Joanna's desire is to continue serving and pouring into others as Christ pours into her. Creating an atmosphere of worship and a place where her audience is focused to hear God speak to them, Joanna is ecstatic to bring her new music, her heart and the message of Grace to the world. Loud Love is loaded with melodic and worshipful songs speaking the Truth of the Word of God into the hearts of today's culture. 

 

The gorgeous and moving song "This Same Love" was co-written and sung with Chris McClarney, who wrote "Your Love Never Fails" (a song Newsboys covered on their album God's Not Dead). Joanna sings this tender and prayerful ballad directly to God: "You made me beautiful, this same Love, who has conquered death / Is You great God, You saved me from the shame that I deserve / You're a Good and Great God!" Amen. It's one of my top worship songs of the year. I had the chance to speak with Joanna about the song.

 

Please tell me about the background message behind the song.
 

Chris McClarney is such a great guy, and he has a huge heart. It means so much to share the message of God's love and that we get to be a part of it. I'm just one person, but I'm so grateful that God has taken the time to show me His grace and His love for me—through the Gospel and through other people as well.

For this song and album, this is my first worship album. I've been married for four years and I felt like the Lord was leading me to write worship songs. When I write songs, it starts from me worshipping the Lord, and then going back and writing them down and recording them. It's amazing when you are worshipping and thanking God that stuff just flows out of your heart. You're focusing on His goodness. Worship is saying back to God what He has already said about Himself. I love that. That's not all it is, there's so much more. The main gist of speaking out what God has already said to be true is that your heart starts to believe it. I know so many times we get ruled by our emotions. That's why the message that we're beautiful is so challenging for girls because in most relationships, girls are many times ruled by their emotions and feelings, instead of truth. With worship, we're saying Truth because it comes from God's Word. That's where this song came from. When I was working on this album and this song, it was a sunny day and I was sitting on my couch singing to the Lord. I was in a place of loneliness and needing to have intimacy with God. 

 

When I took the song to Chris McClarney, I respect him so much as a worship leader and songwriter. His song "Your Love Never Fails" is one of my favorites. I was so nervous when I met him. He exceeded every expectation, and we talked about God's faithfulness and His goodness. We talked about how we have experienced His love in a way that has completely transformed our lives. We want other people to experience that same type of love from the Lord. It seems that people don't experience God's love until they see the fullness of God's heart for them. The lyrics start with "oh what great news how I'm loved," which is my response to God.

 

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song? 
 

1 John 4:19 (The Voice): "We love because He has first loved us."

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV): "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

 

Revelation 21:5 (NKJV): "Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'"

 

What's the takeaway message for listeners about the song and album? 
 

I was talking with a friend and I knew she grew up in the church but it made me sad that she didn't realize just how much she is loved by God. I've been radically transformed by God's love in my life. My dad's a pastor, and my grandpa, and my great grandpa. I went to a Christian school and I've served the Lord and I've had a relationship with Him. My relationship was too much based on what I was doing, and not enough based on who God is. His love has changed my life completely. Every time I listen to this song, I want to cry. I just get so overwhelmed by God's love for me. It inspires me to serve Him, love Him, and love others. His grace inspires me to be godly.

 

Worship music is generally geared toward Christian people, but everyone can be infected, encouraged, and empowered by what we're saying with this album. We have a huge heart for the Church, but also for reaching people who wouldn't typically go to church, and just loving them and ministering to them where they're at, sharing the message with them in a new light. We can always come to Him no matter what we've done. He loves us regardless of our flaws and failures, and that's the biggest change in this album, lyrically. We've realized how true God's heart is for us and we want to communicate that His love is absolutely unfailing. We're singing back to God what He already says about Himself and about us. His love is bold, true, loud, unconditional, and constantly pursuing you wherever you go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, Joanna brings sincerity and relatable themes that get deeper with each listen. After repeated listens, the songs get deeper into the recesses of your heart with the challenging messages. If you are looking for one of the top worship albums of the year, then look no further than Loud Love. I'm sure it will continue to challenge, inspire and move me. This is truly a great album and an uplifting worship experience.

 

We love because He first loved us. A lot of times people think they need to get it together before they can come to the Lord or in order for Him to love us or bless us or look at us. It has nothing to do with us or what we can do, but with Jesus. God is so good. He's for us and not against us. It is God who has made us beautiful, worthy and righteous. That's the hardest thing for fallen people to accept. Even in our weakness, God sees us as holy and righteous because of His Son, Jesus. If people can grasp that concept, they will be holy because of the overflow of God's love in them. That's the Great news of the Gospel that you can celebrate by singing this song. Amen.

 

(You can watch Joanna and Chris talk about the song here.)