An Instrument for the Gospel : Pop music: Andrae Crouch, who performs Sunday in Lake Forest, uses his voice and various styles to spread the word.

If Andrae Crouch were a secular rather than a gospel artist, he’d almost surely be a household name. With a list of awards, credits and achievements to rival even the biggest artists in pop music, Crouch has enjoyed a productive, high-profile career, particularly for a performer in his chosen genre.

Crouch, who performs Sunday at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, has earned six Grammy awards, three Dove Awards (the gospel equivalent of a Grammy), an Academy Award nomination, plus assorted honorariums from such organizations as the NAACP, ASCAP, McDonald’s and Billboard magazine. Among the artists he’s worked with as a songwriter, arranger and producer are Michael Jackson, Madonna, Quincy Jones, Elton John and Diana Ross.

He speaks with unbridled enthusiasm when discussing his music and religion--which, essentially, are one and the same to him.

“There have been times when we’ve been playing, and people who were sick were totally healed,” said Crouch in a recent phone interview from an associate’s home in Los Angeles. “I love a song that will usher in the very presence of God. Then there’s no Andrae; there’s no fabulous band, there’s no greatness of ours. I’ve had hundreds of concerts like that, and that’s what I try to achieve. I don’t want people to walk away saying, ‘Andrae Crouch is great,’ I want them to walk away feeling something different. The difference is: I try to exalt God and not myself. When you do this, there’s a freshness, you know? I try to usher him in, and then people’s needs are met with just a song.”

Crouch’s music has always stood apart from the familiar, traditional black gospel sound of such artists as Mahalia Jackson, the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, even as they all share a commitment to Christian themes. While Crouch often uses gospel song structures as a base for his songs, his excursions into salsa, reggae, world beat, disco and funk have made his sound more accessible to mainstream ears, accounting in part for his popularity and busy schedule.

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But Crouch, who refused to divulge his age, said he grew up listening to the Beatles, Otis Redding and other pop radio staples as well as the music performed at his parents’ congregation, the Christ Memorial Church of Pacoima.

“My mother’s father was Jewish, so she was very conservative,” he said. “She liked little, pretty music--orchestral-type things. My father was out of Texas, so he liked soul, foot-stomping music, yet it had to be biblical. It had to be a good song; it couldn’t be just somebody’s concept. If you can’t prove it in words, it ain’t gospel. Soul music is just an expression of the mind, but your spirit has to be made alive--that’s the real part, the part that God speaks to.”

Crouch began writing songs at age 14. His first album was released in 1971, already showing signs that this was a man determined to stretch the boundaries of what defined gospel music.

“People have always said that I was out there,” Crouch said, laughing. “Now they accept (my albums) as gospel music, but when they first came out, they were looked at as no-no’s by the general public.”

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Crouch worked steadily as a recording artist from the time of his debut, releasing 14 albums through 1984. But Crouch’s latest release, “Mercy” (Warner Bros./Qwest) is his first in a decade. He cited his busy schedule behind the scenes and financial trouble on the part of his long-time label, Light Records, as reasons for the hiatus.

“There really wasn’t a company I wanted to be with,” Crouch said. “They seemed down the totem pole as far as where I was coming from. But Quincy (Jones) made a deal, and he said he really wanted me to be with Qwest Records, so that’s when I recorded this one. I had probably written 450 songs during the period of not recording, I didn’t lie dormant. When you’re a singer and a songwriter, you have to be singing. I don’t write according to a project, I write according to what’s in my heart. I always sung in my parents’ church whether I’m recording or not.”

All the acclaim and accolades have made Crouch a happily fulfilled man. But he still seeks a higher level.

“You think if you win a Grammy or something, you’d be the happiest person in the world,” he said. “All those things are nice, OK, but I’m in the place now where I’m just happy God has given me a gift. The things that I’ve achieved have been his will. Now, I want to see what happens when I say, ‘I don’t have no goals but yours.’ That’s where I am now. I just want to receive Him and be obedient.”

* Andrae Crouch appears at 6:30 Sunday at Saddleback Church, 1 Saddleback Parkway in Lake Forest. Tickets are $8 advance, $10 at the door. (714) 581-5683.