Blacknall staff and congregants hit the right note on Saturday, May 31 when they came together to drum up new worship music from scratch. Organized by Wen Reagan, Blacknall’s Director of Music & Worship, 21 people joined for a daylong songwriting retreat, bringing musicians of all ages together to create wholly new songs focused on the theme of “home.”
Thirteen arrangements were written across two collaborative sessions as people broke into small groups to focus on lyrics and instrumental accompaniment. With fiddles, guitars, percussion, and more, songs were written in a variety of styles, from folk and rock, to rap and Latin-inspired pieces.
Kat Burgett, Director of Youth Ministry, offered a lesson on how to think about worship songs related to home, pointing toward three areas of inspiration from Scripture:
How God provides unexpected homes for His people.
The ways God makes homes for Himself among us.
Why we long for a future home with God.
“Jesus reminds us about how our ultimate home is secure in Him,” Kat said. “Scripture often speaks about ‘home’ as counter to our cultural understanding, so it’s important to poke at what we might think about when we use that word.”
Along with guidance from Kat, musicians also received songwriting tips from Sarah Lapp, Blacknall’s Associate Director of Middle School Ministry.
At the end of the retreat, all participants were encouraged to fine tune their songs in coming weeks, with the possibility that they could make their way into Blacknall's worship services or in future releases from Blacknall Arts.