Mid-Cities Worship's Chris Davis and Lane Oliver Talk About "The Songs We Sing"

Mid-Cities Worship is proud to release their debut on DREAM Worship titled, The Songs We Sing. The Texas based worship team has produced, a powerful intentional, authentic and spirit-led worship album compromised of 11 tracks from within the house at Mid-Cities Community Church.

"Written from tragedy, triumph, and God's amazing grace, "The Songs We Sing" is meant to be a collection of original anthems that declare who God is and what our response should be." - Pastor Chris Davis

As a ministry of Mid-Cities Community Church in Midland, TX, their heart is to lead the people of Mid-Cities and beyond in intentional, authentic, and spirit-led worship. They are a collection of worship leaders, musicians, singers, and songwriters who are passionate about writing and recording songs that are birthed out of what God is doing in our local church. Their prayer is that the songs they release will encourage the people of God to worship Him with reckless abandon, while also spurring them on to keep reaching, growing, and sending disciples of Jesus Christ. 

We are honored to have Mid-Cities Worship's Chris Davis and Lane Oliver with us to talk about their new record.

Q:  Thank you for doing this interview with us.  Let's start with yourselves.  Tell us more about Mid-Cities Community Church, what are distinctive marks of the church?

A: Mid-Cities is a diverse, disciple making, spirit-filled, multisite church located in West Texas. Our heart is to reach the people of the Permian Basin, help them grow in their relationship with God, and send them out to reach those around them. We strive to be authentic, intentional, and spirit-led in all we do. We also have a heart to raise up new leaders (including worship leaders) to send out to new campuses and church plants.

Q:  Is "The Songs We Sing" the debut album of the church?  How did this album come about?

A: Our debut album was a live worship project called "Hands to the Sky" and was released in 2015. "The Songs We Sing" is our second release, but our first studio album.  We are dedicated to writing and releasing new worship songs, so this album is a collection of original songs that seemed to resonate with our team and/or church.

Q:  How did you get to work with Dream Records for this release?

A: The team at Dream reached out to us after checking out our first independent release (Hands to the Sky). As we talked with their team (David, Rachel, Lance, and others) we felt like it was a great fit and were excited to partner with them!

Q:  Of the countless worship teams and albums out there, what makes this album stand out or different?

A: The songs on this album were written out of what God was doing in the people of Mid-Cities over the past year or so. There are fifteen different writers from our church on the album as well. When you listen through the album, you can almost hear the journey on which God has taken our church. From tragedy (Unshakable, Never Leave, Glorious Refuge), to triumph (Yours Alone, Who Is Like You), and trusting Him in everything (Lead me Onward, I Surrender). 

Q:  What are some of the highlights in the making of this record? 

A: The biggest highlight was definitely working together as a team. We had a blast producing and engineering the album in house. This gave us the opportunity to experiment and create the sound we hear in our heads, as well as get more people involved in the process and have six worship leaders featured on the album (including Brooklynn Ward who leads worship in our youth areas and is still in high school).

Q:  Many of our readers are worship leaders, where can they find your chord sheets if they would like to sing the songs on this record?

A: You can find all of our chord charts on our website at www.midcitiesworship.org.

Q: Speaking of songs we sing, what for you makes a good worship song?

A: Great question. Although it's pretty subjective, I think a great worship song has a few key elements: solid theological content; singable, learnable (catchy) melody; lyrical interest (but still relatable); focus on Christ; a great musical hook. 

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