New Hope Oahu Offers Exclusive Insights into the Making of "Brand New"

New Hope Oahu is the worship ministry of New Hope Oahu, a church led by Senior Pastor Wayne Cordeiro.They blazed onto the Worship scene in 2013 with the release of their debut album "Hope is Alive" which premiered at #2 on the Billboard Praise and Worship Chart and featured the global hit song "How We Worship".  New Hope Oahu has since released 9 albums, each of which have reached #1 on the Billboard Charts for Christian Music.  

They are back with their ninth album, Brand New (DREAM Records). The album is available on all digital and streaming outlets globally.  The thirteen song album features incredible tracks like "Speak" and "Brand New." The team talks about the new album: 

We are honored to catch up with Chris Sanders for this exclusive interview.

Q: Thank you for doing this interview with us. Congratulations to your church for celebrating its 25th anniversary. What are some of the things are you most grateful for in all of these years of ministry?

Thank you for having us, this is such an honor! Wow 25 years, I can't believe how quickly it went by lol. There are so many things to be grateful for these past 25 years, countless lives touched, people growing in their God-given calling and delving deeper into their relationship with God. But I would have to say one of my most favorite things to be grateful of is one of our Pastor Wayne Cordeiro's and the leaderships' core values, and that is dream releasing!

We've seen God release countless dreams that have been laying dormant inside of every day people, and we've seen God transform these every day people into mature Christians utilizing their God-given gifts to further the kingdom. Personally this really resonates with me, I started as a snot-nosed-awkward11-year-old-homeschooler, and through having my dreams released, I've seen how God can use music and worship in such powerful and awe-inspiring ways!

Q: You have just released a new album "Brand New," which is also your ninth album. How has the team change or grown during the course of all these albums?

I love this question! Every time we go into a project our heart is to leave nothing on the table and use everything we have at that time to make it the best we can. Every project definitely matured us, but the biggest catalyst to solidifying vision and direction was having Dave Hanley and Dream records partner with us and truly expand possibilities and what can be.

It's been 7 years since the start of this partnership and this latest album released another vision we've always had for this worship team, and that was to have a truly collaborative writing team. Because of the socialdistancing situation, our writing became a reality and zoom was such a blessing! We would meet weekly, showcase whatever God had given to us that week, and we would tweak, expand, and run with these songs God began to give to us. It really brought greater buy-in from our team, and these songs became so much more when we all contended together!

Q: When you lead worship in church, do you still re-visit your older songs from your first few albums?

Absolutely! So many of these songs are direct from scripture so they become timeless for us. Also we believe in remembering the past, honoring the present, and continuing to pursue the future God has given! Honestly going back to the songs of the past is like a big warm blanket surrounding us, it brings to mind that season us as a church and even individually, what we went through and where God has brought us to today.

Q: Did you approach the making of this new album any differently compared to your previous recordings?

Yes, on top of having a true writing team. Because of needing to do things remotely we had to ask the team to send us parts from their own home, so they all had to find quiet places, 'mostly closets' lol to record without distractions or noise. Matt and I were building most of these tracks from home so it was a blast to have to communicate and even write in a way that we've never had to, but it was so much fun and exciting! The best part was that we got to have some of our team members from New Hope that has been called to different parts of the globe able to participate because of technology!

Q: What I love about this new album is the interweaving of traditional hymns and the Hawaiian language into your songs. Why is it important to incorporate hymns and your own culture into your worship?

Wow, what an awesome question! We believe that God has called each of His children into ministry and mission. Sometimes that mission work isn't about leaving the island or the country, but God brings those people right to your doorstep or church. We believe in redeeming the arts for the Lord, everything is His! Honoring Him even with our culture, foundational hymns, and where He's placed us allows us to fulfill His calling to minister to the body of Christ He has called us to, and hopefully it expands and blesses the capital "C" church.

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

Phew, this is a loaded question because there is so much. As for the highlights, it was wonderful to see this album come to fruition, originally it started as an EP, then so many songs came in we decided to do full album. And then we had these Selah moments come to us, so now this album has the most songs yet lol. The most beautiful thing about this album is two-fold:

1. Seeing the all-in response from our team to make this happen. People gave their time, heart, and talent, and it showed. There was joy every step of the journey. The writers wrote, and then we built the music, and the singers came in, the musicians came in, and layer after layer of anointing we watched unfold worship that was beyond what we imagined.

2. The reception and buy-in of our church leaders and 'ohana' truly brought to full-circle the meaning of dream releasing for us!

Q: For worship leaders who would like to sing your songs in their churches, how and where can they find the chord or sheet music to your songs?

Ask us, lol. Everyone can go to our enewhope.org website and go to our NHO music page. We can also upload charts there. But any questions feel free to email our [email protected] and we would absolutely love to help!

Q: How do you wish these songs would impact the lives of your listeners?

A: Our prayer is that whoever listens to these songs would be blessed and as they go through their journey and grow, these songs would grow with them. We pray that Jesus will reach through beyond the lyrics, or music, or production, and that He will do what only He can do and reach the heart of His children! 

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