River Valley AGES

River Valley AGES is a band, but their dream is for it to be so much more than that. They believe that God is doing something special in the next generation and desire to be a part of it. The heart behind their music is to inspire and empower young people to create.

Their new album, ALL AGES ADMITTED, leads people into worship with the Father. They are coming alongside the next generation and teaching them to be bold for the sake of the Gospel.

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Tell us about the inception of River Valley AGES and you all’s specific purpose at River Valley Church.

AGES began in a simple way. There was a group of young people in our youth and young adult ministries who were getting together to write songs that would connect their friends to Jesus.

There's been a culture of songwriting at our church for a while now thanks to our older siblings River Valley Worship and AGES is rising up in the blessing of that.

At River Valley we say we'll do anything to reach the next generation so when these songs started bubbling up and impacting our church leadership naturally got behind it and this really organic move of God became "AGES".

AGES is a group of young people saying YES to whatever the Lord calls us to. It is a coming-of-age story.

Hopefully, one that inspires you to step out in boldness, to try and to fail, to get back up, to keep going and ultimately to point you to the One who deserves every bit of praise, honor, and glory we can muster up. Whose name is above every name. The only name worth singing... Jesus.

You all released your new album today: ALL AGES ADMITTED. Tell us about the title’s meaning and the overall concept of this album.

We love this question! We've all seen the phrase "all ages admitted" in different contexts. For example the general rating screen when you start a movie, "G for general audiences, all ages admitted."

Or remember being 16 and wanting to see your favorite band in concert (for us in Minneapolis the venue would have been First Ave.) but you couldn't go because it was 18+ and you needed that All Ages Admitted sign to get in?

Well, besides the obvious tie-in of the word "AGES" and the coming-of-age theme naturally in that phrase, we love that All Ages Admitted is an inclusive phrase.

The Gospel is for everyone! Not just different ages but different stories and backgrounds. It's for ALL people. No one on earth is disqualified from encountering the living God and having an authentic life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

The album kicks off with an anticipatory, pre performance track. What was the energy like in the room the day of recording? Can you tell us about the setting and the engineering choices that went into capturing ALL AGES ADMITTED.

YES, so much energy in the room. This is the first time that the world gets to see and hear the move of God happening in and through our young people. They are passionate worshipers and truly want to follow Jesus with their whole hearts.

Hopefully we've done our job in the technical sense well enough that you can catch and hear the heart and passion from the people in the room.

We all love the old UNITED albums and remember being kids listening to those albums. We wanted to recreate that feeling for the next generation.

The authenticity and the passion was so evident and listening back to those albums we wanted to try and capture our young people in the same way.

Cody Soberski produced while Jack Nellis mixed and sometimes the person that mixes the album isn't always in the room when it's being recorded. We had Jack be a part of the process from the beginning because we wanted the final product to be as authentic to what happened in that room as possible.

You all incorporate pop vocal and production elements throughout - what is special and important to you all about adding these to worship music specifically?

Well practically for us we just want to write songs that connect with our friends and that's the kind of music they are listening to. We definitely don't feel like the tip of the spear when it comes to recreating worship music. We just want to write songs that work in our context.

Sometimes it's hyper pop and sometimes it feels like a more classic worship song.

pss.. There's definitely some punk rock coming.

We just do what works for us. Authenticity is a big piece here.

What song(s) from this record do you believe will connect with the Church most and why?

“Ask Seek Pray” is the song that has connected with our whole church the most! We wrote it for summer camp last year and it started to seep into our weekend worship sets. It resonated so much that our Lead Pastor Rob Ketterling made it the vision of our church for this year. We hope it blesses you too!

If you're looking for a Song 1, “Sunrise” is the way to go! We do this song regularly in our weekend worship sets and it goes great!

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River Valley AGES | ALL AGES ADMITTED

Lead songs from ALL AGES ADMITTED with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Josh Baldwin

Josh Baldwin’s greatest motivation as a worshipper and songwriter is the desire to connect with the Father’s heart and usher others into the presence of God. Josh’s leadership creates an inviting atmosphere of celebration and his songs point to the trustworthy nature of God as Friend and Father.

His new album, Where The Glory Is, is a collection of songs meant to be used to lead people into worship with God. Recorded with an intimate group of worshipers, Josh dives into his intentional decisions behind the making of this album.

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Congrats on your album release! These songs are reminiscent of earlier 2000’s CCM but they still feel very congregational. Can you tell us more about this intentional choice and how you struck that balance?

I honestly don’t know that I intentionally meant for the album to sound or feel that way.

This has really been the first time that throughout the writing and recording process of an album I fully leaned in to who I am and what the songs that lived in me sounded like. Which was a kid who grew up in rural North Carolina listening to late 90’s CCM and Delirious.

So I’m not surprised that those influences came through in the creating of this album, and my hope is that it helps these songs feel timeless.

A common trend these days is to capture a large, full congregation in the capturing of a worship record. These songs feature a group of worshippers along with your voice, but seem to be in more of an intimate space. Can you tell us about the recording process and setting for this album?

I really wanted this to be a studio produced album, but I struggled with the thought of songs that I knew were meant for the church not having a large congregation singing on them.

So we tracked a lot of these songs live in the studio over a few days. Then we brought in a group of our friends to just sing and worship with the songs in the studio while we recorded them. I love how it all came out. It feels very intentional to me.

Most live worship albums today are recorded with a large congregation. Which is great! I love them! The irony of that is that most of our churches are actually small, and they might have a harder time relating to the megachurch worship album.

I loved the idea of having an album that when people listened to it they could hear how these songs might sound in their own churches.

“Where The Glory Is” talks about the consistent presence of Jesus. Can you tell us more about this song?

“Where The Glory Is” is all about how the faithfulness of the Lord never changes. He has always come through for me and my family. The way He shows up has looked different in different seasons of life, but His nature has always remained the same.

The same Father that has led me through my darkest moments is the same Father that’s with me when I’m laughing and playing with my kids.

I continue to write new songs, but the story throughout all of them never seems to change. It’s a story of how faithful He has been to me. That is where the beauty and glory of walking with the Lord is for me.

Tell us about the symbolism behind the “Narrow Road.”

“Narrow Road” comes from the scripture found in Matthew 7:14.

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

This song is about those times in life where the journey feels lonely and hard. When you’re following the Lord it’s not gonna look like the easy road. It requires trust and faith in Him. It’s about remembering that He is walking with us every step of the way.

He will never leave us, we are never alone. When we cling to Him in the valley, that is where our lives are pruned and we become more like Him. There’s a greater reward on the narrow road, and it’s the road scripture calls us to.

What do you hope for as these songs are released today out into the world?

This album is full of songs that remind me of the Lord’s faithfulness in my own life. I want listeners to be reminded of their history with the Lord.

I pray that the lyrics in these songs would bring to mind all the times that He has shown up in their lives, and it would serve as an encouragement and a reminder that He is and always has been faithful.

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Josh Baldwin | Where the Glory Is

Lead songs from Where the Glory Is with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

SEU Worship

Imagine a room big enough to hold every voice that has ever cried out to God. For centuries, God’s people have called out in adoration and praise, and if such a room existed, it would be the most diverse and God-dependent place in history. SEU Worship, the worship movement of Southeastern University, has added their voice to this room, remembering the voices of old while raising up those for the future.

SEU Worship’s new album, Heart Cry, captures the hearts of students and young adults while praising the Lord. We had the opportunity to ask them about what God did through this album.

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The new album kicks off with this really energetic, driving track: “All In.” Production/engineering-wise, this song really lets the room in quite a bit. Tell us the decision behind this - was the hope to immerse the listener in the presence of the room the day it was captured?

Each time we gather in worship our room is full of excitement and joy. “All In'“ encapsulates that energy perfectly.

We wanted to invite listeners into our loud and expectant environment, where our praise is full of vitality and passion.

If you think of the album like a spectrum, “All In” represent the upbeat praise end of that spectrum where a song like “Deep Dive” represents the intimate prophetic end of that spectrum.

Tell us about SEU’s mission to blend the traditional with the future in their songs. Why is it important to blend the genres of pop and CCM right now?

A lot of our motivation behind blending pop and CCM has to do with our desire to reach people ages 16-26. Our ministry is based on a college campus, so everything we do is centered around reaching the next generation of worshippers.

Fulfilling our calling looks like referencing the music high school and college students listen to in an effort to meet them where they’re at. It helps that many of our songs are written and produced alongside students at Southeastern University.

“Deep Dive” in particular has really been connecting with congregations. Why do you all believe this one is standing out?

“Deep Dive” is written from a pure place of worship and surrender.

It’s a devotional in that the lyrics read like an earnest prayer to God, and it’s worshipful in that it recognizes God’s power to radically alter our lives.

“Show me what’s breaking your heart, even if it messes me up,” is such a powerful sentiment.

That kind of prayer requires deep faith and commitment to Jesus if we’re going to sing from an authentic place. It’s hard to imagine a lyric we’ve written that is altogether as personal, powerful, and life transforming as those.

What about these songs reflect the hope and need of the worship artists featured, the campus where they lead, etc?

Each of our artists are hungry to see God move in the lives of our students.

At SEU, we’re passionate about students discovering their divine design.

In the writing and production process of these songs, we get a firsthand experience of people finding their unique God given characteristics and talents. Whether it’s in the making of the albums, or in the singing of our songs in worship services, these songs are emblematic of God’s life changing power.

These songs reflect our desire to see students awaken to the reality of God’s love and power. Our prayer is that the same thing happens to listeners as they experience the songs themselves.

Tell us about the 3-day devotional (Monday Morning Faith) that is paired with this release.

We’re thrilled that we get to partner with YouVersion on a 3-day devotional plan titled after one of our favorite songs from our Heart Cry album: “Monday Morning Faith.”

The devotional is a reflection on passages of scripture and lyrics of our songs. How often do we go to church on Sunday and fail to perpetually carry the same level of worship into our week? This devotional is an invitation to worship God in our daily activities and devotion.

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SEU Worship | Heart Cry

Lead songs from Heart Cry with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

SONS THE BAND

After meeting at a Maverick City writing camp in 2020, Steve Davis and Jordan Colle combined their desires to make music that would honor God and created SONS THE BAND. Their debut album captures that desire to create music that has its own identity. They share: “We wanted to push the limits and create something that was truly different but is still simple enough to worship to in any season.”

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First off, as SONS THE BAND is newer to our platform, tell us the origins of your duo and how you all joined the Tribl family.

We met at a Maverick City writing camp in March of 2020, the week before the pandemic shut everything down. We wrote a song together while we were at camp, and sort of just became buds over the summer through zoom writes and facetime hangs.

We both were dreaming about doing our own worship projects later that year, but after working so much together we decided to put those individual projects on hold and do one together.

SONS and Tribl sort of start in the same place, through Maverick City camps. We met a lot of the Tribl team along the way, and when we released our first independent live project, they reached out to see if they could help on any future stuff. Obviously we were pretty stoked about that, and the partnership was born.

How does it feel to have your debut album out in the world? Tell us the meaning behind the title of this record: Live from 1971.

It kind of feels like when the cooking instructions say “cook to golden brown” and you actually do that and it turns out great.

In all seriousness, we’ve been blown away by how much the Lord has used this project and how quickly He’s done it.

We’ve been leading worship and writing songs for most of our lives, and to see how these songs are moving the Church is humbling.

We called it Live from 1971, firstly because the studio we tracked the record in is called “1971” but more importantly, that space has become pretty nostalgic and almost “sacred” for the Maverick City and Tribl family.

It was such a cool opportunity to get to worship in that space with these songs and we wanted to pay tribute to that in some way.

The album opens with you all’s lead single: “Only Ever Good.” The song is a joyful declaration of God’s goodness – a goodness that’s unaffected by the seasons we face here on Earth. Were you facing something personally writing this where you really needed this reminder?

Each of us has faced some pretty difficult seasons in the last few years, and for sure while writing this song we were thinking about those, we are in some ways, still living in those seasons.

For Steve, there was a season of deep depression and a lot of loneliness, and “Only Ever Good” was a great reminder that sometimes you have to write the song even when you don’t fully feel everything you’re writing about.

It's when holding on to truth really becomes real.

The penultimate track “Rest and Rise” definitely feels like a standout. Tell us more about this song!

It was the last song we wrote before we recorded Live From 1971, and we actually wrote it in the same room! Which, for us living in two different states, is a rarity. We really liked the idea of the Heavens singing over us, and our praises singing back to Heaven as a sort of never ending cycle.

From morning to night, from night into morning.

We loved the energy we found in it, and we thought the record needed one more song like that.

What are your greatest hopes for these songs as the Church begins leading them?

The heart of SONS has always been to write songs for the church, and that no matter what tempo or energy the song has, that there is always a rich truth to them. We hope that those truths find a way into people’s lives by worshiping along with the songs, but we also really just hope that even the unchurched or de-churched would just enjoy the music we write. That maybe it would remind them of something greater and someone more loving and accepting than anything or anybody they’ve ever known.

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Tribl + SONS THE BAND | Live from 1971

Lead songs from Live from 1971 with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Influence Music

Influence Music is a faith based record label and artist collective out of Influence Church in Anaheim Hills, California. Dedicated to facilitating the creation and release of music that glorifies God, Melody Noel talks about their new album Before the Breakthrough. This new album captures the importance of surrendering to the Lord.

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Before the Breakthrough came out of a season of uncertainty for you all. How do these songs speak to that season personally and how do you hope they assuage the doubts of congregations who hear and lead them?

Yes it did! I think the song that speaks the most directly to that season is “Before the Breakthrough” - the title track. This song really set the direction for the rest of the record. There is a line in that song (referring to Jesus) that says,

“In your darkness hour, you showed us how to trust - Father not my will, but only yours be done.”

Jesus showed us what it looked like to truly surrender to the father. We want to give the church songs to help them follow the way of Jesus.

I pray that songs like “Nobody Leaves The Same” and “ASK” would help reaffirm the promises of God as we sing them in church. I also pray that songs like “By Your Spirit” and “Before the Breakthrough” would minister to those just driving in their car or listening at work.

It seems to be the trend lately for worship groups to record their albums live, capturing the energy of a big room of believers. Tell us why you all decided to record Before the Breakthrough in studio?

For us, we feel like production is the “package” that helps deliver the message of the song.

With this record, about half the songs work wonderfully in a live congregational setting with the buzzing energy of a crowd. The other half we felt were meant to carry the intimacy that you only get in a studio. There are also some sonic risks we wanted to take, that we wouldn’t have been able to in a live setting!

A song like “Of Great Courage” with Larry’s soaring vocals worked better with cinematic production. Another example is a song like “Completely” that has a very Shania Twain old school acoustic based production.

I love 2022 because people consume music anywhere and everywhere, so we try to think of how we can best minister to them even outside of Sunday church!

In the opening track, “Straight To Your Heart,” we love the line: 

You make it so easy to be where You are.

In the season you all were in while writing this album, did you find that God felt closer as your need for His presence grew deeper?

We love that line too! Fun fact, one of the writers on that song is a youth student at our church - she was 15 during the session and had such a beautiful revelation of our access to the presence of God. During the writing of this album I would not say that God “felt closer” - in fact the season felt a little dry (just being real)!

However, looking back - it's clear that God was refining the depth and authenticity of our faith, so we are thankful!

God is never far, but I think sometimes He is quiet so that we can really learn to “be still and know”.

Tell us about collaborating with Kim Walker-Smith on “By Your Spirit.”

Kim has become such a great friend to our house (Influence Church), she actually leads here once a month. She was a part of writing some of the songs on this album, but surprisingly not this one! We sent this tune to her along with some others, and she really gravitated to this message.

When she came into the studio to record she LITERALLY nailed the whole thing three times in a row. It was the shortest vocal session we have ever had.

Kim has so much authority when she sings that hearing her belt out the bridge gives us full body chills!

“ASK” is a standout - tell us about the story and process behind this one!

Thanks! Ask was written by Lindy Conant, Brett Bell and myself.

I was holding on to the title idea for a while because I liked that “ASK” can be an acronym for Ask, Seek, Knock.

We wrote the song one afternoon at a writing camp in Nashville and the melodies + lyrics came with ease as we dove into Matthew 8.

We purposefully kept the first and second verses the same because we want people to catch on very quickly to the truth of the scripture.

Matt Gilman heard the song and we are blessed that he decided to lead it! He is so annointed.

What is your guy’s greatest hope as congregations begin singing and finding new hope in these songs?

Our hope is that it would raise the Church’s expectations for what God can and will do. We want these songs to help provide language so every person can truly be a believing believer no matter what season they are in.

The worship we bring to God on the mountain top is beautiful, but there is something significant to Him when we bring a sacrifice of praise even when our flesh doesn't feel like it.

We pray Jesus is glorified through all the music we make!

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Influence Music | Before The Breakthrough

Lead songs from Before The Breakthrough with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Ben Cantelon

Canadian born worship leader, Ben Cantelon, was based in the UK for a number of years, starting out as Worship Director at Soul Survivor before moving on to a role at Worship Central. Ben later served as the Worship Director at Holy Trinity Brompton in London, UK.

More recently, Ben’s heart for worship can be heard on songs like Phil Wickham’s “Eyes Fixed” and “He Lives” by Chris Tomlin. Ben’s years of experience as a worship leader and artist have greatly influenced his songwriting and have given him a unique insight and ability to write accessible and relevant songs for the church.

We were able to sit down with Ben at the Worship Together Conference to talk about his experience in the church in the UK & US, his time writing with other artists and his heart behind lyrics.

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You were a worship leader in the UK for years and then you moved to Nashville recently. When was that? And what's been the key differences you notice in church life between the UK and the US?

That was five years ago, in 2017. Me and my wife and two children, at the time, got on a plane and moved here! I feel like the church is in different places in some ways and similar in other ways.

We worship the same God and do a lot of the same things. But I think in the UK we're quite theological — in a good way, in a healthy way.

When it comes to songs, I remember writing songs that we meticulously scan every line and make sure it's theologically correct and theologically sound. But sometimes it felt like it would slightly slow down the process and, that's not a dig on the UK because some of the best songs have come out of the UK, but then writing songs here, there's a bit more of: What do we feel, what do we sense God's doing? I think those are some of the differences I found.

That's the thing, there's beauty in both, and I think the UK does that so well in terms of just writing timeless songs, and that happens here in the US too. But different themes seem to come out from these different countries.

Well, speaking of timeless songs, you've written some really widely known ones such as “Love Came Down,” “Savior of the World,” “Guardian,” and more recently for Phil Wickham, “Eyes Fixed,” and “He Lives” for Tomlin. Of these songs that took off, were they the ones that you expected to or were you surprised by them?

Totally surprised. “Love Came Down” was actually one of the first songs I wrote. And it was one of those sort of in-my-bedroom-playing-my-guitar moments. I just start singing this chorus.

And it's the classic story of: I don't know what God's going to do with the song.

And then it just kind of took off and people started singing it, and that was just an incredible experience of seeing God use that song in a way that I never could have imagined just from that moment of having that spark of inspiration with that song.

I've been very fortunate to be able to write with different people and different artists. Because some of those songs started going around, people started saying, “Hey, we should write.”

So, “Eyes Fixed” was actually originally for Tomlin. Nick Herbert, Chris Tomlin and I wrote “Eyes Fixed on You.” It was great and it felt right for Tomlin, but I don't know, as time went on we were asking: is this the right feel? You know? And so, Phil Wickham came to mind because it still had a kind of Phil vibe. So, I said to Chris, “Hey, what do you think about sending this to Phil?” He was like, “That's a great idea. Do it.” So, we send it to Phil and Phil is like, “I love it. I've got a few thoughts.” And then we developed and changed it into what it is now.

So, two polar opposites, quiet time worship with the Lord in my bedroom to like, hey, this feels for something special. Who is it for?

And I'm grateful to be able to have those kinds of experiences. I'm grateful for just seeing these songs take on different ways and avenues.

So, we heard from the The Belonging Co last night — they performed, and we got to speak with them as well — and I know that you wrote and led “Supply” on their album Here. Reading some of the lyrics, this one verse really stuck out…

“The desert place is where the harvest rains. And yet you move upon the smallest seed of faith. Yes and Amen.”

Tell us more about the sentiment of this song.

I think it's just a faith song of declaring God's going to break through. I think that verse in particular is about believing that in the desert place, there's a harvest to be found. With a little, simple “Yes and Amen” coming to agreement, like, “I can't see, but I know you're going to do it” kind of thing.

He will supply all of our needs.

And I love that scripture.

I love singing just straight: My God shall supply all my needs according to His Glory. There's something about declaring and singing those things over our lives. When we were leading this song at the conference, it was a really special and an important song to me. We were, as a family, kind of waiting on some answers from the Lord and asking: “God, what are you doing? Where are you leading?”

So I led that song with everything in me because it just was like: I need this song in my life right now.

It was so special to see it come through and to be able to lead it and just hearing the stories of people getting in touch and saying: “Hey, this is this has been a life song for me right now in this season.”

So, you write songs and you just hope that it's going to meet somebody where they are and that one feels really special. And for people who are waiting, believing, haven't seen it yet kind of thing — and i's beautiful to hear testimonies to that song.

That reminds me of something Hope Darst said last night: she said, you get up onstage and either you're in a place of feeling really filled up or really empty. If you're feeling filled up, then you're singing with confidence and you're hoping people feel that too. But feeling empty, it's like you're singing it for other people, but also for yourself — almost like a prophetic statement.

Exactly right. Yeah. That's what it felt like with that one for sure.

We also interviewed Nick Herbert and you know, we like to talk about funny worship stories as well. He said something about Compassion Tour and a song called “Happy Day” and that it really connected well…?

I can't believe he brought this up (laughs).

So, they said to lead this conference and begin with my song “Happy Day.” We’re sound checked and ready to go. There was a human trafficking element to this event and it was really serious. Tony Campolo was there speaking and as we pray, right before the night starts, the organizer says to me: “Hey, just so you know, we’re going to play a drama piece/movie before you sing, and as soon as it's done, lights down, and you're on.”

And so, I’m like “Great!”

I'm standing side stage watching this drama unfold and it is very raw and real. Then, all of a sudden, at the very end, the lights go down, you hear this scream from this girl. It was just intense and everyone is dead silent.

So then I'm like, “All right, everybody, welcome to conference, let’s all stand!(singing) The greatest day in history…” You know, just go into this happy song and there's people crying in the front row. I was like: let the ground swallow me up.

It was just the wrong song at the wrong time, but it made for a good story.

It’s actually been a great teaching piece of just being able to sort of tell the worship leaders: know your audience and what you're going into.

Well, thank you for sharing that (laughs). We love hearing those moments too because we’re all human!

Finally, our community is comprised of worship leaders, songwriters, musicians, etc. Do you have a word of encouragement for them right now, for what they do every Sunday: leading your songs and other people's songs? Just anything you want to share.

Absolutely. I think you guys who are leading week in and week out, you're the hands and feet of Jesus.

I think the way you lead and the way you play and all those things that you do, you're serving not just your local church, you're serving the wider Church because we're all in this together.

These are uncertain times, and so even more so in these days, worship is such a powerful weapon. When we bring our songs, when we bring our praise on Sundays, it is doing things that we don't even see happening, so believe that, and just know that what you're doing is necessary and important.

God bless you, and thank you for what you give to the Church.

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Lead song from Ben Cantelon with your congregation.

Maverick City Music

Before their show in San Antonio, TX, we caught up with Naomi Raine, Brandon Lake and Lizzie Morgan all about working with legend Kirk Franklin, the palpable energy of this tour, and how the way Kingdom Book One was captured carries so much meaning.

“I think this album is for every fan that loves music, and our hope is that these songs and the stories behind them will serve as a way to raise awareness to the challenges that people face everyday—many of which are forgotten about,” Maverick City Music’s Jonathan Jay explains. “For me, the most impactful part of this experience was the prisoners’ reaction to simply being remembered as humans. It was an overwhelming sense of gratitude and excitement that carried through every day we spent with these men. It was unbelievable, and I think if more people would just become aware of these feelings, they would want to help find a solution for the issues that come with incarceration.”

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Tell us how the KINGDOM Tour has been so far! Any favorite moments?

Brandon Lake: The phrase that comes to mind is: joy bomb. It is an absolute joy bomb getting to lead with Kirk (Franklin), and just everything that he brings. I mean, he's just a ball of energy and it's been so much fun.

It's also been really beautiful to see real joy actually released – it's not this fake joy, this false joy.

(Right at this moment, a group of Maverick City members are laughing and cheering out in the hallway.)

You can tell!

Brandon Lake: A lot of our worship can be about those soaking and heavy ministry moments, so it's been beautiful to not only have that on this tour, but to have high praise and just all out fun and dancing, and to actually have so many different expressions happen within two hours, you know?

There's so many different words for worship, so to be able to hit all of those in one moment: shouting, screaming, and dancing, AND singing, soaking and reflecting — all of it — has been really fun and feels like family.

[Kirk’s] become like a big brother or father figure in a way. Every tour is another opportunity for us to get to know each other and get closer, and I feel like we really have on this tour.

Naomi Raine: Yes, I “ditto” all of that, and I would even add – I am loving the Mav family right now even more.

Last tour was super beautiful, but this time I’m really starting to see the growth and blossoming of each person.

I think that we have operated so much more like a team, because we're not a group, we're a collective, right? We’re a collective of individual artists, but we are a team. And I feel like I've seen us become more of a team, and really submit and yield to one another. It’s been beautiful to watch these moments unfold: to watch Lizzie (Morgan) step forward and blossom and people get to see…they haven't even seen all that's in her!

And then when we have the pop-ins from Ryan (Ofei), Aaron (Moses) and Dante (Bowe), and just to see them for who they are has been really wonderful. Our times behind stage where we get to hang out with the crew… this whole thing has just been family and seeing us all grow. When we get off the stage, we're not all just going back to our individual dressing rooms like, “Okay, goodbye.” We literally hang with each other until it's time to get on the bus.

I just think it's so cool that we've grown as family, and that's a highlight for me as well.

Lizzie Morgan:

I was going to say: “Oh, it's a dream come true” but I don't really think I could have dreamt any of this up.

I think that the coolest part for me is getting to sing with Kirk Franklin every night – I grew up listening to his music. So it's just really, really surreal to be up there with him every night, and I think what this tour represents is two totally different worlds coming together.

The fact that we get to be a part of a collaboration like this… I think it’s something I haven't seen done in this genre of music, and so it's a huge honor that we get to be a part of something that's so different and something that represents diversity so well.

The crowds every night are the most cultured crowds I've ever seen.

I lead in California. I lead in Nashville. I’ve led in a lot of different rooms and I've never seen so many different cultures represented – not just black and white, but Indian representation and Hispanic representation. So I think that that has just been really, really cool to worship with so many different types of people too.

Well, we know this album is particularly meaningful. You all recorded a significant portion of the album on the grounds of a Florida prison and captured the voices of 1,300+ inmates. What was it like to see these men rejoice and praise in a place that feels like the antithesis of those feelings?

Brandon Lake: It made me wonder how they could be so filled with freedom and hope and it was something that we didn't have to lead them into – they had it. They released it.

And yet I'm at my church with people who are physically free and can do whatever they want. They’re not confined, and yet I'm trying my hardest to coach them and teach them what freedom looks like and to step into it for themselves.

So, for me I was really blown away – not by what we brought and what we created together, but by what we encountered when we got there and what they released: their level of hunger and expectation was some of the most inspiring levels of expectation I've ever seen in my life. I didn't expect that.

It’s a really interesting thing to have people inside of a prison teach the world about what freedom looks like.

Lizzie Morgan: It makes me emotional thinking about it. I just remember, before we started the recording process, I tried to prep a lot because I thought I was going be drained emotionally and spiritually.

I was thinking we were going to pour into them and give them everything that we can, and every day I left so filled up – more filled up than I had been in years of being in church and in worship services. Those men impacted my life in a way that I don't think I’ll ever really have words for.

A lot of them are going to be in there for life. When you start singing about freedom, for them, that most likely means freedom in heaven, so it's just a different kind of sound and you really can't explain it unless you're in the room. I just feel like they left me so filled up and just truly changed forever.

And I learned a lesson. I think I said in one of the Q+A’s we’ve had that I've put a lot of limitations on who I allow to speak into my life and who can change my life.

I think I learned a major lesson being there that you have to really be open to anyone speaking into your life because they really did change my life.

Naomi Raine: Yes, like if God is using it, let Him use whatever tool He's using. I think about that too.

I also think there's something so beautiful about men's voices being lifted to God. What's funny, I'm thinking about what y'all said, and we don't hear it a lot in church. The only time you really hear men's voices super loud in church is if it's the pastor or the worship leader.

I remember when we stood in a circle to sing on the first day we were there, and these men were singing: “Oh, there's nothing better than You.” We had in-ears in and they were screaming – just singing so loud that my ears were hurting.

Brandon Lake: There was a video that captured this moment: you see me just look around at everybody as soon as they started singing like I couldn't believe it (laughs).

Naomi Raine: It's insane how loud they were, how in it they were. And I don't think we've really heard men raise their voices, like, I understand how the walls of Jericho could come down at the shout of people, but I didn't know that before I stood in that room.

I remember when I left, I just kept saying this phrase over & over in my head: “I know why the caged bird sings. I know why the caged bird sings. I know why the caged bird sings.” I get it.

Brandon Lake: We need to write that…

Naomi Raine: Don't you write it without me! (laughs)

I think there's something to recognizing that we all have cages, you know? Whether they're physical, or mental (I think now is the time we are paying attention to more of our mental cages), but I think that when you are faced with your cage and you allow the Lord to process you, there's a song that comes out of that. There's a song of freedom that comes out of that.

When Paul and Silas worshipped in that prison, those chains broke. I think that when you sing and release that song of who God is in the midst of your confinement, there's freedom there. There is freedom there.

I also wanted to mention, some of the project was recorded at Mother Emanuel (Church in Charleston, SC) as well. So I think there's a real beauty in that, because I think many times we want to pick and choose who of the least of these that we minister to.

I think we have to minister to those that are imprisoned and visit them, but also to the widows and the orphans and those that have lost people, you know?

I think some of them are spiritually sick because their people have just been killed. I think there's a ministry to the persecuted, which is what we see in the Epistles: the Apostles and those men of God that walked with Jesus ministering to the churches and going: “hold on, don't worry,” and that is Mother Emanuel, that is Charleston right now after such a crazy tragedy, that is life rights. That's all of it, you know? I feel like we just have to spread it out, because I don't think that we’re always ministering to the prisoners, those that are victims of hate crimes, the persecuted church, etc. you know?

Absolutely.

You all touched on this a bit at the beginning, but tell us more about working with Kirk (Franklin) and the wisdom he’s bestowed on you all during this time of working together. I know it’s a full circle moment for a lot of you guys who grew up listening to his music.

Naomi Raine: He really is just the best. He's seasoned. He's been doing this forever.

I think because he's so different — generally we're more spontaneous, some of us are methodical — but he's very methodical. With his craft and skill, and with his rehearsing, he's a methodical person. You can really see his process and there's a certain way he views performance. And I don't mean “performance” in the sense that takes away from the ministry side of it, but he understands it and he shows up in a space.

He knows how to get people engaged in what he's delivering and so it's kind of like, that's the anointing on his life, and then he's also just a man of character. When you speak to him, he's humble.

If I come offstage and I'm sweating, he's already got a rag for me. He's handing everyone water – not just the singers but the crew members that are thirsty on the side.

lf he's not doing anything, he's finding a way to serve all the time. He's not perfect – he's not a perfect person – but what he's modeled for us is this humble, servant leader person who's also hilarious and amazing at what he does.

Brandon Lake: Something I've seen modeled from him is, you're right, he's not perfect, but he's present. Every time you get Kirk, he's looking you in the eye and making you feel seen and valued and loved. And he does that not just with our team, but with every single person he encounters. He's the last one to leave the Q+A’s, because he's always grabbing at least two or three people to hug them. You know, he's kissing babies (laughs).

He decided at a young age that he was always gonna be that way and make people feel loved and he does such a good job at it. And he's just an open book – any conversation that has come up and we're talking about something that has been really tough, he’s always sharing what he did in that situation and what he learned. And depending on the circumstance, he’s either proud of you for doing it differently or he’s sharing something he’s learned that he’s started to do, because he doesn't want to see us make the same mistakes that he did.

Him being an open book isn’t something he had to do, but he's just been so willing to help and to shepherd us.

He continues to light the fire in us. He's just the most encouraging person ever too — not just backstage, but in front of everyone, like almost embarrassingly too much, you know? (laughs) like it almost starts to sound fake? But it's actually just so genuine. He just loves us so much.

Lizzie Morgan: He's the real deal. What I imagined he would be like growing up: that is who he is.

I think he even puts himself in situations that maybe other people wouldn't put themselves in, like, I remember during tour rehearsals, I had this one song that I sing and he pulled me aside and asked: “Are you shy in real life? Because if you're shy in real life it's okay to be that, but if you're not, you should own this moment and that's gonna be what creates more moments.”

I could have totally been offended by that, but he took the risk because he saw something in me and I’m so grateful now for that moment now. He's a pusher of people and such an encourager.

One of the other things he said to us before we started this whole thing was: “I don't want it to be Kirk and y’all. I want it to be us,” and I think that he has really put forth the effort to make that happen. He wants to be with us and hang out with us and that means a lot to me.

Brandon Lake: He was willing to really have the hard conversations and talk about the elephant in the room early on with how we were collaborating this set, and I didn't even realize how different our sounds were until we tried it. It was like, oh gosh, this isn't as easy I thought it was gonna be! There's just a lot of feelings, a lot of emotions, a lot of thoughts, and a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and so for him to not only wait for the conversation to come up, but say Hey, let's go. Let's talk about this now – what do y'all think about this? What if we did this? – he just really has worked so hard to make this work and make us feel comfortable.

He could do so much more on these nights and he has actually sacrificed a lot to make sure that it's… I don't wanna say 50/50, because it's 100% of a different pie.

It's not just Mav, it's not just Kirk. It's like this…

Naomi Raine: Maverick… Franklin… City Pie… (laughs)

Catch Maverick City Music + Kirk Franklin in your city this Summer. Tour dates here.

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Maverick City Music | Kingdom Book One

Lead Kingdom Book One with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

The Belonging Co // Worship Together 2022

Right before their “home team” performance at this year’s Worship Together, we caught up with The Belonging Co!

They shared their hopes for the weekend and how their latest album Now is a window into what God’s been doing in their church over the last couple of years.

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How does it feel for your home church to host Worship Together? What’s the energy been like?

Andrew Holt: It’s been amazing - we love our Worship Together family. And for us even leading tonight, it feels like we’re on our home field, like we’re the home team (laughs). I was saying to someone earlier, we’ve already tilled this ground, and I just really believe in and feel expectant for tonight. It’s been amazing to have all these worship leaders in our church and be able to pour into them. It’s been really special.

Have you all had any unexpected moments/encounters with God this weekend? We just heard amazing worship from UPPERROOM this morning who provided a lot of space for that.

Mitch Wong: Yes. I love UPPERROOM. It’s just so beautiful to see different expressions of worship: which is really just embedded in what this conference is – Worship Together.

There are so many different ways to worship and I just love UPPEROOM’s expression: they flow so well with whatever the Spirit says.

And to see Brooke (Ligertwood) last night was just incredible. To be able to sing songs that you’ve been singing for years corporately, with so many different churches in the same building, was really special.

Hope Darst: I loved Brooke last night too. It really wrecked me. I was talking with someone on our team about how she just really carries an anointing to really get you into the holy of holies and take you into the throne room. That’s something that’s just so special about who she is and what she carries as a worship leader. And to reiterate what Mitch was saying: I think that’s the beauty of all the different expressions, that hopefully all the worship artists and leaders here can take back to their churches.

I hope they can also take back a confidence that whatever sound is coming out of their house is their sound, and it doesn’t need to be anyone else’s sound. We each get to be an arm, a leg, an eye, an ear, and a mouth that’s all part of the worship — and we need all of it.

And I know for our team, one of the hallmarks of our church is that over the years, we’ve been a place for people who feel weary, who feel dry, and are just wanting a fresh encounter with Jesus to come to this place and feel like they get to taste living water again.

I think that’s our real hope – because the truth of the matter is: a lot of the people that are here this weekend are tired and weary. They’ve been pastoring and leading in a 2-year span that’s been really, really hard. It’s been hard for people in general, but also specifically for people in ministry. I think that our prayer is that we’d be sensitive to what God is doing from the position of: “How do we serve the people that are here and how do we make a space for them to actually encounter the presence of God for healing, for freedom, for joy, for renewed strength and new vision — all of that tonight.” I think it’s exciting to be able to serve them well.

We want to ask about the new album but first, what kind of season is The Belonging in, and what do you think your church body is grappling with or leaning into the most right now?

Andrew Holt: It honestly kind of ties in with talking about the album. I feel like we’re in a season right now where I think we’ve always loved the presence of God and encountering Him – it’s been one of the marks of our church — but what I’ve learned about this season is that it feels like we’re all getting this revelation of: an encounter with God is not just for that one moment. It should actually transform us for many moments after – that we’d walk out different than how we came in and start to transform the world around us.

I’m seeing so many of my friends who are part of our community taking what God’s doing in our church and bringing it into their artistry, their creative endeavors, their workplace – teachers are taking it, nurses are taking it – and it feels like what’s happening here isn’t just staying in the building, it’s actually spreading through our city, through our nation, through out world.

I think for me personally, that’s the kind of season we’re in right now which is so exciting.

Mitch Wong: That’s so biblical too, because if you think about every significant encounter that people have with God in the Bible, like Moses and the burning bush, it wasn’t just for him. He encountered the presence of the living God who said: “I want you to go and deliver my people.”

And I think we need to come back to that realization that our encounters with God are not just to stay here, but ultimately, Jesus’s last words to his disciples were: “Go and make disciples of the nations” so I think it’s so cool to be in an environment where we’re encountering God, but then taking that outside of the building.

Because if we truly believe that church is not a building, it’s the people, then we’re outside of a building: we’re in so many different areas of our world and I think we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Hope Darst: I love that the sound of these two records is kind of an emerging sound – it’s different from past records.

It’s been a real window into what God’s been doing in our church over the last couple of years of us going: “You know what, we really want to be intentional about moving into sounds that don’t just feel one-dimensional.”

Kind of what we were talking about earlier, not trying to be a chameleon for everybody, but being purposeful in serving the diversity of our church. Our church has a lot of different people that come from a lot of different backgrounds and have different expressions, and I think moving into that direction (spearheaded by Austin Davis, Henry Seeley, and Andrew Holt), has been really powerful and I think it’s a very clear window into what God has been doing in our house sonically, relationally, and it’s been really significant.

Shantrice Laura: I think what this album speaks to for me is encountering Him wherever you are. It’s more than just showing up at a church service – it’s encountering Him in your car on your way to work, when your kids are going crazy or life just looks bad — I just believe these songs speak right to that: that you can just take a deep breath, and just acknowledge Him again in the midst of all those things.

It allows space for that reuniting to happen. It’s a reminder that God is present with us always, and whatever I need, He has right now.

I think it’s a beautiful thing for the person that’s weary and maybe can’t make it to church to be able to turn this album on wherever they are that’s going to bring faith and life and hope into this moment – that’s “Emmanuel, God with us.” I think this album speaks to that and I just pray that people all over the world are experiencing that wherever they are.

Listening to the record, there are a lot of standouts but one for us was “Be With You” led by Lauren Strahm - the album starts with all this energy and you really feel the urgency of Now, and then this one feels more like a pause (before the song eventually builds back up) and you really start to settle into the album. Can you all tell us about this one?

Andrew Holt: So, that song (written by Austin Davis, Daniella Mason, and Lauren Strahm) is so cool because it was written sort of with our Youth Group in mind.

The first time I ever heard it was at our youth camp, I had come halfway through the week and they had been leading it at camp, and I remember walking into that room and hearing these kids just screaming it at the top of their lungs. It really came alive in that place, and when we came back, we showed Pastor Henry the song. He said: “Well my kids love this song so I don’t really have a choice” (laughs) like, we’re gonna do this song.

It just feels like it has that energy: almost old school and fresh at the same time. It’s such a special moment from the record for sure.

As The Belonging Co is about to head onstage, why did you all choose the songs you’re about to lead?

Hope Darst: I mean, who knows what songs we’ll actually lead – we’re kind of known for that (laughs). Naturally though, when you’ve put out a new album and you’re the “home team,” you’re gonna do the songs that you’ve recently put out — but I also think Andrew who chose the setlist was intentional, and I’ll let him speak into that.

Andrew Holt: We’ve had so many amazing encounters with God the past two days, and I just feel like tonight, He’s about to crank up the faith level in the room for what He can do when He shows up.

My prayer is that the people that have come to this conference would literally have such a life-changing encounter with God tonight. That their faith would rise, that their hope would rise, and hopefully we’ll party, because He’s worthy of the greatest party, and hopefully we’ll go into a deep place within His presence.

Maybe we’ll follow the setlist, maybe we won’t. We’ll see what happens!

Hope Darst: I think that’s who we are, though. As a team, we are really intentional about declaring songs that do actually require a response. Both in the idea that I’m going to partner my faith right now because I’m in a season where it’s really easy, or, I’m going to partner my faith right now because I’m actually really struggling and this is prophetic over my life and my situation, and I’m basically moving in the opposite direction of what my flesh feels, and I’m partnering with what the spirit of God is doing and what the Word of God says is true.

We might go in a different direction from the planned setlist because this isn’t hype for us. It’s not like: “Hey let’s just have an uptempo song here so that you feel like we did a great set.” Even when you strip back the songs that have more energy, the lyrics are not fluffy. They’re not light-hearted.

They are really intentional and hopefully cultivating in you the Word of God in a way that shifts something internally in your faith and your belief in what God can do in that moment.

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The Belonging Co | Now

Lead songs from Now with your congregation.

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The Belonging Co is a church movement based in Nashville, TN. Since it’s inception in 2014, the church has become known as a place to find freedom, breakthrough, and healing through God’s Word, His presence and worship.

The heart of The Belonging Co is that every song released would empower both individuals and the collective body of Christ to encounter God through worship, and experience the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus.

We desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position... And most of all JESUS over everything.

SANCTUARY Worship

In early 2022, 25 worship leaders and writers met in Atlanta, GA for an ambitious but appointed gathering. Tasha Cobbs Leonard saw a need to provide a safe haven for worship leaders. A space to not only create, but to have authentic community and to be discipled.

Over a 36-hour period, the diverse group prayed and wrote together, then immediately recorded before an intimate audience of worshippers. The need has now created a movement— SANCTUARY Worship: a place for the prophetic creative.

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Tell me about this writing retreat spearheaded by Tasha Cobbs that happened earlier this year - how did you all get involved?

Kenny: Pastor Tasha and Pastor Kenny created this safe space for creatives to come and fellowship, write, create, vibe and develop community. They invited a few worship leaders that they saw and the rest is history.

Enrique: Tasha has been my mentor for almost a decade now and I’ve been honored to be included on several initiatives that she has birthed. So, when she called me about Sanctuary, it was a no brainer!

I immediately felt that it was a God-thing!

What about the environment she created helped bring about meaningful worship songs?

Kira: When you’re in an environment with like minded people who love God and have no desire to compete with one another you’re bound to create songs that echo that sentiment. I also believe that the pairing of writers in each room was super intentional, and created a space for us to get to know each other through our creativity.

Breona: The environment was a safe place to operate in more than one way of gifting. If you’re “ known “ as a worship leader, the atmosphere pulled on the intercessor in you.

The people all came in with no titles, egos, or wrong motives but everyone came in with one goal and that was to please God.

Was there a value in just leaning in really hard and not having time to second guess lyrical / arrangement choices? How many songs came about in that time period?

Breona: There was so much value in this. I felt as if it helped you not second guess what God has given you in your personal time. But it also challenged you to think quickly and sharpened your ideas.

Chris: As creatives, I think we have a tendency to hold onto things until they’re perfect or they’re at a place that we want them to be and sometimes that can stifle our ability to even release something.

So there was value in not having that time to second guess and the beauty of co-writing with others is that collaboration can really make the song better.

Someone in the room may have an idea that they have been stuck on, and another person in the room could have the missing piece that brings it together.

Did you all experience any meaningful encounters with the Lord during Worship Together?

Enrique: Absolutely! Worship together was an amazing time with amazing people. Everyone was able to flow in their grace and Worship Together just affirmed that the hand of God is on Sanctuary.

Kira: Worship Together was FILLED with many meaningful encounters, but the one that sticks out the most is seeing such a diverse group of people focused solely on Jesus and freely worshiping him. With all that we’ve experienced in our communities and what seems like a never ending agenda to divide us because of what we look like, it was beautiful to see diversity be celebrated!!!

We experienced a glimpse of Heaven with every tribe and tongue together worshiping God. 

I believe you all bridge the CCM and Gospel genre gap - why do you all think blurring those genre lines is important these days? Who else besides Mav City do you think are doing this today?

Kenny: I believe it to be a reflection of what heaven looks and sounds like. There are no separate rooms or segregated houses of worship in Heaven. This isn't new.

It's just us getting back to our original heavenly design.

I think there are many other multicultural musical offerings around today, hopefully it becomes the norm not the exception.

Chris: It’s important because it reflects the kingdom. The Church is made up of so many cultures, ethnicities, and expressions, and being able to bridge those things is very important. Of course, you have Maverick City who is having such an amazing impact in being a bridge. You also have to those who trailblazed it, like Israel Houghton and New Breed. You have artists like Pastor Tasha, Travis Greene, William McDowell, Todd Dulaney, Jonathan Traylor, Jonathan McReynolds and others who are doing that, as well.

Tell us about your debut single "Come To Jesus!"

Breona: “Come to Jesus” is life changing !!!!! It’s such a fresh sound. You’re able to hear the creative side of Sanctuary but also experience the power of God through the words .

It’s a transformative song.

We want people to know that you can come to Jesus just as you are and you’ll never be the same after that.

Chris: “Come to Jesus” is an appeal to nations, to receive the salvation that can only be found in Christ. It's the testimony of those of us who have tasted and seen that God is good. It’s not us repeating something that we’ve heard but it's something that we know. Come to Jesus, He can change you, and we know this because He has changed and transformed us. And shoutout to Blake, Emoni, and Kira who did such an amazing job leading it.

What better way for Sanctuary Worship to be introduced, than by introducing the one who really matters - and that’s Jesus.

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Lead “Come To Jesus” with your congregation.

Anna Golden

Anna Golden’s heart is for the worship teams of the local church. She hopes, in touring the country and hosting nights of worship, she can ignite the same passion she has in other young worshippers. She has a passion to teach what she knows about leading churches in worship and how to write songs that honor the Lord.

Fresh off a performance with SANCTUARY Worship at Worship Together, we sat down with Anna to touch on the Church’s need for both horizontal and vertical songs, the palpable thread of humility throughout the conference, and how she feels led to write songs that edify the Church.

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You’re just getting offstage from your performance with Sanctuary Worship. How did that go? Tell us everything.

It has been so holy, and I don't say that lightly. I feel like coming out of this season, there's such a hunger to be in a room with other people. I think it was beautiful what happened during the pandemic as far as people learning how to worship again at home. But now it’s this greater appreciation for being in a congregation together, going after God.

I remember being here in 2020. This was literally the last conference before everything shut down! And seeing how explosive everything was and now coming back, it just feels like this family reunion.

There's such a purity to our worship and the common theme from all the speakers: everybody spoke on humility, and no one really had that plan. There wasn't a memo like: “Hey, speak on this.” I think it's really beautiful what the Holy Spirit did throughout the conference.

So let's talk about your most recent song, “Take It to Jesus.” The song is about bringing everything to the Lord, even though He knows us better than we do. Can you expand on that? Why do you think it's connecting with churches right now?

“Take It To Jesus” was written very personally. I got in a room with Monty Rivera and Jessie Early – amazing writers – and it was after a long week of writing. The boyfriend of one of my closest friends had just passed; he had no preexisting conditions and it came out of nowhere.

So it's one of those stops-in-your-tracks, God, what is going on? moments. We just got in a room together and I said, “I may not have an agenda today. Can we just write a song that we can send to my friend Steph?” And through that, it became this voice memo and then a scratch track demo that we got to send her that day.

As we left that session, we realized that the Lord put something so special on this song because we didn't write it for the 99, we wrote for the 1.

I believe it's been connecting with people on such a personal level because it's a person to person song, and it's honestly blowing my mind. I'm always floored that first of all, God asks us to write songs on His behalf and speak His words. And then beyond all of that, it's just stunning that it connects to so many people and you can just never imagine which song will catch on.

I also think that in the context of church, it's such a mandate because the song starts on taking people to Jesus and then reflecting on moments that people took me to Jesus.

And it's really just this call to action of man, what would it look like if we started giving people Jesus instead of our own human answers – instead of explanations, instead of trying to fix everything – we acknowledge our humanity and say, “I have no healing power in me, but I do know Jesus, and that's all I can give you.” That's the mandate behind the song.

That's beautiful. Tell me a little bit about the song “What He's Done.” It's been a huge song for the church. What was it like working with Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Kristian Stanfill?

You know, she's iconic, but she's even greater off the stage than on the stage, and that’s what I love about her so much. And same with Kristian, you know, just people who spend their time on their face, being with Jesus.

Jacob Sooter, Kristian, Tasha and I, sat down in a room and we just started writing down words. And Jacob really brought that chorus in when he said, “What if we just start writing a song, reflecting on who God is and what he's done?” It's completely vertical, it has nothing to do with what we have going on.

I believe it's such a reminder – I don't think it's an accident that in the Bible the Lord says, “Come into my courts with Thanksgiving.” When you can shift perspective on Him, your prayers start to change and the way you worship starts to change.

I always say that Matt Redman write songs that your soul already knows. They just feel so familiar. And when Jacob came in with that chorus, we were like, “oh, my soul already knew this song.”

But you needed to hear it again.

Yes. I think it's been so beautiful. Churches have been doing it across all denominations, which is so stunning because it's a message of the gospel. It's a Cross song, and one where we can really reflect on who He is, and how who He was back then is still always who He’s going to be. I'm honored that I was a part of it.

That's so cool that “Take It To Jesus” is so horizontal, while this one is purely vertical, but they're both connecting with the Church because we need both equally.

Exactly.

I know your team is really excited about the songs you're working on right now, and we've gotten to hear some previews which is exciting. Can you tell us anything about what's to come and what you're looking forward to?

Man, there's so many really exciting things to come, and I'm the kind of person that gives up all the secrets (laughs). I really feel mandated right now to write songs that edify the Church. I grew up in church, and I know the grief that can come from growing up in ministry. People being people. That's just a fact.

But I really believe that we're shifting back – God is truly boiling it back down to a holy, pure Church and, I feel called to speak on it that man, the church is still alive. The church is still powerful – there's still healing in the walls.

And I really, really believe that that's the mandate on my life right now. So the next things to come – we're just going to talk about church. We’re going to write songs that we can sing in church that prophesy over your church or prophesy over your people and just encourage. The night may seem dark, but man, the dawn is coming so bright and pure and holy and it's going to be sanctified.

You kind of touched on this at the beginning, but my final question is: what has God been teaching you right now, either this weekend here at Worship Together or just recently, that's showing up in your songwriting?

I really believe it has been so much about the purity of what we're doing and the sanctification and reminding ourselves that God is so personal, but He's still so holy and just. And I really believe that that reminder is coming to the Church. I believe in it so much.

I'm so encouraged about healthy community. I'm encouraged about the body of Christ. I know right now it doesn't seem like it, but I really believe that God is coming in to really shift the perspective. I'm super excited about that right now.

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Anna Golden

Lead songs from Anna Golden with your congregation. Resources available on MultiTracks.com.

River Valley Worship

River Valley Worship is a collection of artists, musicians and songwriters who are an extension of the vibrant creative culture within River Valley Church.

The group talks about how the hope for their new live album Faith In Our Time was to immerse the listener in the room where these songs are sung, and subscribing to a path of faith rather than culture.

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Tell us the technical process of capturing your new album, Faith In Our Time. As a listener, you feel like you’re sitting right in the River Valley congregation!

That's really kind of you to say because that was our goal since day one of this project. We constantly talked about the venue/room really being a prominent character on this record. So we had that creative goal early on and thankfully it carried through to the practical. 

Our producer Aaron Robertson and our mix engineer Jack Nellis had a really clear plan on how to make this happen, right type of room mics, enough room pics placed in the right spots, and lots of pre-production time where the band was playing in the live recording venue. 

We are all really thrilled about the capture and how it all turned out. 

“East to West” and “Attention” feel like particularly special ones to us. Tell us about the backstory of these songs!

“East To West” was finished on a writing retreat in a cabin deep in the Minnesota woods :).  We had a guest speaker at church who was talking about the finished work of Christ and he kept saying "sin said no but the cross said yes!"

We realized there was a song in there somewhere... so those "no/yes" statements became the anchor lines for each verse.  Attention was always meant to stay compact in its production/ band support.  Never fully releasing dynamically but letting the melody move the song along. 

One of my favorite lyrics from the album is the opening line of the song:

Lord these eyes are held by time,

bound by what I see

such a great tension that gives way to a real lift of a chorus.  I can say all of these things because I didn't write it :) . Monica's vocal approach is so vivid and vibrant on this track.

You all released “Thank You Lord” and “Straight To You” as singles ahead of the full project. Was there a particular sense of urgency in releasing these to the world first? Are there messages in these songs that you all felt like you wanted people to hear before the full album?

“Straight To You” has definitely been a favorite of ours for a long time and the demo version of this song has been sitting in our drop box since January of 2020. 

It felt important to release this one because of the sonic statement that it makes.

Don't get me wrong, the lyric is important and is full of truth but the sonic landscape is something that we wanted to carry the right way. 

“Thank You Lord” felt like the right doorway for the listener to walk through into the full project.  It's been proven on a scientific/ medical level that gratitude has the ability to lift and transform the mind, the pathways of the brain can literally be shifted by a little thankfulness. 

This song became such a quick staple in our church, we knew we wanted to take it to the rest of the world.

This album features a new version of “Sanctuary” - this time it's led by (Mollie) and rather than a stripped-down feel, it’s a full band, live one. Tell us about re-recording this song, and what it’s meant to you all as a church.

It's always a tough task to go back to something that already exists and attempt to bring new life to it.  This is where Aaron Robertson showed another level of his brilliance, he took the version that already existed and quickly diagnosed a few things about the arrangement that could be lifted. 

He thinks so clearly when it comes to harmonic structure, melody, counter melody, and intervals.... and you can hear all of that so clearly on “Sanctuary.”

Great chord changes, counter melodies, it became one of my favorite moments on the album.

What does the title Faith In Our Time mean to y’all as a worship collective, as a church?

The title is an intentional line in the sand, a flag jabbed into the top of a mountain-type cadence. 

The way of the world is a bleak one... if we let culture lead us by the hand then pretty soon, we are hooked on a daily prescription of fear and anxiety. 

We are called by Christ to be a "things unseen" type of people who take our cues from the gospel as its story plays out in scripture.

Fear makes our future appear dark and clouded.

If we subscribe to faith, the road ahead becomes one of hope, risk, adventure, and most of all, a path marked by devotion and consecration before the Lord. 

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River Valley Worship | Faith In Our Time

Lead songs from Faith In Our Time with your congregation.

TAYA

Globally renowned artist TAYA, voice of the multi-platinum global worship anthem “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” releases her highly anticipated debut full-length album. Available today, the self-titled project establishes an exciting new chapter for TAYA as she breaks ground as a solo artist.

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Congrats on your first self-titled album! We know the songs you’ve already released have blessed our community so much and we’re so grateful to now have the full project. First, on a macro-level, tell us why these are the songs you wanted to release under your name? Are they tied specifically to your spiritual journey?

Well firstly, I just want to say thank you so much MultiTracks for having me and also for your sweet congratulations on this, my first self-titled debut record. I'm really humbled to know that these songs have really been a blessing to your community, and I think that's everyone's prayer when they release something into the world that it would — that by the grace of God, it would hopefully evoke a response from people to surrender their lives to Jesus. Also, because He always does far better things than we could ever do on our own — that I know for sure. So I'm humbled that you would want to talk to me about this project, and I'm so excited that it is now released into the world this Friday.

I guess on a large scale, the overarching reason of getting to release these songs under my own name is it felt like the easiest and the quickest way to differentiate from this amazing team that I've been a part of for the last nine years. I'm still a part of Hillsong UNITED and I've considered it an absolute honor to get to steward other people's songs through this team.

But with this album, it is kind of a full introduction to who I am when it comes to not just my voice, but my songwriting. And essentially, you know, I hadn't been writing for seven years. So it's seven years of devotional times with the Lord.

I think that's what ties specifically back to my journey through those seven years. I wasn't writing, but I had seven years worth of revelations and devotional times — quiet mornings and late nights with Jesus. I love that these songs came out of those scriptures that had been ruminating in my heart for a long time. And, you know, our thoughts and perhaps even theological questions that had been coming up through different seasons that just kept poking their heads out. And so it felt really sweet getting to release this under my own name.

My full expression of who Jesus is to me, in my own words, in my own melodies for the first time ever.

Tell us about incorporating organ and almost a Southern Gospel feel to the arrangement of “For All My Life.”

Firstly, I love that you have picked up that there is an organ and kind of a Southern Gospel, soulful feel to the arrangement of my very first single, “For All My Life.” This is due to the genius of Hank Bentley and Jon Guerra, who were both my co-writers in this song, but also amazing co-producers for this track on the record. I think I'm a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to my musical tastes and even my musical journey. I grew up in Australia, which is a secular nation. I didn't have Christian radio stations, so I grew up listening to Pop to American Rock, to the Beatles, to Classical music and old school hymns. I definitely like soulful gospel so I'm humbled that you would you would pick that up in this song. And also, I just love that it kind of touches a little bit on country, which is the Singer/Songwriter side of me that I love as well and feel humbled that that would come out through all these songs as well.

But I'm also just grateful for this song. It was at the end of a three week intense writing trip trying to finish the rest of the record. And it was my first time writing with Hank, and I think it was my first time writing with Jon as well or it had at least been a couple of years.

After we wrote that chorus, I realized it was just my testimony put to words.

And it's based on Proverbs 3:5-6, which is: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. I'm kind of so pumped that this is a song that ended up being the last song we wrote for this record. It ended up being the first song that's released, which is, I think classic Jesus. So many times, you know, it's the 11th hour and the 57th minute that God comes through — in this instance, it was a radio single, which, again, I hadn't been writing for seven years! Success to me at this point was just finishing a song. So to be able to have a song that we can go out of the gate with that radio wanted to pre-add is so kind and and also just classic Jesus.

His faithfulness and his kindness supersedes anything that we get to put our hand to in our faithfulness. And this was just a real joyful gift that looking back — what that scripture was saying — we make all these plans but it’s God who decides where our footsteps are actually going to be. Like with this record, we made plans and put dates together for certain things and then, you know, other things are released on that same day or other things within your world are happening and you just think, oh, my Lord, it's your timing. I'm just grateful for God's sovereignty when it comes to timing and that his timing is perfect.

I kind of just love getting to sit back and a song of joy to be out right now that I get to steward and carry now. Hopefully for the rest of my life it’s sweet in whatever season we are in. When it was released into the airwaves at that time, I was particularly grateful in a season that could otherwise be quite heavy and, you know, even wondering, God, where are you in this? And what are you doing?

Just a reminder that I'm to not lean on my own understanding, but I'm just to trust Him and go where He's calling me even if it feels like in particular places there's an emptiness there because like it says in the Bible, in The Message so this is a paraphrased translation, but it says “I will give you the fullest life in the emptiest of places.”

So I'm really thankful for this little song of joy that happened to drop when it did.

You feel a sense of spiritual renewal throughout the whole album. Tell us about some revelations you had during the process of writing and capturing these songs.

That's so kind. By the grace of God. Thank you Jesus for that.

I mean, the first revelation in the whole process of writing was the fact that this was a God idea. This was something that resonated in my heart when someone put the question out there: Hey, would you do a TAYA album? Again, I'm not the person who puts my hand up and has all the vision, but I just felt like the Lord was saying “Yes.”

I used to write songs when I was 17 and when I moved to Sydney at 21, I’d tell my parents I was going to become a signed recording artist, but I didn't have a plan or know how to make any of that happen. So I just went back to working in retail, but now in the big city, not in the country anymore.

And it was a decision of: Do I buy a piano so I can write again? Because that was the instrument that I grew up playing and where I discovered a love of storytelling and putting words to melody or melody to words. Or it was like: Do I eat or do I buy food? and food won out, of course, because it was a necessity. But then as the years kind of rolled over and then I started traveling with United, I just kept using different excuses throughout that period of seven years, and a little bit of laziness definitely crept in there and not wanting to put myself out there.

It's silly because the girl who is known for her voice all of a sudden struggled to raise it in a creative capacity — to give my opinion on what I thought, or offer words or melodies. There was a lack of feeling comfortable enough to be able to bring that which is on me, because it's actually unfortunately fake humility, which is pride.

So basically, it was me getting over myself and just going, “if this is what you have for me God, I want to be a good steward of everything that you've given me.” I do believe that I'm meant to be writing songs, and I haven't been for the last seven years, and just God's timing and kindness brought it about.

I would also just like to highlight the importance of community. I say within this whole process, it’s not just people loving on you, but also calling out the God thing when you can't see it yourself. Yeah, this is my album, but let's be honest, the people that I have had standing with me throughout this whole experience of learning to steward something from start to finish are the real gems and the real gifts to me during this process.

I guess one revelation I've had in particular is that we serve a God who speaks to us.

He's not deaf and He's not mute. But if we would wait upon the Lord like it says in the Bible, if we truly seek Him, and we seek Him with all of our heart, He's there to be found and He will be found. And I remember heading into this project, I needed a word from God because if I didn't have it, I didn't want to go into it.

It was similar to that prayer of Moses.

“God, if you don't go with this, if your spirit isn't behind us telling us go left, go right, I can't do this. I need a word from you because a blank canvas is really scary, and I didn't even know what color paint to use on it.”

And I felt like He gave me the words like, honey, that this is to be sweet, palatable, easy to digest, that His grace would heal some deep things on the inside, perhaps wounds that people didn't even know still needed tending. And so it's crazy how then, that same day, I felt like God spoke to me at the last gathering that we had as a local church before the world completely shut down.

My husband comes home that day and he didn't know. Unbeknownst to him, he didn't know that I had heard God via the Holy Spirit, speak these words like honey. And I was kind of sitting up in bed looking at this book, questioning, God, did I really hear these words? Are these the four running words that I'm to go out with with this project? And I was wondering because God always speaks to us in really personal ways because, yes, he's omniscient, he's omnipresent, but he's also personal.

And then my husband comes in. He'd been in wine country that day, had no idea that God had spoken to me. This kind of tells you who I am married to — a guy who loves Jesus, walks with him and is just obedient to the Holy Spirit, and it's like a child, not even questioning.

So he said, I was in wine country today, was helping a friend move house and I saw this thing and thought of you. And so I just bought it. I was thinking he had bought me a bottle of wine because he was in wine country. He hands me this paper bag and low and behold, there is a jar of honey in this bag.

It was just a sweet confirmation (sorry for the pun) that God spoke those words and these were the ones I was just meant to run to. I knew it wasn't the name of the album. I knew it wasn't a song. I just knew that these were the words that God had spoken to me for me to keep coming back to.

So in moments of doubt I could think: remember the honey? You don't have to force this. I'm in this. I'm here. I spoke to you about this. I'm here. Remember the honey and go with go with ease and go with the grace.

The overarching theme of this record has somewhat come out of Matthew 11:28-30 and it's The Message translation of that invitation from Jesus saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. I'm going to place my yoke upon you because it's easy and my burden’s light.” He's saying walk with me, watch me. Watch how I do it. I won't place anything ill-fitting or heavy on you. Come and learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

Through this whole process, so many times I'm like, “God, are you sure I’m the right person for this? Because you knew who I was like, the innate DNA in my veins and the things that I lean towards and the things that I lean back from. Are you sure I'm the right person for this?” And yet, it's been such an amazing experience of surrendering again, and coming again, and trusting again, even when I don't know how it's going to work out or where the end will lead as well, which is all God's territory as well.

We're just meant to be obedient with whatever He puts in our hands, because results and everything else are His domain. And I'm so grateful that it is His.

The simplicity of “Getaway” is so powerful - it’s haunting and comforting all at once. What was it like writing from God’s perspective?

Well, I'm honored that “Getaway” has resonated with you. And isn't it that, like you mentioned, it's haunting and comforting all at once, which I think is also classic Jesus.

He speaks words that both pierce and heal.

I say in an unreleased song that the Lord works deeply, but he also works so tenderly. For us, writing “Getaway” was such a gift. It was at the end of this 3-week intense writing period of May 2021. I was writing for the first time in person and it was just a complete God story where I was even able to be in America because Australia was in complete lockdown. Someone had to write a letter to the government for me to get permission to leave.

W were tired at the end of this 3-week pour-out and yet it felt like, again, another reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness in the midst of just trying to be obedient to what He's saying. And the sweet thing for me about this song is that it felt like a little breath of fresh air, because I think it's just based on the Word of God.

In The Message — which I know isn’t everybody's favorite version of the Bible but for me is this beautiful version of the Bible that made it come alive to me when I was 17 — Jesus says, “Come to me. Are you burdened by all the heavy days? It's not your job to shoulder the weight. Take a real rest, walk along with me,” which again, is just a fun way of reminding us all of the joy that it is to walk with Jesus and to be yoked together with Him.

A yoke is something that binds two animals or even in this essence, two people together, so that the weight that's being carried is actually spread across the two people or the two animals, so it's actually lighter than what it would be if you had to carry it on your own.

And I just think it's a reminder that we don't have we don't have a Heavenly Father that knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, and then when we're born says, “Hey, good luck here. Do your best and I'll see you at the other end and I'll give you a score out of ten and you might make it and you might not.” But rather we have a God that says, “I'm with you. I am God, Emmanuel, God with us. I'm going. It's good.” Jesus is just the ultimate example of that sent by heaven, lived the perfect life, went through every single thing that we would ever go through down here. Understood what it was to be disappointed, to be shamed, to be spat on, to be denied, to fight every single thing that we would have in the human experience — Jesus went through.

And then after He dies the most horrific death and rises on the third day, He says that the same spirit that raised Him from the dead is going to live inside all of us. And he is the one that will reveal the mind of Christ to us because we have His Spirit. When I'm looking at him, everything else fades because it either doesn't matter or it comes into alignment.

He's the one that's carrying the heaviness with us and walking us through this life right into the other side.

Tell us about the decision to close with “Glory Hallelujah.” The song feels like a timeless, modern-day hymn!

That's very kind. “Glory Hallelujah” was one of the songs in the first batch we wrote over Zoom. I wrote this one with Jon Guerra, who's my producer and also one of my main co-writers and collaborators on this project, and also with Lindsey Sweat, who was the second main collaborator and songwriter for this project. I feel like they are both such gifts to my life and they really unlocked something on the inside for me, which I'm so grateful for and will be grateful to them for being willing to write with someone who hadn't done it for seven years. They came alongside me.

This song was in response to the murder of Mr. George Floyd and a few other lives lost that had been going on in each of our lives personally. I had also just reconnected with my primary school teacher, just before the world shut down, and a few months later, her son tragically passed away.

She reached out to me and was just explaining to me how worship music had been so uplifting to her and her family. She was thanking me during that time just for songs that I'd been able to be a part of, which I was so humbled by, because, you know, she's in the midst of grief and what's coming out of her heart and out of her life is gratitude. I was shocked by that and also challenged by that. And I realized we just needed to write a song. I needed to write a song for Mrs. Ferry.

My friend needed to write a song for her friend who had lost a loved one, and perhaps even just for a world gripped by grief and loss. So from that place, we just were trying to think about the honesty of living in a world where we're not expected a perfect time. We realize that as Christians, we need to be able to talk honestly about the human experience down here. But it has to be laced. I believe it has to be laced with hope, with the hope of Jesus Christ, because He came down here, lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and was risen three days later. You know, to the right hand of the father seated in heaven, interceding for us because of Jesus, death has lost its sting.

We have ultimate victory because he had ultimate victory over sin and death and he is victorious. And because of that, even when we talk about the honesty of life, and things that happen (whether due to our own mistakes or decisions or out of our control) we have hope, and Jesus is the hope of the world and the hope of all humanity.

So we have to write from that perspective, and so that's what “Glory Hallelujah” came from. Down here, we experience moments similar to what the first verse says, that as the clouds roll in and the rains fold down and moments, when we can feel the fear creep in. With the break of day, in reference to Lamentations, His mercies are new and a portion for us every single day that he gives us hope.

He's the one that teaches us how to pray, teaches us how to say that there will be one day, a brand new day. So from that place, even when you're in the midst of grief, praise would be on our lips, because as Christians, we we know there will be a brand new day where we would get to be with Jesus, where our tears will fade. We will no longer have any sickness or sadness, and we get to see him face to face.

And just the last thing I would say is, it's that scripture of Romans 8:19 -21 in The Message version where it kind of talks about those hard times, that there isn’t any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times, that the created world itself can hardly wait for what is coming next.

Everything in creation is being more or less held back, and God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.

Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. So I pray that this song is a joyful anticipation and that it would cause people's joy to deepen in the midst of the waiting for that brand new day. I just want to say one more time, thank you so much for letting me share and getting to speak to you. It's been really sweet to get to share about all that God's put in my heart over the last two years, just before it's about to be public.

So thank you. And I pray that this album is exactly what God has spoken to me about, that it would be like honey for you too, and that it would be sweet, easy to listen to, and like a healing balm to your soul wherever you find yourself today.

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TAYA | TAYA

Lead songs from TAYA with your congregation. Resources available on MultiTracks.com.

New Life Worship

New Life Worship introduces their new awaited live album ‘Over It All’. After twenty years of worship ministry and seven years since their last record, living out God's sovereignty in times of uncertainty, the Colorado-based worship team are back with an album that exudes Spirit-fuelled energy, joy and fresh surrender to the Lord. Worship is in the bones of New Life Church and the sound of ‘Over It All’ carries a sense of fresh hope and holy defiance. Birthed from the heart of their community, these songs embody what New Life Worship and their church are all about: a people on mission together to see disciples made and hearts healed.

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It’s been 7 years since New Life Worship’s last record. How does it feel to have these songs out now? What did you all learn as a team during that time of pause?

We’re a church.  The ministry to our community and city is always first.  We continued writing songs for our church and singing them as loud and as often as possible. 

As always with our team, recording and releasing the music comes after the main thing, building a healthy team and healthy worship culture in our church.  

Around 2 years ago it became clear it was time to record and release songs again.  In the last 30-plus years New Life Church has release over 30 albums.  Songs are deep in the soil. 

All the more reason to make sure that when given the chance to say something we have something to say. 

We want to be a trusted voice.  Jon released his Unveil album in 2019 and the team rallied around it.  We learned some new techniques on how to track LIVE and looked forward to applying that to a new project.  We waited for the songs and we watched to see what our church wanted and needed to sing.  This collection of songs have carried our church. 

Through pandemics and wars, we have declared loudly that “Our God is Over All.”

How do these songs impact the spiritual lives of the people beyond your immediate community?

We know a young man who fought for his life in the hospital for almost two months.  These songs were a strength to him until he walked out of that place.  We’ve heard impactful stories from folks who live a life in what the celts call the “thin place,” where the presence of God is near.  We need worship to serve both camps of people. 

On Over it All,  we tried to write songs that will lift the eyes of the weak and bolster the faith of the strong. 

Songs that remind us we are not alone, but are joining the chorus of centuries of believers who have gone before us. 

And songs that point to where we are going and will be centuries from now.  Songs of ancient and future truth to remember that our God reigns over all things.

New Life Worship is comprised of a multicultural group of solo artists. How does this fact edify the songs you write and strengthen your commitment to sharing Truth?

We want our team to look and sound like the kingdom we sing about.  The kingdom is multicultural.  We’re not there yet but we insist on building toward that future.

We have also felt great reward in watching the team rise. Individual careers and solo efforts may always exist, but we have found a strong unity in building beyond ourselves.

There is a prophetic edge to this album. What has God been telling you all as a collective to communicate through Over It All ?

God reigns. 

Because of that we always have a song to sing.  There is nothing we face in this world that Jesus has not addressed.  We always have the greater truth of the kingdom of God to sing towards and sing about. 

Worship is a lifeline. 

It galvanizes our hearts around the hope of all this is coming and has come.  We picked these songs because they are radical.  Maybe even foolish in context to the world and its chaos.  But we know of truth that rises above the news cycle and we did our best to write those songs.  They carry what we call a “hoy defiance” because our church has always carried a holy defiance. 

We know how to sing through suffering. 

We know what to declare when fear comes knocking.  In a very real way for us, the darker the night the louder the song.  I think we are more deeply engaged in the realities of our broken world when we more deeply engage in the reality that God reigns over all things.

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New Life Worship | Over It All

Lead songs from Over It All with your congregation.

Life.Church Worship

Life.Church Worship is a collective of worship pastors from Life.Church. As an extension of the church’s mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, Life.Church Worship is passionate about creating music that inspires listeners to pursue a relationship with Jesus.

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Congrats on your album release! You’ve said these songs have been anthems for your church body. What are some songs in particular that reflect or celebrate either a challenging or rewarding season for the people you lead on Sundays?

Thanks so much! Yes, each of the songs on this EP was inspired by the stories of the people in our church, and in turn, has inspired so many more stories. One song that’s been huge for us is the title track, “Grace Upon Grace.” It’s a song of celebration about how God covers us with His grace.

No matter what we’ve done, His forgiveness is complete. We could never earn or deserve His grace, and this song is our joyful response of gratitude.

How does this album remind believers of what’s true and encourage them to hold onto that truth?

This album was written for anyone who needs healing, encouragement, or a reminder of what’s true. We pray these songs strengthen people’s faith, refresh their souls, and give them confidence that no matter what they’re walking through, God is always with them and always for them.

Tell us about collaborating with Matt Redman was like on “Finished Work of Christ.”

Wow, what an honor it was to work with Matt Redman.

He’s such a pillar in the world of worship songwriting, and it was incredible to collaborate with him in writing this song. When we brought “Finished Work of Christ” into the writing session with Matt, it was an incomplete song with a different title. We had been working on it for a while without ever quite feeling like it was done. Matt brought fresh eyes to the song and helped us find the right focus, and within a few hours, “Finished Work of Christ” was completed.

This song has become another anthem for our church and a beautiful reminder of the certainty and enduring hope of the Gospel.

What is the greatest hope you all have for this album and what’s next for Life.Church Worship?

As people sing these songs, we hope they’re reminded of and encouraged by God’s faithfulness. He sees us, He is for us, and He wants a relationship with us. No matter what we’re experiencing—seasons of sorrow or joy—God will always be right beside us.

Tell us about your partnership with YouVersion.

YouVersion is the world’s first and most downloaded Bible app, and it was born out of our church. As a church, we’re so honored to steward this incredible platform and help people grow in their intimacy with God through His Word. We’ve created Bible Plans that combine devotional content and Scripture with our music, and our worship pastors often teach a portion of Scripture for the Verse of the Day Stories feature.

What propels our church forward is our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, and we love that we get to partner together with YouVersion in various ways to help people deepen their relationship with Jesus.

How autonomous is each worship team at your campus?

We have 41 physical locations across 12 states, with more locations opening later this year. Since our locations are so geographically spread out, we work to make sure we’re balancing the tension of creating cultural consistency across all locations while still allowing our Worship Pastors to meet the needs of their specific communities.

So what we’ve done is created what we call our “song bank” - a list of 35-40 songs that each campus pulls from to create their setlists for the weekend. We refresh the song bank on a quarterly basis, removing songs as they age out in our context (usually once they’ve been in the bank about 2 years), and adding new songs in as we write them, or as certain songs written by others are moving the heart of the capital C church.

Additionally, Worship Pastors across all locations are in constant communication with each other, collaborating together creatively and pastorally, getting feedback and bouncing ideas off of one another. So that no one Worship Pastor is ever having to make decisions in isolation! We find this helps create cultural consistency, while still allowing Worship Pastors the autonomy to make the best decisions for their community context.

Our Central Worship Team and other Life.Church Central teams work to resource all Worship Pastors with the content and tools they need (everything from stems and lyric videos to equipment and tech support) so that they can spend less time focused on curating the building blocks of their weekend worship sets and more time focused on the most important part of their roles - pastoring the people in their communities throughout the week!

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Life.Church Worship | Grace Upon Grace

Lead songs from Grace Upon Grace with your congregation.

Mosaic MSC

Mosaic MSC is a culturally diverse worship collective based in Los Angeles. “Written during the group’s first writing trip to Wyoming after half a year apart, the 12-song offering is a rediscovery of who Mosaic MSC is as a group.” — CCM Magazine

The group talks gratitude, writing from the perspective of a non-believer, and more.

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“This Is How I Thank The Lord” is Mosaic's highest streamed debut of all time. Why do you think that is? Why is this the song that is resonating most?

We’ve found that the theme of gratitude in “This Is How I Thank The Lord” resonates strongly with many people.

There’s something really special about being given three minutes in a worship song to step outside of yourself and take an opportunity to express your gratitude to God.

Tell us about the experience of recording this song in a warehouse in LA, backed by a 30-person choir.

We recorded the entire record at our church in Hollywood, CA in the auditorium! It was a really beautiful experience to record these songs where we would share them with our church live, in worship, after being apart for so long over the pandemic.

It’s really neat how you all sequenced this album. This project starts with a song called “How Do I Thank You” and then leads into “How Could I Explain,” and then these openers are answered in the title track. Tell us more about this placement and which song came first!

“This Is How I Thank The Lord” was always our #1 to be on the album – so every other song was chosen with that song in mind. At Mosaic, our church, we have a lot of people who come and attend who don’t yet believe in Jesus, so we always try to write for their perspective.

We know the answer is Jesus, but what would their questions be? How can we explain Jesus to someone who hasn’t yet encountered him?

Continuing on the intentional sequence thread - you end with “Rejoice” which is the natural, spiritual response to thankfulness and gratitude. There’s a line that says: Every time I cry out in need I need help to breathe, You’re air. While someone might write He gives me air, I love that the conclusion here is that He is our air. Tell us about the writing process of the closing track and lyrical choices like this one!

We wrote rejoice altogether – one of the three full-band collaborations on the record.

It was really, for us, a poignant moment of healing from what we were all experiencing during the pandemic, and choosing to rejoice in God no matter the circumstances.

That line specifically has echoes in it from all of the protests in 2020 that were numerous across Los Angeles.

When you’re surrounded by injustice, violence, inequity – it can feel hard to breathe. We know the solution to so many of the world’s problems begins in the human heart. Jesus and becoming like him are what frees our souls to breathe in love, life, wonder, beauty, and peace.

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Mosaic MSC | This Is How I Thank The Lord

Lead songs from This Is How I Thank The Lord with your congregation.

Phil Wickham

Phil Wickham is currently on the road for the Hymn of Heaven tour. Before his show at Austin Ridge Bible Church, we had the privilege of sitting down with him to chat about his new songs, the purpose behind releasing an acoustic version of Hymn of Heaven, what encourages him about today’s worship writers, and more.

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So for this leg of the tour, you’re joined by Josh Baldwin and Kim Walker-Smith. We know Josh can be a character - have there been any funny tour moments?

We’re all characters too so he fits right in. I think the most entertaining thing is that our manager got us on Oculus (the VR thing). A lot of us had never done it before so everybody doing the “walk the plank” over the buildings, the giant spiders attack, etc. was pretty hilarious watching everyone do that.

And y’all are doing this on this tour bus? That’s a lot of stimuli.

We did do it on the tour bus. It’s crazy when you’re doing the flying thing and the bus is moving - you kind of start feeling like you’re there. It’s wild.

That’s awesome. Tell us about the songs you’re leading on this tour and which one in particular has been resonating the most?

A big part of this tour was to not have openers or closers - break the mold of the normal tour, I guess. So I made a list of some of my favorite worship leaders (Josh, Cody, Kim, Naomi, etc.) and just asked my team if we could have them all out, just at different times. So we’ve been having a different special guest every month. It hasn’t been easy but I definitely think it’s been worth it because it’s been special and fresh every month. I just wanted the people out that lead me in worship when I’m out on a run, or putting my kids to bed, and to have them out and not just do their thing but all do something together. So we’re all bringing songs that have seemed to have connected outside of our church buildings. Everyone’s bringing songs that just light the room up.

And then it’s been really special to sing the songs that seem to have connected most with people from my album like “Battle Belongs,” “House of the Lord,” “Hymn of Heaven,” “1,000 Names, etc.” I can’t stop thinking onstage, every night, I keep getting this memory that feels like a vision it’s so real, I can even smell the youth group room, just this stinky, sweaty room. (Why are they always sweaty?) and just leading worship as a 13 year old kid - just so happy to be there and didn’t need to be anywhere else. And just seeing the goodness and grace of God over my life - His protection, His kindness, and His faithfulness - and I’m looking out over these rooms that have all been full (which I’m just like: “What? Why am I in Minneapolis and there’s 4,000 people here”) but they show up with so much desperation to sing and so much faith filling up the rooms.

And I’m just more aware than ever of God’s grace in my life and faithfulness as I get to write these songs and bring these prayers that were written for my home church to sing, and make them other people’s too. It’s been amazing.

You mentioned leading worship since you were 13 years old. Being from a pastor’s family, was this calling just ingrained in you?

Not at all, actually. We moved from Orange County to San Diego, my Dad was at Calvary Costa Mesa, and just felt a call through a pastor. My dad gave me a guitar, didn’t tell me how to lead worship with it or anything just gave it to me, but the way I learned how to play guitar was through all these chord charts of worship songs that were around. And that’s how I fell in love with God was through music and through just worshiping in my own room.

But even then I wasn’t like: “I can’t wait to get onstage.” I was always the reluctant guy - I didn’t want to do a record, I didn’t think anyone would want an album of mine, but then a family wealthier than ours gave me the resources to make one because they saw the hand of God on my life I guess. So God definitely had to kick me through some doors every once in awhile. I just never wanted to do anything I wasn’t supposed to do, which I think is a lesson in itself which is: being able to hear the voice of the lord instead of the voice of my own fear or insecurities.

I never felt like this is what I have to do. I still can’t believe it - that’s why I brought it up - like, I can’t believe it. What an amazing honor that God has me in this position right now and I just want to be a good steward of it until He wants me to do something else.

That’s cool that you mentioned that you fell in love with Jesus learning to play music and now you have that songs “Reason I Sing” and it’s about how you sing now because you love Jesus. It’s kind of a full circle moment. Tell us about this song and the acoustic version you just released.

Yes, that song is going to be part of a whole, reimagined record of Hymn of Heaven. I wrote “Reason I Sing” to be the opener of a worship set to ask: “What are we really here for?” I love singing about what Jesus did for us on the Cross and how He conquered the grave and how every fear, in light of that, now pales in comparison, and everything that was beautiful becomes more beautiful because it’s all wrapped up in who He is. Everything is wrapped in Him.

Through the lens of Him, a clarity is brought to all life.

The more I learn about Jesus and how the culmination of the scriptures leads to Him, and how the Church is this growing thriving, messed up, awesome thing that flows from Him - it all comes back to Jesus. If there’s anything I want to say at the top of a worship set it’s this. We did it in a very low key way - that’s the whole record.

My family and I go to the same spot on this cliff, it's about 2 miles away from our house, and it’s the first view of the Pacific Ocean that we have, so whenever we’re heading to the beach we come around this bend and it’s up on this cliff. You see the train tracks, Cardiff Beach is right there. And my family parks in the dirt in this beat up Sprinter Van and open the sliding door and we usually take our dinner there and just sit on blankets and watch the sunset. We were out there, and I like to play low-key worship music when we do this, you know, try to have a chuchy moment with my kids in the middle of a crazy day like: “Isn’t God awesome??” And they’re like “Ok Dad….” I think I was playing Prayerdoxology from Elevation, and that album is just beautiful versions of songs that are already beautiful, and I thought: “I wanna do this.”

I wanna make a sunset record - a coffee in the morning record, a putting your kids to bed record, with these songs I already have.

I could show it to you later, but I have this picture of all my kids looking at the sunset and I just kept looking at that when making this acoustic record - I’d have a question in the studio like, “let’s put a little bass on this” and I’d come back to that photo and go: “you know what? Vocal and guitar. That’s it.” I wanted to make a soundtrack for that moment.

I love that. Since you mentioned Elevation - you’ve been doing this since you were 13 so you’ve really seen Christian music grow and evolve. You collaborate with Brandon Lake, Sean Curran and more that are a part of this really influential generation of worship leaders right now. What about this generation of writers and artists encourages you?

It’s hard to say, because this is the only generation I’ve been actively involved with on a very personal level so it’s hard to compare.

But I will say that hanging out with Brandon Lake and Steven Furtick recently, it was just the most beautiful time of fellowship and authenticity and a heart for the Church. The world is crazy, and I think we’re seeing it in a new way, and we see it immediately now. We can’t hide from it because someone’s going to take a video of it and it’s going to show up on your feed.

And it’s just amazing to have these friends: everywhere from Passion to Bethel, and more – all through it, they just practice what they preach. We’re not perfect, but man, when I spend a day with Sean Curran and Kristian Stanfill or Steven Furtick, the Ligertwoods (we just wrote that song “A Thousand Hallelujahs”), every time I leave just so blessed to have be with people I’m going to hang out with forever. Brothers and sisters, you know?

It’s just real. Especially in today’s world, there’s nothing really to hide behind and there’s really no reason to do it unless it’s real. There’s so many other things we could do, so many other banners we could fly. The ones that fly the banner of Jesus high is just really inspiring to see.

Maybe I don’t give myself enough credit, but when I get a call to hang out with these guys who’s music I love so much, I just feel honored to be there. I’m like God: Give me something I can contribute. Because I just want to sit here and let them sing to me!

Our community is worship leaders, and we’d just love to hear some encouragement from you for them to close this out!

One thing I say to worship leaders is: you are faithfully serving your body and your people and pastoring them into a new place of worship and a higher, deeper place of intimacy with your church. Thank you so much for what you do.

I’ve kind of got a unique position since I’m not on staff at a church. I get a fresh crowd of people every time. Which in some ways is difficult: being away from family, and a specific type of responsibility and stewardship, but watching my dad as a worship pastor still being faithful to his calling to lead people to Jesus through music, it’s not easy. You have to cultivate a healthy relationship with Jesus on a daily basis, you have to maintain healthy relationships with the people you work with, with the crowd that your ministering to, and you have to do it all with such grace and humility.

Everyone around you has an opinion or a complaint. I just want to say, thank you to all you worship leaders for serving. It does not go unseen by the Lord and the Holy Spirit and we desperately need you. I don’t lead worship at my home church - I’m not on staff. The guys that are are hugely important to my spiritual growth. Just for me to sit next to my wife and sing and worship - I’m so thankful for that.

I just read today, so it’s on my heart, when the Apostles were up in front of all the leaders in Acts, they were these blue collar guys, but they spoke with such power and authority that it was undeniable, even to those that didn’t call Jesus “Messiah,” that they had been with Jesus. And that would be my one encouragement. That you would cultivate your relationship with Jesus so well that it would be undeniable to all that you serve and lead, that they would say the same thing. And that they would want to follow suit as they worship.

Be with Jesus. Make sure you’re being not just doing. Because doing can burn out quick. Make time to be with Jesus.

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Thanks for your time, Phil!

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Phil Wickham | Hymn of Heaven

Lead songs from Hymn of Heaven with your congregation.

The Belonging Co

The Belonging Co has released their fourth live album, Here!

 “The songs coming out of this house are birthed from the overflow of what God is doing in our church. We feel it is part of our mandate, part of our calling to capture the sound of what God is doing here.”

Worship leader & songwriter Andrew Holt spoke on how these songs are intrinsically linked with who The Belonging Co is as a church body.

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We are so excited to talk with you today about the new album!

Before we dig into the songs, we’d like to start with more of a macro level question: The Belonging Co is both a collective of worship artists who write and release music together and a local church dedicated to the people of Nashville. Tell us a bit how you all navigate these two missions. Or do you see them as one and the same?

Yes absolutely. We definitely view those two things as one and the same, in the sense that the music we release is not separate at all from who we are as a local church, it is actually quite the opposite. Every worship leader who is featured leading songs on the records we release are a part of our church, and lead in our weekly services, which is their way of serving their church.

When we first started coming together to write several years ago we made it very clear to our team that we weren’t setting out to write songs for a record/project, but rather we were writing songs for our church that gave language and melody to what God was doing every week in our house. That goal is still the same today, every time we come together to write or lead a new song the main purpose is to give our church a song to glorify and worship God and bring breakthrough into their lives.

The overflow of that heart is the recordings and moments that we release which allows those outside of our house and other churches to experience the same thing we’re experiencing with these songs in our church. 

As we head into the Easter season, which song (or songs) are you most excited for congregations to begin leading as we prepare our hearts for reflecting on the death and resurrection?

I think the most obvious song for Easter off of this project is “Because Of Christ”. This song does such an amazing job at setting our minds on what Jesus did for us on the cross, and remembering that it is in the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection that we should boast.

Another song from the project that is amazing for Easter is “Come Alive (Resurrection Power)”, this song is such a chance to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus and how that power lives in us. Plus there’s nothing like singing “I’m running out of the grave” on Easter!!

The first song released from the project was “Firm Foundation (He Won’t).” This song has been in our top songs since it first came out! Why do you think it’s connecting so much with churches?

I think Firm Foundation is such an important song that we need to be singing today as Christians.

We’re living in a time where everything around us in our world seems to be being shaken and in chaos to the point where we all are looking for something to hold onto, and nothing is as solid as the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

There is so much power in declaring over your life that “Christ Is My Firm Foundation,” making a conscious choice to not put your hope in anything else but Him and Him alone.

“Because of Christ” has this very familiar, classic melody. It makes the song feel very foundational. Tell us more about the writing and recording process of this single.

I was able to write “Because Of Christ” with Mitch Wong and Chris Clayton in early 2021. We started the chorus from Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” I love how this song paints such a picture of the cross, and the reason we have life is because of Jesus, and then in the bridge it’s just a chance to sing hallelujah to Jesus for that life.

The version that we released was recorded at our annual church conference in September of 2021 where Pastor Henry led it, and it was such a powerful moment and the song really came to life that night.

I know it’s hard to choose, but what song from the album do you relate to most personally and why?

I think “Everything Is Changing” feels the most personal to me because it really describes for me the power of the presence of God that I have experienced time and time again in my life.

The chorus of this song was birthed out of a time of worship where I was leading at church, and as soon as we started singing this I knew that what this lyric and melody carried was important. I brought it to Austin Davis and Sarah Gerald and we finished this idea, and even as we wrote it that day we could feel the tangible presence of God in the room that day.

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The Belonging Co | Here

Lead songs from Here with your congregation.

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“We first started leading ‘Because of Christ’ on Easter Sunday this past year and it immediately became an anthem for our church. Sometimes we can focus on Easter as being this deep, solemn moment; but actually what Jesus did didn’t end in the grave — it overcame the grave! It doesn’t mean we ignore the pain and the sacrifice of Easter, but that only serves to show how great was the victory of the resurrection of Jesus...”

— Henry Seeley

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The Belonging Co is a church movement based in Nashville, TN. Since it’s inception in 2014, the church has become known as a place to find freedom, breakthrough, and healing through God’s Word, His presence and worship.

The heart of The Belonging Co is that every song released would empower both individuals and the collective body of Christ to encounter God through worship, and experience the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus.

We desire encounter over entertainment, intimacy over industry, presence over presentation, people over position... And most of all JESUS over everything.

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for KING & COUNTRY

for KING & COUNTRY’s fourth studio project, What Are We Waiting For?, asks a pivotal question in a post-pandemic world. Brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone provide the answer across 13 original tracks that confront relevant issues and confirm the duo’s commitment to community, diversity and family. Set against a sonic backdrop painted by the Platinum-selling group’s lush, vivid pop, the collection features cameos from tourmate Dante Bowe, Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly and includes barrier-breaking single “Relate,” awe-inspiring “Love Me Like I Am” and unifying No. 1 hit “TOGETHER.”

Joel Smallbone shared with us the backstory on their new record which experientially reflects for KING & COUNTRY, their family, and the world.

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You’ve said this project “confirms the duo’s commitment to community, diversity and family.” Tell us more about this commitment and also why you chose to pose the album title as a question.

Unfortunately, and in some ways, I say this sensitively, fortunately, we were able to be home for the last two albums while we were recording and writing. I say fortunately and unfortunately because that was due to the pandemic.

While it is kind of you to say that we have kept a finger on the pulse, and it’s encouraging because we do make every effort to stay in it, the last two years have given us an incredible amount of content to pull from, as far as worldwide culture, what we’ve all faced in this universal suffering, political tension, racial division, and so on.

Our attempt is to always write with a sense of hopefulness, but also a sense of grit and honesty as to where we find ourselves as individuals, where our families find ourselves, and where it seems the world finds itself.

What Are We Waiting For? is very much that. I feel it’s very grounded in what we just walked through and in many ways, how we should find our way forward. And we chose to pose it as a question as sort of a charge to ourselves and to others. 

You all dedicate “Unsung Hero” to your parents — tell us about growing up in a large family and how it’s affected your families now, your faith, and your mission as a duo.

Luke and I grew up in a very musical family and we traveled with our sister, Rebecca St. James, for many years as youngsters. We were the road crew and did stage managing and background vocals. In many ways, we often say that music chose us more than we chose music.

I think that the blessing of doing music together as family is that you are going to figure out ways to resolve your conflict because you are family and you’ve got to for you to be able to have a good family relationship. You’ve got to work out even your own working relationship and I think that’s a gift. And being able to create a song like “Unsung Hero” that is really a tribute to our parents and a way of honoring them in a time that people seem to want to move on from their parents and their childhood. We wanted to take a moment to thank them. 

“Love Me Like I Am” is an admission of the difficulty of believing in grace that gives without condition. Do you think we can truly comprehend God’s all-encompassing love and mercy in this life, or is it more that we can simply accept the fact we might never fully comprehend it, and yet, can still believe it?

I think that it connects so much to our humanity of God. So often in Western mentality it’s": “I am only worth what I produce” and we’ve all, myself included, bought into this construct at varying levels.

The more we can come to this place of going: “I am. I exist and I am and therefore, I have inherent worth and inherent meaning,” it seems to change the way we look at God, others, and ourselves.

We’re not looking at others for what they can do for us anymore, at God as being angry because we are not good enough, or looking at ourselves either with a sense of pride because we’re better than other people or a sense of shame because we’re not as good as other people. We’re able to look at ourselves and just inherently be at peace and then operate from a place of peace versus operating from a place of striving and dissatisfaction. “Love Me Like I Am,” which ironically came to me in my sleep, I think is a heart cry both on a human level, human to human, as well as God to human.

It is worth celebrating those that do love us as we are, or like we are, and that there is a God that does the same. 

Tell us about working with Dante Bowe, Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly on this record. What did they each individually bring to this project musically and spiritually?

We began the album process during the pandemic and that was when we had the opportunity to collaborate in such a lovely way with Tori and Kirk so it began there. We had worked on “TOGETHER” for years previously and then ran into Kirk at the Grammy’s in 2020 and mentioned wanting to work on something together, so it felt right to bring back this song. And then once we had it together we wanted a female voice on it as well, and we asked Tori and she came back in just a few days with her vocals, and just came together we feel perfectly.

Then we had worked on this song “Unity” which we also felt needed a rich, gravely voice that could bring what the song really needs, and had connected with Dante here in town, and started to become friends, so that one really came together seamlessly as well. The Sleeping at Last feature, we’ve just always been massive fans, so when the idea came up with that and Matt Hales producing we were thrilled. 

What do you all hope for most as these songs begin to reach the Church?

Our hope is that people will listen to this project and will take away a little bit of what’s important in life. The album is called What Are We Waiting For? because I think we’re all waiting for something, some sort of lightbulb to go off for us to make certain decisions.

I think our hope is that maybe we won’t wait so long to do those things that we know instinctually we should do, but we hold back for whatever reason. I think our hope is that we’ll jump into it.

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for KING & COUNTRY | What Are We Waiting For?

Lead What Are We Waiting For? with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Elevation Worship

Multi-GRAMMY® nominated, multi-GMA Dove Award® winning, and Billboard No. 1 charting group Elevation Worship has released their new album! We heard from Chris Brown on how their new album LION embodies the paradoxical nature of who God is.

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LION is out! We are so excited for these songs to reach the Church. First off, tell us about the decision process behind the artwork. The biblical symbol of the lamb is a popular one, but tell us why it was chosen specifically for this record.

To be honest, like a lot of the songs on this album, the process of landing the title and then the artwork was explorative. In writing, we’ve enjoyed having a different starting point and goal over the last year, challenging what we think of as a “church” song. And we weren’t sure if some of these songs were meant to live on the same project or not.

But as it came together, it felt quite beautiful and appropriate to have an album that wasn’t exactly singular in its sound.

It felt right to us to have an acoustic pop ballad like “Dancing” live beside “Water Is Wild,” a rock song about the baptism of Jesus. Or to open the album with an unexpected song like “Bye Bye Babylon,” then kick into an upbeat “Sunday morning” church song like “What I See.” So as the album took shape and was colorful in nature and diverse stylistically, we looked to our (also very different) song “LION” as a title track.

Then Pastor Steven fittingly said not to go an expected route for the cover art, but instead, showcase the encompassing and paradoxical nature of who God is. Put a lamb on the cover. And it felt perfect.

So much of God’s kingdom embodies paradox. Jesus himself does: He was servant AND master. He was sovereign AND he submitted to authority. He’s the beginning AND the end. He’s the Lion AND the Lamb.

Why did you all decide to lead with the single “Same God?” What is it about this song’s message that introduces the new project?

There’s so much in our lives that’s constantly changing or shifting. Relationships can naturally ebb and flow depending on the season.

We get a new job. Our countries’ leaders change. New bills get passed. Not to mention the unstable nature of the last two years. As we’ve led this song in our church over the last several months, I believe what’s resonated most with our people is acknowledging God as everlastingly the same.

From his covenant with Jacob, to seeing his people delivered from Egypt, to his promise to Mary, to his promise to me and you…knowing that we’re a part of a great cloud of witnesses who also testify that the Lord keeps his covenant of love to a thousand generations brings an undeniable peace and strength to us as his followers.

 The title track sonically feels like a lion’s roar. It’s so sensory. Tell us about the process of capturing this powerful song.

This was one of the easiest songs to produce with our band. It seemed to know exactly what to do with itself right away. Pastor Steven, Brandon Lake and myself wrote it on a Wednesday, banging as hard as we could on a keyboard and acoustic, so we called the band together the next day to flesh it out. And that single D note that drones throughout the song set the tone for where the song needed to go musically.

From there it was just fun discovering what each musician needed to bring to support a song like this that was different from anything we’ve written before. We knew it couldn’t be too playful though because the lyric is very weighty and vertical.

Tell us about the collaborators on this record. Why were Chandler Moore, Pat Barrett, and more the right people to spiritually communicate these songs? And tell us about introducing the Valley Boys on the opening track!

The last few years, we’ve just really enjoyed writing with new voices and creators. Pat, Brandon, Chandler and Jason Ingram are just a few of the guys we collaborated with on this album, and as songs came, their voices felt indelibly attached to certain songs.

Having them a part of LION is a joy. And I won’t try and over-explain Valley Boys (haha). I’ll just say creating with so many different people leaves much room for exploring new spaces and directions.

LION almost feels like a continuation of the sentiment and purpose of Old Church Basement (2021): returning to the roots of why we worship. These songs feel enthusiastic, unabashed, and spontaneous. Is this a reflection of where Elevation is at collectively as a church and as individual believers?

We definitely try and carry what we’ve learned or love into the next season.

Coming off of Old Church Basement, the landscape for creating felt way more open. Songs like “Water Is Wild,” “Might Get Loud” and “Welcome Resurrection” were recorded on the first time our church had gathered back together for a night of worship in 18 months due to the pandemic. So the energy and enthusiasm and passion you feel could not be more authentic to how the room felt that night.

Our congregation was so excited to be back worshiping together like that. I think this album as a whole represents where our church is right now and we’re so happy others finally get to experience it as well.

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Elevation Worship | LION

Lead songs from LION with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.

Brooke Ligertwood

With a passion for truth, art, humanity and the church, Brooke has served the global church through song, leadership and creativity through her many years as part of Hillsong Worship, which she leads globally, whilst also enjoying a successful mainstream career of almost two decades under her maiden name (Brooke Fraser). She passionately asserts that all of life, for the follower of Christ, is ministry.

We were able to sit down with Brooke to hear her heart behind her new album SEVEN.

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Your debut, solo album is out in the world! How does it feel?

This is crazy, but actually it’s my seventh solo album (not why it’s called SEVEN though)… but you’re right, the first (and possibly last) album of worship songs for the church (I am very happy serving and leading Hillsong Worship, which is how I’ve been serving the church with worship songs for past 17 or so years). 

You wrote the lead single “A Thousand Hallelujahs” with your husband, Scott Ligertwood, and Phil Wickham. Tell us about collaborating with Phil for the first time - you two are both such seasoned writers but on opposite sides of the world! What did he bring to the session?

We actually only live an hour up the road from Phil so we’re practically neighbors (Scott and I have lived in the US for many years). We have so many mutual friends and had heard about each other for years but only met and became friends relatively recently. Our kids are similar ages and absolutely love each other, so that family connection is very sweet.

What Phil and ourselves have in common is that we honestly just truly love the local church. We literally wrote “A Thousand Hallelujahs” in Phil’s church, inspired by the generations who had gathered to worship in that little church hall, offering their thousands of hallelujahs to the Lord. We all shed a tear when we found out the congregation that meets there sang “A Thousand Hallelujahs” in that very room a few weeks ago. What a stunning full circle moment.

Tell us the backstory behind “I Belong To You (Dylan’s Song).”

Oh, thank you for asking about that song! It’s tender. Our eldest daughter gave her heart to Jesus last year and when I shared the story of how it happened with my friend Chris Davenport, he went and wrote a chorus inspired by the story, then showed me the chorus and asked if we could write it together for her, which I’m so grateful for. So the lyrics are all the things I want Dylan to know and be able to confess about what it means to belong to Jesus as she journeys through the complexities of life and community.

I’ve already had a friend tell me they use this song to sing over their own child who is currently away from the Lord, confessing over them that they belong to Jesus.

Remind us what “Nineveh” represents in the Bible and why you chose this microcosm to title track #6 as?

“Nineveh” sticks closely to the narrative of the Biblical book of Jonah, but the bridge takes us into the New Testament and turns the lens on ourselves. It’s the prayer that Jonah, in his rebellion, never managed to pray. He ran from telling Nineveh the truth, begrudgingly obeyed in the end, but never confronted the “Nineveh” within himself.

He obeyed, but he never really surrendered. “Nineveh” encourages us to learn from his error.

Finally, what is your greatest hope for these songs as they start finding new life in churches around the world?

Oh gosh… I hope they really help. I hope that these songs help build the local church in the most practical way. There are many songs on this album which are very practically useful! And then I hope these songs help nourish and nurture people’s individual walks with the Lord. That people are able to see Jesus more clearly, more vividly, because of the way He reveals Himself to them as they worship Him with these songs.

I pray they become well-worn paths to the throne room for people, as they have been for me.

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Brooke Ligertwood | SEVEN

Lead songs from SEVEN with your congregation. Resources available at MultiTracks.com.