God Wrote A Song,” featuring Gospel music luminary Joseph Habedank, Jamgochian finds joy in the hard throughout Sacred Surrender. All along the way, she carves a path of rest and transcendence with her clear vocals and her effortless melodies.

“I want to see people encounter the love of God in these songs. I want to see them feel hope because when I first met Jesus, that’s what I felt. I didn’t know the Bible that well; I barely prayed the sinner’s prayer right, but I felt hope. I felt peace like I had never known,” Jamgochian asserts. “The older I get, I don’t want complicated. I want simple faith, simple trust in God, and simple songs that people can easily sing over and over again. I want to write faith declarations that move people closer to God and move them out of fear into faith, out of anxiety into peace, and out of emptiness into abundance.”