Clark hosted an event with Bellarive a few weeks ago and the people at Clark were gracious enough to give ChurchMag an all access pass to the event. As chance would find itself, I was able to go to the event (Read more: Welcome to Clark Part 1).
Since we were give the opportunity to interview the band as well, I joked that I would introduce myself as Peter Parker from the Daily Bugle. Figured that would be appropriate since I was going as a ChurchMag reporter, alas I didn’t do it; I was however able to land an interview with Sean, the lead singer of Bellarive, before he went on stage to sing.
With that being said, let’s start the conversation…
Me
So let’s kick off with who you all are and the vision behind Bellarive.
Sean
We all met in our home church of Orlando and we didn’t set out to be a band. We were musicians who all loved Jesus , and we found ourselves really loving to worship him together. It was like we had a kindred spirit about that. So really quickly it grew into song writing and relationships that were all established around this musical worship realm, so it just felt like we needed to dig in a little deeper.
With leaning a bunch of stuff from our church and community and just writing songs responding to what we were learning, it kinda grew it’s own legs in a way we didn’t anticipate, and somehow we’re in this band. Looking back we didn’t plan for this, but now we are just so excited to be doing what we feel like God is pulling us into. Being in a position where you’re pursuing the heart of God and feeling like he’s leading you in a direction. That’s a way better place to be than on the other side of it; and then having to look back and feel like you took this into your own hands.
We come from a lot of different musical backgrounds, which I think has been a really positive thing for us too because when we come together the creativity that comes out of that is something that is unique for us but (at the same time) it’s just natural. So for vision, we are pursuing God and we’re riding and living life in way that we hope translates to people and creatives a space for people to step into deeper relationship with their creator. Hopefully not writing songs for the sake of songs but wanting lyrics to translate pass just being words on a screen. Something that enters into a deeper realm where people are challenged to be intimate with God and challenged to receive him in their entire being. It’s something we really care about. To sing to God like he’s actually listening. He’s worth praising. And I think a lot of times we just sing because it’s there. So really just digging into what it means to really worship God through songs and worship and honor God with our lives and hearts not just with our lungs.
Me
In terms of gelling, how’s that part been for you? Easy, hard?
Sean
We are a larger band. 6 members is on the larger side for a band. The difficulty with that is that you have 6 opinions and like I mentioned we all come from different backgrounds and are inspired by different things, so it can take a little long to filter through that, but I think the end result is always something that is better because we are always united on the thing that has nothing to do with music, which is pursuing Jesus and responding to what he’s done for us.
That’s the foundation and it helps us weed out a lot of the image junk and not let things get to opinionated. But at the same time, there are 6 people. So you have to love each other and you have to be able to connect on a spiritual way to do this; and I think that we do. We’ve become really close friends because of this too.
Me
Love that dude. It’s been cool to see what Clark is trying to accomplish with this event, starting conversation with photographers, designers, creatives within the church world. Or said another way, it all hinges on this idea of story. So the next question for you, what cool story do you have to share with our people at ChurchMag? Maybe something recent, a church, on tour?
Sean
I think maybe a unique story for us, one that we just experienced is that we went on the road a month and a half with these two rock and roll bands. It was a little different for us because most of our time is spent in the church atmosphere; like leading worship in an environment where people are anticipating to enter the presence of God.
So we are on tour and we are playing in this venue where people are just there to see a rock show. So when we get on stage, we usher people into this spiritual environment that they probably we’ren’t necessarily expecting. It special because you get to see the spirit of God move in people’s lives anyways because we are designed to respond to God. We are connected to him and his creation and we got to see a little bit of that.
The coolest story that happened on that tour was, we met a family. A woman, who our heart goes out to her son because he went into this rebellious state and told his parents that he didn’t believe in God. Which was obviously really hard for them. But for some reason he liked our music. So they came to a show and we were just surrounding him and his family in prayer because your heart just goes out to them and the spiritual condition that he’s in and the family is in. Again, for some reason he liked our music but he really should not according to his mom. He doesn’t like this type of music, but he likes us and so we kinda made a connection with him. And so we had a special time where we prayed for him and his family without them knowing it. Just being in the trenches for his soul, and we just got an email yesterday from the mom saying that that night he was really impacted and he couldn’t sleep without thinking about Jesus and there was a seed planted that just recently it turned to him being led to Christ. We were just a part of God’s movement in his life. And now he’s a follower of Christ.
It’s these little things that you never would think would come out of things. So it’s just so much more than being on stage and playing music and being at a show. We got to come alongside a family and pray for the soul of their child and now he’s a son of God. And we were just blown away by that.
Me
That’s an awesome story dude. Such a testament as to why you guys do what you do.
[End of Part 1]
Stay tuned, because in Part 2, Sean gives advice for future worship bands looking to get where Bellarive are. We also talk about who his favorite comic book character is and why.
For more on Bellarive and their upcoming tour dates, be sure to check them out!
[…] For more, click here: Part 1 […]