Podcast Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Church Collective Podcast. In this episode, Chris and I had the opportunity to talk once again to Josh Holliday from Elevation Rhythm. It was really cool to talk about their collaboration with Forrest Frank, where Elevation Rhythm fits in with Elevation Worship. Just the heart for creating new and fresh music, and I know you’re going to love it. So here we go with the Church Collective Podcast.
Josh Holiday: Obviously last year we released our album. This is the gospel. And then we went on tour with Lecrae in the summer.
We did our, obviously we do our, And that was a big moment for us last year. And then this year we we released Praises the Remix from our last album with Forrest Frank which was fun. We did it last year, but I think I was trying to figure out the timing when to put it out. And so we were like, let’s just talking to Forrest.
I was like, let’s just drop it at the top of the year. And so we did that. And then now we have a new single called Goodbye Yesterday that we’re hoping to put out in the next, maybe like in May? Like in the next couple, I don’t want to say couple weeks, but Six weeks or seven weeks. We want to put a new single that we just recorded.
It just came out of nowhere. We wrote it and it’s just been going crazy at our youth services. And so we’re like, let’s just put it out. And so that’s like what we’ve been up to.
Chris Bellamy: How’d that collab come about with Forrest Frank? How’d you guys get together?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, he we love Forrest. He, I think he posted praises Like the original praise is on his social and Instagram or something.
And so I think I just reached out to him and Instagram bro, you should hop on the remix for this. And we I think we got on the phone that day and just like talking to him gave me more confidence that he’d be the perfect person to remix it because he’s just such a genuine person. And he.
Loves the Lord and he loves music and he’s just the perfect person to partner with and collaborate with. And so beyond his sound, him as a person, it was important that was there as well. And I think maybe that day he sent his verse back, which I’m like, dang, did you already have this kind of already recorded?
Like what the, like, how did you do this so fast? And so he like sent over a piano and a verse and Obviously, we just went back and forth. He’s a producer too. And so we were just working on the beat together and tweaking a couple of things here and there. And then we ended up going to Texas and spending some time with him and shooting the video and stuff.
And just, it’s just been so fun.
Chris Bellamy: Is that where he’s based out of Texas?
Was he, is he in Dallas or Austin or?
Josh Holiday: He’s in the Dallas area.
Chris Bellamy: Okay. Man, there’s a lot of musicians coming out of Dallas right now. Keep meeting them. I didn’t know the scene was like that huge.
Josh Holiday: Yeah. I love that. I literally was just there last week. It was, I was there with the upper room guys and it was just so fun.
Like I love Dallas.
Chris Bellamy: It’s crazy. You guys, were you touring at the same time? Were you touring Elevation Nights and then doing your other tour with Lecrae? Yeah, we’re,
Josh Holiday: we’re crazy like that where we somehow we ended up doing both and it was, it’s the, We didn’t mind it. Like we, we knew we have a large team and we knew that we were going to be able to pull it off, but it was, it just took a lot of kind of strategy with timing and people’s schedules.
But yeah, we were, there was a lot of overlap between the La Crate Tour and Elevation Nights, but it was only like maybe four or five dates.
Chris Bellamy: Can you talk about this? Our buddy Tim Womble explained like the how Elevation Rhythm came about but just for people that don’t know, like, how did it start?
How do you what’s the separation between Elevation Worship, Elevation Rhythm, and how do you guys like function together and separately?
Josh Holiday: Yeah. It started before I was here. It started maybe in 2000, I want to say it was 2018, 2019 with David and Tiffany. They were the youth worship leaders at the time and they were just writing songs a lot, like just in their own time.
They were just spending a lot of time writing songs and they would do remixes and stuff at our youth services with like other songs. And I think they ended up showing some of the songs to our pastor. I think he encouraged them to really start to lean into it and see if there’s something there. And so they just, it was birthed out of like their passion for creativity and for the next generation.
And then David and Tiff really just started writing a lot. And I think they started releasing singles and doing them and our youth services and rhythm came from there. I didn’t come up, I didn’t come until around 2020, 2021. And so we’ve evolved since then. And they’ve I’ve definitely like They’ve they passed the baton and I’ve definitely been trying to carry it and lead well with it.
And right now rhythm is, I guess to answer your question about the difference between rhythm and worship. I think the biggest one is the fact that we were birthed out of the youth ministry of Elevation Church. And so Our call is really going to be to the next generation more than anything.
And so that’s our main focus and obviously not to say that Sunday morning, our songs don’t work on Sunday mornings, but it’s just not our it’s not the origin of where rhythm came from was to fill that spot. And what’s interesting is those that everyone I think we’re all still like the church, like it’s Pastor Steven sometimes helps us write with songs and I write some songs with elevation worship.
Musicians are like doing the same and so like producing wise it’s like I’ll produce both and so there’s there isn’t like a, it hasn’t, it isn’t as black and white as like you stay over here with rhythm you stay over here with worship I think that there’s a lot of cross pollination.
And because it’s like, it’s just, we’re all like. On the same creative wave, we also have the same heart if that makes sense and so it’s just like we just know how to be in both and we just attack the different sonic spaces that they both have, but we just go into the studio and live in those spaces.
spaces and in those environments and see what works best for those environments. But I think before we even get to the, is this an elevation rhythm song or elevation worship song, I think we’re just all just songwriters and and creators and we’re just making music.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. Is Pastor Stephen as involved with Elevation Rhythm writing as he is with Elevation Worship writing?
Josh Holiday: Every once in a while he’ll he’ll pop in and throw in some lyric ideas. And he’s one of the greatest songwriters that I’ve ever worked with. And so every time he pops in, I’m please give me a, can you give me like a whole verse instead of like a line? I was like, man I always love when he has He has some lyrical ideas and stuff, but he doesn’t get as involved mainly because he just wants there to be a lot of create.
He wants there to be space for it to keep evolving and figuring out. We’re still like in a discovery phase with rhythm. And so it’s There’s a lot of like freedom in it. And so we just let it just like being let it evolve into whatever it’s going to be. But yeah, like he’s always hands on when it comes to guidance though he gives a lot of guidance to us and he’s a He’s I call him like the best executive producer, like he’s able to really look at things from a different perspective that sometimes I just can’t see because I’m in it.
And he brings so much value to help me see Hey, you should do this. You should do that and stuff like that. And it’s always that last 10 percent that makes things go from here to here.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. Do they age you out passionate us you’re 25, you can’t be part of it anymore?
Josh Holiday: No, I don’t think we’ve, we haven’t gotten that we don’t have those rules on our things based on age.
Chris Bellamy: And they’re like, Hillsong United, like, eventually they’re like pushing 40, and it’s like what’s, what is Hillsong United now, and then after that came Young and Free, and then now the Young and Free people are pushing 30, so it makes me wonder, like, how does that cycle work,
Josh Holiday: yeah, it’s, that’s, there is a natural progression that always happens with We always have to make space and make room for the next to and so we’re always on our values is making room. And so there’s a bunch of 17, 18 year old worship leaders who we need to be making space for.
We need to be creating a culture that they can come into and grow in and their gifts can grow into. And so that’s a huge value of rhythm is to We have an apprenticeship here that we work through and stuff like that. And so we’re always looking to create an environment and a culture that young people can come and grow in as worship leaders.
Ryan Loche: What are you what are you seeing with even these 17, 8 year old, 18 year olds, like what kind of, musical, spiritual in what kind of influences are you seeing them bring?
Josh Holiday: They’re,
well, one, I’ll say their musical taste is actually like very impressive. I think this next generation actually has really good taste in music. I don’t know if it says I don’t think you can just get away with just some basic song and they’re going to like, there’s going to love it because it has, quote, unquote, energy to it or something like they actually have like great taste in music.
And they, I think more than that, I think that they have a huge yearning to like, know God and to encounter God and want to be like having spirit field worship. And there’s there’s just like a yeah, there’s a desire and there’s a hunger for this next generation of worship leaders to not just be surface level worship leaders, but to really have encounters.
And lead from a place of yielding to the Holy Spirit and almost like letting him lead. And which is so cool because that’s something that you think is like not really necessarily you see from such like it’s something you’re used to associating that with more of an aged worship leader and a seasoned worship leader, but it’s starting to.
come down into the one on one aspect of worship leading which is good because that is a foundational aspect of leading worship. And so the fact that it’s coming into the one on one worship leading is so encouraging and it’s humbling to like, know that like, whenever we get away from that, to know that there’s like a next generation that is, that they value that.
Ryan Loche: Yeah. I’d love to hear you you explain, I think we maybe talked about it last time we had you on the podcast too, but what’s the. Because a lot of times in my generation or whatever, I’m 42 sometimes I think authenticity means less produced. But that’s not the case because you can do very well produced and have the spirit totally be infused in there.
And I’d love to see that out of the especially these younger ones. They seem to get that. Could you maybe talk a little bit about that?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, I think authenticity, I think all of that stuff we can’t wait until The moment happens, the product happens to now want to be authentic or now want to be like, what I think it has to start before that, like it’s.
We’re not the, Oh, like we’ll just. Like in a two minute and 30 second song, the spirit can move and there’s true authenticity in that just as much as a 10 minute song and but it’s not necessarily attached to tempos or the song lens for us. It’s really attached to a heart posture and it’s in its, and it’s what happened before we even got up here before we even grabbed a mic before we even wrote down a lyric, and then it goes into the writing room and then it goes into the rehearsals like and so it’s just so much more about life than it is about the product.
The product is truly it’s like the aftermath it’s like the, it’s the overflow of it all. I guess you can say like more than it is that’s where we focus in. Okay guys, we’re about to do this thing. Let’s now turn on our authenticity and turn on all that stuff. It’s no it’s more of the, that’s that thing that everyone sees, like the fruit.
Yeah. There’s once you really see how many roots are actually underground, like those are the things that we value is what are we taking root in? And like, where are our roots growing?
Ryan Loche: Do you, I do you think people are desiring for more of a biblical spiritual theological grounding as they’re jumping into it?
I’m trying to think where did the worship leader that I was 10 years ago, where did I go? What did I do? Or would we do that, led this generation to wanting more of a. We just keep saying authenticity, but it’s really just a desire for a genuine connection with the Lord both on and off the platform.
Like where do you think, how are they getting this? I feel like when I was 18 I didn’t get it. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. When I was 18, I didn’t get that. I wouldn’t say I was like this spiritually grounded, like wanting all that. I was just learning how to do the music. But what are they getting?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, I mean I, if I were to guess, I would say it has a lot to do with. Society and culture. I think that there’s a lot thrown at getting thrown at them outside of the church. And so like when you run, when you want to run to the father and you want to run to his house and to be a part of that, you don’t like, you’re not here to play games, like you’re not here to.
Because you’re just like checking the box of I went to church is truly I’m here and I have a hunger. I’m here. I ran here because I’m hungry. Or I walked here like wherever, however you got here, but it’s just like there’s a true hunger because it’s like outside of this.
Where culture is and where society is. It’s nothing. I don’t know. It’s just not edified. I don’t think it’s edifying to them. And so I think as cultures evolved, I think the hunger has become has grown.
Ryan Loche: Yeah, that’s good.
Chris Bellamy: What’s up? What’s up? What? So you have their elevation has praise, right?
And you guys have praises. I don’t think, true elevation fans would know this, but a lot of people don’t realize that there’s two Two different songs, because praise was so popular. What has that been an issue? Were you guys like, maybe we shouldn’t name it this or what? Was there any like confusion, like having those like side by side?
Josh Holiday: We thought it was funny more than anything. We just thought it was funny. It was just like, oh man, one letter off from having the same song title. Like we’ve, we didn’t think it didn’t go that deep for us. Like we didn’t think oh no, this is going to be bad for marketing or anything like that.
We’re just yeah, it’s cool. It’s, if anything, it just shows like what I said earlier, which is we’re all like the heart, like there’s such a synergy with all our teams to where it’s that’s like the way we were on and where everyone’s writing about giving praise to God.
And there’s only so many times, only so many things you can name the song. And so we’re just I don’t know, it doesn’t get that deep for us all the time. I think that we’re It probably was a little confusing and stuff, but like it’s, I don’t know. It’s just, we still try to like not overthink things.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. Was that like was that intentional? I know I’ve heard the phrase, put praise back into praise and worship because it’s evolved into just worship. You know how everybody used to call it praise and worship. Is, has that been an intentional thing? Hey, let’s.
Josh Holiday: No, I, I don’t know if I can’t speak for, I didn’t write praise, but with praises that kind of came just out of a it was just, we were just reading the Bible and cause that was from the gospel album. And so that was one of the scriptures that we referenced when we were saying, Hey, we want to write songs that are based out of scripture.
We’re literally just let everything that has breath praise the Lord. That was like our reference. And so we just wrote from there. And so like it. It wasn’t like we need we weren’t trying to solve a problem in our worship center or anything like that. I think we were just saying, let’s write a song about the scripture.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. That’s, that makes it even cooler than it was. like organic, because for a long time, I felt like nobody was writing any good praise upbeat songs, everything was like going for that anthem, that slow anthem,
Josh Holiday: right. And it’s so important to like, and that’s what I like.
It’s just important that we don’t forget to praise God before we like, before we do anything else. It’s just we’re acknowledge who he is. And so it’s been a great pillar for us to really, especially for our youth to for them to understand like, Hey, like praise is important because like we lift his name up and we acknowledge who he is.
And like before we can even enter it’s like one of those things where it’s important that they know the value and the importance of praise.
Chris Bellamy: What’s your like, personal journey been like? How did you get to Elevation? How what’s your musical background? Did you study? What was your, just, your journey?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, I like I said, I’ve been here since 2020. Before that, I was in church. I went to church, I played piano and stuff. I wasn’t really creating a lot because I didn’t really feel like I, I don’t know, I just wasn’t in that creative space. I’ve been producing since I was 16, 17, and I produced a lot in the secular world.
I was a hip hop and pop R& B producer in LA. I did the whole thing, but I went through a journey of, coming back to God and spending time with him and knowing who he, what he wanted from me and who he wanted me to be. And what’s hard is that’s a detox from what the industry tells you who you’re supposed to be.
And then so the kind of unlearn those things and to know who he says I am and to develop the characters of Christ. It was a tough season, but it was necessary. But I tell people like the most important part of my. story is every, I started playing keys at this church. And every time I was up there, I was, I just kept falling in love with the church.
Like I wasn’t falling in love with the music. I wasn’t falling in love with the experience. Cause I was like, ah, music is okay. But like it was, it’s like being on a platform, it’s you get an opportunity to see who God loves. Like you get to see his bride, like you get to see who he’s in love with.
And so every time I was up there, I just kept falling in love with. the church. And once that finally hit to me, I felt like God really felt like I was ready to start creating again and start writing music again because I brought in that love for the church and for who he loves into the writing room and not, I didn’t bring in the ego.
I didn’t bring in the, I didn’t bring in all that and let’s just make some dope music. It was really, truly, I created from a different place in which it was like the love of his church. And I brought the skill sets and all the sounds and stuff, and that comes alongside of it. But if I think I needed to really have that.
At the forefront before I could really start writing for the church.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. How, um, stepping away, how’d you get into producing? What was your, who were your influences? Like, how did you were you watching YouTube where you watched like Pensado’s Place and produced like a pro or what what was that journey like?
Josh Holiday: I was raised in Virginia. I was born in Alabama, raised in Virginia. And then Pharrell Williams was like, Where
Chris Bellamy: in Virginia were you raised?
Josh Holiday: I was in Hampton, Virginia.
Chris Bellamy: Really?
Josh Holiday: Yeah.
Chris Bellamy: Cause I’m from Virginia Beach.
Josh Holiday: Oh yeah, so that’s what I mean. Yeah, my sister
Chris Bellamy: went to school with Pharrell, oh,
Josh Holiday: I’m so jealous. But just knowing, I learned about Pharrell from living in Virginia and I just felt like I, like him. The way he fused music, like I always felt like that. I was more of a, I loved all kinds of genres and he was the first person that I realized oh he can fuse hip hop, pop, latin, percussion, like he can do all, he just fuse it all together.
And so that is what really started me on the journey of production was like, it was truly just Pharrell.
Chris Bellamy: Dang, that’s great. Yeah, so it’s funny because a lot of non Virginia heads don’t realize how much, Like how many producers came out of Virginia, like Timberland lived down the street from me, like Pharrell was down the street.
I went to college with Chad. Yes. He was a sex player.
Josh Holiday: Yeah. Teddy Riley had the studio across the street from Pharrell’s High School producing Michael Jackson records in Virginia Beach. And so it’s it’s just, there’s so much creativity in the state of Virginia.
Chris Bellamy: Wow. That, that’s blowing my mind that’s like where you came from.
And then now you’re like pushing it into Elevation Rhythm. That’s crazy. Yeah. So once you, after you got into Pharrell, what did you do to um, learn? Like, where did you go to school? Did you, were you watching YouTube or?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, I was just a YouTube Academy kid. I literally just, every time I wanted to know something, I would just Google it.
Like I would Google things and I would just became a student of it. And I just literally learned. My mom We didn’t even have a computer. Like my mom used to, she’s a teacher and she had a Apple computer. And so I would literally just wait for her to come home from school and I would just grab her laptop and go on garage band and just start making music and and just learn everything through there.
And that’s how I got started. And when I was 17 or 18 and I ended up moving to LA and just went full time.
Chris Bellamy: Hey, what was your platform? Like where you, like after garage band, where’d you move?
Josh Holiday: I was an FL Studio guy for forever because I was into drums I don’t think there’s any DAW that can program drums better than FL Studio.
And then I moved to Logic, and then I went to Ableton. And I went back to logic, then I like to, this is very weird of me, but I like to change dolls every like two to three years because I’d like to just do something different. I don’t ever want to come up. I don’t know. I just don’t like the idea of becoming a master of a doll or of a program.
I think that every doll brings out a different aspect of me. Producing when I’m in logic, I’m more MIDI based when I produce, like I’m playing a lot of MIDI when I’m in Ableton, I’m more sample based. Like I just find a sample and I’m manipulating sounds and stuff like that. And in FL studio, more drum bait and so it was like, everything brings out something different in me.
And so it’s just whatever I don’t know. I just don’t like to stick in one. So I’m in Ableton right now, but I’ll probably in the next year or so, I’ll probably switch back over to logic or something and just try something else again.
Chris Bellamy: That’s crazy. Thank you. Did you produce the entire, or have you produced all the Elevation Rhythm stuff?
Yeah. Do you ever bring anybody to collaborate with?
Josh Holiday: I’m trying to think. Praises was the collaboration I did production with. But other than that, I’m pretty and it’s mostly not because I’m like not open to collaborating with producers, but I think when we were writing them I’m already producing it while we’re writing.
Okay. And and I just I just, I don’t know I’m a love producing and I love creating and so I bring in like our band, they helped me with the musical side of it. I’m not the type of producer who plays every instrument. I actually barely, I play keys and that’s it. And so I bring in our band to help me a lot to figure out what I’m looking for, but mostly I’m solely just produce everything.
Chris Bellamy: Sorry, Ryan, I can go down a rabbit hole as soon as he said producer, Virginia and Pharrell, it’s man,
Josh Holiday: let’s
Ryan Loche: go, let’s
Chris Bellamy: keep
Ryan Loche: it up. I’ll chime in later. It’s good stuff.
Chris Bellamy: Um, what would you recommend for some man, you got in so early, I can’t even say what would you recommend for a 13 year old, but like how would you, mentor, like the next you seek out people that like, Hey man, I think you’d be a good producer and start mentoring them.
Or, do you have anybody that you’re already pouring into?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think about that a lot. I’m at the age right now where I like, it comes to my mind a lot about what mentoring looks like and stuff. I’ve always been apprehensive to mentoring because I’ve learned such an unorthodox way.
And so I’ve always been scared, or not scared, I think I’ve never really knew how to teach what I’ve done because it was just so unorthodox like I’m just Not all over the place, but it’s there’s like a, I do things just based on I just keep, I’m still a student myself.
I think that’s what it is. And so when I do, when people do ask me for advice and and I’d love to mentor more people, but I think. I don’t know if it would be the objective wouldn’t be to be the next me more than, because even think about like a Pharrell or someone like that, they’re, that’s never their objective and I think that’s where I get it from is where every time I listen to an interview of his, he was always encouraging people to be themselves.
And so it’s just not as practical. And so I think all the advice and wisdom that I have isn’t practical more than it’s more like mental and heart and passion. And so it’s I ended up becoming your life coach more than I’ve become your producer mentor.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. Do you have a, do you have a chat Hugo to your Pharrell?
I’d be
Josh Holiday: a 20 times better if I had a chat on one side.
Chris Bellamy: That’s funny. Yeah. So like, where do you see Elevation Rhythm going? What direction in the next five years?
Josh Holiday: Five? So we’re still trying stuff. Like we’re going to come out with a project maybe in a couple months. That’s going to be left field.
I don’t think people are going to expect it. It’s a little bit more singer songwriter y. It’s like, That vibe is almost, I call it sad girl music, but it’s it’s like in that vein we’re still, I think we’re still going to spend the next year or so discovering still and keep exploring.
We’re just like explorers right now more than we’re trying to perfect the sound because it’s just not our that’s not what we’re, it’s not what we’re here for. I think Elevation Worship is such a, giant in the worship space. And there’s there’s just, to me, that gives me freedom to start exploring everything outside of that.
Instead of like making like a carbon copy of what they’re already doing, it’s like, why won’t I just go over here and try this or try that? And so we’re just not in a rush to solidify anything because it’s like we, we don’t have to. And I know that’s not the case for every young worship team or any worship team at all.
I think we’re in a unique situation of having Elevation Worship as like our big brother, but where we, I think the best way to honor all that they’ve done is to keep going and is to keep exploring and not to just do like a like I said, a smaller version of what they’re doing, but to keep exploring what could also be out there, what worship could also look like, and what telling the gospel could also sound like.
And so we’ll probably be doing that for until, I don’t know, I’ll just keep doing that.
Chris Bellamy: You’ve already toured with Lecrae If you could do your dream tour, say four artists, what would it be?
Josh Holiday: That’s a good question. And I’m a, I hope they listen to this. And so they ask us, but I think one would be like very random, but like Kirk Franklin, I feel like his energy is like our vibe, like we, we want to like dance all the time too.
And so to open it up for Kirk Franklin would be dope. Also like for King and country, I think that their stuff is, It’s dope too. And I think that it would, I think it would stretch us in a way to see what, how they’ve like their artistic, um, approach to things is so inspiring.
And so I think that they’re, what they do would be super inspiring to us and grow us. Oh, outside of that, I think. I would rather do everything else. I don’t know if it’d be anyone big. I think it’d be just all of our friends. We’d just do a tour with all of our friends and just do something with Forrest or do something with Aaron Cole, with Joel, with S.
E. U. Worship. Like all the people that we just love and that’s part of our and then everyone else who’s like these I would wanna do a little festival, not little. I’d wanna do a festival with this next wave of Christian artists and worship teams. I wish we had our own little festival that we could do.
That’s not about like selling out arenas or not anything like that, but it’s really just about having a place for us to just grow a community. And right kind of show people like, Hey, this is this is also Christian music. And this is also out there.
Chris Bellamy: Did you guys do any festivals last summer?
Josh Holiday: Oh, we did. I can’t remember the names we do. We do a lot of youth conferences in the summer. Like once June and July hits, that’s probably our rhythm’s busiest quote unquote season. As far as traveling goes, because we always do VU conference with food church because those are like our family and then same thing with Lakewood.
They have something and like we do probably six or seven youth conferences a summer.
Chris Bellamy: Do you guys have any tour dates lined up for this year?
Josh Holiday: As of now, no, I feel like in two days, I probably would say it’d be a different answer because we’re still trying to work one out. But we, since we’re releasing Goodbye Yesterday in May I want to tour the song a little bit and like just go and something small.
And so the end of June, we’re thinking about doing something and just It’ll be a mixture of a tour, but also an, I call it like an experience, because a big value of rhythm is our community. That’s something that people don’t realize. I call it our secret sauce.
They always ask us, what’s our secret sauce? It’s it’s because we’re, we have a community. And I’m trying to figure out how to bring that part of rhythm into the touring realm. And like, how can we bring the community aspect of what we do into when we travel and have pop up experiences and like just hang out with people.
Chris Bellamy: Different, completely different subject. How do you get people like when they’re on the platform, obviously y’all bring so much energy. Do you just pick people that have energy or do you ever have people that you’re like, Hey, you’re not like at our level energy wise, like I need you to get on our level.
Josh Holiday: It’s, I think it’s contagious. I think it’s, I think everyone comes from different backgrounds and so everyone’s not just used to just like going on stage and just jumping all over the place like that’s just not I don’t know if that’s a, something we could ask people when they come in and like that you have to be there already and I think that our culture and our environment sets up space for it, it’s like you won’t feel crazy if you are doing it because like you don’t have a yeah.
Someone right next to you who’s like they’re with you and so like our synergy is what’s important more than our energy It’s like the fact that we’re all that’s what we I protect more than anything is like that We all have the same hearts and our hearts are aligned and we’re leading together as a team Everyone doesn’t have to everyone doesn’t have to be bouncing off the walls But we’re all understand that we’re here leading as a team, as a unit.
And I think that naturally that starts to show itself in people’s different expressions and how they bring energy.
Chris Bellamy: Yeah. You do you have a sense of there’s a danger, like when you’re working with like people like younger than 30? And everybody sees people reach late 20s, early 30s, and they just drop off the face of the they stop going to church, they, they were, like, in it, and they just drop off.
Is there a sense to to warn younger people that are in their early 20s of that happening? Or is there, are people aware of that? You’re talking about
Josh Holiday: worship leaders or just people
Chris Bellamy: and just in the church I feel like we’ve seen this like wave where there was a ton of people that were just all in it.
And then, you get to a certain point in your life where you see a lot of your friends just start dropping off, and I, like Ron and I have met with a ton of worship leaders or staff members or just church goers that have just gotten burned and just fell off. And we feel like.
Like, how do we like warn people or protect people from that happening to them? Like, how do we encourage people to like, go for the long haul?
Josh Holiday: Yeah. I think it’s, I think how I would approach that, or I don’t know if warning, I don’t know if I’ve ever warned anyone, but I think I, as a leader, I think my responsibility and what I value and what I care about.
Is helping people understand what their foundation should be. And if I can play a part in helping young people understand what their foundation is going to be. Because you can’t protect people from life and from the ups and downs of it all. But it’s if they understand. If they’re building their life on Jesus, like it’s they’ll know like this, like that won’t rock you to the point to where you’re falling, like you’re falling off like that won’t blow you away and so it’s, I’m more foundation focused as a leader, more than I’m about anything else because it’s, I think that’s, In my eyes, like that’s all I’m really like I’m equipped to do is like really help you understand the foundation and know what we stand on and let the walk.
Jesus is going to walk with you like the Holy Spirit is going to strengthen you like that’s they’re going to be with you, but like I can help practically help us figure out what is our foundation like especially in the space where we’re in where like. People build their foundation on everything, on all kinds of things, and they don’t realize it, but it’s happening subconsciously.
They built their foundation on their gifting or their identity and all these other things. And so I’m more weary of that aspect of it all. And I’m very, with our young people, I’m very intentional about that part.
Ryan Loche: Yeah, that’s good. It swings back to the authenticity thing, like just building a relationship with the Lord rather than I’d love to hear what’s God been teaching you lately?
What have you been really like wrestling with or not even wrestling, but like just resting in with the Lord?
Josh Holiday: Yeah, I think it’s I think our team has been rhythm specifically. We’ve been we actually took September to December off. We didn’t do anything in for three or four months.
And I just think it was important for us to and I want this to be a part of the rhythm. I guess I shouldn’t say that word. I want this to be a part of the, of like how rhythm operates is like, we’re willing to rest. We’re willing to give everything back to God. I know strategically the best thing could do after you have some momentum with the album is to put out another one or to tour it or all that stuff.
But also we’re so open handed that if God says Like I was just like, God, what do you want us to do next? And I just kept hearing him say I want you to give rhythm back to me. I want I want it. I want you to be so open handed with what you’re doing. And we’ve just been in that kind of posture where we’re open handed with whatever God wants to do with rhythm.
And so we started doing these like Monday night things where once a month we get together as just a team, it’s literally just our team, and we’re probably bringing a guest to teach us. And pray over us and we just do worship together as a team because it’s like we, you have to counter some of the aspects of everything that we do, the albums, the live recordings, the touring, all that stuff.
If you don’t have a balance of that, and also the moments where the quiet moments and the moments where you’re just like fellowshipping and just learning and being taught the word, then you’ll get caught up in. All the all the other stuff. And that will be, that becomes your church. And then so we just very cautious of that.
And so as, and me as a leader, I’m super cautious of that. And so I think it’s important for our team that we We just spend time with God in our alone time, but also as a team and because we want to do this together for as long as we can. And so like our team time is so important. But it’s just important that we are sent we develop How to be sensitive to the spirit and how to lean on God to help us because like we, we get our authority, we get our identity, we get everything from him.
But if we think that we get it from, we think we get our identity from the numbers, the streams, the tours and all that stuff, then like that, that can’t be it. And those things are very real in our, in what we do. Like we do we have, we see our numbers, we see the tickets, we see all that stuff, but we just know that’s not where we get any of our.
identity or our authority from. And so when we do walk into a room or an arena we’re sensitive to the spirit and 15, 000 people does that doesn’t overwhelm us because I can’t, I used to tell our team all the time I can’t I’ll say this, it’s not natural that we do these tours.
It’s like for someone, for a team that’s so young. Who’s only been leading worship for a year and a half and then now they’re doing tours It’s that’s not like a natural progression that we’ve seen before and so it does take intentionality around Helping them understand how to sense the spirit even in that room Like how do you quiet all the noise that’s in even in those spaces and still see Jesus?
How do you still? Lean on Jesus how you still point people to Jesus when everyone’s looking at you and it’s easier to do that in smaller rooms but like it’s it’s It’s not as easy. And so that’s what we, that’s what we’re focused on as a team, because it’s, I don’t know, it’s just that’s the key to me.
Ryan Loche: That’s great. Do the do a lot of the songs that you guys have written or put together, do they come out of those moments or, is that the fountain? Spiritually it’s the fountain, but I’m just wondering what’s the rhythm? Like we keep saying rhythm, but yeah, it’s the word, but what’s the, how does, do you write in those times or is writing like a separate thing or maybe just speak to how some of this stuff has come out of it?
Josh Holiday: Yes. A little bit of both. We write in those spaces and then, but sometimes before the, we sing those songs in services, we just, lead those songs amongst, we sing amongst each other. Like we have a song called at the altar, like it’s, we’ll just like I like that space to be a place where we, before we lead that song out, we let that song be a testament for our life.
And so we can, because all of our worship leaders aren’t songwriters. And so I think it’s important that They can still lead the song from a place of authenticity and I think the only way you can really do that is to spend time and really let the song minister to you first before you minister the song to others.
And so this space is just going to be super important for us as we develop as worship leaders to make sure that we stay, um, like you said before, like the authenticity and then we’d like our foundation is still true. We
Chris Bellamy: should probably wrap up soon, but final question for you. If you were asked if Elevation could do the Sunday service for something in the water this year, would you guys do it?
Josh Holiday: With the in Virginia?
Chris Bellamy: Yeah,
Josh Holiday: Rose Festival. In a heartbeat. Yeah, because he does like the Sunday with all the it’s like church service.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, we do it in heartbeat. And I say that and I’m speaking as Josh right now. And so let me Not jump the gun, but if anything, I’ll just go
Chris Bellamy: Yeah,
Josh Holiday: but yeah, I would love to do something like that I think that every time I see that I think it’s so cool that he even does that part of his festival
Speaker: Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. As always, head over to Instagram, We would love to connect with you over there. God bless.