New Worship EP

Have you read something, think you understand it, but then go back and realize you don’t really know what it means? That is how I felt for a long time about Psalm 33:3 which says, “Sing to Him a new song…” After pondering that verse for a while, I think it means two things for us as God’s people. First, that God wants to inspire the best of our creativity, which applies to every individual, musician or not. Second, that God’s corporate people throughout the ages need to be inspired by Him to write new songs to praise Him in the local gathering. This is not because He changes over time (He is immutable), but because the well of His goodness has depths that we will never exhaust. That being said, the college worship team at Mountain View Community Church wrote and recorded an EP to be a piece of carrying out that corporate mandate.

Starting this EP was partially intentional and mainly an accident. As a means of interacting as a team, we did a songwriting project as a way to connect during early COVID lockdown. However, some songs written by the students captured something we felt should be recorded and shared with the church as a way to “sing a new song”. The EP has three songs written by our students (Keaton Boehner, Esther Schuett, and Hannah Park), and one live cover of a redone hymn we do at college group (written by Jonny Barahona). The EP unpacks the theme of abiding in Christ as an unconditional piece of the gospel. And out of that gift of unconditional hope, God impacts our daily worship. We are calling the worship team the New Exodus Collective (a reference to Jeremiah 31:31-34), and hope to release more EPs as we have songs and capacity. Every part of the process besides mastering was done in house for no cost, which is exciting for future recording possibilities. Our hope is that writing and recording becomes a normal means within our church and network to worship our King and be inspired by Him. Give it a listen, and let the God of the harvest teach you anew His gift of being unified with Christ and defined by His love. Stay tuned for more!

You can listen to the New Exodus Collective, Vol. 1 on any listening platform. Enjoy!