A Songwriting Conversation with Brandon Lake

[Music] hey everybody uh phil here hanging out with my good friend brandon lake what's up everybody and uh you're looking amazing as ever likewise braids or those dress praise braids craze braids crazy crazy berries um actually i got this on tour and i just thought it was a great looking hat but everybody said oh man you're in minnesota or minnesota no it's not wait maybe it is the brewers whatever that is yeah so no offense to bring with brewers brewers fans but i am i just liked the hat and i was trying to rep you know any anything i can do for extra brownie points with the with the locals with the locals sick dude white pants orange laces sick guitar earring goatee goatee no it's not good okay so that's abraham lincoln what's what is that so everybody thinks that i can't did you shave your beard like that no i don't gosh i hate that people think i do this is just all i've got this is nice it's nice because it highlights your your chiseled features no i'm not chiseled i i literally my wife sent me a picture the other day and uh i was on tour and she sent me a picture of like when we had just gotten married it's very chubby brandon oh my face is so round she's like she's like i married this well there's nothing i just said thank you chubby skinny nothing wrong with it i'm just saying you know daddy had some work to do i've been putting in work trying to have a little bit more of a you know does take work to do what you do obviously because you look awesome amazing well hey everybody that's the intro to our very to our very um well-prepared situation right now actually uh i did this with our good buddy brian johnson last time he's in town we're kind of off the cuff yeah and we had to make some other content and so we thought hey let's just talk about a few songs we've written and hopefully it inspires or encourages someone um in our ramblings hopefully we say something that's coherent and uh and so brandon's here in um this is my home church actually uh this is one of the chapels they meet at um it's called light church in encinitas california i rarely lead worship here but um i go here often with my wife we just sit and sing along i'm so thankful for this building benji the pastor here and uh and just the generations i think it's from the 60s maybe even 50s it was built so generations gone before in this place just singing hymns and singing worship songs and uh and so just to write in this play i've written several times maybe several people they might even know out there and um some really cool fruit even from friends in this room so happy to have you down finally oh happy to be here happy to be in this room anointed room many great songs um it feels just welcoming in here and we're writing today uh doing a little bit of writing and it feels amazing super inspiring room yeah great room and uh we've written some songs before but just wanted to talk about these songs talk about what you're up to talk about the tour we're gonna go on and um so uh first time we met i think so we were put on a text thread together did we do we meet in fort lauderdale though or just oh yeah yeah back up okay so we eat there uh not like we didn't shake hands or anything but i was among probably um i was one of maybe 20 25 students calvary chapel fort lauderdale at ocean's edge school of worship um great program so out of high school went there for a year and one of the nights they bring in um guests all the time and uh and so they brought up and we feel welcome came in i think we show yeah we sing we did worship that night but we just kind of hang out just with me and the students that day i hope you probably have no it was amazing actually um you shared a song from mal that you were working on oh really yeah you're like i just wrote this song for her do you remember it at all of course you i remember it was brilliant but i can't remember it but of course but that was that was back in the day was it um [Music] i have not thought of this forever that sounds familiar [Music] why didn't you ever put it out i forgot about it i was probably waiting to for like my anniversary or something and then i didn't ever think [Music] oh man that's i haven't thought of that in like 15 years love you man you gave me a chance to beat you to the punch and put out yeah you put out a full love ep man i love ep and i love it i love you vp for your wife um so we we met we kind of were in the same room there but then yeah we were put on a text thread by uh tony brown who helped kind of spearhead all the house fires thing yeah and as a co-writer on good good father and other songs um and then is kind of one of the visionaries behind maverick city yeah owner of maverick city kind of the pioneer behind that and it was around that time that we actually started maverick city it wasn't called anything but it was just a bunch of strangers coming together to write songs i love that talk about uh diversity in the church and how we're all doing it pretty poorly and so like how do we be an answer and so it was really cool because we were writing songs in the context of really just a bigger conversation we wanted to have and we were breaking bread with one another intentionally talking about that but one of the days um we had this song idea work we were working on in and tony i don't even know if i can remember it um but tony i think i remember it do you overflow overflow yeah tony put me and you on a text thread and said hey this this amazing young guy like with fire songs like you guys need to connect and uh and i got a voice memo with you singing so uh i can't remember how it goes i remember a song called in the overflow it's kind of upbeat right yeah um did anything ever happen with that no nothing yet but there was some good bones there yeah but i think that was maybe the most nerve-wracking uh moment of my life up until then um it was knowing that you were gonna get it and not knowing how you were going to respond and was it was the song crap of my voice it would be the worst i was literally telling some other day i was like so when you meet you're you're like you're heroes don't say the words and okay whatever but when you meet all right you can say someone when you when you meet your hero like somebody that has inspired you for a very long time um and then they they turn out to be even nicer and nicer more nice more you know just so sweet so and they're not only just like sweet and great to be around but like empowering and you've spoken so much life over me and so it's like ultimate you know just absolutely amazing well i mean that wasn't that long ago it was when you think of um just what has happened what was that four years ago three years ago yeah yeah three things and connecting with the bethel crew and writing songs with them and then connecting elevation and graves into gardens happened and this is a move with tasha a lot happened in the past few years yeah you do you're everywhere look you're understanding now we have we're on where i'm standing now you're on my record um you've got your own record out you got your love ep out you're on maverick city song goodness gracious mallory my wife was just saying because um they're playing your song gratitude on air one once in a while yeah and she's just like i she she came in like glassy eyes just like that song gratitude with brandon he's like oh this is crazy you know um just we're just i think i speak for the the greater part of the church that is pays attention to any music that was written before or after 50 years you know all the church that is involved we know your songs we're so thankful for what you bring that you do and uh and your energy empowers me so we're here writing a song yeah we weren't even planning on getting started till after we did a little recording yeah but we already i can't wait i don't want to stay the time it's so sick yeah there's it's some lyrics i i've never thought i'd write in a worship song let's go and i cannot wait for you guys to hear it so we're here writing um but really quick so what i want to know because i actually don't know the story you probably told it 50 times yeah um tell me about graves in the garden tell me about your connection with the elevation team yeah how that happened and then where did graves come from yeah absolutely um you know it's wild because so i'm in charleston south carolina yep and uh elevation is based out of charlotte north carolina three hours away so and then a lot of the churches i've been a part of have very much looked up to elevation so elevation was always always like on my mind a lot of my friends have gone and led worship there or played there and so um we'd always be looking to elevation for inspiration and not just like for creative ideas but also culture and like how i mean pastor stephen is such a brilliant leader communicator pastor preacher songwriter like absolutely insane songwriter like i don't think like i feel for him too because like to write that many amazing songs and the majority of people not know that it's him behind it but it's also annoying it's amazing though it's like what yeah i think he like he probably likes that yeah what i mean he's just i mean he's he's just ministering to people absolutely yeah he i just i just i've only been in the room a couple days with him just right and we did a trip and same thing just was blown away by his his craft as a songwriter so i i'm i'm the um so i knew of them and i think they loosely knew of me because our churches are very like connected and so um when i was out at bethel we had a worship conference and worship school and chris brown and the team came out and we were hanging out at brian and jim johnson's house and so me and chris connected and i was like hey dude i'm just down the road if you guys ever want to write i would love that just be super open to that two weeks go by i want to say it was a few weeks and i get a text from chris and he's like hey pastor stephen would love to write with you and myself and tiffany hammer and and so i was like yeah i mean the butterflies the nerves all of it you know you walk into a big big like and i'm the like it's like three of them and one of me and i'm like oh and actually what was really cool is i forgot to add this part um what i think really uh landed me the invitation was we were leading worship together at heaven come that's where it was okay we had two kind of um you know hangouts and having come as a conference that bethel puts on chris brown yeah he came in and stephen spoke right mm-hmm yeah and uh we have this we're doing uh [Music] to your uh day yeah right flowing on this and i was like don't end it like keep that kind of i kind of went into uh this is my testimony flowed out the light it was missing my testimony from dark to light which like so high i don't even know how that happened but you were so i was so pumped you know first long this said i'm like let's go and so we did that whole flow moment we end and then i think along with invitation from chris like a few weeks later he was like bro do you ever do anything with that flow moment i was like no i haven't touched it and so went up to charlotte um we met up at the studio and um that was the first song we wrote was my testimony from that little flow moment and uh and then i think the second song was was graves in the gardens um and i think we ended up writing four or five songs that went on that record there is a king rattle who came up with the lyric you turned graves into gardens pastor steve that's what i mean what did he have yeah it came from a message that he preached i think a few months back and so we write my testimony you know we're like we're on level 10 just so stoked we're so pumped and he's like all right hey i've got this one-eyed this concept this idea this this lyric graves into gardens and i was like we're writing that right now like that i i hear it you know it's killer i mean a lyric a theme a concept like that you know it's just like any time a songwriter it's just before i forget then there's there's two huge things i think that i think a lot of you guys might just be listening and watching because you love brandon or maybe you're connected with my music but i bet there's a lot of songwriters and worshipers out there too there's two things that i think i would be if i was like trying to figure out how to start writing or um see you know be like man how do i get there it'd be the one is like how did brandon come up with the course of testimony on the fly and be brave enough just to sing it out and it worked you know like yeah i think for a lot of people um that's daunting yeah like i'm in the middle of a song yeah i've got a whole band and i and i'm coming up with some words i'm gonna sing them out yeah you were and haven't come what is it four or five thousand people there yeah um and that's the first thing first thing i'd like to address because i think because i've written quite quite a bit of the songs uh that i've written that have stood the test of time came have come from some sort of little flow moment yeah a lot of the songs i write with brian johnson yeah he's he's really in tune with those moments of singing singing the right thing in the right time that's not pre-written or pre-thought yeah and uh and what i i would say practically like some people are like well how do you do that yeah how do you get the courage and i i think that forever probably for every hundred hours of doing it off stage yeah you can you like that you get like a good minute yeah of like you just you exercise a muscle so much i would say songwriting is kind of like a muscle and the more more you're in tune with like your strengths and the more you understand kind of melody and where your voice lands in it and phrasing uh the more you do it off the stage yeah you can become quite a powerhouse on stage to be able to sing out truth and moment to come up with things and i think there is some natural skill and talent involved and god given um kind of uh in in intuition uh but i do think like if there's anybody out there saying like how do i write testimony on the fly while i'm singing glorious day and i it's because up to that moment you spent so many hours yeah writing songs over this you know yeah right so even though you haven't read it before you just you're mind still trying to write songs that fast and uh it's how would you say any more advice into that well i'll just say that you know um some people think that it's kind of that that idea of like you know it it can happen in a moment but it's really like taking a lifetime to be able to do that you know and so i think like if i had any encouragement for a young worship leader first of all i would say you have to step out of fear and into faith there's never a moment that i'm stepping into something if you want to call it spontaneous or prophetic that i am not terrified and maybe that's like me that's the area i need to grow in but there is always the i don't know how this is going to come out i don't know how it's going to land but i'm going for it because i feel it i sense it and and i and there's times i think stepping out and faith be if there's not some fear to step out over right you know is it faith anymore is it just like oh i'm sure yeah it's gonna it's gonna be awesome you know it's like right i love that it takes faith of like i trust that you're with me and leading me in this lord so i'm gonna stop yeah i heard kim walker say that she was like they're asking her about the spontaneous and prophetic and she's just like honestly the first step is to step out of fear and into faith and believe that the lord has you and if it fails and if it's a dud like who really actually cares like i re i would respect the try you know like and it actually might it might make it on like a cool worship fails yeah um i know i'm like waiting for the day i end up on worship fails um but uh actually okay pause real quick a quick fail i was talking to brandon our friend and manager the other night and i remember we were talking about cannons because we came up on cannon street and i remember and probably no one noticed but i noticed and i was so embarrassed that when i sang the word universe for one time and i bro i have led canons a million times i'm so curious and i said the word universe and it came out universe i mean that's pretty that's not that big it's not that bad but i was like why did it was just one of those things you're like why did i do that i don't even know why my brain the universe it was like you know i was like anyways um but well i'll tell them really quick one of my fails was i try to jump onto the drum riser and my shins hit the horizon i fell into the drum kit and then the whole song stops no in a packed room i was about 25 at the time so that was pretty bad and then another fail which wasn't my fault but it's my band and you know so i'm the leader i'll take the blame we were outside in front of about 7 000 people at like a big old event thing i've seen this one yeah and my guitar player's tuned to have set down and so he plays a whole intro great things and he's so pumped and he's so into it it was it was one of my guitar players taking a different role for the day because the other one couldn't make it and he was just pumped to play lead yeah and you know great things [Music] so [Music] but he's here so it's and he's so pumped he has a guitar so loud he's just thinking i i'm nailing this anyways that was a hard one to get over so for any worship leaders watching we've all been there we've done things and we will continue to have those moments but transitioning back to graves or no really the uh just the spontaneous and all that kind of stuff i would say one of the biggest encouragements that i have for worship leaders and this goes to like songwriting and this is essentially those moments that are prophetic or spontaneous it's kind of like songwriting in the moment and on the fly and the best thing i could encourage you with is to create what i like to think about like storehouses and um every day working that muscle like uh looking for ideas and looking for the lord in everything and in in your daily devotion or whatever and like creating a storehouse of ideas and really just like like feeding constantly on inspiration feeding constantly on the word of god so that it becomes so like deep in there in some like a subconscious way you're like a lot of those moments that happen i look back and go i have no idea how i did that and i it's because i think two things one it's not me it's the lord it's the spirit of god but then two it's because it came from a deep rooted like well a deep dug well it didn't come from this oh i just happened to read the scripture before i walked out on stage would you say like because now as you've written songs and and step you continue to step into your artistry and songwriting it's almost like you you teach yourself to see inspiration yeah as potential moment as potential seeds of things can that can minister to people you start to see them it's like okay where's the song in that and i'm gonna that could be a cool thing later and this could be a cool thing later the more you do it the more it becomes just a natural thing and it could not just be like sort of breakdown storehouses like a lot of things i put in my storehouse is there are seeds and it could be a scripture it could be a story um it could be a a scene uh just to make it another s um it's a scene it's visuals it's like hey i was driving i'm in san diego and and i'm you know i'm noticing i'm taking in the beauty of god i was sick like the other night i'm leading here in town and i'm singing looking out to these hills and so like i start in a flow moment i start like sing it like sing it to the hills tell the mountains don't let the rocks cry out for you come on like and just kind of flowing on that it's like it's being aware i think in in all you know moments that god is speaking and so if you have an ear to hear that a spirit that's in tune i think it's a lot more easily easy to like step into that and then i want to say stories too a lot of times flow moments are like coming from something that's just heavy on my heart like a friend that's fighting for his life right now like what are the words that i would know like i would think like he would want to hear right now or my buddy micah who was healed and so like it's it's honestly a lot of slow moments come from a place of testimony you know it's like thinking of real life thinking of real faces thinking what would i say to my mom this moment what would i say to the old guy in the front like what would i actually yeah instead of just focusing in on like these are the kind of phrases and language i hear in worship songs it's like actually ministering to your people like how do i like i literally imagine yes there's like seven specific faces it's like my wife it's greg laurie pastor of harvest because it's it's um a few others that people might not know but and they all maybe try like connect with something different in the song yeah but when i can imagine all the faces yeah singing the same song yeah and i'm excited about the song i'm like cool like i get really pumped because like this like i think this is this the church could sing it together that's one of my favorite things to say is don't write faceless songs like when you're writing a song like put a face to it whether it's you're like you're saying mentally like when you yeah like when we're writing like when i'm writing like too good to not believe like there are specific people i'm like i cannot wait to finish this and give this to them because like like i see them i see them declaring this you know and and so like um and that can go even when you're writing a fully vertical song yeah 100 like if you're not even writing a like a preaching to like encouragement but you're writing hallelujah holy is the lord god it's like yeah and you can think of those people in your life like and if they could just sing this over their family right now if they could just step into this moment just thanks even you know like yeah it doesn't have to be when you say that i just want to make sure that's clear like doesn't have to even be for that face right just like directed towards but it could be for you could imagine and see those people needing to step into a place of worship saying those things to god you know it's hard to write i think for your church when you don't know who they are and don't know who's like sitting out there standing out there and so i'll tell encourage people all the time like there are songs walking everywhere in the foyer of your church get to know them like go out there spend time with them like you're not going to write great songs for your church hiding in the green room i love that and then so that was the the one thing which i love all that we went through through that one thing was like on the fly stuff but then second i think is a huge part um of being a songwriter and i think it comes from experience the more you do it it's like when you heard pastor stephen third evolution at elevation say uh that phrase graves in the garden you knew which i think i would too probably everybody in that room when she said that it's like there's a there that is what i call an anchor yeah um or just just like that centerpiece that idea that title whatever you there that is a big enough thought yeah and a strong enough thought and a fresh enough thought to write a whole song around you know um and it's it's and i guess that would be another that where i wanted to change too is that that's such a huge important part of like really finishing a song finding a song like the one we're just working on right now yeah we were singing stuff that was beautiful but like both of us saying like man but where's what is like that thing that makes this song this song yeah i guess it's identity it's hook it's title yeah and we land i don't i hesitate to say anything because right i don't want another song with that title to come out before we can record but uh but we found it's like oh it's not like like the first time it's ever been said right but it just made it brought everything under this like umbrella of this theme and this idea and now we can make verses that make this idea make more sense they make you want to sing the course and the chorus is the response to this whole thing and then the bridge explains why it matters to us it's all about this centerpiece and right and so i think that's a huge part too of being a songwriter and finding not just songs that say things but songs that say something i don't know if that makes sense yeah like some things well right because if a song says many things uh who's going home and remembering all of it and like you know it's it's like kind of like messages you know like when pastors are preaching they're looking for a sticky statement that they can go home like our our uh attention span is very short mine is probably shorter than most but it is like i can only pay attention and then i slip out and then i come back to and then i'm like oh but if you can i have to take serious notes to listen through a whole 30 minutes and know what they say and even after all those notes for me it's like i'm going home with one thing one thought it's like this is my action step and if a pastor can do that because we've practiced doing that so much if that if we've made our minds right because we take we like writing a book sounds absolutely wild to me because i'm all about how do you take this thought have four lines yeah chorus four lines couple lines per bridge and like i want people to understand what i'm saying with this thing that fits on one page yeah like maybe i almost feel like maybe i'm maybe it's good as a songwriter but i've trained as good as a songwriter but poor as a just like uh what is what did he say three minutes ago yeah 100 but i think that it's uh i heard you know our songs are what take the message beyond sunday you know it's like um i might remember one sticky statement from the message one scripture one thought but you best believe i'm singing usually singing the songs we sing on sunday they're they're coming back to my attention on tuesday and thursday and friday and you know and so i think that it's just really helpful for people to to like anchor in on one idea make sure they're going home i love that singing that you know and and feeling that remembering that through their week that's going to get them through yeah i just got i got inspired along the same lines just this last weekend i was at this conference and uh they were like hey can you just like you listen to the message and whatever you think would be really great to end with something applicable you know like that's what we do as worship leaders yeah um a lot of times it's like maybe the pastor will say i'm going to talk about this so can you and with build my life or time i'm building my life on his love or whatever it is and it was a pretty unique message on unity um in the church with with the mission that god has called us to do like all but and that unifying thing is the cross and and i was like racking my brain i'm like there's some songs that would totally work but i'm like and i actually got excited and kind of thought man what a it's i realize every time i've been to that situation there's not that perfect song it's like why don't like and i'm saying it's you guys like not that perfect song it's like let's go write that like that we i feel like it's such a great springboard like if i was in that situation what would i want to say like like one voice one heart united yeah under the cross of jesus christ you know yeah one one unashamed your gospel into the world or whatever it is like something that said all that stuff uh so yeah i think it's just constantly if you guys are looking to be songwriters or add songs to your church it's just like all those moments just trying to find like it's so valuable those moments when you're in you get inspired beyond you get inspired with like something really specific yes whatever's a specific topic or thought or situation or moment um to really write a song for like zero in on that on that moment and write about it and like i think it just takes open eyes and open hearts to like wait for those moments to come and when they come like and you know something in your heart says that song needs to get done like you just chase it and chase it and chase it and share it and take the criticism and rewrite it and chase it and sing it for your church and think man all that stuff yeah and it could be something too like i think that you know this is still really really healthy even if it never becomes a song but i remember we were doing this thing in a in a barn in nashville with bethel and christine kane was there and she was preaching and one of my favorite things to do is just to exercise the muscles like pick out something from the message and write something and i knew i was going up after and she was preaching on that arise and shine for the light has come and all that and the glory of the lore is pulling you and so you know ben gets back up there and i kind of just like flashed the numbers like one six four give me that you know and all that all it was was and shine for the glory of the lord is on you the glory of the lord is on man what a cool way to minister just let it sink into people's hearts you know that's all they needed i didn't need to write a full song i did i just wanted to come out of that message and go let's put what she just said the anchor of her whole message let's put a melody to that and receive it let's respond to the lord after getting the word like throughout the bible when the word was given they responded in worship and uh i think what i love about that is like you're not writing to be on a record no not writing to get on any kind of chart or for it to be awesome at a conference one day you're writing to minister to your local church just for that day it becomes something else awesome but i just yeah i just love that heart you know and i think it's a great spot to write any song from as a worship leader so uh grades into gardens you guys wrote it he said it out you wrote that long story short yeah yeah over you know the next few hours wrote the song and uh there was a really fun moment where we were like we had the lyric you know the idea but then we were like okay but this thing can't just speak faith it's gotta sound like faith so pastor stephen gets on the electric and we're doing this because we kind of had the swing already and you know and it didn't quite you know quite perform immediately but then all of a sudden as soon as we heard that we were like okay that's it that's it we're in you know it's such a hook and it's so simple finished all the other lines and yeah yeah i mean i think it's a deep and a profound thought and lyric and idea but it's packaged in a very accessible and singable and that's why i think i love it so much it's so good anyone and everyone can sing this and declare it and it's not just simple in thought it's very profound like it is it's beautiful what he's done and what he's gonna do so those that's like two little songs we talked about among you you're it seems like every week you've got two or three more just in your back pocket just like ready to go which is awesome you're just killing it um but we've written some songs together just to kind of uh tell a few of those stories really quick uh we really got to know each other on a tour you were i was out on the bethel yeah tour in 2019 fall um that's when brian and i finished up battle belongs and played it for the first time yeah we all just kind of felt like man it's just gonna it seems like it's gonna have a life out of outside of our own like circles you know which is so exciting um but we were also doing a lot of riding backstage and on the bus and hanging out and uh several songs were born um during that tour and two of them uh landed on my wreck yeah maybe three um where i'm standing now which you're singing on with me thanks for doing this greatest honor and uh his name is jesus which i i wanna talk about his name is jesus first because i love this song i haven't had a lot of chances to lead it um just because i haven't been going out a ton i'm about to hit a tour soon and but any time i've let it this song it's been kind of an atmosphere shifting song in the room which has been so so sweet uh but it came about so wild uh yeah because so we're on the stage singing seeing uh god of revival the darkest night you can light it up you can light it up then i went i started going to this thing uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's kind of this spontaneous thing that started happening um but i never really resolved it and i didn't realize i wasn't resolving it until cali um she's on stage and and she started singing and his name is jesus after we sang we sing like john 3 16 several times we never really named who's his only son yeah and then his name is and when you start she started singing that people who started cheering and we like it and i'm just like i'm just thinking i cannot wait to finish the song yeah and so that lived for a couple days and then dom who's like not even a worship leader on stage yeah he's a he's kind of doing the compassion announcement and uh that's you know he's like kind of heading up tonight emcee yeah he came out during the inter right before the intermission just like the king is in the room yeah and people were like freaking out he kept on saying it and we're like yeah yeah you know um and i was just like i was listening i wasn't keying in at first then he kept on saying i was like looking at the crowd they're like worshiping even to what he was saying i was like and this is the mind of the songwriter it's like looking for the first line yeah his name is jesus song the king is in the room and i remember telling bran he was like bro no yeah and i told brian he was into it we started writing some songs and me you and callie were in the piano we've kind of fleshed out some verse stuff and then we were in brooklyn and chris davenport who wrote another in the fire and all and several other hillsong united songs he came out to the show we showed him the idea and he's like dude name another name another king like this you know he doesn't have he did this he did his name and so he came up with the bridge so it's like this whole um uh team effort of like coming up with this song that's like it's my it might be my favorite it's my favorite to like seeing when now is around yeah the whole record yeah and uh and so thanks for being a part of that and which i love stories like that but then the song that i think was even more like me and you really digging in was where i'm standing now with brian and do you remember how i just remember um it's hard for me to remember everything but i remember at one point because we were working on several different things and you had a part of the song and then brian had a part of the song it was um [Music] it wasn't even the same it was in 4-4 yeah so i showed you that [Music] which is nice and cute nice it's a little sleepy so then brian had this thing um chain breaking and at that point i can't remember how many lyrics he had but he just had the last it was and was that a flow movement and it was a flow moment live he made it up live he made it up live on the spot and so he's stoked he's like hey check out this thing see if you whatever and so and i don't know if it was like i stand on chain breaking or anything but it was [Music] of just or something close to that oh yes and that's like all they had and so then i heard that powerful name of jesus yet i don't think it was it was just chain breaking miracle making god or something like that yeah and so at some point i can't remember i showed you that and you knew that other song and then you're like bro so i was basically like guys let's come together i hear this this is one song with the glue and then heard that verse almost like this is actually i feel like it would be stronger in 6 eight and it goes brilliantly like look where i'm standing now like what like oh it hit me so deep like i just love saying like man look where i'm standing now look where i was but look where i'm staying now and uh i stand on the chain breaking miracle making powerful name of jesus and then um i tend to like push for a little bit edgier lyrics so body rating body raising prodigal savings hello you know so um that came a little bit later and then i feel like we were looking for a bridge for a long time we did i actually and you know what like let me encourage somebody real quick because i actually did the chorus that night on tour and i remember walking away going as a flow moment and like some things just don't just don't land right away and it was probably better probably came across better than i thought but i went into it and it wasn't like it was a hype moment which you would of course you want it to be like people as soon as you start singing it they go crazy yeah but it was like it was all right like let's keep working on it let's come back to it you know and maybe it wasn't the right timing the right context or whatever and so just encourage like not every time the first time you do something is it gonna like does that mean it's terrible or it's really great depending on how people respond sometimes you have those moments like battle belongs like we see the first time you'll ever let it it was like boom explosive every hand raised i mean just and then some songs like they take they take uh and i feel like take time to maybe you're 95 percent there but yeah just like what if you were if you were just thrilled about it at some point it probably means there was something worthwhile there's diamond there's jewels in those all those thoughts um sometimes it just means there's there's an extra two three four um percent ten percent more you just gotta really dig in and and be like why didn't this connect and maybe do it two or three times but i think it's a good question not to beat people over the head with the song you think is good yeah right but like why didn't this like connect the way it should have right and come back and like you know rewrite and and you know people want to you know you want to the whole goal of so many songs is when you're writing them you know god has inspired you with something really special and fresh and like you're trying to get people that same place you were you know when god really spoke to you about something or you saw something about him in a new way a different way and it takes a long time and sometimes to craft that moment but yeah to not get discouraged but also not be afraid of rewriting and rethinking yeah um all that stuff and so now it's it's a song and i you know i've played it several times it's still pretty new when we're making this but it's it's gone off in the rooms and we've been singing it which has been so cool just to declare like that what jesus has done for us and and that we're freeing him and then uh another song we have we praise you yeah that we weren't even in the room together for i don't think no nowadays you can just write entire songs over text yeah i think uh you text and face brian johnson was on it they brought you in and they had this song and i was with in a room with brian he showed it to me we kind of reworked some verses and then we all i was out on a run yeah for the bridge remember [Music] nine times out of ten when phil calls me or i call him he is on a run well it's just i got my headphones in it's beautiful around san diego and there's no there's no kids just asking daddy for stuff yeah uh and i'm just like thinking of over and over and over i'm like and sometimes sometimes it's just not good and i think it's great because my heartbeat's going and i'm singing it out but other times i feel like that's where i get my my songwriting breakthroughs is when i'm like empty physically just like going forward right crying right now jesus so uh we praise you man that was there's not a super long story to that but um it's just it's four guys i don't we never were all in the room together and we all we all contributed contributed contributed a lot um any other ones i can think of we've written several that haven't been recorded yet yeah uh when you write with phil um you usually write eight choruses to a song or like eight parts do something before you land on like the the one that sticks so i feel like we've written probably there's one there's probably five or six seven more songs we haven't finished that forever and ever on that one i mean i don't know if it's 100 there yeah we should look at that today we should um forever never i'm in yeah in a year and a half yeah yeah it will be out yeah um but man just it's just good to talk with you and hopefully hopefully you're encouraged just by being out here in this beautiful town of encinitas but just praying like god's continuing favor and blessing over you and as you write that that there'd be songs not not just that get people pumped which is not your thing but like yeah you would be so filled with like like this the prayers for the church now you know in this crazy time and uh man bless all you guys hopefully you got a little something out of this uh praying for all you especially worship leaders and songwriters and yeah people that are diving into it out there that god would just fill you with the spirit man first you could say this probably in any era any decade but man for such a time as this the church needs to be praying out yeah for god's light to shine for us to be courageous to run the race with endurance to stand in faith to be loved to be unified yeah to lift up the cross to lift up the name of jesus together man so may all those things just be like heavy and light all the same time in your spirits souls and uh thanks so much for diving in with us a little bit love you guys

Channel: Phil Wickham

Views: 94,320

Keywords:

Id: pc3sUxD7i9E

Length: 42min 13sec (2533 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 06 2021