We The Kingdom is primarily made up of relatives — a dad, uncle, daughter and son. And then there’s Andrew Bergthold.
“I’m the one member who’s not related to the family, but we’ve known each other for almost 10 years,” Bergthold noted. “We’ve lived a lot of life together.”
Bergthold, a singer and songwriter, started several bands as a teen, but the one he named We The Kingdom never took off. Some 12 years before the current version, he moved to Nashville to work in production and songwriting. While there, he met the family that would one day become his own.
Brothers Ed and Scott Cash started We The Kingdom along with Ed’s daughter Franni, son Martin and Bergthold. The band was slated to head out on tour with Casting Crowns April 22.
“Ed and Scott were full-time in songwriting and production at that time too. None of us had even thought about starting a band but all of us has tried to do solo projects in the past,” Bergthold recalled. “We were playing for worship at a Young Life camp outside of Atlanta, Georgia. We had just walked through some really hard experiences with the Church, just feeling a little bit let down by the people.
“I think the Church is definitely created by the Lord but anything that man touches is fallible and will fall,” he added. “We went through our own pretty tough experience and had to spend a bit of time discerning what’s just the constructs of man and what is the truth of God.”
Part of their time together at the camp led to writing the song, “Dancing on the Waves.”
“[While] looking at the stars, we realized that the Lord had specifically designed and created each one of us for this journey, to make a difference, to use the gifts and abilities He had given us,” Bergthold remembered. “At the time we were writing it for the students because we wanted them to know how much they were loved by God. At the most honest we can be … we needed to hear that too.”
Realizing the power of the song they wrote together, they decided to form a band, Bergthold had a name ready. We The Kingdom already had social media and a website, “So it’s really cool to see the Lord use our history to create our future,” Bergthold said
Unexpected change
Along with Casting Crowns, We The Kingdom was slated to perform with Hillsong Worship for their upcoming USA 2022 Tour. However, on March 22 Brian Houston, founder of Australia’s Hillsong Church, resigned after accusations of inappropriate behavior. Hillsong Worship withdrew from the tour on April 6.
Bergthold also went through a difficult season when he was wounded by church leadership. He said doesn’t know anything personally about what went into Hillsong Worship’s decision, but said his heart goes out to those who have questions.
“A lot of what we believe is interpreted through man — you go to church or you learn from your parents — then you have to interpret that for yourself,” Bergthold said. “Inevitably man is flawed and fallible. When man falls, you have to separate what was just their words and what is actually the word of God.”
“I just encourage people that have been affected by this to chase after the word of God more than ever before. That’s what I had to do when I walked through something similar, and we did as a band years and years ago. I sat down with my Bible day after day and said, ‘Okay, Lord, what is Your word. What are You saying here?’”
‘Bring healing’
In spite of the change in lineup, We The Kingdom is excited about the tour. They have been working on a new record and look forward to sharing the songs with others.
“Speaking of processing through life and pain and hurt and all of that, we want to touch on the gamut of emotions and bring healing into those,” Bergthold explained. “The songs and the way we design our set is designed to lead people through an experience that hopefully brings them closer to the Lord.”
To see a “Story Behind the Song” video about “Dancing on the Waves” go to youtube.com/watch?v=wlg8dxFzsBM. To learn more about We the Kingdom visit jeffroberts.com/artists/we-kingdom. To check out their music, videos and tour information visit wethekingdom.com.
