Music artist Nathan Drake, a worship leader based out of St. Louis, Missouri, has a passion for modernizing classic hymns. A movement he calls Reawaken Hymns. In his words, “Reawaken Hymns fuses hymns with a full modern worship sound; both true to the original hymn and unabashedly modern at the same time.”
Nathan launched Reawaken Hymns as a project of the local church. Shortly thereafter, in 2015, he began dropping his own arrangements of the hymns on YouTube. Now, Nathan’s project is a comprehensive online collection that provides hymn resources to churches worldwide, while continuing its objective of modernizing old hymns.
Recently, Reawaken Hymns launched an expansive three-part full band series, "The Trinity Project." It includes three 20-song albums with new modern arrangements of classic hymns. I had the opportunity to talk about Nathan’s passion for modernizing hymns, the Trinity Project, and more.
Your core passion is to take hymns and modernize them into current worship styles. What are a few of your favorite hymns that you have reworked?
There have been a lot. It’s hard to choose. “Rock of Ages” is always a favorite of mine. It tends to be seen as a very “traditional” sounding hymn, but it sounds great when you rock out on it as well (no pun intended).
The modern version of the “Hymns of the Son” album is heavy for a hymn. “Jesus Paid It All” is also one of my all-time favorite hymns. I mean, who doesn’t need to hear that Jesus is all the strength you need in life?
There is so much new worship music on the market right now. Why do you feel the hymns still work today?
There is a ton of great worship music coming out these days. But that doesn’t mean we need to stop using hymns. When I go to a museum, I don’t want them to throw out the Van Gogh art because there are so many great new paintings. That’s what hymns are, tried and true classics. And they still have so much to say that isn’t always being said today.
I love modern worship (mostly). And I think hymns can be a great fit alongside new worship music. That’s my goal with Reawaken Hymns, to put these hymns into a musical space that fits seamlessly in today’s worship. And hearing the whole church sing “Doxology” together is hard to match.
What’s one of your favorite lines from a hymn and why?
“My name is graven on His hands/My name is written on His heart.” Just wow. This line from “Before the Throne of God Above” is like the entire gospel in one line.
Worship feels like it’s so abundant. Is that a good thing? Why or why not?
Yes and no. It’s great that so many churches and artists are writing songs for their home churches. And, because of the rise of streaming, anyone can post their songs for the world to hear. That’s where it gets tricky. While it’s great that record companies don’t have 100-percent control of worship music anymore, it makes it hard to sift through all the music.
I’m often overwhelmed by the amount of worship music available. Unfortunately, that can also mean that churches are singing completely different songs from each other. And there is something great about knowing you are singing a song that millions of other Christians may be singing at that moment.
It also means that we need to be very careful in checking what we are singing. I could write a catchy song full of heresy and no one will stop me from releasing it for every church in the world to hear. On the flip side, some churches are releasing theologically rich music that may not have been seen as marketable by the music business of the past.
What’s next?
Next for Reawaken Hymns is the third and final entry in “The Trinity Project,” “Hymns of the Spirit” comes out in October.
I’ve been working on the three albums of “The Trinity Project” non-stop for the last year and a half. Each album has 20 songs with a month-long devotional book to go with it. So that means that come October, I will have written, recorded, and released 60 new hymn arrangements in the last two years. It has been incredible to see what God has done with them.
I’ve received emails from churches all over the world using the hymns in their worship services. And I am blown away every time. So hopefully in November you can find me on a beach somewhere taking a month-long nap.
How can we be praying for you?
Pray that God uses these hymns to speak the gospel to people who may have forgotten what it means, but still know these hymns.
Kevin McNeese started NRT in 2002 and has worked in the industry since 1999 in one form or another. He has been a fan of Christian music since 1991.
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