Sometimes you have to leave the house to find home, and Iâve certainly done my fair share of moving houses. From the âFriend of Godâ early 2000âs version of worship leader Michael Gungor, to the âletâs learn how to use Pro Toolsâ Michael Gungor Band, to the âoh no, Iâm not sure God is realâ of early Gungor, to the âI donât want to sing about Jesus anymoreâ universalism of the last few years of Gungor, it was quite the journey. We saw a lot. We felt a lot. And eventually, we felt like we needed to lay it all down and walk away to make room for something new.
Since then, weâve stayed busy. People who were a core part of the collective of Gungor went on to do some amazing things and play with some incredible artists. Lisa and I made solo projects under different monikers. Lisa wrote a book and started a retreat. Iâve been making a bunch of podcasts, trying to survive a pandemic, and spending a ton of money on therapy while doing a lot of soul searching about what it is that I want to spend my life and my creative energy on.
And through all of it, hereâs what Iâve discovered: I really love God.
More than anything. In fact, God is, in a way, the only thing I love because I see God as love. It is God I love when I love my girls. It is God I love when I let go to experience the fullness of the sensations, pleasures, and desires of being alive in and as a body. And when I think about what I want to spend my creative energy on, itâs expressing and enjoying the full spectrum of my love of God. Â
Lisa and I had some friends living with us during the pandemic who also grew up in church, and sometimes we would all reminisce and sing these weird old worship songs together that we used to sing as kids. At first, we were just joking and playing around, but there was also something sort of sweet and sad about it because deep down, we all missed the good parts of worshipping with other people.
When I say âworship,â Iâm not talking about the shamey, homage-paying to some other being somewhere else, but the experience of love and connection that can happen when people get together and sing to their Source. For me, the truest worship is simply and fully loving what is. Worship is allowing every breath, sensation, and experience of life to become a sensuous, embodied âHallelujah!â Worship is saying âyesâ to your life, to your Source. And with that lens, I donât think worship should just be for church folks. It shouldnât just be for those who believe this thing or that. Worship is for everyone.
So we decided we wanted to try making some worship music again that would be enjoyable for people who might not fit the traditional religious boxes like us. Worship for the heretics and the outcasts. The questioners and the mystics. I think we need some good worship music too. And the more we talked about it, the sillier it felt to try to start a new band to do this. Everyone we talked to about it was like âyou should just do this under Gungor.â So here we areâback for a âworshipâ project that we are calling âRevival.â
Whoâs the we? Weâre still figuring that out. Gungor started as me (Michael) as a solo artist trying to make more of an artistic collective, and by the end it was more of a duo with Lisa and I. Moving forward, Lisa and I would both really love it to move more towards the collective thing again. Lisa will be involved still, but she also has her own music and other various projects sheâs working on. And with this idea of âworship for everyone,â we just think it would be really fun to find some different voices from across the spectrums to co-create with.
For years, the idea of worship had been tinged with shame for me. I ran from it so hard. Spent so much time, energy, and money trying to be seen as someone who was not just a worship leader. But as hard as I tried, I could never actually run away from my very heart. âIf I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, you are there.â Who else could I love but God? To whom could I sing but God?
So Gungorâs coming back, baby. Itâs revival time! You can stream our first two singles "Feel The Moment" (with TRISHES) and "Everything Is Hallelujah" tonight at midnight. Pre-save them here found.ee/gungor_feelthemomenteverythingishallelujaâŚ. We hope youâll join us.
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Stream our new singles "I Forgive You" (feat. Isa Ma) and "A Million I's" - Available everywhere!