For Matt Howe and his home church Mosaic, music might work a little differently than most. Howe, the Worship and Arts Director for Mosaic recently led a recording effort of original worship music that culminated in an album titled “The Father’s Love.” The songs were developed and sang during worship in his home congregation.
Howe has written songs since he was 17 years old. Now 33, his songs take a different expressive form than that of his earlier writing days, but he emphasized his latest musical effort is not all about him.
“It’s not like all the songs I’m writing are these ‘Matt songs;’ they’re songs I’m hoping that people at the church can sing. Songs they would want to sing and need to sing, you know?” said Howe.
“My love for church really started growing when I came to Mosaic. I felt the love of God and it’s really left an impact on me and my family. I guess writing these songs is a way to give back to the church. I’m able to serve others with my gift and be a functioning part of the body,” he added.
In 2009, the historic church building next to Church’s Chicken on Park Avenue West became home to a congregation that identifies themselves as “glued together with grace,” making up a mosaic, thus the name Mosaic Church. Howe started attending Mosaic with his wife during the church’s first year.
The church places emphasis on encouraging diversity and promoting artistic ability.
“We are artists letting artists be artists,” Mosaic Pastor Tony Pingitore said in an information video on Mosaic’s website. Howe said this approach has contributed to his song-writing ability.
“He’s (Pingitore) an advocate for artists. So I think in many ways it’s more the environment that’s been created that allows us to just be who we are,” said Howe.
Howe’s involvement with the church’s music started early after attending Mosaic. He remembered when he played his first original song “Carry Away” during the worship band’s practice. Howe said that the song was warmly received and the band has been playing it ever since during the church’s communion.
That was five years ago. He said that moment led to his ever-growing exploration of a worship song’s “chemical makeup.”
“I started digging into the chemical makeup of a song that works in church and began to kind of think of how to craft songs that were for the people, as opposed to the singer-songwriter stuff I had done previously,” said Howe.
This exploration led to the writing of many original worship songs that the congregation and worship band have been singing – and experiencing – together. In April 2013, the church opened their own recording studio, Broken Records, which led to the recording of those original songs in a full-length album “The Father’s Love.”
“It’s an album I wrote for my church and it’s about the love of God and the redemption of God,” shared Howe. “Everything I’m trying to write is about God’s greatness and about His grace.”
But the album is more than that. It more or less outlines the congregation’s and Howe’s experience of the writing process as a young church.
Howe said the songs on the album represents the story of the beginning stages of the Mosaic church. By playing many of the songs during the church’s worship service, Howe said he able to develop the songs with his intended audience.
“I test a lot of songs here (the sanctuary). So these are songs that have been twisted, reworked, rewritten, refined, tweaked, redo the chords, let’s change the melody a little bit, like … they’ve been done so many times in front of the congregation. We could tell what didn’t connect at what time and then I’d go back to the drawing board,” said Howe.
“Which is cool. I kinda like that because we get to work as a team almost, like in the writing process. They’re basically telling me, by engaging or not engaging, whether the song is working or not,” he added.
The album is just the beginning of bigger plans for the music.
The 10-song album is comprised of songs he and the church have written from 2009 to 2012. The next album will reflect songs that were written since 2013.
He also has plans to make all the original songs accessible to the public. By printing chord charts and recording “How To” videos, Howe hopes to bless others.
“My heart’s always been half here (Mosaic) and then half in the whole church,” he said.
Mosaic is located on 296 Park Avenue West in Mansfield. For more information on the church and its service times, visit their website or call 419-524-3802.
