PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Ryan: Welcome to the Church Collective podcast. In this episode, Patrick Mayberry came back. If you haven’t heard of him, he is a fantastic worship leader, songwriter, doing some incredible stuff. He’s just a great guy to talk to. I think there’s a lot of wisdom that you’re going to get out of this episode. So here
Patrick Mayberry: we go.
I’m Patrick and I currently live in Franklin, Tennessee, which is approximately one hour and 35 minutes from the house I grew up in, which my parents, Ronnie and Margaret Mayberry. They still live in that house in good old Cookville. So I’m born and bred Tennessee. I’m a, I am the highest of quality product of what Tennessee can do for someone.
Yeah, man, I I’ve been writing , for the last couple of years, a whole bunch of songs and , about two years ago , I guess three years ago started uh, the label that I’m a part of was like, Hey man, what if I was just a writer? They were like, Hey, what if you tried your hand at some artists stuff?
And I didn’t even know. I felt like the Lord was really stirring up a lot of things in me. I’d just been. Not just I was a worship pastor for exclusively for about 10 years and the Lord I love writing songs for our church, and that was really important to me and the Lord just opened up these doors to maybe.
I don’t know, experiment with writing songs and putting them out to someone else that might like to listen to them. And so about, a little over two years ago, I released my first song or a batch of songs as a quote unquote artist, whatever that means. And it’s just been a whirlwind, a ride of , trying to hear from the Lord, talking to my counselor a lot, figuring out, how to faithfully follow the calling that I feel like God has invited me into without getting upside down in it all. And in getting the cart before the horse and caring about things that don’t matter, but this weird quote unquote industry that we’re all kind of living in and around , just trying to seek out what really matters.
Like what. What does the Lord desire in all of this for his people? And. the church and yeah, man doing that raising four kids Living my life. Yeah,
Ryan: I’d love like just to get like real tactical practical for like generally like worship and creative audience you are living the dream for a lot of them I’m sure or it’s like i’m a worship pastor and I want to crack into I want to get my music out there.
Maybe what are the pitfalls foibles maybe to avoid? What are the awesome things that happen? How did you like what stirred in your heart? Like how .
Patrick Mayberry: Number one rule is there’s no rules. There’s no rules at all. And I get tripped up all the time in honestly, like looking at someone else’s kind of track that they’re on. And I quickly discourage myself and discredit all the cool things God’s doing in my life.
So that’s rule number one. There’s no one way that. That what you just said, that dream can happen. So I was on staff at a church and I loved writing songs. And my ambition was Tim just got an awful diagnosis and I would think it would be really cool if we wrote a song that encouraged Tim that he’s not alone in this or two other friends were really in a tricky spot with their marriage.
And I was like, what would a song look like to write for our friends to let them know that they’re facing some really hard stuff, but God is like in that business of facing hard things. So I just loved writing songs for our church. And I think that’s number one is like right where you are is like where you can do your best work and God’s put you there for a reason at that church with that pastor in that city.
Crush it and give it your all. And if you want to write songs for people in your small group. Don’t try to write the next big elevation hit song. Yeah. What is it? Like you’re trying to write a song for the masses. You’re going to end up writing a song for nobody.
Write songs for real people in your church that you actually know and help them see God in a new way. Be their pastor. Shepherd them through songwriting. Be their songwriting pastor. And I’ve, I believe that wholeheartedly, and I believe that’s a little bit of a tricky spot we’re in right now with just music and where it is and the worship industry.
And. iT’s all great and awesome. But ultimately I think the reason that even existed was because people were writing songs for their churches a long time ago, and they connected with all of us, like in a human way, because they were written for other humans to connect with God. And it’s I think about songs that, just really exploded and.
It’s like they, they had this human church connection under them that opened the doors and I think it’s tricky now when we try to write songs and take them straight to the charts or radio, but there’s no human connection with them. Man, yeah, I would say. I’ve just been grinding I’ve been grinding the last, I don’t know, 10 or 12 years, writing songs, being a pastor, trying to work really hard, trying to like, meet with like minded people and figure out like, who are people that share this common vision and love for songs for the church and songs that help people have a deeper understanding of who God is and who they are and how those two kind of work together and I don’t know.
Ask me another practical question and all that was more all up in the air.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s fantastic. So to work on I love the value of actually writing songs for somebody in your church versus trying to write it for everybody. Because what is the, that’s an Incredibles quote, right?
When you’re trying to be special, when everybody’s special, no one is, right? That’s the villain from Incredibles. So it’s like that. If your song’s trying to hit everybody. It’s for nobody. But maybe like practically, okay, awesome. I want to write songs for my church. How would you organize that?
Let’s get real tactical for just like local, small church worship team. How would you start, have them start that?
Patrick Mayberry: Yeah. That is A tricky thing. So I would say, if you’ve got a heart for songwriting there’s no one right way to do it. I think often it’s people think, oh, there’s a worship guy or girl who plays piano and plays guitar and sings, and they should write these incredible anthems for our church.
And I think that is just like one of the many ways you can like skin a cat. I think if you like, you might lay in bed at night and just have the most epic, beautiful poems or thoughts, or you love writing, but you don’t have a musical bone in your body. Or maybe there’s people like that on your team.
I had this drummer one time who was not mute. He was a drummer. But he was not like a melody guy. He couldn’t sing, but he would come up with the most incredible thoughts. And he would like, just we opened this door, like relationally dude, you have beautiful thoughts and a beautiful like view of God, anytime you have a thought, write it in a note and just shoot it to me.
And then he would shoot me these notes. And they were just all these kind of scattered thoughts and I would like look at them from okay, how could this be shaped into a verse or, maybe you have people in your church who are really strong musicians, but they don’t have that necessarily like, how do I format lyrics and stuff?
And so the power of partnering and like searching out people in your church to help do that. And then, write a song, write a song by yourself or write a song with your friends at church or your other volunteers, people on your team, all those different gift things. And I think you just got to hit the ground and be like, all right, who’s out there who writes songs who would be interested in writing songs?
What are other resources we can find? I feel like there’s so many resources now for, younger songwriters or people who are wanting to develop as songwriters. What are you listening to? What other. What artists are you liking? What other churches are you liking? What other writers like, format look at how they’re formatting songs.
Literally look at the lyrics and be like, okay, this song’s about Jesus. And I see that the verse is driving every thought to Jesus. And then the chorus is all about Jesus. And then the bridge is a response to Jesus. Because I think sometimes with young writers. You’ll see lyrics and they’re also scattered and I think it’s really helpful to have a strong theme or a title that you’re driving every single lyric through.
And I think that’s one thing that like great writers do is there’s no throwaway lines. They’re all leading to helping the listener connect with this one, usually like a title idea. I think writing as much as you can. Like writing by yourself, writing with friends, seek out other churches in your area.
That’s Hey, I think they do music. Maybe that worship pastor would want to hang out and write with me. And you guys do a weekly writing session. I Think just the power of doing it and not being precious with all of your ideas and being open handed and really just having those. Like sites in mind of like, how is this song actually going to help Jeff at my church?
Who sits in the back row, walks in five minutes late, he’s actually dating a new girl because his last marriage didn’t end well, and he’s coming to church with his girlfriend who loves the church, and he’s very skeptical because he’s a divorced dude, and he’s are these people even going to like me?
So how is this worship song I’m writing… Going to help Jeff take a step towards God. And I’m always thinking about those people, like trying to be mindful of the saints of the church who have been walking with Jesus faithfully for 30 years, but also the people who were in the back row who were like what is this place?
If they knew about my story, they wouldn’t want me here. And yeah, that’s a whole bunch of thoughts. But yeah, is that helpful? Any of that? I was headed.
Ryan: Thank you. Sorry.
Chris: You got a song called a million times. And yeah, and you posted recently, I think I saw it on James Dukes. He reposted it and I you like put a it was just you with a detuned strat, just playing it by yourself.
And there was something about that really, I just could not stop watching it. It was like something with the guitar tone and how the, how you had dropped it. And it reminded me I was curious because it reminded me of a song I really called eyes on fire. And I don’t know if that tone was like inspired by that, but it’s an older song.
But the tone, like it was so haunting, like that um, that guitar tone you had, but first off, do you have, did you like record, record a whole version of that of just
Patrick Mayberry: you and your guitar? No, man. I, it’s funny. I am really bad at caring about social media and I honestly, in this day and age, it’s really helpful to care about it.
So I’ve been trying to figure out things like, what can I post? And I don’t just want to post dumb things. I want to post stuff that’s like helpful to people and would hopefully someone might stumble across it. Who’s just scrolling on their phone and be like, Oh, what’s this? Oh. Jesus is faithful.
I want to know more about that. So I, that’s where it came from. And I love that song. And uh, I literally just plugged my strap. It’s funny, dude. A friend like text me and was like, dude, your video is awesome. What are you running your guitar through? And I was like, I just plugged it into my interface and just use like a little plugin amp.
aNd he’s what? I was like, yeah, I just, turned a bunch of knobs and.
I, and then I totally recorded it and then totally didn’t save the session at all. I’ve thought man, I should go back and do a recording of that. Cause I think it’s fun. And I think so much stuff now, it’s a guy or a gal and an acoustic or a piano.
And there was just something like that, that opened up a whole new kind of vibe with it, with doing like an electric thing. Yeah,
Chris: That’s what caught me. It was like, cause I would normally expect, somebody to just pull out an acoustic guitar and just play a verse and a chorus or whatever.
But and immediately I was like, can I listen to this somewhere? Can I get this? Can I buy this? And I think it’s, you had it, you were, you’re doing it a lot lower than the album.
Patrick Mayberry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
Chris: don’t know, man. It’s something that really I’m probably listened to it like 20 times on repeat.
I was like, what man, this, and then it tried, I was trying to remember what it reminded me of and it reminded me, I finally remembered what song it was that, that the tone was similar. Was that like de toned, strat sound. But yeah, I love that. I would love If you found that file in your trash can, put it out,
Patrick Mayberry: that’s so fun.
Honestly, like there’s like I’ve always been really drawn to like Jason Upton is like all about that super drenched verb on his vocal. And I’ve always just felt like that was just like, there was something about it that was just real floaty and worshipful. And I’m, I love justin Vernon from Bon Iver and , just all the like quirky vocal stuff they do and electric guitar stuff. And so I was just, having fun. So that’s awesome, dude. That’s so cool that you thought it was cool. I’m always so self conscious about doing that stuff because, I just pull out my iPhone and I hope this sounds good.
I hope people don’t think I’m an idiot.
That’s awesome, dude. Thanks for encouraging me. Yeah, who’d you write
Chris: that song with? Or did you, or did it just solo?
Patrick Mayberry: I wrote it with a couple buddies this last Last summer a buddy named Andy Cherry and another guy named Heath Balzaglier and Heath is in Atlanta and Andy is in I think he’s in Charlotte?
I think
Yes , and we were at this writing retreat, it was the last day of the retreat, and we were all pretty exhausted, and we’re all about the same age, and we’ve got young kids, and we were just talking about life. The ups and downs of life and we were saying what would it be like when we’re a bunch of old men and we’re just sitting on a front porch one day what would it be like to like with the through the like old leather skin and worn out just selves, like our worn out bodies, like attesting to the faithfulness of God, like like we’ve stood on like the tallest of mountains.
And we’ve also been like knocked down to the ground and looking back over life. The one thing that was actually true throughout it all was that God was right there with us and he was faithful through it all. That was the heart behind that song. And man, it’s been such a it’s crazy. You write a song and you think you’re writing it for someone else.
And then God uses it to like minister to you through a season. And it’s just been a wild season for my wife and I and our family and just some unexpected turns of health stuff and just life. And I think for the longest time, I looked for God’s faithfulness in these big acts that he would do.
Like God would, just thrown out stuff move some just giant proverbial mountain or part the sea or, all these big epic miracle type things. And I thought that was the faithfulness of God. And I think what the Lord’s been teaching me, like the greatest miracle, those are amazing miracles and I believe in those things and keep, I’ll keep praying for those things.
But I think what the Lord’s been teaching me is like the greatest miracle is actually just. The promise of his presence, his faithfulness to never leave us or forsake us. And as a human being, you’re absolutely going to walk through awful things where you’re like, why, like, why am I having to walk through this?
Why, why is this happening to me? And if you’re listening to this and that hasn’t happened to you like in the kindest way, like it’s going to happen, you’re going to get a phone call or you’re going to get some sort of news that’s just going to literally rock everything that you know , but the good news is that I can guarantee you Jesus will walk with you every step of the way and I can’t guarantee it’ll end the way you want it to, but Jesus will walk through every second of it with you.
That’s the whole heart of that song is just clinging to Jesus’s faithfulness,
Ryan: man. I’d love to get connected No, you go. Yeah, let
Chris: me get let me just spring off it How’d you get connected to the Charlotte guys like James Duke and Eddie Cherry and all them
Patrick Mayberry: man. I the Lord So the label that I got connected with as a writer it’s called Centricity Music and they’re based in Franklin.
And maybe about three years ago, they actually brought James on to be the A& R man for worship music. And that was a big deal because they had never really had exclusively a worship side. And I was just a writer and my heart had always just been for writing songs for the church. And they were like, Hey, man.
What if you came on as the guinea pig artist and we tried this out. And so James is technically my A and R guy. So it’s been awesome. Like he’s such a and what’s cool is I get him to play on all the songs too. So it’s even better, but he’s the best, like he’s such a champion for, he feels like he’s just been such a champion for me and.
It feels really cool to have a guy like him in my corner. And he’s so loved and respected by so many people just because he’s such a good dude and really loves people. And I think has a real heart for the Lord and cool music. And and I just met Andy through some writing stuff and he’s such a good dude such a talented writer.
Ryan: Go ahead, Ryan. Okay, I just wanted to thank you. I was gonna, to go back, you were talking about, I really resonated, I’m sure with Chris too, but Chris and I both been doing this for a long time, but both of us had gone through some fairly serious stuff over the past couple years with our families and all that, and totally resonate where you’re saying if you haven’t encountered something like that, you will.
And it just, we’re, I’m middle aged, but it’s like, it feels like, When you’re 20, it’s I got to figure out how to crack into all the things and make myself as big as I possibly can and do all these amazing things for the Lord and then like it seems like the older you get, the more you’re like, man, Jesus is just awesome.
I’m glad I got him. I’m happy that I get to spend eternity with him. Praise the Lord. Could you maybe speak a little bit… How could we encourage these younger… Bright eyed, bushy tailed worship leaders that are waiting for those things that might come in life to clobber their, like, how do you keep your eye on the Lord and not get so distracted?
Because the other side of it too is you can get horribly disenfranchised if you’re looking for all these big dreams and don’t start seeing them. That can be its own devastation at some point in your life too, but love to just hear your perspective on that and if that
Patrick Mayberry: sparks anything.
Yeah, I, couple of things. It’s I don’t want to be the guy who just quotes scripture, but count it all as joy. Like when you face trials like it, it builds so, so much character and it reveals character. But more than that, it builds so much faith and trust. And, I am a for anybody who cares about the Enneagram, I’m a seven on the Enneagram and I want to have max fun all the time.
My superpowers are like incredible optimism and high energy. And my kind of motto. Is what I lack in talent I make up for with enthusiasm. And I’m like, if I can just be energetic enough, then maybe that will cover up for all the other things that I am not good at, but all that to say 15 years ago, I was a whole lot of fun.
Now, 15 years later, after walking through a lot of hard seasons and just doing some work with the Lord, I can safely say I am still an incredibly fun dude. But I’ve got some serious depth and some serious miles under the hood with following the Lord and trying to live a life of faith and figure out what it looks like to have faith and follow Jesus.
And it is such a deeper, richer place, and it only, sadly, it only comes with experience and time. So if you’re 20, don’t rush it. jUst live your life. Enjoy life. Don’t take it so serious like you’re not in a hurry. God’s timing is like perfect. You’re not missing anything. Like I don’t call me crazy, but I don’t think we should have any regrets when we follow Jesus because I don’t really think there’s missed opportunities because I trust that God’s guiding my steps.
And so I wish that I knew what it’s a good quote. I wish that I knew. Now I wish, how’s that quote? I wish that I knew what I
Ryan: knew. Which, yeah, what? We got it. We,
Patrick Mayberry: everybody knows . I wish that I knew. I know when I was younger. Wouldn’t that be nice? For young whipper snappers, like just be really faithful.
Right where you are, be as faithful and as hardworking as you can be and be really kind to the people above you and the people below you. And that is what, that’s what the Lord is asking you to do. And then if he wants other doors to open, like he’s going to open them and you just keep showing up, work hard, be really intentional and the Lord will take care
Ryan: of the rest.
Yeah, that’s good. I’d love to hear too, as you’ve got some miles in there, how how did you discern when God was moving you into various seasons? Versus especially like working in church, it can be easy to get frustrated in church. There’s always times to be frustrated. Average tenure of a worship leader, I think it’s even worse now past COVID, something like two years, a worship leader is going to go find another job.
But I think it’s even less than that now. Yeah. Ow. Having been through some transitions, like how do you go about discerning, is this me that’s just wanting to go for grass is greener? Is it the Lord shutting the door on me? Is it the Lord kicking me out a window? But how do you figure that out?
Patrick Mayberry: Yeah, I think this is all my perspective and for some it may be different, but I think like slow is the key. I don’t think you want to blow up your life overnight. I think obviously hearing from the Lord and. For me, it’s been like, okay, I really think the Lord saying this and then I got to get the courage to talk to my wife about it and then I invite her into it.
And then we just pray and we talk and maybe there’s a really close group of friends or one or two people that we share with and we’re like, Hey, here’s what we’re thinking and we feel God is saying this, are we crazy? Does this seem off to you? And then take all those things into account. And then. Maybe it’s walking, like when you feel really good about all that, walking into your pastor’s office or no, actually it’s fine, however, your relationship is with your leadership.
Maybe it’s walking into their office. Maybe it’s making a meeting, setting a time and I would just invite them into the conversation Hey, you jumped out on a limb to be the pastor of this thing, or to start this thing at some point, what was that like for you, what were you feeling? Was it scary?
Like what made you so sure? And then they’re probably going to be like this, I remember those days, why what’s up? And you can say I don’t know. But for the last. Six months. I feel like God’s been saying this thing and I just keep saying, okay, God, you got to show me and then begin that conversation.
I think like jumping to where you think the grass is greener because you think it’s going to get you somewhere quicker, faster, higher, and then being like. Like you’ve been good to me here, but I’m out of here. I’m moving on to the bigger leagues. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. Like God has you at that church for a reason.
So this is not a new line, but leave really flipping well. If the stat you just gave of like worship leaders, tenure is at a church for two years, beat that. Like, why? Why are you even taking the job? Is it the lead pastor drives you crazy? Or you thought it was gonna be one thing and it’s not?
I don’t know. What are your motives? What did you think it was gonna be on day one? And I don’t know. I just, that’s a, that’s, that stinks. Yeah I’m just not a, I’m not one to take a gig or take a job and that’s just me. And I realized that I’m not knocking anyone who does, but you gotta have some skin in the game and some serious, wholehearted calling that what if God’s calling me to like really shepherd these people for a while?
I don’t know. Maybe that’s holding it like too tight, but that’s just how, that’s how I roll. So
I don’t know man. It’s just It’s the church dude. Like I don’t know.
Ryan: Yeah, I was just digging into I was like I’m gonna verify these stats while we’re talking and yeah, it’s one to two years it’s just
Patrick Mayberry: It’s it’s the bride of christ and it’s the people of it’s it’s just the people so if I don’t know if you’re signing up for a job because They’ve got big ambitions and they want to build some state of the art facility with an epic PA and a massive LED wall and you’re going to get to lead these epic songs and start writing a record and they’re going to partner with a label and you’re going to write songs and that’s your whole reason like that’s it like you I don’t know I’m like don’t do it please don’t do it I don’t know maybe that’s Off the record, if that’s too harsh, don’t put that in the thing.
But yeah, I
Ryan: was just gonna say, I think it’s a reality. I don’t know what the answer would be. I’m just thinking I wonder what it is that, and I guess maybe it is that everybody’s chasing. Maybe getting into the industry, maybe, social media has made it hard where every even senior pastor is like trying to get their quotable clips to go.
And so it’s just, it’s become this big rat race among all the churches to just be content generators and try to make some sort of a, uh, significance on the internet versus a significance in their community. And it’s just, I’m not really asking, I was just like, that’s just where we’re at.
And it’d be nice to get out
Patrick Mayberry: of that. And it’s like sneaky too. Yeah, I want to grow my platform so more people can hear these truths I’m writing about the Lord. And then that’s like pure and honest, but then I get really upside down with like, why isn’t my platform growing? And this person’s is, I need to start doing this or it makes me get.
bitter towards them, or it makes me get discouraged with what God’s doing in my thing, in my ministry. And it makes me discredit I’ll get like some crazy text from someone or a message on Instagram that’s Oh my gosh, I heard this song and I sat in my car and cried because I didn’t know that God wasn’t mad at me.
And I read that and I’m like, Yeah, but I don’t have more followers. That’s You know, that’s definitely work that I need to do in myself, but it’s just a tricky, it’s a tricky time that we live in mixing success and popularity and the music industry all with church and commerce and weird.
And I am very much navigating it all myself. And sure. And I’m doing a terrible job at it, by the way, I doubt that.
I’m just curious. Go ahead. What’s
Chris: one piece of advice, something I hear a lot and probably too much is God has called me. I feel like God’s calling me to Nashville. I feel like that’s very trendy, recently, what’s a, like a piece of advice you would give to a young , let’s say vocalist.
That says that I feel like God’s calling me to Nashville.
Patrick Mayberry: I’d say, come on.
That’s my response. I’m like, okay, let’s go. The more the merrier. I have no If the Lord’s moving you, then you gotta do it. That’s what I would say. Honestly, I listen so I grew up here. And when I got married, we moved to Nashville and lived in Nashville for probably four years.
And then the Lord , opened a door for us in Chicago and we moved to Chicago and I was on staff at a church there for 10 years, and then we moved to Franklin and we’ve been here three. That was my story five years ago, I felt the Lord being like, I’d started partnering with this label and, I really felt as crazy as this sounds. I felt like the Lord was like, dude, I want you to play a part in what the church sounds like and how the church views me when they sing about me. And then this is all over the matter of a year or two that I was just really praying and investigating and asking God okay, what’s this look like?
And then I honestly was listening to a podcast with Ryan Tedder, who is, from one Republic and has written massive songs for pop world and every pop person. And he said if you are wanting to be in the pop industry as a songwriter or producer. And you’re not living in LA or London, I think, or maybe New York.
He’s you need to move there tomorrow. And I remember hearing that and feeling like God was really like giving me this like invitation of no, I want you to like, help write some songs that are going to help inform people about who I am and also who I’m not. And I, I just remember feeling so compelled okay, Nashville is this music city capital for the kind of.
worship Christian world, like whether you like it or not the, the river that is worship music flows through Nashville at some point along the way, it’s just the way it is today. It may not always be like that. It may be somewhere on the other side of the world, but right now it is, I think it is Nashville and.
I think we would all agree on that. And so I’m like, okay, I want to be there and I want to rub shoulders with fellow artists and fellow thinkers and fellow worship pastors and producers and writers and people at labels who deeply care about the church and care about these songs. aNd I want to like.
Do life around them. And maybe, for a while I thought maybe God just wants me to encourage other writers who are in the writers rooms and, just remind them like, man, you’re really doing great work and it is impacting the world. Please keep going. Like, how’s your life? How are things like.
So I don’t know what it looks. I don’t know that you’ll move here and you’re all of a sudden gonna become some big star You might just be a really nice person who? volunteers at your church for a long time and is a massive gift to the worship pastor or Could be a myriad of things or I don’t know like you could write the next greatest song that I want to lead next Sunday at my church like I Say if God’s calling you then Make sure you do it the right way and then do it the same.
If somebody was calling somebody to move to the other side of the world and serve in a third world country, do it, man. Or don’t do it, or don’t do it, but you’re going to miss out on something really neat that the Lord would love to do in your life. Yeah,
Chris: that’s a cool perspective. I’ve asked that question to so many people and you get the, the hugest range of answers from people that are bitter.
People are like, don’t try it, it’s going to eat you up and spit you out, people I just hear from worship leaders all the time, they’re like. I’m thinking about moving to Nashville and depending on who they talk to, they either get discouraged or encouraged. So that was a cool, it was cool to hear your
Ryan: perspective on that.
Patrick Mayberry: Yeah. And I think there’s no guarantees you got to work about 17 different jobs , to pull it all off. I, there’s no guarantee of glory or success, but if you’re following the Lord, there is a guarantee. That he’s going to do something in you and through you. I just, I don’t know what that is.
And honestly, you don’t either until you take a step and then take the next step and then take the next step and the next step. About 15 bajillion steps later, you’re like, Oh, I didn’t see that. I didn’t know that’s where it was leading when I took the first step eight years ago.
Ryan: What’s what are you doing? I guess just to go practically again, like what’s, what are you doing? Just foster your relationship with the Lord love to hear I always love hearing like everybody’s rhythms Some are very much like first thing in the morning. I do my devotion, like not everybody says that but some do say That but I just love to hear what are you?
What are you doing to keep God? Central to all the stuff.
Patrick Mayberry: Yeah, man. I mean I am the worst at disciplines and I actually when I lived in Chicago visited a a really old really large Catholic church. And I remember going like I’d never been, and I was so moved by how uh, emotionless it was and how disciplined it was.
And I was like, wow, this is the opposite of my life and the opposite of my church experience. And I remember thinking I felt like the Lord was like, how cool is it that you show up every however often, and you do these practices and in seasons of plenty or in seasons of drought, like you’re still showing up.
And I was like, God, I need more of that in my life. Cause there are definitely seasons when you’re feeling it and seasons when you’re not. I think, honestly, for me, that has become a huge gift, learning that there’s seasons when you’re feeling it and seasons when you’re not. And knowing that’s not gonna always, that’s not gonna last.
Seasons where I feel so close to the Lord I know again, this is just my perspective, but I definitely have seasons where I don’t feel close. But I remind myself like, okay, this is a season and it’s going to come back around. And, I think just practicing, like I, I’m a sucker. I love listening to worship music.
I love it. I’ve been on a kick right now with nineties worship. Like I missed a lot of that in the nineties. I missed it all in the nineties. I didn’t learn about worship music till I was in college and that was like 2006, 2007. And So i’ve just been like i’ve been listening to this old michael w smith album where it’s like agnes day and his early
Ryan: stuff It stands up And it
Patrick Mayberry: was just amazing. Like it just feels So like in the, I don’t mean this as an insult at all. It feels under thought, not, I’m not talking about that record, but I’m just talking about worship music. Then it just felt like they weren’t sitting in a room trying to craft the most mind blowing lyric. And it just it felt natural and good and simple.
And I’m like, man, I think we could stand to get back to that a little bit or a lot. So I love to listen to worship music. I found like having a daily devotional, like a book or something is actually really helpful for me. Whether it’s like sitting, scattered out through the house, like it’s sitting on the dining room table, or maybe it’s in the men’s lounge, if you know what I’m saying, the men’s lounge , that’s the facilities , but just something that you grab and or, just something that it’s at least there’s something, but then there’s also seasons where it’s maybe I’m reading through a book or study, That feels a little more guided.
Also like this is like the lowest hanging fruit , like just read your Bible occasionally is a great idea. Another thing is if you’re a worship leader, I dare you, if you’re not already just sit in the service and listen to the pastor, like I actually sit through both services because I actually get something the second time that I did in the first.
And I just really. enjoy like where I’m going to church and I love it’s just great. Like I sit one by myself and then I sit with my wife and um, yeah, those are just some simple, practical
Ryan: things. Yeah, no, that’s fantastic. I love the 90s worship I was aware of it because I was young and living in it and my parents were doing contemporary church services in the 90s, and I’d super resonate there is something about a lack of craftiness to it or something, and I totally, I had the opportunity to talk to what was his name, Rick Founds, I think was his name, wrote, Lord, I lift your name on high, I And he was telling me that he was reading a science book in the facility, ironically, about how water has, it’s precipitated to the clouds and then falls down into the lake and then evaporates back up into the sky.
So heaven to earth, you came from heaven to earth to show the way from the earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave. He was like, literally, it’s precipitation. I’m like, what the heck? No way. It was my first like it would have been 10 or 15 years ago. But yeah, that just the, you worded it perfectly.
That it, that is a, it seems like people aren’t writing like that necessarily now. And that’s such a wonderful song still. I’m sure it is charting somewhere on CCL. I may be pretty down there, but I’m sure some trips are still. Still doing that song and he’s yeah, it was just precipitation’s cool.
So I wrote that about Jesus. It’s wow. Yeah, crazy
Patrick Mayberry: Dude, and you know the whole songwriting thing like it’s also just there’s just so much right now Which is it’s not a bad thing. Let’s go like the lord will you know filter out what needs to be filtered out and I you know, he could filter out all the things i’m doing for all I know like
But I do think there are some we’re in an interesting season of just industry and in church and, even just figuring out like writing songs and then Oh, I wonder how this would go radio. It’s Oh I don’t, I literally said to somebody today, I was like, I don’t want to ever say that again, because I don’t want to filter.
I don’t want to filter what the Lord might be leading us to write in a song with, Oh, I wonder how this would go at radio. Or I don’t know if that’d work at radio, which I love radio has blown my mind actually yeah, I I didn’t know much about Christian radio and it is literally I’m writing songs that I really believe in that I really love, and that I feel like, Man, I hope this song could help somebody.
And then all of a sudden, someone’s driving in their car, and they accidentally turn the dial wrong, and my song’s on the radio in their car, and it’s like, saying God likes you. He’s not mad at you. And I’m like, that’s awesome. Are you kidding me? So I’m like a massive fan of Christian radio and in the ministry, like it is ministry.
So I don’t say that in any sort of condescending way, but I do think there are some like stipulations that can come into the filtering process in songwriting that. That’s a whole new world that we’re all kind of living in a little bit. Yeah.
Chris: Final question. Wide leg
Ryan: boot
Patrick Mayberry: cut or skinny. Oh, man I you know, i’m all of them right now.
Wait, what wide leg boot cut or skinny? Can we just talk about like boot cut jeans and how epic that was for a while? And just a little flare. No, man, I i’m, you know I just love a good pair of nice, like black, but you’ve washed them about five times. So they’re a little faded skinny jeans with with a good pair of boots.
I feel like I’m like ready for the day, but I will say I’ve gotten really into like comfy pants. Like those are like your hard pants, but I’ve gotten into it took, I never thought I would see the day, but some nice, like straight leg. They’re not real wide, but they’re straight like jeans or pants.
And the move is you just to give them a little style, you just cut them off, like right above the ankles. And it’s the best, just comfy. Cause you wear a pair of skinny jeans. You’re not gonna be kicking the soccer ball with your kids out in the back, but you’ve got on a nice comfy pair of Relaxed jeans or relaxed pants all day.
I’ll do it. I’ll lead worship in them. That’s a big deal I haven’t got like what do you guys think about shorts on stage leading worship? Can you do it or can you not?
Chris: I can’t stand seeing thighs.
Patrick Mayberry: I think I, I think the only time you can permissibly do it is when you’re at like a beach camp.
Yeah, or you’re… Other than that, yes. Which I didn’t even know I’d never been to a metal show, and I went to a metal show like a year ago, and it’s like, they’re all wearing shorts. Yeah. And they’re just like, I was Frightened. My, my background is like hippie jam bands, like Grateful Dead, Phish, widespread panic.
So there’s not a lot of yelling and like beating each other up. It’s more like all the things that I did before I knew Jesus. Thanks so much for
Ryan: listening to this episode. As always, head on over to Instagram, We love connecting with
Patrick Mayberry: people. God bless you today.