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.

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.

Anna Golden