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The Sum Of My Existance: The Story of Everman by Charles White
Brad Miles was born and raised in
Natchitoches, Texas, a small town in East Texas located one hour from the
Louisiana border. His childhood
was filled with the beauty of living near a huge national forest and the pain
of living in a dysfunctional family. “My mother and my natural father
divorced when I was about two years old,” Brad recounted.
“My oldest brother and I are from that marriage. Mom then remarried a
guy who physically abused us. They got a divorce when I started first grade.
She decided at that point that she was never going to get married again.” However, God seemed to have different plans. Not long after arriving at that decision, Brad’s mom attended a meeting of Christian singles at a small diner near his hometown. “That’s when she met my dad,” Brad stated with a smile in his voice. “They got married at the end of my second grade year and he adopted me when I was in the sixth grade. He’s been my dad for as long as I can remember." Although his younger years were tough,
Brad admitted that he wouldn’t trade that time for anything. It is the
turbulence of those years that have served to strengthen the bonds of his
family. “The truth is that I wouldn’t trade
any of it,” Brad explained. “I think that God made something beautiful out
of all that. I have a different relationship with my mom because we had to
really get close. My brothers and
I also have a closer than normal relationship because we went through some
pretty tough times together.” Coming out on the other side of the
tunnel of pain and despair, Brad realized that where he has come from has made
him the man that he is today. “Life is a wonderful tapestry,” Brad
admited. “You don’t appreciate the good times without the bad times. It
all goes together. All of this has formed me into the person that I am. As
much as we hate going through those times and as bad as those periods are, the
truth is that God is always doing something really beautiful and
miraculous.” On the other side of his pain, Brad
eventually found a huge world of music awaited him. Brad went to college in
Texas and fronted a band that toured throughout the state. Following college,
Brad and guitarist Marcus Yoars moved to Nashville where they were united by a
common bond: music. After spending a few years in
Nashville, Brad and Marcus, along with bass player Glen Kimberlin and drummer
Chris Brush teamed up to form Everman. Propelled by their collective
talent and passion for music, the members of Everman signed a record
deal with Gotee founder and producer Todd Collins on his new label, Beatmart
Records. The result was their powerful, self-titled debut. Although constantly on the road living
his dream of being a musician, Brad never forgets that music is what he does
and it isn’t the sum of who he is. “We spend about 10 hours on stage each
week,” Brad said. “We love
that time and want to be the best we can be, but to put too much focus on that
would be to overlook our real calling. You can never allow your art to consume
you. It’s always important to remember where its place is in your life.” For Brad and the other members of Everman,
music remains the vehicle that allows them the opportunity to build
relationships, share their love of Christ and make a difference in the world.
True to his word, Brad encourages all
people, especially youth to get up, get out and be an agent of change. “ God took guys with little or no
education and little or nothing spectacular about them and used them to change
the entire course of the history of the world.” Brad explains, referring to
the apostles.
“These are guys that said, ‘Nothing matters to me but Jesus and I want him
to do whatever it takes to help me make a difference somehow.’ It is possible that God can use YOU to
change the course of history. The same resurrection power that raised Christ
from the dead is at work in us. So what if you graduate from college and you
get a good job, a wife and 2.5 kids. Don’t let what you have be the sum of
your existence. Live radical, revolutionary, extraordinary lives. Allow God to
use you to do something spectacular!” Although part of a band whose talent is on par with powerful acoustic groups such as Counting Crows, Dave Mathews Band, and Downhere, Brad remains firmly planted on the ground. He doesn’t don the pretense that many rock or alternative artists might. Instead, he remains down to earth with his hands covered in the work of Christ and his eyes looking upward towards the only One that really matters.
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If
you watch MTV, BET or VH1, you’ll see a lot of musicians who truly believe
that music is who they are and not what they do. Their entire life revolves
around promoting their image as a pop star or rock icon. Although extremely
talented musicians, Brad Miles and the rest of the members of Everman
have all the talent without all the pretense. 
"The
whole reason we got into this is to build relationships with people,” Brad
explained. “Music is just a door that God give us to walk into people’s
lives. I don’t want to be satisfied with getting to the end of my life and
thinking, ‘Well, I made some good records and hopefully I touched a few
lives.’