Jesus Culture Members Bryan & Katie Torwalt Lead Orlando in Worship After Shooting
Worship leaders Bryan & Katie Torwalt just released their new album Champion and the popular worship leaders share the impact their new worship music has made on them and in some communities already.
The Jesus Culture / Capitol CMG release is the first new album since the husband-and-wife worship duo's last studio release Kingdom Come in 2013. Katie revealed that their new album was done awhile back but they just kept adding songs to it so now is the perfect time for the world to hear it.
"The heart [of Champion] really is about overcoming, and hope, and God being our champion and fighting for us. The song 'Champion' came to me about a year ago and I was just in my room and had been in a season of battling a lot of fear and anxiety in life, irrational stuff and rational stuff. Experiencing some disappointment and some stuff that was out of my control," Katie told The Christian Post.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I remember just crying out to God and asking, 'Please help me, give me grace to be able to fight this and to battle this.' I was declaring truth and declaring scripture and I just remember Him reminding me again, 'This is not your battle this is not your fight. I'll fight for you I'm your champion.' That's where that song came from for me and that was a declaration for me and then we ended up writing a lot of these songs that were filled with some of that same theme," she said.
Their first single "Let There Be Light" is one of the group's first co-writes on the new album with Mia Fieldes and Hank Bentley but normally the two write themselves while waiting on God to help guide their content. Bryan explained that the inspiration to write their songs come in different ways.
"A lot of it comes out of personal experience and the events that are happening in the world and in our communities. The songs that we commit to the most are the ones that are personal but we're always asking the Lord, 'What do you want us to be writing about right now? What are you saying to our community/to our world right now?'" he said. "We really try and be present in the scripture and different books and stuff that we're reading and asking God to highlight certain stuff and declarations that we wanna be saying to our church."
Bryan and Katie have been touring the country with Jesus Culture and have had the chance to perform some of their newest songs. What they said surprises them the most is the new life that each song takes on when they lead it with other people.
"There's quite a few songs on here that I feel like even when we lead them now, I'll get teary and I'll lose it a little bit. For me that's happened quite a few times with 'Champion' because that song started with such a personal experience for me and it brings me right back there to remember what God did for me and what He's doing for me and I'm so thankful," Katie said of one of one of her favorite songs on the record.
Bryan admitted that his favorite is a different song on the album, and the "Let It Echo Tour" led him and his wife to a community that brought a whole new meaning to their worship anthem.
"I'm really excited about a bunch of these songs but one of these songs – it was originally on the Jesus Culture Let It Echo album called 'God With Us' and we had written it out of a very personal time and experience – but even more recently we were on tour and we got to lead that song in Orlando just a couple of weeks after the events that had happened there. To hear that community just declare the song, 'God with us, God for us, nothing can come against, no one can stand between us. Where there was death you brought life, where there was fear you brought courage, when I was afraid you were with me.' That moment for me, I could barely sing, I was a mess for sure," the worship artist admitted.
"It took on a new life, it started from another story completely but it felt right in that moment to declare that," Katie added.
"We wanna write songs that people can sing and clearly declare and that could maybe change the atmosphere in their lives or in their community," Bryan stated.
As the country is faced with social injustices, the killing of police officers and various crisis throughout the world the Torwalts say they have found worship to be the answer.
"Worship truly does change the atmosphere both personally and even in cities. I'll bring it back to David the psalmist in the Bible. There's so many psalms in which he talks about his present circumstance and then begins to write out and sing out praise. Then we see this whole picture change all of a sudden. We see his circumstance begin to change and we see from his perspective, God begins to fight for him. He is secure in his relationship towards his God," Bryan explained.
He went on to say, "For us I think we can bring that into this current circumstance into the nation that we live in. Worship brings people together and we've seen it, even for us in the last month being on tours with a bunch of different artists, Jesus Culture and we had the privilege of being with Chris Tomlin in some of his Worship Night's in America. We saw people come in all these cities, different races, and different streams of the church, come together in worship and there's something so powerful about the unity that that brings."
Katie interjected, "There's so many stories in the Bible about how worship changed the atmosphere, even physical circumstances like the walls of Jericho falling, that was from worship! So this is our opportunity more than ever as a church to declare the goodness of God, declare who He is and what that means to us, and the hope that that brings and to be filled with hope also, that God is in control and that He has overcome."
Champion is loaded with songs of declaration and hope. The body of work really showcases the heartbeat of God for the times we live in. Bryan and Katie have admitted being intentional about wanting the songs they write to reach church but because it is loaded with truth found in the word of God. the music might also have the opportunity to reach the unchurched.
Champion is now available, and for more information on the album and tour dates, visit Jesusculture.com
