Over the weekend I was down in Cheltenham attending a Homegrown Worship songwriting day retreat. I also stayed for the evening when Homegrown Worship was officially launched by Chief Enthusiast, Andy Baker with a fantastic live concert.
I am pleased that I will be working with Homegrown Worship as one of the artists for their ‘hand picked’ playlist for 2019.
What is Homegrown Worship?
Homegrown Worship exists to champion the songs of the local church. It provides training and events where grassroots worship songwriters can learn how to hone their craft as well as giving opportunity for their songs to be heard by a wider audience.
Homegrown Worship also curates a ‘hand picked’ playlist each year where certain songwriters are invited to join in and have songs recorded and released throughout the year. This works out at being a new song of worship released every Friday for the entire year! If you love worship music, or are on the look out for something a bit different from the mainstream same-old humdrum music that is out there, Homegrown Worship is well worth checking out!
Songwriting Day
I really enjoyed the songwriting day. Even though I have been writing songs for many years (and have even written a book about it!) there was still something to learn. Solid tips and theory were backed up by years of music industry experience from the Homegrown team as well as their passion and authenticity for the project God has called them too was authentic and down-to-earth.
The Launch Evening
I was glad that I chose to stay after the songwriting day for the official launch of Homegrown Worship. The setting – a luxurious manor house in the English countryside complete with chandeliers, gramophone and canapes – set the tone for the evening. It was relaxed yet celebratory of the authenticity and superb musicality of those who shared songs.
Out of The Ashes performed a few fun songs. They were followed by Dave Wellington who sung some wonderful deep songs of worship that were well crafted. Nick Law accompanied himself on the piano and again, sung some amazing original songs.
After the interval, Andy Baker took to the stage. Up until now Andy has been spearheading the vision of Homegrown Worship and has been releasing a new song ever week for several months now. This meant that the supportive crowd knew quite a few of them which meant joining in was inevitable. A lovely time of corporate worship followed as we sung songs that had grown out of Andy’s living room and released our praises to God.
Get Involved
If you love grassroots worship music and would like to support the Homegrown Worship movement and the artists they are championing you can do so in a number of ways:
- Listen to the music. Share it with friends. Sing it in church.
- Encourage worship songwriters within your own local community. They may want to apply to be a ‘hand picked’ artist.
- Go to a songwriting day or ask for one to come to you
- Go to a Homegrown Worship evening where songs are shared, or get one to come to you
- Support the vision financially through Andy’s Rocket Fuel page.