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.
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.
“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...”
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.