Today I have the privilege of interviewing Brian Johnson, worship pastor and songwriter from Bethel Church in Redding, CA.
With every new album that Bethel puts out, I’m not only impressed by the songs, but by the passion for Jesus that marks it all. There’s something contagious about their culture.
At the end of the interview, I’ll let you know how you can win a free copy of their new album, “For the Sake of the World.”
David: Absolutely love the new record, “For the Sake of the World”. What are you most excited about when it comes to the new record?
Brian: We were excited with the finished product because the songs capture the heart and the “DNA” of where this church and this movement are at right now. We feel like the album conveys our heart and our spirit. We feel like people can get infused with the teaching and the culture of this place through the songs. They express what we feel like the Lord is saying at this time.
David: A lot of what I teach and write about on the blog is about worship team culture – developing a team and church that is desperate for God. Bethel seems to place a high value on that. What have you done to create your team’s culture?
Brian: We are in the lives of our leaders. They are in our homes. We have monthly worship community meetings, and during this time we remind our community of what our vision & priorities are, and share where we feel like God is taking us. It’s a time for our worship teams to stay connected, to remember what we are about, and to stay on target with where we are headed.
We also simply model what we value as we lead worship- for example, when Jenn sings a prophetic song and follows the Spirit spontaneously in worship- I don’t think anyone learns more than actually seeing it happen. We value pruning- emotionally and spiritually, as we move forward and grow.
Pruning comes with any kind of growth. We want to make sure our team is like an arrow in this way. Our senior worship team meets once a week to discuss how to improve the lives of those we pastor and to improve our process of developing team.
David: Are you intentional about raising up new musicians, singers, tech people, & worship leaders? What does that process look like for you?
Brian: People are raised up primarily through relationship with their band members & through our feedback. We give honest feedback, and utilize our stronger, more seasoned musicians to frequently give input to our newer musicians. We have different services/settings where our upcoming leaders and musicians can grow, progress, and be mentored.
Many of our musicians come through our school of ministry, and this serves as preparation for them to be apart of teams for our worship services. We make our team members aware that they will be getting feedback no matter how long or short they have been apart of our teams.
David: How can you tell if a song is “good enough” and album-ready? How many songs were on the table for “For the Sake of the World”?
Brian: We look for songs that have a spark. We probably had 30 ideas on the table for “For the Sake of the World”. A few of us spend time with the song ideas, usually one of us will be passionate about a certain song idea.
The real test is when we lead a song in a live setting because this reveals whether a song does what it is intended to do.
The song, “For the Sake of the World” may not be an every-Sunday-morning song, but in the right context, it does its job. Each song needs to do its job. We went through 10 revisions of “You Have Won Me” before we felt like it landed.
David: What’s your best songwriting tip for worship leaders’ who want to take their writing to the next level?
Brian: Write about what you want to see in 10 years. Write about what you want people to believe about God and believe about themselves. Write about truths that pull people into who they are and who they can be because of God’s goodness.
Learn to see as as songwriter- know when a song needs more. If you don’t have what it needs, bring someone else in to co-write with you and bring another ingredient. Don’t stop short of what you originally envisioned a song to be. This is what we try to do.
Winners
1. Tim Hageland
2. Carlie Bruno
3. Marc Daniel Rivera
4. Marites
5. Marc Millan
Question: What stuck out to you about this interview? What’s your takeaway? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Thanks David and Brian for this post. One of the encouragements I’ve had on worship songwriting is the knowledge that whilst some songs can come in an instant and they are done, others can come gradually and may take one or two collaborations before they are good to go or before they get to where they need to be. Thanks for this post once again.
Really enjoyed the interview! I thought it was cool when Brian mentioned that he uses the more experienced band members to mentor the younger ones. That is what it is all about. I love how he mentioned that he allows the younger ones to grow by placing them in different services and such.
Great interview, David! I’m off to schedule a tweet!
Thank you David and Brian!…..Great stuff!!!
Awesome stuff loved the interview extremely inspiring.
I’m just so passionate about worship, worship team’s growth, and raising up the next generation. God has placed a call on me for worship ministry before I was born. My pastor at the time when I was in 1st grade asked me to join the worship team of our church because he saw the passionate worshipper in me. He wanted me to be an example on stage for those young and old to worship Jesus with unabandoned praise. I had people speaking into my life, encouraging me, and mentoring me in the worship of God. I think we should be focused more on the next generation and encouraging them in the things of God, walking with them in their daily struggles, and let God’s love flow through us. What I love about worship is that there IS such a sense of community because we can come as ONE. Sing with ONE VOICE, ONE HEART, ONE SONG!
I am surprised that 30 songs went into the recording process. I figured it would take more than 10-15, but it is amazing that there were 30 ideas. I am struggling right now as I am working towards a trip to the recording studio. I have 7 solid and 3 maybes but need more. So I will pay attention to Brian’s ideas at the end of the interview. Thanks David for continuing to post helpful information.
Loved reading about this interview! I love how Brian says “We are in the lives of our leaders. They are in our homes.” I think that’s really important for when it comes to leadership development…when you are leading people they need to see you as a “real” person, how you live, and inviting them into your home will speak volumes to you. They see how you decorate, the scent of your home, if you’re organized or not, and what better place for people to see who you really are than when you’re at home where you can be most relaxed? It’s brilliant. This really helps develop unity. Also, I really loved Brian’s response to the last question about song writing – that is so important. Thank you for sharing!
Bethel just has some intensely intimate songs. That’s why I love em. Thanks for sharing such a cool interview David!
I love the part of the interview where you talked about songwriting. His tips are really great and I think it will work a lot in me.. As a worship leader. It’s a big deal for me to write my own songs of worship to the Lord, as King David’s heart in worship to His King. GOD BLESS YOU Bro! 🙂
NICE INTERVIEW! the Songwriting tip is very encouraging! God bless you Dave.
Thank you for sharing this post bro.
M_
I love the worship at Bethel! Thanks for posting.
Very good interview. It’s awesome to here some tips and insights from Bethel music, one of my favorite Christian Band.. I love the songwriting tip.. God bless you brother dave! 🙂
Love the community feel with the band members. This is something I want to strive for.
~Moses