The Story Behind the Band Stillcreek and the Incredible Treasure of Psalm 119

A Conversation with Dave Aubrey and Bryan Fowler

In this episode, you will get to know pastor and songwriter Dave Aubrey, and songwriter and producer Bryan Fowler, who together with their friend Aaron Williams form the band Stillcreek. Most importantly, you will get to know two guys who have a contagious love for Jesus and his Word, and who have begun a project you want to know about.
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"I grew up knowing a lot about God, and I thought that knowing a lot about God was synonymous with knowing God. And the danger with that is that I ended up using God as a means to an end, rather than seeing him as the ultimate end."

Dave and Bryan tell us how they each came to know Jesus, how they came together with Aaron Williams to form the band Stillcreek, and how God led them to begin this long-term project of creating incredibly beautiful music for every stanza of Psalm 119. Dave shares with us how God’s work of revival in his own life initiated this project, and relays to us some profound things he has learned about Psalm 119. Bryan shares with us how God equipped him over many years with the tools he would need for this project and talks about why beauty matters to us when singing and proclaiming God’s Word. As you listen to these guys, you will be more convinced of the power and goodness of God’s Word, and absolutely compelled to open your Bible to Psalm 119.  

Guest Bio

Dave Aubrey is a pastor at New City Church in Dover, Delaware, as well as a worship leader, and songwriter. Dave earned a bachelor’s in Worship Ministry from Liberty University and an MDiv in Christian Ministries from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He began the ministry Stored In My Heart, and the music group New City Collective. He and his wife Abigail have three kids.  

Bryan Fowler is GRAMMY award winning songwriter and producer. He has written for many of CCM’s leading artists, and his songs have hit #1 on Christian radio several times over. He has written songs with and produced music with Keith & Kristyn Getty, Shane & Shane, Cochren & Co., TAYA, TobyMac, Steven Curtis Chapman, and many others. He and his wife Laci have two kids and live in Franklin, Tennessee.  

Book Recommendations
Every episode we ask our guest to tell us about a few books that have changed their lives. Check out Dave Aubrey and Bryan Fowler’s recommendations and consider adding them to your bookshelf!

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals

by John Piper

This book profoundly influenced Dave Aubrey’s perspective on his work as a pastor and worship leader.

The Hiding Place

by Corrie Ten Boom

This incredible story is treasured by both Bryan Fowler and his wife.
Transcript

Eden: Hello!

Dave Aubrey: Hi, Eden.

Eden: Good to see you guys.

Bryan Fowler: Awesome.

Dave Aubrey: I love it. Well, thanks for having us.

Eden: Thank you so much for being willing to talk.

So you’re not brothers. You’re not cousins. And we’ll hear about how you guys came together. But this is Bryan Fowler and Dave Aubrey from Stillcreek Music, and they’re going to share with us a little bit about how they got to know each other.

I have been listening to your music on repeat for weeks. And it has been such an encouragement to me. I think the Holy Spirit is all over what you’re doing. So I’ve been so excited to get to talk to you guys and let you share your story. As I choose content for our website, I always think about, did this piece of content transform me? before I share it with someone else.

Dave Aubrey: I love that!

Eden: Because we want everything we do to be in reliance on the Holy Spirit and on his power and sharing the things that we know he blesses. And so I’m really excited for other people to get to experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit through what you guys have created. So thank you so much for being willing to talk about it today. I’m really thrilled.

Bryan Fowler: Absolutely. Yeah, we’re happy to be here. Happy to talk about it. It’s been a journey getting these songs put together. And so we’re excited to be sharing them with the world. And, and it’s cool to see the impact that they’re having in people’s personal lives and their in their daily devotional lives. So it’s great.

Eden: Awesome. Let’s begin with getting to know you guys a little bit. What are a couple of things that bring you joy?

Bryan Fowler: You want to go? I know what it is for him—working out. It’s probably the number one.

Dave Aubrey: I do enjoy CrossFit.

Eden: Okay. Nice.

Dave Aubrey: That’s fun. The last couple of times he’s called me, I’ve been at the gym.

Bryan Fowler: Funny enough, it brings me sadness.

Dave Aubrey: I have a wife and three kids that are probably the greatest portals of joy to experience God’s goodness in my life. I really, really enjoy being a dad and a husband. My community back at home in Delaware, my church family, my friendships there, again, just massive gifts of grace and joy in my life. I also love soccer. I love, love, love soccer. Playing it. I’m a huge fan. I watch a lot of Premier League. I’m enjoying the MLS (Major League Soccer) getting better. So those are some things for me that I really, really enjoy. Yeah.

Bryan Fowler: That’s great. I mean my mind goes to a really simple thing when I think of joy, something that fills me up. We love to put on old jazz, Louis Armstrong, Ella (Fitzgerald), that kind of stuff while we’re cooking dinner, and our kids are just playing and we’re cooking and there’s classic music on, that’s a very joyful thing when I think about that.

And then being self-employed, the availability that I have to be with my children, being able to pick and choose the moments that I am able to come and go is a really wonderful thing. And so there’s a lot of joy in those quiet, hidden moments, driving kids to school and stuff that a lot of dads maybe don’t get to do. And so that brings me a lot of joy. But yeah, it’s family. It’s community.

This project brings me a lot of joy.

Dave Aubrey: Big time!

Bryan Fowler: I’ve spent a lot of time over the course of my career as a songwriter and as a producer, working on countless different projects, and they have all been wonderful and life-giving to some degree, but this has been one of the most joy-giving projects I’ve been able to work on—Stillcreek Music. It’s been great.

Dave Aubrey: Yeah. Amen to that.

Eden: Awesome. Well, that’s so fun to hear. And I love how God gives us all different parts of his creation that are uniquely enjoyable to each one of us. He knows that each of his kids will enjoy a different thing. So whether it’s soccer or music or whatever it is—or working out—he uses those things to bless us with his presence and his delight. So awesome to hear.

We always love to hear about how you guys came to know Jesus. So whoever wants to go first, how did you begin a relationship with the Lord?

Bryan Fowler: I mean, a journey for sure. I was raised in a Christian home. My parents were both the only believers in their extended family. And so they got married and had to figure out what is it to live a life of faith and to follow Jesus? And what does biblical community look like? And what does it look like to be members of the church? And all of that kind of stuff. And so they had no grid for any of that. So growing up, the first, I don’t know, seven, eight years of my life, it was them figuring that out.

We were in and out of different churches and we had moved a couple times, but I ended up going to a Vacation Bible School, I think around like seven or eight years old. The first recollection that I have of an encounter with Jesus was just, “Hey, here’s the gospel, all you kids. Does anybody want to follow Jesus?” And I remember raising my hand and being like, “I do.” No knowledge of what that meant or anything, but there was something that drew me and compelled me in that moment when I was really young. And I can remember that. I don’t have a lot of memories from when I was super young, but I do remember that. And then fast forward, I was actually invited to—it was a really obscure random event—it was a band who was playing at this church. They had a little venue outside their little Baptist church in the country where I grew up. It was called the Gospel Chicken House, if you believe it or not.

Dave Aubrey: Solid! That’s so great.

Bryan Fowler: I don’t know, I don’t even remember what the place looked like or felt like.

Dave Aubrey: I have many questions for them.

Bryan Fowler: The name probably was accurate. But anyway, this band played a concert. They’re just a band, I guess. They were like a “Christian” band, but they just played a rock show. And the youth pastor of that church got up, and at this time I was like maybe 12 or 13, so more able to actually put together what this whole thing was and understand it a little bit more. But he essentially gave an altar call, and I was like, “I think I did that already. So I don’t know if I can go up for this because I think I got saved back then.” But then he was like, “Does anybody want to rededicate their life?” And I was like, “I can do that. I can rededicate! That’s what I can do.” Whatever the terminology is, the Lord saved me and has been saving me my whole life through sanctification. And so that was another mile marker for me. At that moment, 12 or 13 years old, I was like, I’m going to rededicate my life.

But that’s when I started engaging with the gospel in a more practical, serious manner, following Jesus actually walking in the way of the Lord to the best ability that I had. Through high school growing up, I was heavily involved in my youth group. It was a sweet time of renewal in my own life, those middle school, high school years for sure.

Eden: And, Bryan, at what point in that journey with Jesus did music enter the story for you?

Bryan Fowler: That’s a great question. I was always drawn to music. I loved listening to music. I think my parents bought me a bass guitar when I was 11 or 12, somewhere around there. And I was really into punk rock music so bass guitar was cool for that. And once I really started following Jesus, committing my life to him, it was like I had these two great joys. I had this music joy— passion—and then this joy of following Jesus and wanting to be more like him. So it was like, man, I love these things both so much on their own. And it made sense for them to come together. So when I was 13 or 14, I started playing bass for our local church on Sunday mornings, and that was really when the affections for the Lord through music started stirring up. At that point that was my first time really hearing, I guess, modern, contemporary worship music. And so that was a really big light bulb moment for me and I never looked back.

Eden: Awesome. Okay. And what about you, Dave?

Dave Aubrey: My story is similar. I grew up in the church. My dad is a pastor, still serves. We had a really solid Christian home. My mom and my dad were faithful to each other, to the Lord, to the church, to me and my sisters. I made a profession of faith at a young age as well, very, very young. But I feel the same way. Like the Lord was drawing me and changing me and teaching me more about what it means to follow him my entire life.

I grew up knowing a lot about God, and I thought that knowing a lot about God was synonymous with knowing God. And the danger with that is that I ended up using God as a means to an end, rather than seeing him as the ultimate end. And so with that, what happens as a trickle-down effect is when God isn’t the ultimate treasure, when your life isn’t about his glory, you love yourself more than anything—selfish ambition, compromise, you can justify anything. And really, what happened is, I just found myself to be so malnourished, so dissatisfied, so discontent, and a longing in my soul that there had to be something more. That believing in Jesus, believing in the facts of the gospel wasn’t just it. There should be something happening in me. And I felt like the way people were talking about Jesus and the way I was experiencing him were not one and the same.

And so when I, by God’s grace, through reading a couple books, reading the Bible, through some friends, through prayer, all that type of stuff, when I found out that, oh no, the key to the blessed life is actually laying down your life (Matthew 16:25) and putting on Christ (Romans 13:14) and setting aside selfish ambition for holy ambition (Matthew 6:33). When I realized that this life is passing away (James 4:14), and only what matters for eternity is really what’s going to last and matter, it just changed everything in my life. I started killing sin (Colossians 3:5). I started really experiencing what Jesus meant when he says, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). And until you really do that in faith, it makes no sense. The kingdom of God is so upside down that all of the things that Jesus said seemed so counter-intuitive to what the world was telling me would make me happy. And it wasn’t until, by God’s grace and by faith, I started putting those things to the test that my life began to be transformed, and my mind was being renewed (Romans 12:2).

Eden: Awesome. Thank you.

Dave Aubrey: By the way, the encouragement there, Eden, is that that was not overnight. I feel like we want pills, the quick fixes. That’s been a ten-year journey for me, and I’m still learning that every single day.

Eden: Wonderful, awesome. And I think we hear about people coming to know Jesus from lots of different avenues. I’ve heard that Jesus is the only way (John 14:6), but there are a lot of ways to Jesus (quoted from our episode with Coach Gruenwald). And it’s such a blessing to grow up in a Christian home (that’s my own story) because you think about how there was never a day, really, when you didn’t know who the Lord was and what a blessing that is. And what an encouragement to parents that you do have a major influence in the life of your kids in light of them coming to know Christ.

Dave Aubrey: Big time.

Eden: But I would love to hear about Stillcreek. I don’t know if that’s the name of the band, or the project.

Dave Aubrey: It is.

Eden: So how did this come about? What inspired it? What is the project? I know all the answers to these things, but I’m excited for other people to hear them.

Bryan Fowler: What reason do three middle aged men have to start a band? Great question.

Dave Aubrey: We’re missing Aaron (Williams). Aaron wished he could be here today, but he had a prior commitment. So shout out to Aaron Williams. He’s a huge component and a part of this team.

Bryan Fowler: I mean it really started with Dave. So maybe you give a little bit of backstory and then we can get into how the whole thing formed.

Dave Aubrey: Long story short, about seven years ago in my local church in Dover, Delaware, our church, well, I personally was experiencing a time of renewal in my life. There were several in our local church that were experiencing this, just really drawn to the Lord’s Word, evangelism, these rhythms of grace or spiritual disciplines or practices. And so some really amazing things were happening, and our church decided to start memorizing large chunks of Scripture together.

I actually remember one Sunday morning we opened—we had been memorizing Romans 8 together. Two verses a week. And when we finished Romans 8, we started off one Sunday morning service, everybody standing and saying Romans 8 together.

Bryan Fowler: The whole thing?

Dave Aubrey: The whole thing. And I think probably 30% to 40% of that group actually did it memorized. We had it on the screen, too, for people to read and participate with us. It was really cool. This was a huge part of what we were doing, trying to store up God’s Word in our hearts. I had mentioned earlier in my coming to know the Lord, that journey, that there was this transforming period of time. And one of the things that was instrumental during that time was a commitment to read the Bible all the way through—which, though I grew up in the church and went to a ministry school, I had never done that until I was like 25, 26 years old. And so I was captivated by the Psalms, obviously, and Psalm 119 specifically. And there’s a verse, Psalm 119:11, it says, “I’ve stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” And I really wanted to put the Lord to the test with that. And so I began memorizing large chunks of Scripture. Our church began doing it, and after we had memorized these different things like Romans eight, we decided to memorize Psalm 119 together, two verses at a time, all 176 verses. So it was going to take us quite some time. We got to the fifth or sixth week, and I remember getting some texts from guys, “Hey, how many statutes and precepts and commandments and laws and things like—” It was all kind of becoming a blur.

And so I decided just for me and a small group of guys every Monday morning, on my way to the church or whatever, I’d come up with some random jingle in my head. I’d put these two verses to a melody. I’d group text it to these guys to help them memorize it. And it ended up becoming, after a few months, this thing that they would do with their families. And so them and their wives and their kids are singing these songs. I’d get like, voice memos throughout the week of these guys singing songs with their kids, etc. And then I thought, you know what? This would be really helpful maybe for the church and would allow for family worship and stuff like that. So we made like a little website for our church called www.storedinmyheart.org. Again, just for our local church where every Monday morning I would post this song, sometimes kind of cheesy. It wasn’t like we were trying to make great music.

Bryan Fowler: They were all cheesy. Don’t say “sometimes.”

Dave Aubrey: They were all pretty cheesy. We weren’t trying to do anything with them. But then we would have elders and leaders and people in our church who would write devotionals with them. And so during the week, we’d encourage families to have family worship, read this devotional together, memorize these songs, and it was awesome. But that really brought a wave of renewal, seriously, in our church, in our homes. And I was captivated by it.

So fast forward through many, many, many, many years, I had always wanted to do this on a little bit of a larger scale, but really well done. Musical excellence, creativity, staying true to the Word of God. And honestly, I had this desire—this is crazy. And they think I’m crazy and they’re crazy too, because they want to do it. I wanted to put the whole Psalter to music, and I knew that that was a lifetime endeavor. But I felt like my capacity had reached its limits. And so with my own abilities, resources, all that type of stuff, it was about assembling the right team. And so I heard of four guys in Nashville that do really well with these things. Again, I’m just this random pastor in Dover, Delaware, and Bryan was one of those guys, and I sent him a direct message on Instagram. And it happened to be kind of a providential time, I feel like, in your life as well.

Bryan Fowler: Oh for sure. Yeah.

Dave Aubrey: Maybe you should pick up from there.

Bryan Fowler: I’ve been here in Nashville for ten years, and I moved here to write and produce. My heart, when I moved here, the thing that I was passionate about was music for the church. I hadn’t fine tuned that calling or passion yet, but I really knew that I wanted to write songs for the church. And when I moved here, I was really blessed with incredible opportunities and some really remarkable success early on. But it was not in the field, necessarily, that I felt compelled to be a part of as much. And so it was more in the CCM, commercial, Christian Contemporary Music space, which is a great space. There’s a lot of really faithful artists there that put out really incredible work and absolutely point people to the Lord. It never felt like it was perfectly in line with how I was wired and the particular songs that I wanted to write exactly, but it was an incredible open door, and there was a lot of opportunity for growth and success. And so I’m really thankful for that season. But I was in a season, at this time when Dave direct messaged me, of really trying to reframe, who am I as a songwriter?

As a producer, I’ll produce whatever. I love producing music, all kinds of different styles of music. But as a writer, the person with the pen crafting the lyric, I really wanted to reshape what I was known for doing. And I wanted it to be more in line with the things that I felt really called to do and really equipped to do well. And so it was a time of reshaping, transition for me as a songwriter. I was getting to know the Gettys really well. I was working with Shane & Shane a good bit more and finding myself in spaces that I was really excited to be in for the first time, honestly. And I had been working on more corporate worship stuff with a handful of artists that are more in the commercial CCM space. And so, yeah, I was kind of transitioning and so when he called or texted or messaged or whatever, it was interesting because I didn’t have any reason to take on a client from Delaware who was just wanting to do some songs. It wasn’t going to check a box for me. It wasn’t going to help me get ahead in my career. I had already arrived at a place that was really great. And so it was not like a rung on the ladder per se. It was just something that I resonated with, and I was like, “I get that. I believe you. I believe what you’re passionate about. And I resonate with this yearning to write these types of songs.” It was kind of a kindredness in terms of our desire and what we cared about. And so for me, it was like, “Well, if I spend a bunch of time and effort and energy on writing songs with this guy, I know that it’s a worthwhile endeavor because it’s an offering to the Lord. I know that it’s a worthwhile endeavor because it’s in line with what I feel compelled to do.” And so I took it. I took the opportunity, and then it turned into a whole thing, which I don’t think either of us expected. You know?

Dave Aubrey: Yeah. Aaron’s path, Bryan’s path, and my path were all intersecting. And it seemed it seemed like, again, a pretty providential way, we’re in similar seasons of life, our lives, our kids, heart for the Lord, for his Word, for the local church, all those things. So we began to build a friendship, originally for probably almost the first year that Bryan and I were working together it wasn’t even on this project, it was on other stuff. Same with him and Aaron. Same with me and Aaron. And then it was about a year ago, a little over a year ago now that I had talked to Bryan and I had talked to Aaron and was like, “Hey, what if we just tried this?” And we sat down and we started writing some of this. And then when we had our first writing retreat to work through the first sections of Psalm 119. We came out of those few days where we had no expectations, pretty blown away at how much it ministered to us, actually. And the quality and how actually easy it was, and I mean that by God’s grace, to write from the Psalms. And it was really life giving, And it began to impact our wives and our kids.

And it’s been said that Psalm 119 is like the A to Z of the Christian life. It’s the Hebrew alphabet. So that’s where they get that saying, or like “the spiritual soundtrack of the Christian life.” And that resonated. I mean, we began finding ourselves living in the lyrics that we were pulling from Psalm 119. And so throughout that it has just escalated over the last year and 2 or 3 months where we’ve kept taking step by step, seeking to be obedient to the Lord as his Spirit leads us and guides us. And so we’re really thrilled to be a part of this.

Bryan Fowler: Yeah, totally.

Eden: Oh, thank you for sharing that. That’s such a blessing to hear about. And as you guys were talking, I kept thinking about how Jesus’ call for our lives, he just tells us, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). That’s what he said to the first disciples. And, for our audience—our audience is largely people that didn’t grow up in a Christian home and that are new to the faith, that are opening up the Bible for the first time. And so a lot of our content, we’re trying to help them understand a biblical worldview and what it really means to be a Christian, not just based off what the media says or what they read about, but what does the Bible say it means? What does the Bible say it looks like to follow Jesus?

And I think there are so many endeavors that people venture on, and so many dreams that people have in light of their passions and their gifts. But I love how this thing that you guys are doing has come about because in your individual lives Jesus said, “Follow me.” Whether, Dave, for you that was, “Hey, I want you to start opening my Word more.” Or, “Hey, I want you to bless the people around you in your church.” And for you, Bryan, it was like, “Hey, I’m steering you this way, away from this realm and into this other realm.” And as you guys faithfully followed Jesus in your own lives, he led you together and he led you to this project. And I think that’s such a helpful example to people of what it looks like to be faithful—that we don’t have to, as the world would say, dream big dreams and chase after them and make sure we accomplish all that’s in our heart. We just need to follow Christ faithfully, and he will lead us into the big things that he wants to do for his kingdom. So I just so appreciate your guys’ faithfulness to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and know that the church will be so blessed by these songs that you guys come up with.

But as you were talking about how Psalm 119 blessed you individually and how God’s Word began to transform your families, I wondered if there is a specific verse in Psalm 119 for each of you individually that has been a favorite. I tend to ask in our interviews, “is there a part of God’s Word that’s especially precious to you?” So we’ll just hone in on Psalm 119. Is there a part of that specific chapter of the Bible that’s become especially precious to you?

Dave Aubrey: All 176 verses. Well, I’ll name a few. I mentioned verse 11, “I’ve stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). In the mid-hundreds it says, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). That to me is, step by step, seeking to walk in the wisdom of God, laid out in his Word through principle and commandment and precept and statute and all that type of stuff. You’re talking about step-by-step faithfulness. I once heard a pastor say, “The key to being in God’s will in ten years is being in God’s will today.” And so trying to follow the Spirit’s leading moment by moment, literally. And so that’s why I love that verse. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Verses one and two, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart” (Psalm 119:1-2). And that word “blessed” is actually like happy. I don’t mean that in a frivolous, worldly way. I mean, there’s a real blessedness and happiness that comes when you decide and by God’s grace are able to walk in the law, the commandments of the Lord. I think of First John, where it says his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). There’s life and liberty.

Later in Psalm 119, it says, “I shall walk in a wide place” (Psalm 119:45), like a place of freedom and liberty. That’s what it means to live within the precepts of God’s Word. And then I would say the last two verses—

Bryan Fowler: You’re taking up all the verses.

Dave Aubrey: Okay, okay. The last two would be—and I have an opinion here, by the way, that we can talk about later, Eden. But I actually think that the context of Psalm 119 is actually the last two verses. The psalmist says this is how the whole thing ends. You have all these resolutions, and “I love the Lord’s Word, and it revives me. And even in affliction, I’m going to praise you. And it’s good for me” and all this type of stuff. And then the whole thing ends by the psalmist saying, “I’ve gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant” (Psalm 119:176).

And I am convinced—and there are other really great theologians from years and years and years past who also agree or who have said the same thing. So I’m not on an island here—I think that’s the context of Psalm 119. I think that the psalmist was actually in a period of potential wandering or wanting to come back to the Lord. And so all of these are like prayers of resolution and begging God for his Word and what he knows and has been hidden in his heart to draw him back into the blessed way. But I just love that because it’s like, oh yeah, if Psalm 119 seems unattainable, the last two verses level the playing field. Which is why he also says, “Don’t utterly forsake me” (Psalm 119:8) at the end of the first section, as well. As I seek to go the way of faithfulness, I desperately need the Shepherd to lead me and guide me and protect me and bring me back. There you go.

Bryan Fowler: That’s great.

Dave Aubrey: That was only like 18 verses.

Bryan Fowler: Mine’s not going to be as long. It’s probably because I’m singing it, so it’s felt like it’s more of a true-to-me thing, but I love “Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word” (Psalm 119:17). I love that. I love that idea of “give me insight, give me life, give me opportunity, give me understanding so I can live and keep your Word.” It’s really just this plea like “that I may live and keep your word” (Psalm 119:17) is attached to this goodness—”deal well, bountifully good, be good.” That idea of the only reason I even want that, the only reason I want breath in my lungs is so that I might live and keep your Word. That’s the thing that really drives it. So that’s really resonated with me.

And then another one that is not out yet, but it comes from Teth (Psalm 119:65-72). There are two verses in there. So 67, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word” (Psalm 119:67). And then 71, “It is good for me, that I was afflicted, that I might learn to keep your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). I’ve seen that in my own life, and I love that Scripture doesn’t shy away from that, and it even gives reason for it. So everything that is done is done in love, and it’s done so that we would grow. Discipline is meant to help us be molded more into the image of Christ, be conformed to his image. And then the affliction that we feel, that we experience, it’s not wasted. It’s not in vain. It’s actually meant to draw us closer to the Lord. And I even love the “Before I was afflicted, I went astray.”

Dave Aubrey: “But now I keep your word”

Bryan Fowler: “But now I keep your word” (Psalm 119:71). I mean, just that thought of hindsight is really helpful. Suffering in the moment is so difficult, but hindsight is really helpful. And then you have the Scriptures to look—you can look back on it through the lens of Scripture, and you see how he’s grown you, how he’s shaped you. And so I love that. And it’s been so true in my own life. And so, those really resonate with me.

Eden: Oh, beautiful.

Dave Aubrey: Can I say one more thing? You talked about new Christians being some of your audience and encouragement to them is that Christianity isn’t about a suffering-less life, nor is it about cleaning yourself up and then coming and following Jesus.

The reason I love the Psalms—over 40% of the Psalms are lament, which means expressing sorrow and brokenness and bringing your affliction and pain into the presence of Jesus. And it gives us language that we really, really feel. And sometimes the dissonance in the Psalms is like, well, why is the psalm saying things like, “don’t give up on me” or “don’t forsake me” (Psalm 22:1) when good theology is the Lord’s never going to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5)? And so sometimes those statements can be seen as expressions of doubt. But believe it or not, they’re actually expressions of faith. What is happening is the psalmist is bringing all of their brokenness, sin, sorrow, suffering, and bringing it into the presence of the Lord and then banking on the Lord to do what only he can do, and what he has promised.

Bryan Fowler: I was going to say if you think about Christ in the Psalms too, Christ had the best theology of all of us, and he was able to say all these things.

Dave Aubrey: Totally. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1).

Bryan Fowler: Yeah, so it’s right and good to feel what it is to be human. Because he took on flesh so that he could sympathize with us (Hebrews 2:17). He’s the truest human and he’s—

Dave Aubrey: He’s the blessed man of verse one (Psalm 119:1).

Bryan Fowler: And so it’s like, man, if it’s good theology for him to say everything in here, then it’s good theology for us to say everything in here. And then we can also see it through the lens of a cross, and a resurrection, and eternal hope, and new covenant. And so we get to look at it through that whole lens, which is a beautiful thing. So we have context now for all of it too, which is remarkable.

Dave Aubrey: So good.

Eden: Yeah. That stuff is so beautiful. And I just want to commend you guys for—and commend you to our audience because—the way that you’re talking about Psalm 119 is the precise way that your music communicates Psalm 119.

Dave Aubrey: Oh, praise God.

Eden: For anyone that doesn’t know, Dave sent me two of their songs before they’ve come out, and I’ve been listening to them on repeat for the last two weeks. I probably listened to “Dust”, which is Daleth (Psalm 119:25-32), that section of Psalm 119 and your song says, and the Word says, “My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!” (Psalm 119:25). And then your song ends with, “Don’t leave me in the dust.” And I had this perspective that Psalm 119, as you said, is for people that have it all together. The psalmist is over and over saying, “I love your Word. I’m going to keep your commands.” And so I had this idea like, well, what if I don’t love the Word right now? What if it’s hard to open my Bible? What if I’m going through something intense and God’s Word feels not as powerful as I know that it is, or I feel like I’m crawling to Scripture. That doesn’t seem to be the heart cry of person in Psalm 119.

And then as I started listening to your music and reading Psalm 119, you realize the person in this psalm is suffering. They’re having a hard time at life and they’re clinging to God’s Word as their hope. And as you mentioned, Bryan, that phrase “give me life,” I realize that phrase is all over Psalm 119.

Dave Aubrey: All over it. Most repeated phrase.

Eden: And who is crying out for life except for someone that really feels they don’t have it? My life doesn’t feel like what it should be. And so as I listen to your music, specifically “Dust” (Daleth), and I don’t know what the next one is called, I will not forget your—

Dave Aubrey: Beth. I Will Not Forget.

Eden: I Will Not Forget (Beth). Both of those songs, you can tell that they’re filled with emotion, and they feel like a heart cry. A genuine heart cry. That’s saying, “Lord, I’m suffering. I’m going to cling to your Word. I’m going to run in your way. But you’ve got to pick me up. I need your resurrection.”

And then the second song saying, “I don’t want to sin, and I love your words because I love you. And I understand that I’m not going to forget what you say because I love what you say, and I know that it’s good for me.” So a commendation to you guys at that genuineness that comes through Psalm 119, I think your music expresses it, and it expresses it in a way that actually teaches the church how to read that passage well. I’m so grateful and so excited!

Bryan Fowler: One thing I love about that, your takeaway from it as a listener, just listening to the music and talking about the emotions behind it, feeling like it communicates it well, I feel like when people approach—and this was one of our goals from the outset, unapologetically we’re committed to this thing—is when people approach music as an artist, they want it to be emotional. They want it to be compelling. They want it to be beautiful. They want to captivate the audience. They want to draw them in with melody, with textures, with great production, with style. All those things. They’re using all of those tools to their maximum ability so that they can draw in the listener, because that’s going to connect them to the music. Right?

Dave Aubrey: Totally.

Bryan Fowler: For some reason, when it comes to Scripture songs, it’s like you have lullabies, nursery rhymes—

Eden: Jingles.

Bryan Fowler: Jingles, sorry Dave, or like—and I’ll just say it—you have really, really, really bad production usually. And it’s because it’s like, well, we’re just putting Scripture to music, so the Word is the main thing, and I agree with that. But the vehicle that’s in is really important. It’s like having a beautiful painting by Van Gogh and putting it in the cheapest Hobby Lobby frame that you could possibly get and mounting it on your wall and having everyone come over that you love and admire and saying, “Look at my painting! Look how beautiful it is!” It’s a great painting, but that frame sucks. And that’s what happens. I think a lot of the time we bet on the fact that Scripture is so powerful and potent and amazing and living and active (Hebrews 4:12), and it is. And it’s like, man, we take that power, then with all the resources God has given us here to create, he’s given us this incredible capacity to create and to put these other things together around it. If we took the power that he’s given us just in creativity and in beauty, and then we pair that with the power of the gospel through the actual living, active Word of God, how much more compelling and beautiful and good for the soul could that be?

And so one thing that we’ve been unapologetically committed to is holding up truth and beauty together. Obviously the Word of God is over everything else, and it’s informing everything else, but he’s a God of beauty. He created everything, all the resources that we have. And so let’s use them to the glory of God so that people would be drawn in and compelled just by beauty, just by that alone. Maybe that’s their kind of gateway into the music is, “it sounds really good, and I’ve never heard anything sound this good when it’s just Scripture songs,” you know?

Dave Aubrey: Ephesians 1:3-14 is this 202 Greek word run on sentence. It’s this huge doxology of all that God has done and who we are in Christ. And there’s an old theologian, B.B. Warfield, who says that Ephesians 1:3-14 should not be read in churches, it should be sung in churches. And his point is that you should be feeling something with these things. The Psalter is music. And I think that the Lord gave it to us as a gift like that, because it’s not just an intellectual thing. It’s a very emotive, emotional, pervasive soul experience. And so we’re trying to capture that in the music, the way the Lord kind of prescribed it, honestly.

Bryan Fowler: And it’s so interesting. I know that the Lord is so intentional in everything that he does, but even my coming up and cutting my teeth as a producer in a more commercial space, and then coming into hymns and writing songs for the church and doing these songs with Stillcreek, I’m able to bring some insight and knowledge into the equation that maybe wouldn’t be there otherwise, because I really do know how to make things sound good. That’s what I’ve spent ten years doing for songs so that they can go number one at radio and be consumed by a really, really broad global audience. Why not use that? Why not take that and go, “I have that. I have that to be able to bring to the table and use it.” It’s like any other resource. It’s like if you have a ton of money, you can be so generous. If you have a ton of knowledge of how to do a certain craft, use it for the Lord! Bring it. It’s an offering. It’s a tool that he’s given you to use for his kingdom to be built. So I’m passionate about that and I don’t think enough people are.

Eden: Yes. Well, I think you guys have succeeded. I’m convinced you have. I’ve benefited from that beauty.

Dave Aubrey: Praise God!

Eden: So, I think you’ve done exactly what you hoped to do.

So if someone wants to be following what you guys are doing and keeping up with your projects, how would they go about doing that?

Bryan Fowler: That’s great.

Dave Aubrey: Two ways. One would be stillcreeksongs.com and it has been so far very up to date with releases, opportunities, and different things like that. You can also follow us on Instagram, @StillcreekSongs is the handle there. The goal is every 4 or 5 weeks for the next two years, content will be coming out, a new song with Psalm 119. There’ll be 22 total songs for that, and it will be one entire volume. Interspersed between that will be—Eden, you’re the first one publicly hearing this—but we have these beautiful strings-session versions of these songs. We recorded live with acoustics and a piano and a quartet of strings, arranged by a friend of ours. And it’s stunning. You’ve heard the songs in a very high produced form, and these are kind of a little bit more devotional, sit-by-your-fire, contemplative, meditative type of way as well. And so those have videos, and you’ll be able to stream on things like Spotify and Apple Music and such, but those will be scattered between the other releases as well for the next two years.

Bryan Fowler: I feel like you have the morning version and the evening version. When you’re waking up, you’re having your quiet time in the morning, you put on the string sessions. When it’s evening and you’re a little more lively and you’re cooking dinner, you put on the big production version, the evening session. So the strings versions are really nice because they showcase the songs in a different light, and still are really high quality and really beautiful, really intentional in the visuals and the audio and everything, but totally different treatment.

Dave Aubrey: And those will actually have videos. Our YouTube channel will be kicking off in the next probably month and a half. “Dust” (Daleth) will be the first one that has a video of that. Again, you get to see it live. And the hope and the goal that we’ll utilize on YouTube and on Instagram is that we can handle the Psalms responsibly in the sense where we get to talk to people about what does it mean when you’re saying, “don’t leave me in the dust?” What does it mean? And what doesn’t it mean? How do we point people to Jesus and show that Psalm 119 is part of a much bigger story? And so we hope to be doing that with those two avenues as well.

Bryan Fowler: Absolutely.

Eden: Awesome. Well, I was going to give you a hard time that you’re trying my patience because I was like, oh, these need to come out faster. But then as I’ve spent time, I was like once a month, dude, for two years? That’s a lot of waiting! But then, as I thought about it, and as I’ve been listening to your songs, one thing that you mentioned was the importance of memorizing God’s Word. And I actually think it’s a brilliant strategy to come out with one song a month, because that gives people time to replay the song and actually memorize that part of God’s Word. So I think it’s super cool that that’s how things are coming out.

As we wrap up here, I like to ask if there is a book outside of the Bible that has been transformative in your walk with Jesus.

Bryan Fowler: That’s a good question.

Dave Aubrey: Early on in ministry for me, a really good brother as a young pastor handed me a book by John Piper called Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. They’re short chapters. And that was wildly instrumental in my understanding of God, myself, ministry, it was a huge perspective shift. So that one for sure I would say was really instrumental.

Bryan Fowler: You get one. You get one. Dave, you get one book.

Dave Aubrey: That’s the only book I’ve ever read.

Bryan Fowler: That’s it. This is not a theological book, but it is in some ways.

Eden: That’s okay.

Bryan Fowler: I would say The Hiding Place (by Corrie Ten Boom) has been hugely instrumental in my life and my wife’s life as well. We both read that a number of years ago. That and The Gospel Comes with a House Key (by Rosaria Butterfield).

Dave Aubrey: The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

Bryan Fowler: The Gospel Comes with a House Key is great. It’s beautiful. Both of those books to me, they go together in a way, because they’re all about just giving yourself away. Which is not an awesome feeling to do. And it’s not encouraged in Western American Christian circles. It’s let’s be comfortable and happy and make sure we get to heaven at the end. And those books are both about literally spending your life, pouring it out for other people, by force with The Hiding Place and then by choice with The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Those are both really beautiful.

Dave Aubrey: Amen.

Eden: Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you guys.

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today. If you enjoyed our conversation, I would encourage you to like or subscribe to our podcast so that you can hear the next conversation. And if something that you heard today spoke to your heart or got you thinking, I would encourage you to not let the day go by without talking to God about what’s on your mind. We believe that he loves you and that he’s pursuing you today out of that love.

Credits
The Bibles.net Podcast is hosted by our editor, Eden. But it is the collective effort of both our team members and friends. We want to especially thank Austin, Jenny, Wynne, Juan, Owen, and Evelyn for their help with audio, video, editing, graphics, and publishing.