The MxU Worship Podcast

 Welcome to our podcast today, man, I'm so glad you've joined us today. Our guest is Corey Voss. Corey is an artist, a songwriter, a worship leader, and I'm just so excited about what he's gonna deliver today and some of the questions that we talked about, some of the insight that he has. He's such a thoughtful and deep thinker, and it was just a blast to get to hear him talk about how he writes songs and how as a worship leader at your church, you can write songs.

How to know if a song is for you or for your church, or for somebody else. So sit back, relax. Enjoy the next couple minutes with Corey Voss. Welcome to our podcast. We're so glad you're with us today. Corey Voss. How are you doing, man?

Good, Stephen. Thanks for having me. Excited, oh my gosh, to be here with you.

I'm so excited to have you today. So, uh, obviously accomplished, songwriter, worship leader. You've put out a bunch of great records. How did you get started? What was the, the inception of you as as in the worship space? How did you decide I wanna be a worship leader?

Oh, man. Well, I definitely, as a young high schooler just had a really beautiful experience in worship at my church, really being newly saved. And it was then that I was, I felt like God was calling me to do something with my life musically with worship. And I just, that passion just grew and grew and grew over the years. Went to college and studied ministry and wound up in Nashville about 10 years ago.

And. Yeah, I've just been writing songs throughout my college career, but really wasn't sure if I was doing a good job at it or not. And then, um, yeah, when I got to Nashville I met a guy named Michael Farrin and he and I became friends and that was kind of my introduction to like co-writing and um, yeah, just the culture of writing worship songs in Nashville.

So for the church that's trying to write their own worship songs right now. Yeah. And, and that, that's a lot of the churches that are in, in our, in our world. Um, yeah. Where do you, where would you help, like coach them or educate them or, or lead them to where to start? How do they start writing songs as a local church?

Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I think that that's a really great question. And I think, um, you know, I would say starting with the word, which sounds so simple, but like starting with God's word, that's one of the first places that I started. And then I also allowed myself to be like inspired by, you know, worship artists and worship leaders that were putting out the songs that I loved.

So I would like print out the chord charts and like, Learned the songs, but I would study them too and like study the content of the verse and the chorus and like, that's kind of when I wanted to start writing worship songs. That's sort of how, you know, one of the things that I did, but I also felt like.

You know, I've always been a local church guy. I've always led worship, um, in the church and serves a local church. And that is my heartbeat in so many ways. So I think having that in your d n a, you know, is also such a fuel Yeah. For writing. Um, and so I think that, and then the inspiration of the Lord just.

He would drop song ideas or melodies in my heart at random times, and I'd so like a combination of all those things. But I think if you're just starting out, it's like, it's as simple as it sounds. It's like get your guitar or get at your piano and just start singing the Psalms or sing scripture and start building a chorus or build a verse and see what happens.

And keep in mind, you know, who you're writing for,

so as Yeah, no, that's, that's so good. And, and you know, I, every team that I talk to about leading worship, I tell 'em, or writing, writing worship songs, I, I tell them all the time, it's a muscle and it's something you have to do a lot of. Like, you don't become the rock by going to the gym once or once a month, you know?

It takes a lot of work. Yeah. And so how frequently, like how frequently do you write now currently? Like how often are you writing songs?

Yeah, I'm, I think I'll try to write a little something like every day. Like I try to do some type of, like, either ideas, but as far as like writing a full song, I'm, I'm writing like two or three days a week right now with other people.

Um, and I always joke around like, I don't trust myself to finish a song anymore. . So then like I'll start one and I'm like, Hmm, someone else could help me make this even stronger. Right? I love the partnership of writing with other people.

And let's talk about that a little bit. What is it like? Like cuz a, I think a lot of, a lot of leaders, especially if they're in a local church, in, in a community where maybe there's not a lot of creatives like we have in Nashville.

Um, Uh, what is that process for doing the chemistry experiment to figure out who you're good with when you're writing? Like, how do you know when you're in a writing session? Man, this one's gonna work because we have this kind of connection.

Uh, that's such a hard thing to put your finger on because like, sometimes it's a, like a God thing where you connect with someone and like your heart is like, I have a few people that I write with and every time we get together it's like I, we just know each other and we trust one another and there's a, there's just a connect there.

So I know that the song that we write is gonna be something awesome or, you know, something that you feel connected to. But I think when you're trying to figure that out, it's trial and error to an extent. Mm-hmm. , cause you. All right. I'm gonna see who I naturally connect with, or, you know, but then even knowing their strengths as a writer, like if they're stronger in lyric or melody, then you're gonna probably have an easier time writing.

Like, if I'm strong in melody, I really wanna be with someone who's lyrically driven or content, or like, you know, they're, they're a production, a production person, or an arranger. So like, just finding those balances. Yeah. Um, in people's personalities.

Gift. So you've been doing this for a little while now.

You've been leading worship and you lead worship all the time now. Um, when you first got started, what's, what's something you wish you knew when you first got started that you know now? Oh,

I think I probably. I guess as a creative, and I'm also like, uh, the artist type of person and the creative heart. I feel like not being so hard on myself as I'm learning and giving myself grace to make mistakes.

And like I used to like walk off the stage after leading worship and like beat myself up because I'm like, oh, that just didn't go how I wanted it to go. Or like, you know, you have, and there's part of it that's like, okay, that's. Holy discontent. But then it's also like easy to get down on yourself because you tried out a new song and it didn't, you know, go the way you wanted it to.

So, but just like recognizing that like, it's okay, you're learning, you know? Right. And to give yourself grace and. Yeah, stick with it and be

faithful. Love that. I love that. And I, I think that's so true. And you know, besides the inner critic, we also have the pastor as a critic, and then we have the congregation as a critic, and then our team as a critic.

Yeah. So if we're not gonna give ourself grace, why would anybody else, you know?

Oh, that's so true. It starts, yeah, it starts in the

heart. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So, um, where did you find the courage? To start sharing your songs. Like you, you were, you, you were writing these songs in college and you were trying to figure out like, okay, how do these songs work?

What, where did, where did you get the courage to do that, and what was the, the initiation of, of doing that process, of sharing

those songs? Yeah, so, um, when I was, I was at Southeastern University down in Lakeland, Florida, and they're, they were building a culture of songwriting and worship there, and a lot of the student worship leaders were writing and leading original songs.

And so, and some of them became really good friends of mine. . And I just remember being so inspired by the way that they would write theology into their songs, the, and the way that God's presence would like show up. You know, when they would sing truth and they would lead the people in worship. And um, and I just had this strong desire in my heart to be a part of something like that.

So there was this one day that like I kept asking the Lord for song. The ability to do it or to like, how do I start? And I was sitting in a class, um, and in the middle of that class I started hearing a melody and a song idea in my heart. And I literally was getting like emotional about it cuz I'm thinking this could really, I felt inspired, like this could be something.

So I sat down and like wrote the whole song out in a matter of a couple days and then I brought it to one of our campus worship leaders and he was like, Hey, this is. I like this, this is really good. Maybe. And he gave me some suggestions like, maybe tweak this or tweak that a little bit. And so I did that.

And, um, not long after that, got an opportunity to lead an original in a chapel service. So I chose the song that I had written and it was, uh, a song about the return of the Lord and anticipating that. And, um, I led it one time and it was really well, well received. And then a few weeks later, someone came out to me and they're like, Hey, we're gonna lead your.

In chapel next week. And I was like, what ? I was like, how did you wait? What? They're like, do you need the court charts? They're like, oh no, we already like wrote out the Nashville numbers cuz they saw it on the schools. Like, uh, like there's a way that the school recorded it for. Yeah. Yeah. That's

so cool.

What a great story. I work with s u Worship now and help them release their music, so it's so fun to amazing. See that full circle, you know? Um, oh, it's crazy. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. It's so fun. Um, so what was the transition for you? Talk us through a little bit, like from going to become a worship leader and you were alert worship leader, like full-time and then moving into the artist's role.

How did you, how did you make that transit?

Yeah, it was definitely a long time in the making. I think I always was carrying this tension, like I was on staff at my old church for almost 10 years, and beautiful journey of just growing in a small church and all of that. But I think, you know, building a team around me and having that shared vision, there was a part of me as an artist that I started to feel that tension of like, okay, there's, there's.

In me that needs to come out. There's, there are song ideas that didn't necessarily like fit the vision of the church at the time, and, and that artist part of me and so, mm-hmm. , um, I communicated with my pastor quite a bit leading up, you know, just saying, just le letting him know like, Hey, I'm feeling this, you know, this, this tension and like the Lord's speaking something.

And so it was in the middle of the, uh, Pandemic in 2020 when like a lot of this just unfolded. And so I had transitioned out, um, of the full-time worship pastor role in the middle of that year. And, uh, thankfully we had somebody lined up to step in who was kind of, you know, sort of in training for that role.

And, um, yeah, there was just an agreement that I would start stepping out into writing full-time and traveling and doing more of an artist type of thing. So, yeah, it was definitely, you know, intentional, but also like when it happened to happen quick , right? Like it was talked about for a while and then all of a sudden it was like it's go time.

Yeah. And it was scary but exciting at the same time. And

that's so good, man. And what I love about that is a, you were, you were clear and you communicated in advance. You didn't, you didn't surprise your, your leadership with. With what was gonna happen, and then also that you backfilled and you were always bringing somebody along so that when you did step out, the church didn't suffer from you moving onto a new direction.

I think that's very admirable of you and very important for our listeners to know that like those are, those are character moments. So props to you, man, for, for doing, doing it well and doing it the right way, which unfortunately isn't always the case, you know, so. Sure. Um. How do you navigate when you're writing songs, which songs are for you and which songs are for someone else?

And it may be someone else, may be another artist that you're working with, or a church or for your local church or for yourself. What were, what are some of the keys that maybe you've identified being such a prolific songwriter like you are that you're like, okay, this one's a me one versus a you.

Yeah.

Um, I would say that oftentimes if it feels like it's more like emotionally driven and more like, okay, I need to like express something personal or like write something that feels like singer songwriter, that typically feels more like something for me, or, you know, something that's, An artist type of moment.

And I feel like there are definitely overlaps in this, um, song can be an artist song and also mm-hmm. for church or for other people. And I, I think, yeah, we could explore more of that, but I just kind of have this inner sense of like, okay, if I'm writing, you know, a song that's leaning corporate worship, for sure, that's gonna be you.

For Sunday morning or for the church. But then I've also been writing from this place of honestly lamenting, um mm-hmm. . But in this last season of my life, a lot of hard things happen in my family and personal life. And it was just a lot at one time and I felt like I need to lament and worship through that.

And so some of the songs I've been writing are a. More personal and I don't know that I would lead them on Sunday morning, but they are still there for me. And I believe also for the church. And those moments when you're in your car and you just got bad news and you right, you need to just like take a, a breather and you need to grieve or whatever that is.

So yeah, I think it's just discerning like as, even as I'm writing a song, like I have a pretty good feel right away whether or not it's gonna be for me or for. Church or even just to encourage people in

general. Man, that's so good. And I think, you know, coming through what we've come through the last couple years and, you know, ministry for a lot of our, our listeners that are local church pastors and worship leaders and maybe even bivocational or volunteer, It was intense.

Like it was such an intense season that I think like lamenting is a really important thing. Like we need to feel what we went through, you know? And it never has slowed down, like we're right back to to work and right back to going fast and doing ministry at rapid pace. And that lamenting is a, is a really important part of the process.

I.

Yeah, I mean, even if you read through the Psalms, like, I think I heard someone say recently that a third of the Psalms are laments and it's like, wow, we don't make room for that. You know? And I guess like, it's hard because Sundays are really celebration type of moments and I, I wouldn't wanna put a damper on celebration cuz I believe in it so deeply.

But I also realize like if all you're doing is like ascending the mountain and declaring everything's good, but you're not, Engaging the sorrow and engaging the, the lament, then it's like, I feel like there's, there's joy to be found in, you know, those lamenting moments. And ultimately you are, you are led back to celebration.

So, yeah.

That's so good, man. That's so good. I, I love something that you said a few minutes ago about, um, when you're, if you're starting to write songs, , go to the Bible and, and, and spend some time in the Word. It's, it's, it's really baffling to me how frequently I speak to worship leaders or worship writers, and they're not spending that time in personal discipleship or, um, spiritual development in their own life.

What are a couple verses that are, that have really impacted you that, that you feel like have, have made a difference for?

Yeah, there's a few, um, I guess like one that jumps out is, I think of Isaiah 61 a lot. The scripture where, you know, it talks about the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me to bring good news.

Like that's a scripture that really pops up in my heart a lot because I feel like it shows like, This refreshing and revival that God wants to pour out, you know? Yeah. In the church and in his people. And then, but then I also think about like Psalm 33, where it talks about singing joyfully, you know, singing a new song.

Um, and that always encourages me. But then, like, I also think about some of the other scriptures where it talks about God's character as a father, you know, and his character as like being righteous and just, and like this balance of. God's love for us, but also his fatherhood, that he will discipline us.

And so those are all things that like, that I lean towards, you know, these I guess, themes in scripture that I lean towards and, um, just how crazy it is that God's love is limitless, you know, but also like he does hold us accountable at the same time. It's like this balance, right, of both of those things, right?

So,

Yeah. I love that. So, so good. Well, you've got some new music that you're working on right now and, um, you've recently released, um, Jesus Always, and as long as it Takes, what's kind of, give us a little bit of the theme. What's this next chapter of your music like? You talked a little bit about lamenting, are these those songs or kind of what, what, what's happening in, in your art artistic world right now?

Yeah. These songs are definitely, It's so interesting because I've like Jesus always. For example, it's the first line of the song says, I'm standing here, a broken man trying to survive and catch my breath. So like that's really honest. But then the chorus goes so vertical where it's like, Jesus, my anchor, right?

Jesus, my strength. Like it literally goes. Full worship, but then as long as it takes is more of like, it's not really a lament, it's more of a pause. Yeah. In the presence of God, wait on him and be with him. It's, it's that kind of moment. So Yeah. Like the songs I've been releasing this year are, it's a journey.

Through that grief, into worship, through it, and then ultimately like full circle back into restoration and reorder and like this place where God is like doing a new thing in you and. Things are blooming, and so yeah, so that's kind of where it's headed is like, okay, I've processed, I've prayed, I've sat with the Lord, I've grieved.

I've felt the depths of this, and now it's time for something new to grow out of that. Love that. and I think about how even Jesus said, unless a colonel wheat falls to the ground and dies, it can bear no fruit. So in within the, like, the reality of Jesus', like resurrection death is actually a tool in his hands.

You know, it's, it's something that will be a new beginning. And so, um, the songs that are coming for from the rest of my project are really. Like that new beginning.

Yeah. And did you feel like that, like new beginning was the theme of this, this record of this, this project?

It's that, I guess the, I really think the word that I would use more than anything is like this returning in this home like, Being at home in the Lord and, and knowing that like everything that I've needed is found there.

And that includes the new beginning. It includes the, like I get this picture of flowers springing up from the ground and leaves on the trees and like after you've gone through like

a winter. Yeah. That's so beautiful. That's so beautiful. Thank you. And is that, is that something that's come out of some of the things that you've been going through in your personal life?

Yeah, absolutely. And it's just like part of that grief and lamenting in, uh, in 2020, my family, we lost three people in our family that year. Wow. And like, none of none of them were due to covid. It was all other, other things and they were all very sudden. Um, and so it was just like one after another. And so like going through that.

Part of the impetus for like writing a lot of these songs and like, I'm very empathetic as a person and so like when my family's hurting, I hurt and I'm like, ugh. Like, you know, I feel it for them. And so just bringing that to the Lord in worship has, has been like just difficult, but also worth it, if that makes sense,

Um,

it totally makes sense. Absolutely. Well, and that's what we should do, right? We should be bringing. The, the things that we're carrying to the Lord and, and letting him ca help us carry that burden, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And he wants to, he wants to meet us, you know, in the middle of that and help us through.

Like, he's, he's our helper, our friend.

Yeah, for sure. Is there, do you have a favorite song on the new project?

Oh, man. Yeah. It's, So it's, we split up the whole record into eps. Mm-hmm. . And so I've already put out one ep, there's a second one and a third one coming, and there's a song on the third EP called Time.

Mm-hmm. , that's based out of Ecclesiastes, that he makes everything beautiful and it's time. And it's really this like just this. The story that I've gone through and how through all of it, God is making everything beautiful. Um, and so I'm excited for that. That'll be in December, I think, when that one comes out, but that's awesome.

That's, that's probably my favorite song. Out of

all of them. I love that. That is so awesome. So awesome. Um, okay. I did

share a sneak peek of it. Um, sorry, I did share a sneak peek of it on my Instagram reels if anyone wants to go. Okay. Go check

it out guys. Go check out. There's a little, we'll put, we'll put your Instagram handle in the show notes.

So guys, okay. Go there. Check out the reel. Let's blow it up. Let's run up those numbers. Share it on your page. Yeah. And let's, let's. Let's support this song. And I think we all live in that tension of, of things that happen and there's a time that God's gonna make them beautiful, and we at least live with that Hope you know that, that that is true.

Yes. So, so cool man. So cool. Well, if you were to be able to give a new worship leader some encouragement today, what would be the thing that you would tell that new horse leader? They're, they're fresh, they're full of excitement. They're, they're, they're bright-eyed and. Don't know what to do. Give them what would be the, the, the, the thing that you would tell them today?

Yeah, I think I would say, Like simple as it sounds like, get with God and pour into yourself. Let him pour into you and pour into yourself. Let your roots grow deep. You're gonna need that because having longevity as a worship leader, as a worship pastor, as an artist, whatever a songwriter you need to have.

Deep roots and you need to like be submitted to the process with God of like, okay, you know, when you're beginning, when you're very first starting out, you are so excited you have so much energy, but at some point you're going to hit a lag and you're gonna feel like, maybe not burnout, but you're gonna feel this sense of like, you're tired.

Yeah. And it's not as special as it was. And that's when you have to have roots that are grown deep, you know, into God's word. Time with him alone and, and like maturing and building it your own walk with him. Cause that will always pour out into everything else that you do.

So, so good. And for the, the person that's in that space that you just talked about, they're tired, maybe they're on the edge or the verge of burnout, maybe they're actually feeling completely burnt out.

How would you encourage them today?

Yeah, I would say first of all, don't beat yourself up for it, because I've definitely done that, and know that there's no condemnation or shame in being where you're at, and that it's actually a, a prompt, I feel like, from the spirit to sit back and rest and find and like put up some boundaries in your life if you need to.

And like go, go to your pastor, go to your leaders and ask for a break, you know? And that it's okay to do that. And. To take care of your heart.

Love that. It's so important. Corey, thanks for hanging out with us today, man. Thank you for yeah, taking some time to invest in our community. And we're gonna go listen to your album and we're gonna stream it and we're gonna leave and start it and leave it on while we're sleeping.

So it just runs up your streams, , all through the night, you know, and guys are kind, we're gonna head over to uh Instagram. Is there any place else people should go to connect with.

Yeah, you can. I've just started the TikTok journey a few months ago and it's, So I would love to connect with people on that platform.

And also, as funny as it sounds, I'm on Pinterest now and I'm like sharing all of my reels and everything on Pinterest. That's fun as well. So it's, yeah, it's all at Corey Voss music.

Corey Voss music guys, go check it out and we'll put all that in the show notes. We'll have it all there for you. Cool man.

Thank you for today. Thank you for investing in us. Yeah. And taking some time to hang out with us and man, I just look forward to hearing all these songs.

Thank you so much, Steven. I appreciate it. Awesome.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation today with Corey. I, I know I did, and a couple things to take away from that conversation.

The first one is when you're navigating something with your church or something that you have a desire for, but you're not sure if your church will have the same desire, the most important thing you can do is communicate. Make sure that the people that need to know know what it is, and then make sure that you.

Back fill. Don't leave your church or your ministry or whoever you're working with in a bad place cuz God moves you on and you didn't do a good job leaving what you've left. And it's so interesting to me in my years of leadership and being in the church, how many times a young leader or even an older leader will ruin or destroy a 10 year relationship over the last 10 days.

For the last 10 weeks. So make sure that you leave better than you start another, another thing that I learned on this podcast today was that a third of the Psalms were about lamenting. I had no idea of that. What a powerful, powerful tool. Um, and I think too, the idea about time, you know, Corey has this song coming out about God renews everything or makes it beautiful in the right time, and I think.

Probably some of you today, you're listening and you're like, I hope that time comes soon because I can't really navigate this much longer. And I just wanna encourage you today. Hold on, you're special. We need you. God knew you would be in the seat that you'd be in. He knew you'd be in it at this time, and he actually planned it and needed it.

And so thank you for investing. Thank you for spending the time doing what you do and learning what you're learning and imparting to who your team is and to your community.