LOOP COMMUNITY
THE SONGWRITING PROCESS AND STEWARDING YOUR GIFTS W / CHRIS DAVENPORT | Matt McCoy
Songwriter and artist Chris Davenport has written some of the biggest songs for the church , such as “ Hymn of Heaven ”, “ Another In the Fire ”, “ His Name Is Jesus ”, and “ Plead the Blood ”. Chris sat down with Loop Community Founder Matt McCoy to talk about all things songwriting and more .
STEWARDING YOUR GIFTS [ Matt ] What ’ s it like to have written so many big songs for the church ?
[ Chris ] There ’ s a part of me that is so blown away and shocked by it , and it ’ s just the kindness of God . Then there ’ s another part of me that is like , ‘ This is what God has called me to do and this is what should be happening ”. It ’ s interesting to experience both of those things in real time . The longer that I have been doing this , and the longer that I have been doing it with a measure of success , what success looks like has changed for me . The reality is that God breathes on the songs that He breathes on and it ’ s His decision . I have things that I think are cool , or I think would be powerful that minister to me , or have personal skin in the game , but where a song goes and the reach that it has is not my department . Writing has become much more of me being a steward of the gifts God has given me , I want to be a steward of my voice and the opportunities that I have .
COWRITING AND THE SONGWRITING PROCESS [ Matt ] What ’ s your favorite way to write songs and what ’ s your process ?
[ Chris ] I really struggled with cowriting initially and didn ’ t like it . I was very precious with everything and prideful with my ideas . But I started viewing writing alone as preparation for cowriting . I think that God is into partnership and He ’ s into collaboration . He blesses unity and I think that ’ s very clear in scripture . I started trying to always be prepared with an idea I ’ m passionate about , but the people that I ’ m writing with are people that I share values with . Not just faith values , but life values . I take that quite seriously , because I want to get in the trenches with people and write real songs with them .
The process for me , I ’ ll set up a time to write with someone and show up with three different ideas . One will be a title to see if there ’ s something interesting there . One will be 30 % or 40 % done just in case that stirs something up . And one will be pretty much ready to go because sometimes people aren ’ t feeling inspired , and I don ’ t want them to feel like they ’ ve had a bad write . I think of myself as having more of a ‘ utility style ’ role as far as writers go . Being able to read the room , read the people I ’ m writing with , see where there needs to be more strength , and take that gap .
ADVICE FOR YOUNG WORSHIP LEADERS [ Matt ] What ’ s something you would tell a young worship leader that wants to write songs ?
[ Chris ] You don ’ t have anything to prove . If you can find a way to anchor who you are , your identity , to Jesus and not to what you do , you ’ re going to go as far as you want to . You have everything you need to do what God has called you to , and you always will .
Click below to watch the rest of the interview !
You can download the Master Tracks for Chris Davenport ’ s new album TIME on LoopCommunity . com .
Matt McCoy Matt is a worship leader , songwriter and Ableton Certified Trainer from Chicago , IL . He has been using Ableton and tracks in worship since 2002 . He ’ s passionate about creating new products and teaching worship leaders and artists how to use technology in live performance . www . LoopCommunity . com 32 September 2023 Subscribe for Free ...