Bellarive Blog

If you have seen our Facebook account over the past weeks and/or have talked with ANY of us over the past few months, then you are in on the big news… WE ARE RECORDING OUR FIRST FULL-LENGTH ALBUM IN SEPTEMBER! God is moving in ways that are undeniable, and He is allowing us to write and create these new songs out of the overflow of the heart and spirit He has put inside of us. Basically… words cannot describe our excitement for this one, team!!

Here’s the deal, though…We need help. A lot of it. We cannot embark on this project by ourselves. (Help = prayer.) Without the Cross at the center of everything we (this means you, I, and us) do, it means legitimately…. nothing. Therefore, for this project, we are so in need of for your prayers!!! If you want to pray specifically for us, you can pray that God would use it however He pleases, that He would be the center of it, that His name would be glorified above every name and that He would create these songs through us!

We need more help, too. (this time, help = finances). The recording, mastering, and duplicating process is going to cost around $10,000… and right now, thats $10,000 that we don’t have. We launched a Kickstarter page, which is an awesome website where creative projects receive a platform and space to raise money towards their goal with incentive for the supporter to get some pretty sweet prizes. However, if we don’t receive the full $10,000, we don’t receive any of the money from the Kickstarter… big bummer! Check out our page here!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/988688478/bellarive

We are so thankful for those of you that have already lifted prayers/pledged/given. Seriously, you guys rock. Thanks for being a part of this process with us. We truly mean it when we say that we LOVE you and that we cannot wait to sing these songs with you!!

-Bellarive

Here is exciting news: We are in the process of writing new songs that we will get to sing with you soon!

Here is other exciting news: Some days its super awesome when we get together and write.

Here is not-so exciting news: Some days, it’s really, really difficult.

One reason among the hundreds as to why its difficult has been on my mind. It’s the whole idea of being “new” and “edgy”… honestly, it makes me uncomfortable. It doesn’t sit right. Not because new trends always fade into old, but because focusing on how to be new and different is steering focus away from the Main Thing and ultimately, is pretty exhausting.

Do I believe in “new”? Absolutely. Biblically, there is new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26), new Heavens and new Earth (Revelation 21:1), and so many more. God is all about bringing in the new and wiping away the past. God creates the new life. New is a huge focal point of the Gospel! I still have a hard time though, especially while creating corporate worship songs, not being pressured into creating through the world’s definition of the word “new”. If we aren’t careful, we tend to define “new” as the latest, the hippest, and sometimes its the most abstract that we can find. Whereas the biblical interpretation of “new” is based from the truth of a forever changed heart, creation, etc. The world bases it off of other people’s creations. Biblically, new actually refers to divine transformation, not merely an updated version of the past.

Until a few weeks ago, there was this nagging voice in my head, full of selfish ambition, pride, and depravity saying: “You have to be different than the people that went before you for fear of being associated with them. You have to be the newest and coolest version. Even if you are not, you need to pretend like you are. Facades have turned into the real deal… didn’t you know that? New means different, Melissa, and it means you will get noticed. If you are not, you will be failing. Your reputation depends on this. So no matter what, try as hard as you can to be as different as possible. Don’t worry… people will accept you then.”

What an ugly, untruthful thought process.

As I sat with this for a little bit, it allowed me to see what God was trying to teach me. This verse popped into my head: ‘Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’” (Romans 12:1) This truth that we are to be literally transformed from the inside out should give us nothing but FREEDOM to loose the chains of the pressure that too often stifles creativity.

What freedom!! Now creating doesn’t have to mean responding to previous art through opposition, but rather responding to the transformation that is daily happening inside of us and creating through that. With this perspective, anything we create is an honest outpouring of the transforming power of the death and resurrection of Jesus in our lives. Creating turns into the expression of this unfathomable freedom now that we know that we don’t have to answer to the world’s deadening definitions of “new” anymore. We have another aim, now. We have been given another definition, a transforming definition, a life giving and life altering definition.

What would it look like if we took the truth of the Gospel, allowed that to permeate and resonate into every fiber of our being, so much so that we could do nothing BUT create out of the truths of love, grace, peace, and mercy? I know that our God is an infinitely creative God… He created giraffes, ants, volcanoes, fingernails, sunsets, grains of sand, heartbeats and hydrogen. I’m pretty sure that if we trusted him through the creative process and allowed Him to speak, write, and create through us and stopped worrying about being the hippest and trendiest, that the expressions of Love would be beautiful and unique to each of us.

So may our creative process look much like Matthew 12:34, when Jesus said “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks”. And may that overflow of the heart no longer be spite or the opposition of previous creations, but the authentic remembrances and embraces of Love that flows from our Creator. May we stop striving to create out of fallacy, and instead live as dearly loved children of Abba. (Colossians 3:12)
Out of no fear and no matter what, may we walk and create how the Spirit is speaking to us, and may we trust that He is going to make it beautiful.

Hey team.

First off, this post is out of order… sorry for all you linear thinkers. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we think it is best to tell you what is going to be on the blog section of the website.

The truth is that sometimes we want to tell you the things that are going on inside of our brains. These could range from things we are learning, what we have seen God do in the past and present, what we hope He is going to do in the future, inspirations, struggles, things that are currently happening in the ministry we get to call Bellarive, etc. There will probably be some random funny things, too… and I can 85% promise that these won’t come from me, solely because I am aware that the other guys are WAY more funny than I ever will be. Which is fine, because I will then get to reap the benefits of laughing. Got ‘em!

There you have it! Pretty cut and dry. But we really want you to be a part of these conversations with us. So please know that you are heard, and know that you are welcome.

We love you. And we mean that.
-Melissa

Early October: Sean approached the band with an idea for a new music video and website design. Honestly, I didn’t understand it at first. It’s hard to grasp an idea that you have never experienced before. From what I could gather, the idea involved having a “free” show in Orlando where the only admission was a light-bulb and a camera. He said somehow the lightbulb would be used during part of the show when people would come on stage and plug them in to the backdrop. While this was happening, everyone would be videotaping their perspective. These perspectives would then be compiled along with professional footage to make a music video and tell the story of the night. The idea also involved community coming together, souls singing, and an artistic reminder that Glory always shines through.

Mid-October: We went searching for a venue. We envisioned an old barn with high ceilings, hay on the second story, bare wood… the type of setting that if you think about it too much, you may get creeped out. We went searching… and searching… and searching. (This is for free, but if you are ever looking for the barn just described in Central Florida, you may find some great landscapes and really great people, but you will probably not find what you are looking for and waste a lot of gas.) We looked up barns online, took suggestions from people, used all of the resources we could think of… nothing was working. It was horribly frustrating. These are the days I would rather block out because I don’t like to admit that confusion and frustration exist. I would much rather jump into a formula that has already proven itself to work and ignore the truth that risk and faith often go hand in hand.

December: Still had the idea. Still searching. Still no venue. Still frustrated.

February 2: We realized that Relevant Magazine had a space at their offices that was used for acoustic shows and podcast recordings. I was able to check out the space thanks to Theresa Dobritch and the Relevant Magazine staff. Michael Dalton, who agreed to shoot and edit the video came to check it out as well. After many phone conversations, the plans began to take shape. We decided that the show would be February 12th and that people would be informed of the night through social media outlets, word of mouth, videos, anything we could come up with. But if you do the math… February 2nd and 12th are 10 days apart. Not a ton of time to pull it off. Not to mention we could have 10 people show up, 200 people, perhaps no one. Risk and faith, people.

February 12:  It was the night of the show. Friends (better known as family) came together the night prior to help set up the stage, backdrop, and electrical wiring. The sound system was in place, lighting was good to go. Setup was complete. And somehow, it was 7 PM and people were waiting for doors to open. The band tried to find a quiet place to pray and to refocus on what was about to happen. I remember the blank stares from awe instead of boredom across all of our faces. And it’s hard to explain what happened from here on out. The only thing I know is that it was real. The Spirit in that room is real. Yes, light bulbs were screwed in to the back drop. Yes, people got great video footage. Yes, you can watch the video that a community made from the website we just launched. But infinitely more important than all logistics and months of effort is the truth that we sang from our souls. We sang songs that were pointed towards hope and Heaven. We sang from the souls that God gave us, the souls that Kingdom Songs come out of, the souls that the world so desperately wants to steal from us. But we sang boldly about the truth that our souls sing to the Creator of Heaven and Earth. We sang loud not because we wanted other people in the room to hear us, but because we wanted the God of Grace to hear. We dug down deep into what God intended for the night and we dwelt there. It was beautiful. He was listening, He is listening and it’s beautiful. Much past that, I know nothing, and i don’t think I need to. But I do know that whatever happened that night… was real.

-Mel