Marcos Witt: Christian Superstar, Houston's Best-Kept Secret

Allison Wagoner

​Marcos Witt has won four Latin Grammys, written 10 books, and has more than a million fans on Facebook. Considering he's also a Houstonian, we were confused as to why we'd never heard anything about him.

After some investigative work, we discovered that his niche is obscure, one that we didn't know much about: The world of the Latin-American Christian-music industry.

While it may be obscure, it's not lacking. 14,000 people filled Lakewood Church this past Friday night for a sold-out concert commemorating Witt's 25-year musical career.

In addition to making music, Witt is also the senior pastor of Lakewood's Hispanic ministry, leading the second-largest Hispanic congregation in the United States.

Before he arrived at his post-concert breakfast Saturday at the Renaissance Hotel, Rocks Off sat around and chatted with his associates and press people, trying to use our collegiate Spanish education to the best of our ability.

When he came in, the energy of the room immediately changed and everyone got up to greet and congratulate him on the previous night before. Witt asked around about the Twitter feedback concerning his intermission haircut - apparently it was shoulder-length before he cut it all off mid-show - and then, dressed casually in a tracksuit, sat down with us.

​We admitted to not knowing much about him beforehand and mentioned his extensive resume.

"I think I'm one of Houston's best-kept secrets," he says. "I fly here and fly out, and yet I don't interact a lot, other than within the Lakewood community."

Witt travels all over the world. Last year he accumulated 220,000 frequent flyer miles, but most of his business is in Latin America, where he grew up and decided to pursue music. Shortly after Witt was born, his parents moved the family to Durango, Mex., to do missionary work.

"As a young man, I wasn't sure what direction I was going to go in, but I did know that music would be a major part of whatever it was I would do," he recalls.

By the time Witt was in high school, however, he identified a way to fuse music and his faith.

"I knew I would marry music with teaching and inspiring people from the Bible," he says. "It was a natural fit for me. Ever since I was 16, I knew this was my direction in life,"