For Bo Warren, songwriting is an act of faith — an investment of time and energy with no guarantee that the result will connect with anyone.
The worship pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, has been writing songs for more than 20 years. Some resonate with listeners. Others don’t.
“I feel like it’s always this act of faith,” he said. “When you do it, you sit down and I have to put time and energy in this that may be worthless. Every now and then, it’s not. When it comes worth something to someone else, it’s an amazing, better-than-Christmas thing that you made something that feels worthwhile.”
Warren experienced that feeling when his song, “Holy One,” was selected for the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s five-song album, “Heaven’s Refrain.” Now he hopes Kentucky Baptist churches will find it meaningful for their worship services.
‘Something local’
The songwriting project drew 155 submissions from 107 songwriters. Several rounds of review narrowed the field to five songs. The album will be available free to Kentucky Baptist churches, along with sheet music and multiple tracks.
“I love the idea of having something local,” he said. “It’s Kentucky worship pastors writing for Kentucky churches, and there’s something to that. Nobody is going to write for your church like you can.”
Although the five songs differ in style, they share a focus on exalting Jesus. Warren said having his song selected was both an honor and a humbling experience.
“It wasn’t until later that I found out how many submissions there were,” he said. “Initially, the started off with 50 but right toward the end it was more than 100.”
For “Holy One,” Warren wanted to combine a familiar theme with a hymnlike style that could work in a variety of churches.
“Bubba (Stewart) asked me if I was interested in writing a song to submit,” Warren said. “I was thinking about focusing on the holiness of God and the idea of how creation cries out. It has been written about for a long time, but I wanted to write it somewhat hymn-ish with verses that feel like a hymn in that style.”
He envisioned a song that would be accessible to congregations with traditional or contemporary worship services.
“It feels somewhat like ‘In Christ Alone.’ I kind of thought that would be good because I feel like that style of song is very useable in a lot of different church settings. Songs like that are sung in most traditional and most contemporary churches. I wanted to focus on stylistically something that was approachable by either.”
Warren hopes “Heaven’s Refrain” will be the first of more KBC albums featuring local songwriters.
“I hope it kind of takes off,” he said. “I think it would be a really neat thing. The idea of having it locally done is so good because so many things are dominated by the national entities whether it be Amazon, Hillsong or others. This is ours.”
Letting go
Most of Warren’s songwriting has been secular, although he spent about a decade writing worship music. He also typically recorded his own work, making this project a different experience.
Each selected songwriter worked with a judge who offered critiques and suggestions for improving the song. For Warren, hearing someone else interpret his music required letting go of something personal.
“Each song is kind of like a kid that you send off into the world,” he said. “It’s kind of like you’re giving the kid to someone else. Overall, it was a super great experience to hear someone else use it.”
Warren has served at Immanuel for 20 years and has been its lead worship pastor since 2012.
“It feels like home,” he said. “There’s something to staying somewhere a long time with the trust you build.”
Through “Holy One,” he hopes a song written with his own congregation in mind will find a home in churches across Kentucky.
