New Christian Worship label, CentricWorship, unveiled the label's debut release, ALL THE SAINTS: Live from the CentricWorship Retreat--No. 1 with a digital release on March 11. Vol. 2: Come Alive is scheduled to release on November 11.

Steve Rice founded CentricWorship to publish and release songs specifically relevant to the Church and church ministries. "Through CentricWorship, we want to provide engaging and encouraging songs that exalt the name of Jesus, with sound Biblical doctrine. Our prayer is that these new songs will assist people in their prayer and worship as they continue the journey with us, closer and closer to the heart of Jesus," says Rice.

One of the highlights of the All the Saints Vol. 1 EP is the beautiful worship ballad "Overwhelm Me (Lost in You)," sung by new artist Riley Erin. I had the opportunity to interview Riley about the song.

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

My dad is signed by Centricity as a writer, and that's how I met the people at the label. My parents are actually both writers for the label. CentricWorship shared the idea with us about going away for a retreat to see what happened. It was a big group of us from all over the country. We were together for a week and had unique writing sessions together. I'm a college student, and it was nice to get away and focus on creativity and worship.

For this song specifically, we were in a big house and property with gorgeous views of mountains in Seattle. I live in Arizona, so I don't see that much green or have that type of view very often. I went outside with my guitar and had my own private time worshipping the Lord, and I started to sing "I want to be lost in You, I want to be lost in You, overwhelm me." It was a cool moment. My heart and my relationship with God is about being lost in God and being taken away from the craziness of life sometimes to be focused on Him.

I had a writing session with my dad and Corey Voss, introduced what I had written, and we went from there. Jared Anderson joined us, and we wrote this song together. Steve Rice came in and tweaked a couple of things, and then Michael Farren helped us make it more congregational. That's how it is now. It can be congregational or for private worship time. It's versatile. It can be for a big church, small church or Bible study. That was my goal, and my heart for the song was to make it available for churches and anyone who wants to use it.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Psalm 42:7-8 (NKJV): Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me—A prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 88:7 (NIV): Your wrath lies heavily on me; You have overwhelmed me with all Your waves.

Psalm 130:1-2 (NKJV): Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

Isaiah 41:13 (VOICE): After all, it is I, the Eternal One your God, who has hold of your right hand, Who whispers in your ear, "Don't be afraid. I will help you."

What is the takeaway message?

The night we recorded the song it was awesome to see how everyone was excited about it. That trip was all for that purpose, to worship and write new songs to go back and sing at our own churches. It is our heart to have songs that churches can relate to and congregations can grab onto. It was amazing to be part of that experience.

Michael Farren suggested the "deep calling out to deep" lyrics as an expression of being in awe of God. Everyone involved in the song was excited because it isn't something you hear very often. For us, it was about being creative in expressing our emotions about God, that we want to be lost in Him and overwhelmed by His presence. This song is about how in awe we are of Him and how great He is.

A lot of church songs sing about how great He is. He's incredible and He's Sovereign. That's awesome, and this is my response. That's where we were coming from. It's not about the technicalities or specific Scriptures, but about responding to His presence. In the Bible, being overwhelmed in the presence of God has almost a negative connotation. There are references to enemies overwhelming or being overwhelmed by God's wrath. It's cool to think about if God can overwhelm our enemies with His justice, how much more can He overwhelm us with Himself and His presence?

The fact that the song came from a private time of worship has made it great to see other people enjoy the song. I lead worship at my parents' church, and it's great to hear other people sing "I want to be lost in You" and having this be their own response in their personal times of worship.

I have more of a focus now in my own private walk that I just want to be lost in God. My dad preached a sermon about how we can get caught up in worldly things and we are caught off guard when it is time to be walking with God or be in His presence. I want to be ready to be in His presence. That's a big focus in my life. No matter what I'm doing, I want to glorify God.

Lyrics:
Lead me further into You
To the unknown
Far beyond what I now see
That's where I want to go
I abandon everything
As deep calls out to deep

I want to be lost
I want to be lost in You
Overwhelm me
I want to be lost
I want to be lost in You
Overwhelm me
Take me higher
Take me deeper
Seeing Your glory
Hearing Your whisper
I want to be lost
I want to be lost in You

Show Your beauty
Show Your strength
In this holy place
Let it be like gravity
That I can't escape
Till my life has been transformed
And my heart is one with Yours

Let the things of earth be swept away
Draw me close till only You remain

One of the things I really enjoy about these recordings from the CentricWorship retreat is how organic and natural they sound. These songs all lead me to the Throne Room in worship of Jesus, and in this vertical expression in particular I truly get lost in the Majesty and wonder and beauty of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The musical arrangement is perfect for any style of worship service, and the message is biblical, timeless and contemporary.

Having three young daughters, it is exciting to me to hear anointed new female worship leaders as CentricWorship also recently unveiled the new artist Lauren Daigle who has made waves with her song "How Can it Be." Riley Erin sings with a similar passion that is engaging and uplifting, and her lyrics point listeners to Jesus. Lauren and Riley are wonderful role models of women serving the Lord with their musical gifts for my daughters to look up to.

The prayerful message of abandon in this song is my heart's cry for my daughters to adopt as well. I want them to connect with Jesus in the same way this song longs for relationship with our Lord and Savior. When we feel like we are on shaky ground and we are dealing with the uncertainty of our situations, the economy and our world, this song allows us to dwell on the unshakable nature of God. When all else fades away, He will remain.

The song also includes the prayerful words "hearing Your whisper." In our loud world, just taking time to be alone with God and hear His "still small voice" is a devotional challenge that this song captures. Tune out the other noise and tune in to God. The song beautifully captures the emotion of the biblical truth expressed in Psalm 42:7 (NKJV): "Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls, all Your waves and billows have gone over me." That prayerful language instills awe in us about how Sovereign our God is. I love singing along with Riley, "Let the things of earth be swept away, Draw me close till only You remain." Amen to that!


(Watch the music video here.)