Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes
Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes get vulnerable with Kristian Ponsford about the encounter with the Lord that’s locked up in their song with Elevation “The Blessing,” and they share their perspective on worship leading during this time of isolation.
Kristian: I’d love to start with talking about The Blessing. Could you share with us the backstory of how this song came to life?
Cody: We were in Charlotte with our friends at Elevation, and on our writing day with them, we wrote a whole different song with them at the start of the day. Around 6:00 that night when we were about to demo that song, Pastor Steven picked up a guitar and went in his own world for a bit and started with this idea around the Numbers 6 Priestly Blessing — different melody, different lyrics, but the theme was the same. So we started chasing that instead and we wrote the song in a few hours. It felt like heaven just fell in the room. After leading it that weekend, we started to see the response of people to the song all around the world.
Kristian: When I first heard it and watched the video, my jaw dropped. I don’t know if I’ve yet been able to put my finger on why it is just so unique and so powerful. Do you have insight into why you believe it’s so special?
Kari: Of course the Lord. He’s just so mighty and it’s just beautiful to watch people grabbing a hold of the truth of the word of God — of promises we’ve heard for a long time — but something Bill Johnson said that’s been so impactful is that when you write from an encounter that you’ve had with the Lord, that encounter gets locked up inside that song.
This last year, when our son Kingston was about 7 weeks old, a really traumatic thing happened at the park: the stroller got away from me and he ended up rolling down an 8-foot embankment upside down into a lake. I had to jump in after him and pull him out of the water. He was thankfully fine, but that experience was so traumatic. The conversations between me and the Lord for the next few days were so intense — I had been praying for protection and felt that the Lord had let me down. That experience made me dig deep into the word of God and hold the truths over these things that we declare over our families, our children, and our selves. Four of us wrote this song, but part of that song is part of this.
There’s just something about sharing an experience we’ve had with the Lord with other people. There’s power and authority in it.
Kristian: At the moment, worship leaders are just in a completely new world in light of COVID-19. I wonder if you could speak into the insecurity they’re facing right now and give encouragement to these leaders and songwriters.
Kari: I’m most moved in this season not by the quality of the music being led, but by the heart and the sound of worship coming from someone’s gut. I think this is a very confronting time for all of us — is our worship leading in the accolades of other people or is it just in our relationship with Jesus? I’ve missed people so much because I love to lead them in worship, but getting alone with the Lord and spending time on my face has been one of the most beautiful gifts we could’ve ever received during this time. So I think instead of thinking about all of the things that you miss, maybe just lean into the things that the Lord wants to do that maybe He’s going to miss when we go back to “normal.” I want these things to change my life.