Apostles Worship Reveals How Tears, Repentance And 200 Voices Shaped "Live From The Chapel"

Apostles Worship is inviting listeners into one of the most vulnerable nights in the life of The Church of the Apostles. Released through The Wilderness Way, Live From the Chapel captures more than polished performances: it preserves a congregation turning to Christ during a season of pastoral transition, repentance and prayer. Across four acoustic recordings, including the deeply emotional "Behold Him," Jeremy Ezell and the Atlanta-based worship ministry allow the voices of more than 200 worshippers to take center stage. Apostles Worship spoke with JubileeCast about the moment Ezell became too overwhelmed to sing, the two original songs featured on the EP and what is coming next-including six new recordings and the Why We Sing conference with Shane & Shane and John Piper.

Q: For listeners discovering Apostles Worship for the first time, how did the ministry emerge from The Church of the Apostles, and what is the vision guiding the music you create?

Apostles Worship is the music ministry of The Church of the Apostles. The name came about when we started recording and releasing music back in 2017. We wanted a moniker that captured the essence of who we are as a team and that team is quite simply the music team that serves week in and week out in the musical worship of our church.

Everywhere we look we want to see life, and true life is found only in Jesus Christ. So we want the songs we sing with our church family to stir up that life in us. Apostles Worship is not simply a collection of musicians-it is a community being formed by Christ. As we gather around His Word, devote ourselves to prayer, and sing together as the body of Christ, our hope is that the life we experience in Jesus would overflow into our church, our communities, and ultimately the world.

Q: Live From the Chapel was recorded during a night centered on repentance. What was happening spiritually in the room, and why did that gathering feel like the right moment to capture a live project?

At the time our Church was approaching a pastoral transition and we believed it was appropriate to spend some time in reflection, repentance, and in petitioning the Lord for his presence and provision in the coming season.

As for the recording, We really didn't set out to make a record as much as to worship with our church family. When the team listened back to the raw tracks we were moved once again by how the songs translated and the beauty of the congregation singing so strongly. At that point we decided this EP could be a kind of Ebenezer for our church.

We capture everything we do from various worship services throughout the week. We always seek to capture in some small way what the Spirit of God is doing in the room. On this particular night we were gathering on what is commonly known as Ash Wednesday. The heart of the night was a turning to the Lord to "Behold Him" to remind ourselves and one another of His glorious Gospel!

Q: "Behold Him" was written by Mitch Wong and Paul Baloche, but Jeremy Ezell and the team reimagined it acoustically. How did you approach making this familiar worship song distinctive to Apostles Worship?

We wanted the evening to be deeply focused on our church family singing together. Every creative decision we made stemmed from that goal. The thought to use all acoustic instruments and only a small percussion kit was wholly with the heart of building a musical framework that supported the praises of the people gathered.

Our arrangement was based on the work that Mission House had done a while back, but with a smaller more intimate setting. I think what ended up making our arrangement distinct are the voices of our people and the hands of our musician and their passionate praises. We could record that song 3 times over and never have that exact same experience again. It was a special moment and I'm grateful we were able to capture it.

Q: One of the recording's most powerful moments came when more than 200 worshippers instinctively carried the verse. What do you remember about that moment, and why was it important to preserve its unscripted nature?

"Behold Him" followed "Abide" in our song flow that night. I (Jeremy) remember being deeply moved at the message of the songs. Abide ends with the phrase "teach me to abide" and it is in the beholding of Christ and His beauty that we are taught to "Abide" in him. And so, as we began to sing the lyrics "He who heard humanity's cry....", I was so moved I got choked up and couldn't sing.

The beauty of our people singing together so loudly God's truth and the cry of our hearts to abide in Him moved me to tears, but the congregation just kept singing, holding the moment. And that's the beauty of a live recording... we would usually be tempted to "fix" the mistake... but then you lose the beauty of what really happened. I needed the voices of my brothers and sisters to carry me, to strengthen me, to lead me, even as I led them. That's the body of Christ.

Q: What other songs appear on Live From the Chapel, and how do they collectively express the EP's themes of repentance, beholding Christ, and congregational worship?

We've mentioned "Behold Him" and "Abide", but there are also two original songs on the EP. "Find Me", written by Aimee Miller, is a beautiful prayer for the Lord to find us being about our Father's business and not doing useless things. It sings of the temptations toward following paths of luxury, or making our home in the valley, or attempting to hide from God's presence in busy-ness, but truly our heart's deepest desire is to be found "willing and able, steadfast and faithful".

We concluded the evening with our song "Sing Praises to God" based on Psalm 47, led and written by Sean Crawford. This song is a passionate anthem of praise and an invitational call to all people everywhere to praise the Living God!

Q: Apostles Worship is preparing six additional singles and the Why We Sing conference with Shane & Shane and John Piper. What can you reveal about this next season, and what questions about worship will the conference explore?

Yes, we are so excited about hosting the Shanes and Pastor John Piper on Saturday October 24th at The Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Ga for their "Why We Sing" event. This conference is one of several that the Shanes are doing across the US that are encouraging the church to sing their faith. It will be an evening if teaching and singing through God's word with the Shanes and Pastor Piper.

Independently we've decided to use this event to kick off a series of "Why We..." sermons over the subsequent weeks and our pastor, in conjunction with this series, asked our team to consider recording some songs for it.

We accepted the challenge and are actively working on finishing up 6 songs, 3 of which will be released as singles and a few special tracks that will release with the full project due in early 2027. The first single is coming soon: "This is the Good News" featuring Seth Rice and releasing on October 2nd. The next song will be "The Greatness of God" and is slated for release in November.