Worship Musician Magazine June 2021 | Page 28

like it has in these worship nights .
And now as I ' m coming together with these people , I ' m just so hyper aware that we hope in the same Savior . We have the same desire for earth to be , as it is in heaven . We have the same destiny and destination . We have so much foundation in common when we say we follow Jesus . And I don ' t know if it ’ s the pandemic and then people are just pumped to be back in the room . I don ' t know if God ' s doing something really special in the church , but every night I ' ve gotten the sense of like … this is different . There ' s something genuine . There ' s something like a thankfulness . Maybe it ' s just all my life I ' ve never taken for granted being able to lead worship .
It ' s all such a privilege and honor . And my parents instilled that in me at a young age . This is a huge deal . Whether you ' re at a home fellowship or at a stadium or anywhere in between , it ' s a huge deal that you have a moment to point people to Jesus and make sure you do it . Make sure you ' re a good steward of that . even if there were a thousand seats . And it ' s just me and we didn ' t have any budget for any kind of production . It was just me bringing a guitar into a church with a room , less than half full of people . So that ' s a recipe for awkwardness . I ' ve done one weekend a month since January and , and these weekends have been the most beautiful , worshipful times and that I can remember .
I think it might be largely me just kind of projecting onto the night because I just missed it so much . God has done something in my heart in 2020 to make it feel fresh and new and singing from a deeper place . Time and time again people are saying this after the shows and during shows . And even though we ' re in these half full rooms and it ' s simple , I ' ve never been more aware of this idea that we are family .
Growing up in the church , you know , you hear , “ Hey brother , hey sister ”, which is sweet , but it never really felt like it . It felt more like a metaphor . It ' s something we say . It ' s the church lingo , you know ? And like this idea that we are really in this together forever , has never really sunk in
You know , that ' s always been something that I ' ve carried with me , but I ' ve always taken for granted getting to get together with the family of God . And now that was taken away for a bit . I just wonder if as a church , as a whole , petty differences and the weirdness has kind of faded away ? And it ' s more of like a spirit of thankfulness and joy to be together . A sense that we ' re in this together has come back even in the Q and A ' s before the nights . People are praying for each other . And this testimony , it ' s like , it ' s like medicine . It ' s gone to this testimony and ministry time of praying for each other . It ' s just different , and I ' m really thankful for it .
[ WM ] Can you name for me one specific family activity growing up that has had lasting impact upon you ? How do you define impact as it pertains to your music ?
[ Phil ] You know , what I love about my parents is just their consistency . Never once did I doubt
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