Local contemporary Christian music groups lauded
Rob and Cassidy Estevez discuss Switch being nominated for a Dove Award and Life.Church Worship releasing its new EP
Switch and Life.Church Worship have something to celebrate these days.
Switch was recently nominated for a “New Artist of the Year” Dove Award. The contemporary Christian worship group topped the music charts with its hit single “Symphony (featuring Dillon Chase).”
Meanwhile, Life.Church Worship released its new EP “Jesus is Near” on Aug. 14.
Two Oklahomans who are part of both contemporary Christian music groups recently discussed Switch's Dove Award nomination and Life.Church Worship's new EP (a compilation that is five tracks short of an album). Husband-and-wife Rob and Cassidy Estevez, are both worship leaders at Edmond-based Life. Church. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: How does it feel to have Switch nominated for a “New Artist of the Year” Dove Award? The Gospel Music Association will host the Dove Awards on Oct. 20 to recognize
outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry.
A: (Cassidy) It is completely unexpected and humbling for Switch to be nominated for a Dove Award among so many other amazing artists. We never could have imagined what God would do through Switch this last year, and we're so grateful to be a part of how He's reaching the world with messages of hope.
Q: How did the new Life.Church Worship EP “Jesus Is Near” come about?
A: (Cassidy): Obviously, we've been in this really crazy season in our world and these four songs on the EP have become sort of like anthems for our church. These songs have been encouraging. People have reached out to us and said these songs have been sustaining them through this season. So we wanted to collect those songs together and kind of put out this project as a sort of altar to commemorate what God has done in our church through this whole COVID-19 shutdown season.
Q: Can you talk about some of the new singles from the EP like “Heaven's All Around”? It came out right before the shutdown in March.
A: (Cassidy): Yes, we started introducing that song to our church right before we had to close our doors so it's interesting to me how God works. We wrote this song, all the songs on the “Jesus Is Near” album, back in 2019, including “Heaven's
All Around.” All we knew at that time as a group of writers was that God was telling us He was going to do something new in the church so we wrote “Heaven's All Around” as a bold invitation for God to come and move like He wants to, to come and make the old brand new. And He's blown us away at how He's used this song to do just that. At a time when we couldn't meet together physically, He had already gone ahead and made a way with Church Online. We're just seeing Him show up time and time again as He's transforming the Church through this period of time. So that's really been an anthem for us through this whole season.
(Rob) I remember when we played it (“Heaven's All Around”) for the first time. Like you said, it was before everything shut down. It was in February and the band, everybody involved with the production of that event, there was this weight on all of us, thinking this is going to be significant— we didn't know exactly why or how — we just felt the Spirit in the room preparing us. And here we go, a month later all of this happens. Even though the shutdown was never ideal and I don't think any of us would say that we enjoyed it or wanted it to happen, God answered the prayer that we sing in the bridge: “Come and do what You want to, come and make the old brand new.” This is a renewing season.
He's filtering out a lot of things, I know in my own life, and bringing something new. We're excited to see that happen.
Q: How have people responded to that song?
A: (Cassidy) The response has been very consistent that it's been motivating and it's helped people kind of shift their mindset from all of the negativity and chaos that is so rampant in our world. It's been a focusing, unifying song, a reminder that God is moving; He is near even when we can't be near each other.
Q: Can you talk about another single from the new EP, “Never Will”?
A: (Cassidy) “Never Will” talks about how in every season that we face, high or low, God is constant. He's faithful through it, He's never going to let us go. The group of us who wrote the song, we were kind of talking about what does someone who is going through a season of anxiety and depression need to hear. Remember we wrote this back in October 2019, before any of the pandemic hit. We were looking at it like what does a person walking through a low season need to hear. The answer is not always “Oh, it's going to get better.” Sometimes, the thing we need to hear the most is that God is with us right where we are and He's not going to leave and He's not going to let us go. Fast forward to March of this year when we were closing our (church) doors, people at that time and still today, were dealing with things like unemployment, health and just not knowing what the future holds. What a perfect time to be reminded that God is not going anywhere. People latched onto that song as soon as we introduced it during the pandemic and it's been a big one for our people every since.