FEARLESS BND Unveils the Heart Behind their New Record "Fear Not"

FEAR NOT, the BEC Recordings debut from Los Angeles-based worshippers FEARLESS BND, will be available June 26. An inspired sound of revival for the city and the world, the 13-track project was produced by Joshua O'Haire and Jeremy Johnson and showcases the heartbeat of Southern California's Fearless Church. 

Originally known as Worth Dying For, the Modesto, California-based band's self-titled debut released in 2008 from Integrity Music. Following a relocation to Southern California and the launch of Fearless Church, the group's moniker change to FEARLESS BND was unveiled with 2011's Love Riot. Their signature electro-pop sound emerged on 2017's We Are Fearless and is further cemented with FEAR NOT.   

We are honored to be able to catch up with FEARLESS BND's Christy Johnson for this exclusive interview. 

Q: Thanks for doing this interview with us. Tell us a little about Fearless Church and FEARLESS BND.

In 2012, the dream of Fearless LA began-not in a nightclub, not in a church building, but in the hearts of our pastors. After serving for nearly 10 years as youth pastors at The House Modesto, our pastors set out on a journey to Southern California with a small team of people who had a unified vision of God's calling to fearlessly love on a city. At the time, our band was known as Worth Dying For, and we had released a few albums under that name. When we decided to move to Los Angeles, we wanted our music to be cohesive with our church. We changed the name to Fearless BND, in order to have a positive message that flowed with our church. 

The church quickly hit the ground running and began holding gatherings at beaches and coffeeshops in Orange County, with worship from Fearless BND and messages geared to developing a strong, well-equipped team of leaders. Though we intended to have small core team meetings, each week we had several visitors who had heard about what we were doing and wanted to learn more. These small, yet powerful gatherings would be a glimpse of the future-that one day we would have Orange County campuses.

Fearless BND is the sound of worship that comes out of Fearless LA. Our goal is to see lives radically changed through the love of Jesus and see the world LOVE MORE and FEAR LESS. We believe that worship is our weapon, and that freedom is our sound!

Q: Previously you were known as Worth Dying For. Why did you decide to change your name to FEARLESS BND? 

Worth Dying For, at the time, felt like the most cutting-edge name we could have as a band. As we began to start the church, we thought the name-while it aligns in context with scripture-had somewhat of a negative connotation. Fearless BND is not only a positive name, but it fits the name of our movement and what we are trying to accomplish in Los Angeles. 

Q: How did you get to work with BEC Recordings?

We were looking for a label to help magnify the sound we were making here in LA. We were introduced to BEC through a friend, and it ended up working out perfectly because they were looking for worship teams with an edgier sound to help expand their catalogue, and that's what we are. It was really a God thing!

Q: With so much worship music coming out these days, what sets your music apart?

Our music is really the heartbeat of our church. All of our main songwriters are leaders and pastors at our church, and as we release music it comes from a place of what we are going through as a church or individually. We want our music to have two things: excellence and God's Spirit. We work really hard at both, making sure we are saying what He wants us to say and sounding as excellent as we can.  

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

This album has been so fun to work on. All the songs have unique stories, but I'll mention one in particular. "Victorious" was a song we were working on while we were leading worship at the National Fine Arts Festival. We would lead the song; work on it that night; lead a different version the next night; work on it; write more; lead it. It was so fun because we were literally writing the song with the students we were leading at the conference. One day, we ended up finding a unique space with a grand piano and we worked on refining the song as an entire team. In that space we were able to connect with God and he poured out His spirit on the song, and we've stuck with that version ever since. 

Q:  You have also worked with River Valley Worship on one of your songs on the new album.  Tell us about what it's like working with them.

It was amazing! We met up with Ryan Williams from River Valley Worship to write together in LA. We started with some music that one of our team members had written, and collaboratively we came up with all the lyrics in one night. We actually recorded it that night also, and that's the final version you hear on our album. It was the first time for us to release a song like this, and it was so much fun working on it with them.

Q:  Why did you decide to cut Hillsong Y&F's "Let Go"" for this new album?

I have always loved Hillsong Y&F and this song's lyrics really resonated with our team. Letting go and letting the love of God rule our lives is a central theme of Fearless. It's His perfect love that allows us to not fear any longer.

Q:  What do you think is the cause of fear and what do you have to say to some of our readers who may be fearful?

Fear is something we were dealing with before we were even pastors. My husband and I lead a church called Fearless, but that doesn't mean we don't have any fears. I use this acronym: 

F. False 

E. Evidence

A. Appearing

R. Real

The enemy will always try to trick us into fearing anything possible, but our loving Father just wants us to fear Him. That kind of fear isn't being afraid of God, but rather a reverence and honor for Him. When we put our focus on Jesus, the worries and fears of life are subject to Him and to His word. The Bible says that "perfect love casts out fear," so it's the perfect love of Jesus Christ that actually sends fear away.

To those who are directly dealing with fears-maybe for your next month's mortgage; where you're going to go to college; or your next presentation at work-there is a God that loves you. He wants you to put your faith and trust in Him and in His perfect love. As you do that, your biggest fears and anxieties aren't being faced by you alone, but by a God who has no limits or boundaries to what He can do. 

For more information, visit fearlessbnd.com, becrecordings.com or turningpointpr.com. Follow FEARLESS BND on Instagram and Facebook.   

 

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