TRIBL x Maverick City Music

TRIBL and Maverick City Music have released their first collaborative record, TRIBL I. Ryan Ofei of TRIBL and Naomi Raine of Mav City shared with us the significance of this project and why they believe congregations are connecting with their spontaneous, freeform style of worship.

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We are so excited about TRIBL’s first album with Maverick City. What is significant and meaningful to you all about this collaborative project?

Naomi: What’s so exciting to me about Tribl’s first album with Maverick City is that we get to hear the new players on the team! There are so many talented people a part of this family and I’m just excited for everyone to hear the voices, the writing, the moments, and the message of the Gospel from their point of view.

Ryan: Two years ago, I watched “My Soul Sings” on Instagram. The song captivated me till I prayed to be in that room someday, in the back, with no mic, just worshiping with this community.

This collaborative project is so significant to me because it represents a prayer that was answered beyond my request. To join with family from across the world and worship our Saviour is truly a heaven-like experience.

TRIBL’s mission is “to be the home of live, moment-driven worship.” Why do you think people are connecting so strongly to TRIBL and Maverick City’s spontaneity and freeform style of praise music?

Naomi: Honestly I think there’s just a freedom that resounds in the music and I think it has to do with the fact that it is moment-driven worship. I think people love the freedom they hear. I believe they love the idea that they can listen to a song and not know what to expect. When you don’t know what’s coming next it becomes a unique experience.

But it also impacts one’s time with the Holy Spirit so that when people are in personal worship, on YouTube or in their cars, they can spiritually hear from God in a way that they normally wouldn’t.

Ryan: I often say that TRIBL and Mav have broken the mold of conventional worship. Our songs are so fresh, unique, and creative. At the core of every moment is genuine worship. I believe people from all walks of life are drawn to this style of worship because watching a video not only displays what is going on here — it also invites you in.

This record is an amalgamation of diverse, unique backgrounds and stories. Can you tell us about two backstories in particular coming together that led to a special lyric or moment in these songs?

Ryan: This record is so diverse and still so cohesive. The song “Still Holy” was written at a Zoom camp. Before I ever got a chance to visit Atlanta, TRIBL held online camps. I joined from Canada, writing with people from America, and a lady that was in Southern Africa. A couple days before, I had tried to write a song from the perspective of the throne room of heaven. When we began to discuss what we would write about, each person felt led to write from Isaiah 6:1 so we wrote about the Lord being high and lifted, even in the current situation that we were facing globally in the pandemic and with racial injustice.

We declared that He always has been, always is, and always will be Holy.

Secondly, I spoke with Brandon Lake regarding “High Praise” and he shared how Dante Bowe, Melodie Wagner, and himself had written this JAM in Australia. Somehow it just never felt right to share the song till 2 years later. As we sang this song, I literally saw heaven, without division, black and white, sons and daughters, young and old, all tribes and tongues, joining with the angels and giving Him High Praise!

Can you tell us more about TRIBL and Maverick’s mission of redefining what worship looks and sounds like? Why does the world need this redefinition, particularly in 2021?

Naomi: The redefining of worship is more-so about culture because as different cultures emerge with new expressions and as different generations come forth, there is a need for each culture and each generation to worship in a way that is both in spirit and in truth. That doesn’t necessarily mean no longer doing a traditional thing — it might, but it truly means Worshipping God and offering him everything that you have understanding that that looks different for each culture and generation. That’s why we need redefinition, because models of worship, based on an influential individual’s style, or the slant we view the world many times expires.

Jesus had to re-define worship with the woman at the well. He had to bring her into truth and help her see it more clearly. As Jesus encouraged the woman at the well to worship in spirit and truth he reminded her that God was seeking worshipers. I think it’s our mission not just to redefine but to remind as well.

I think the world will always need re-definition of worship because there’s so much idolatry, even hidden idolatry. There are so many opportunities and offers to worship something that’s not worthy of our lives or our praise and worship. We get pulled in different directions and offered so many distractions but we often need to be reminded of the truth.

Ryan: Each day I learn that the formulas we know in churches and worship settings form great references in our understanding of both culture and heritage. But now we see the box being broken and being remade and honestly sometimes being thrown away entirely. Our freedom to create and express allows God to do an old thing in a new way. I never thought there would be a worship song called “Rumors” or “Old Church Basement.”

But these songs are blessing me and many across the world also. This redefinition is important because the influence of the Church has dwindled over time.

The reach of the kingdom sometimes can’t reach people who are not already a part of it. With this new sound and take on worship, I believe we meet people right where they are, speaking a language they understand, and bringing a sound that draws them to desire a relationship with the One we sing about.

Something we’ve loved about TRIBL I and Jubilee: The Juneteenth Edition is that it tangibly captures the sound of the kingdom. What is it like being in these rooms and recording these songs together as brothers and sisters in Christ?

Naomi: Honestly it’s amazing! It was a dream come true to stand with the leading voices in the worship, gospel and ccm communities and sing praises to our God who is worthy of it all! One of the beautiful things is to get to experience someone else’s worship! I think it helps you to honor and stand in awe of the Lord in a different way because you get to see through that person’s life—how they see the Lord.

It just widens our view of God and helps us to worship in a deeper way.

I hope these songs echo from the deepest valleys to the highest mountain tops to remind every beating human heart that they are beloved, that they belong, and that because of Jesus, our suffering never gets the final word! I hope that they help others sing in the canyon, and watch amazed at how God's love meets them in their deepest pain and sorrow. I hope they help people let go of fear and hold onto hope as they remember that God made them, He loves them, and He's rejoicing over them with loud singing day in and day out.

Ryan: Raised in a Pentecostal-Charismatic African background, I'm used to church being filled with dancing, singing, and HIGH PRAISE! What I love about TRIBL 1 and Jubilee: The Juneteenth Edition is that everyone is so different but those differences come together to form a beautiful mosaic. It is perfectly okay to bring your true and authentic self before the father and your family. A song could make someone cry, someone bow down, someone dance, and someone else jump for joy.

The truth is we were not created to be the same — we were created to serve the same King.

Is TRIBL II on the horizon?

Naomi: I hope so!

Ryan: He’s just getting started, we're just getting started. I believe TRIBL II would pick up where TRIBL I ended. As we grow in fellowship with God and each other, there’s no telling what could be next. I've been blessed to write and record with my TRIBL and the Maverick City family.

The greatest days are still ahead!

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TRIBL x Maverick City Music | Tribl I

Lead Tribl I with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Brian Courtney Wilson

Gospel veteran Brian Courtney Wilson shares how the most transcendent moments of inspiration are when it’s not about what he’s creating but rather seeing what God is allowing him to see. He & Chris also unpack his latest album Still and writing it and releasing it in the tumultuous year that was 2020.

Watch the full interview below!

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Brian Courtney Wilson | Still

Lead Still with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Ellie Holcomb

For 8 years, Ellie Holcomb recorded and toured full-time with her husband's band, Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, before stepping off the road when her first child was born. Her solo debut landed her a Top 10 hit at Christian radio with "The Broken Beautiful" and a GMA Dove Award for "New Artist of the Year." Her new album CANYON releases everywhere Friday, June 25h.

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You often hear in songwriting that the more specific you can write a lyric, the more universally felt the song your writing becomes. Did you find this to be true when writing Canyon? That reaching and processing the deepest wounds of your story helped you write the songs needed to heal someone else’s?

That's exactly what happened! In the process of learning to grieve my own pain, I learned to grieve on a global scale as well. The crazy thing? I encountered peace and love in both places, in both my personal and more expanded grief, and this emboldened me in a way I'm not sure I quite fully understand. I suppose that there's less to fear, when you trek down to the places you think might kill you, and you find that a current of love running deeper than your deepest pain is there, and may actually be the thing that brings you back to life. I hope these songs echo off of people's broken hearts and remind them that they are beloved even in their most broken places, and that they are not alone.

It's wild what happens when you learn to sing in a Canyon... your voice echos off all the broken walls of pain above you and its multiplied.

I hope that somehow there is a multiplication of hope that comes from these songs, because that's certainly what I encountered in the pit of my deepest pain.  
 
“Canyon” and “I Don’t Want To Miss It” are cathartic and uplifting, and “Mine” is as well, just in a very different way. “Mine” feels like a lullaby. I’d love to know the recording process behind this song.

I set out to write "Mine" as a song for my kids, and that's exactly what I did with Hank Bentley and Mia Fieldes. We were talking about the often broken road to becoming a parent and about how the only thing you want to do as a parent is love your kids perfectly, but we all fall short of that.

Even still, the heart of a parent is a mirror to the heart of God.

None of us parent perfectly, but we belong to a God who loves us perfectly and who delights in us, just as parents delight in their children. It is such a relief to me to know that even though I will not parent perfectly, my kids are in the hands of the One who made them and who loves them completely.

What I didn't expect? Realizing that even though I wrote this for my kids, even though I am a parent myself with lots of responsibilities to take care of, I didn't know that this song would remind me that before I am anything else, I am first and foremost a beloved daughter of the One who made me. I can't really shake that. I cried singing it that first day. I wasn't expecting the song to sneaky ninja kick me like that. Asking my husband to sing this with me felt like the most natural thing in the world. The first time I played him the song, he cried. He's cried every other time I've played it for him, and he's not a crier.

His voice is tender and strong all at once, just like him, and I'm so grateful to get to parent alongside him. For me, there's something about hearing BOTH a mother and a father sing together that beautifully represents both the mother-and-father heart of God. Drew cried in the studio while singing on this track, and it just felt like it needed to stay stripped down and raw, so my producer Cason played this gorgeous piano on it and we called our friend Claire Nunn to come play cello on it. Cello always sounds like the heart of God to me, so that's a special and beautiful addition to the track. It feels both simple and expansive, kind of like God's love for us. I hope others hear that when they listen to this song, that even mothers and fathers out there would hear the song and remember that they too are God's kids, beloved and with a serious sense of belonging.

Would you say these songs exemplify the freedom you’ve found in recognizing, validating and processing your brokenness rather than ignoring it?

1000 %. It reminds me of a character in one of my favorite book series, The Wingfeather Saga. Podo is an old man with a painful past that he's ashamed of, so he spends his whole life covering up the truth of his past. There's a point in the second book in this series where all of these well hidden and ugly secrets are revealed. I was frozen with fear reading this because I related so much to it. I'll never forget what Andrew Peterson writes after this awful and harrowing scene. He says it like this, "After that day, Podo moved about his days with wonder and peace, because he found that his whole story had been told, and he was still loved." There is such freedom in going to the pit of your pain and finding love and peace and belonging even there. I'll be the first to admit, it's not easy. Tending to pain, and walking through the process of grief never is easy, but there is love and hope even in the darkest corners of our stories, and I do believe that if we can be brave enough to go there, and breathe, allowing ourselves to grieve, there is a God who was broken so we could know our broken stories never get the final word. Love does.

You say that Canyon is “about the ever-present current of God’s love that meets us in the depths of our pain and reminds us that, because of Jesus, our suffering never has the final word.” How do you remind yourself and believe this truth in your day to day?

Breathing has been really important for me this past year. And listening. When I start to feel overwhelmed with sorrow or worry or fear, I've learned that if I can just breathe... even sometimes weep or cry out to God in that moment, I'm usually met with air that fills up my lungs and with peace that somehow surrounds me even when my circumstances are not OK.

I've learned in letting myself sit with the sorrow in my story and in the stories of others, that I don't have to stay there because Love is always moving to the lowest place, and it will carry us through it to a place of remembering that we are held even as we are falling apart, and that death/sorrow/suffering never get the final word.

I think about the empty grave. I meditate on the way we all came from a place of LOVE and that we are constantly longing to get back to that place, our true home, in the arms of the one who made us. It helps me to remember that often we are just scared kids, acting out of a place of fear and forgetting that we are all beloved and that we belong to Love and to each other at the end of the day. Breathing, prayer, scripture, grief, and even singing what's true all help push me back toward the light when the darkness feels overwhelming.

What is your hope for congregations that hear these songs led on a Sunday?

I hope these songs echo from the deepest valleys to the highest mountain tops to remind every beating human heart that they are beloved, that they belong, and that because of Jesus, our suffering never gets the final word! I hope that they help others sing in the canyon, and watch amazed at how God's love meets them in their deepest pain and sorrow. I hope they help people let go of fear and hold onto hope as they remember that God made them, He loves them, and He's rejoicing over them with loud singing day in and day out.

I hope these songs shine like stars in the night, reminding people in the midst of the dark nights of the soul, that light is always stronger than darkness, and that God sees and holds them, even as they are falling apart.

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Ellie Holcomb | Canyon

Lead CANYON with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Marvin Sapp

11x Grammy-nominated Gospel powerhouse Marvin Sapp is here to talk with Chris Baker on his responsibility as an artist to deliver “horizontal” messaging that causes people to have a vertical relationship with God, why he always prioritizes singing classic hymns, and most importantly, how he keeps it “churchy and funky.”

Chris: How have you been able to be relevant and maintain longevity all these years?

Marvin: From a musical standpoint, I understand that I’m not a vertical singer. I’m horizontal. My responsibility is to deliver messaging that will cause people to have that vertical relationship. Somebody has to speak to the issues that people deal with. Once you understand who you are as an artist, and once you realize who your fanbase is, you give them what they like and what ends up happening is they expand who you are. And that has given me staying power 32 years later.

Chris: You are always going to kill it with the hymns. I love that you never leave that root. I wanna ask you — why do you do that?

Marvin: Once I began to realize what the lyrical content of the songs I grew up singing meant, I made a decision early on in my career.

Whenever I do a record, I’m going to make sure I stick some hymns in there just for the simple purpose of people understanding that there are certain foundational things that we should absolutely never leave.

Chris: How have you been able to maintain the balance between ministry and family?

Marvin: That’s probably the easiest question you’ve ever asked. I maintain the balance between ministry and family because I don’t balance it. I prioritize. Anything you try to balance, you can fall off of. I prioritize above everything else my relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. After that relationship, I’m a father. Then I’m a pastor, a recording artist, and an entrepreneur. My first ministry is to my family. If you get to that place, the rest of your days will be the best of your days.

Chris: I want to ask about the masterpiece y’all made in a month: Chosen Vessel.

Marvin: This record, strangely enough, is prophetic. We recorded Chosen Vessel at the end of February and 2-3 weeks after we recorded, everything was shut down. I just keep asking God: how did you know that these were the songs people were going to need to hear in this particular season?

Hear the full interview

Todd Dulaney

Grammy-nominated Todd Dulaney sits down with Chris Baker encouraging you to be your authentic self, as that is what God wants you to be and how He will live His purpose through you.

Chris: You heard God call you away from professional baseball to Gospel music. What made you let go of what you could see to grab hold of what you couldn’t see?

Todd: When you find out why you’re alive and you get the feeling of this is why I’m here, it doesn’t matter how much money someone offers you to live outside of purpose. I feel so at home leading worship. You can’t run away from what you are meant to do.

Chris: I’ve seen you lead worship and you really prioritize worship over performance. How have you kept the main thing the main thing?

Todd: When I set out to do this, that was one of the things I promised to do: to stay centered. I told God, “I’m gonna take this genre of music and put it at your feet.” I said: “If You give it to me I promise I’ll give it back to you.” You cannot be elevated if you try to take from God and make it your own.

Chris: It’s so refreshing to hear you say that.

Todd: When it comes to songwriting, the word is the highest level of reality. If we try to write a song through our own interpretation, sometimes the word can become diluted because we’re giving it our perspective.

But when you write precisely what He said, then you don’t give room for perspective. His word will always accomplish what it was sent to do. When I’m long gone, these words will still stand.

Chris: I want you to tell the story behind Revelation 4 and that vision.

Todd: I wanted to write something about the throne room of God. I thought, this song is going to give people appreciation for what’s going on in Heaven right now. Everyone that touched this song read Revelation 4. The elders are casting down their crown at the feet of God. The angels are crying “holy holy holy.” There’s lightning and thunder around the throne. I said to God, “show me how to articulate this.”

Hear the full interview

Chandler Moore

Chandler Moore of Maverick City Music shares with Kristian Ponsford how he’s trusted in God’s timing over the years, the CCM and Gospel division, and he dives into tough topics with us: racism and prejudice inside church culture and the events of Summer 2020.

Kristian: Tell us about the church you’re involved in and Maverick City.

Chandler: My church is my priority, man. I believe in seeking and serving first the Lord’s church. We cannot be national or worldly without being locally planted. God has used His local church to rescue me out of some dark pits.

My church is my home. Mav City is my family. I almost get emotional thinking about it — Mav City has become so foundational and familial. The relationships I’ve made have literally changed and supported what God has done in me. The idea wasn’t: “We’re starting Maverick and we’re bringing people to it.” The idea started from the fact that we’ve brought people together through relationship already, and out of that relationship, we’ve become a family that God is using.

Kristian: I read on the Maverick City website that you all are “committed to deconstructing unspoken rules that exist in CCM and the Gospel world.” What are the unspoken rules you’re committed to deconstructing?

Chandler: I think there is a thing in the CCM and Gospel world that separates the music by color. If you’re black, you must be Gospel. If you’re white, you must be CCM. We don’t hold CCM and Gospel music to the truth of actually what type of song it is. That’s one unspoken rule.

The other is very new, that if you want to reach a diverse audience you must have a diverse group of people.

The toxic part of it is if you’re only doing it for the response, if the only reason I’m singing with my white brother or my Indian sister, is that so we can get a bigger audience, we’ve missed the whole point. We’ve missed the entire point of why God loves diversity.

Kristian: I’ve been deeply impacted, like all of us have, by recent events in the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m a white guy here in England who’s questioning how to go from simply being non-racist to anti-racist. How do we become anti-racist in church culture?

Chandler: I think we need to understand that this is an issue of the Gospel. We have to tackle it at the root. Paul was a Jew. And then God called him to people that didn’t look like him.

These issues aren’t new. It gives you more courage to attack it — these things are in the Bible that I believe. A solution to it can be: how did these people then address the issue? How did Paul address these issues? He blatantly and whole-heartedly stood against them.

I think we talk about the grace of Jesus but we don’t talk about the hardcore side of him. We have it laid out in the Bible. Unless you’re willing to lay your life down for it, it’s not going to be solved.

Hear the full interview

Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes

Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes get vulnerable with Kristian Ponsford about the encounter with the Lord that’s locked up in their song with Elevation “The Blessing,” and they share their perspective on worship leading during this time of isolation.

Kristian: I’d love to start with talking about The Blessing. Could you share with us the backstory of how this song came to life?

Cody: We were in Charlotte with our friends at Elevation, and on our writing day with them, we wrote a whole different song with them at the start of the day. Around 6:00 that night when we were about to demo that song, Pastor Steven picked up a guitar and went in his own world for a bit and started with this idea around the Numbers 6 Priestly Blessing — different melody, different lyrics, but the theme was the same. So we started chasing that instead and we wrote the song in a few hours. It felt like heaven just fell in the room. After leading it that weekend, we started to see the response of people to the song all around the world.

Kristian: When I first heard it and watched the video, my jaw dropped. I don’t know if I’ve yet been able to put my finger on why it is just so unique and so powerful. Do you have insight into why you believe it’s so special?

Kari: Of course the Lord. He’s just so mighty and it’s just beautiful to watch people grabbing a hold of the truth of the word of God — of promises we’ve heard for a long time — but something Bill Johnson said that’s been so impactful is that when you write from an encounter that you’ve had with the Lord, that encounter gets locked up inside that song.

This last year, when our son Kingston was about 7 weeks old, a really traumatic thing happened at the park: the stroller got away from me and he ended up rolling down an 8-foot embankment upside down into a lake. I had to jump in after him and pull him out of the water. He was thankfully fine, but that experience was so traumatic. The conversations between me and the Lord for the next few days were so intense — I had been praying for protection and felt that the Lord had let me down. That experience made me dig deep into the word of God and hold the truths over these things that we declare over our families, our children, and our selves. Four of us wrote this song, but part of that song is part of this.

There’s just something about sharing an experience we’ve had with the Lord with other people. There’s power and authority in it.

Kristian: At the moment, worship leaders are just in a completely new world in light of COVID-19. I wonder if you could speak into the insecurity they’re facing right now and give encouragement to these leaders and songwriters.

Kari: I’m most moved in this season not by the quality of the music being led, but by the heart and the sound of worship coming from someone’s gut. I think this is a very confronting time for all of us — is our worship leading in the accolades of other people or is it just in our relationship with Jesus? I’ve missed people so much because I love to lead them in worship, but getting alone with the Lord and spending time on my face has been one of the most beautiful gifts we could’ve ever received during this time. So I think instead of thinking about all of the things that you miss, maybe just lean into the things that the Lord wants to do that maybe He’s going to miss when we go back to “normal.” I want these things to change my life.

Hear the full interview