There ’ s an amazing thing going on in Nashville . In a city where church groups and mega churches permeate the culture and landscape , an upstart group of creatives and touring musicians started meeting just a few years ago , with a strong desire to encounter Jesus . Led by Australian expatriates Henry and Alex Seeley , The Belonging Co has grown significantly . The church now holds weekly services with thousands of regular attendees and ministers to the community through different outreach programs . Additionally , The Belonging Co College that started in 2020 is an accredited program for aspiring worship and church leaders in partnership with Southeastern University . The Belonging Co has released two live recordings All The Earth ( 2017 ) and Awe + Wonder ( 2019 ) that have been heard around the world . Kari Jobe ’ s newest live release , The Blessing , was recorded at The Belonging Co .
[ WM ] First of all Henry , I must say that it is a huge privilege for me to visit with you today ! I have multiple friends that have consistently encouraged me to visit The Belonging Co , and so when this pandemic is over , I definitely plan to !
[ Henry Seeley ] Oh , please do , and make sure to come say “ hi ” when you ’ re here .
[ WM ] Tell us about your beginnings and how God brought you into ministry ?
[ Henry ] I grew up in a Christian home , my parents got saved right around the time I was one . I grew up going to church every weekend with my parents , and I didn ’ t really quite understand it all . In my mid to late teen years music became my life , and I focused most of my energy on music , I was hoping to become a successful artist and I was in a band at the time . When I was sixteen I got invited by some friends to go to their youth group because they were speaking or preaching there . I couldn ’ t understand that , I couldn ’ t understand how a sixteen-year-old could even care enough to want to do that let alone have the ability to do that . I showed up at this youth ministry and I was honestly just floored , the passion in these teenagers to worship God was unlike anything I had experienced at the time . The youth group that I had gone to from time to time was more about games and just having fun , and this particular youth ministry that I was invited to was really about having a personal encounter with God , and that was what they were encouraging these teenagers to do . I ended up going back to this youth ministry every weekend from then on and quite quickly was asked to be part of the worship team . It was an interesting thing because at that point I had not yet made a personal decision to give my life to Jesus . So here I was this kind of semi-confused teenager playing on a worship team every week with no idea what was going on , and about two