Countless people around the world sing Mack Brock-penned worship songs . He is a founding member of Elevation Worship , but felt God ’ s call several years ago to leave and enter a new chapter of his life . New to Centricity Music , Mack ’ s new release , This Is Holy , is a full-length album of focused , well crafted , and thoughtful worship songs .
A frequent collaborator with Phil Wickham , Cody Carnes , Pat Barrett , Jesus Culture , Hillsong United and many others , Mack continues to create inspired worship for the church .
[ Alex ] Mack , I can ’ t believe that it ’ s been over five years since we had a visit . It was in the May , 2019 . issue of Worship Musician , so it ’ s great to catch up with you today . It ’ s been way too long .
[ Mack ] Wow ! Well , it ’ s great to connect again .
[ WM ] And listen . I ’ m so heartbroken for what ’ s happened there . I ’ ve been to North Carolina so many times and have lots of friends in Boone . I ’ ve been up there ; I ’ ve been to Samaritan ’ s Purse several times . I was invited to and attended The Billy Graham Library dedication in Charlotte . And then played in North Carolina in different bands over the years . And so , it is just so upsetting to watch and to see the devastation to the beauty and to the kind people of North Carolina .
[ Mack ] I mean it really came out of nowhere and it feels so devastating . And we are kind of always in the peripheral of hurricane warnings and stuff like that and chance of rain and all that stuff . And so , for it to hit this hard , I think really
shocked a lot of people and they ’ re trying to figure out , “ Alright , how do we handle this ?” So yeah , it ’ s been pretty bad .
[ WM ] Well , on to my questions for today . Real worship blesses our Lord and Scripture tells us that the Psalms say that God inhabits the praises of his people . But there are also side benefits for the worshiper , personally . A sense of community . A sense of calm . Another benefit is a place of shelter and refuge . The Hebrew word for shelter is miklat . We definitely need shelter and refuge in our lives . Our times are turbulent ones on many levels . What say you about worship and refuge and the worship leader ’ s role in facilitating a sense of shelter among believers ?
[ Mack ] Wow . First off , I ’ ll give a plug to my buddy Pat Barrett ’ s album called Shelter that deals with some of this stuff . It ’ s a great record . And yeah , I love that question . I love thinking of Jesus and God as a safe place . I think when we come to worship him , one of the things that I talk a lot about from stage is that that is a moment where we are giving our God undivided attention . We get distracted so easily , especially now when we have the entire world at our fingertips on our phones , and it ’ s just so easy to just get distracted and our eyes wandering and our minds wandering . And so if we can come together and we worship and we can say , “ I am giving you my full attention .” There is such a powerful connection to God through that . And it feels like a safe place , and it feels like genuinely I am in communion with God and I can lay things down . There are so many times that I ’ m worshiping thinking all the things that I ’ m anxious about or nervous about or need help with , that I can release in
the presence of Jesus . I can release to him and say , “ This is Yours . I don ’ t want to carry this anymore . Take this .” And so , there ’ s a safety , I think when we have that communion with Jesus . And I really do think the door is open when it starts with praise , and it starts with gratitude and it starts with worshiping and acknowledging his glory and acknowledging his holiness . And then through that , there ’ s just a release , like you said , it is to worship God , but we also get something in return when we choose to worship .
[ WM ] Yes . I had a pastor once say that sometimes it takes a couple songs just to wash the dirt off of you .
[ Mack ] ( laughs ) That is so true !
[ WM ] Well , we ’ ve recently lost two of our greatest songwriters , Kris Kristofferson and JD Souther . Did either of these men impact your personal songwriting skills ? And if not , who has influenced you over the years ?
[ Mack ] The two that you listed never did . I never got fully into diving into their catalog or their discography . Probably the biggest influence that we lost semi recently was Tom Petty . I think he passed away in 2017 , and he was a massive influence on the simplicity of songwriting , how you can have such a powerful song using simple words , simple phrases , simple sentences . He was such a master at crafting a song , getting to the good parts quickly , leave you wanting more . He had a massive influence just in terms of music . And then in worship there are so many that still have a massive influence on me . I love what Bethel continues to do . Brian Johnson , Phil
Bless the Lord Be Near The Best God
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