Bruce grew up in a small Baptist church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his mother played the piano for the small congregation. He was also exposed to older styles of music, from his mother's old Motown records to jazz and classical music he heard on the radio. He loved jazz from a young age, and so in middle school his mom bought his first bass guitar and encouraged him to join the jazz band. With no professional training Bruce took to learning it himself, which produced miraculous results. Within his first month of playing he learned to read easily, and when his family moved to Washington one year later he could improvise and solo with little effort, where he continued to raise the bar at his high school for musical excellence.
His church quickly saw the potential in him and started to build his experience on a worship team, beginning with his Sunday night youth band, and moving to the youth choir band and was slotted in on rotation for the adult services. His innovative style in worship became very popular, and he became the Band Director for the youth choir a few short years later, as well as heading up a young adult ensemble, who received great appraisal for their vibrant style and explosively worshipful approach.
Through his experience on various worship teams and various styles, it became Bruce’s desire to see the Holy Spirit open up in churches all over the world with new sounds and new encounters with God. To him, it isn’t about the music but the spirit of worship, as he comments: “I have had the honor of playing with amazing instrumentalists over the years, and we have produced some incredible sounds musically, but some teams I work with are trapped in a box as far as worship is concerned. They have such incredible gifts, but they haven’t fully tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit to transform their music into true, no holds-barred worship. To hear Heaven’s sound on Earth, and to see teams with power in their music…that is my vision.†Bruce has taken this vision to many different places around the world, including the Bahamas, India, and much of Europe through teaching and training worship teams in churches and schools. He hopes to continue to be used by God all over the world with his dreams and giftings.
