Yesterday I arrived back from the Resound Worship Songwriting Retreat that was held in the beautiful Wydale Hall in North Yorkshire.
It was an intensely creative time – which is exactly what I hoped it would be. I arrived armed with a suitcase, a guitar and half of a song I had muddled together a couple of days before (so that I wouldn’t arrive empty handed) and left with a completed song, an almost finished song and a good work in progress.
The few days consisted of feedback groups, where everyone took turns to share the song they had and then receive good points as well as areas to improve. There was plenty of time to dedicate to songwriting, tweaking ideas or changing things completely. I explored a bit of co-writing sat under a tree with someone who I had met and chatted to over a coffee a couple of hours before. There was also times of corporate worship and teaching / songwriting inspiration. Some of which I used to help me craft some of the songs I wrote while I was there.
On the last evening we had a concert instead of a main meeting. This was a special time where everyone shared something they had written. Most was very new and fresh – everything sounded different and it was a beautiful celebration of creativity and most importantly the God of creativity Himself!
We also finished with a beautiful time of communion on the last morning, which brought tears to my eyes. Then we headed for home, armed with fresh perspective, bursting with creative ideas and ready to sing our songs.
Thank you to the Resound Worship team for such an amazing retreat. I certainly hope to be coming back again next year!