God Called Her Out of the Comfort Zone & THIS Happened...

for me for [Music] me doing the voice what prompted that hard no not interested I was like on my computer and it popped up as an advertisement like audition now for the voice I like felt this like quickening which is it's so funny to say cuz I'm like now I can see that obviously that was God but even saying it is such a strange like I felt there's quickening to apply for The Voice you know okay so what has that did that season do for you you can go into something like that and be like if I win this that's going to just set me you you know I mean but what did it do for you yeah um we got asked to like come for a riding trip here and Josh and I who was my fiance at the time we stepped off the plane and like both heard the Lord say like hey everybody this is Rita Springer welcome to the Rita Springer podcast and worship is my weapon so excited today I love when I meet new people especially new Singers new artists and we have one today that um you know those kind of people when you meet them and you're like oh I love this person there are moments in my life that I get to meet people I mean I meet people all the time but there are moments when um you know it's usually a friend of a friend of a friend or somebody says oh I oh you've got to meet this person she's great or he's great and then you do and you're like oh my gosh everything that was said about them was true well Bella today's guest is that person um I met you as Bella Cole but you're you're you're single when before you were married name what your maid name is Bella Taylor Smith yes that's right and Bella is um from Sydney Australia I I didn't want to mess up the I was like is she Brisbane is she Sydney um and you guys just moved she and her husband Josh just moved to Nashville um not too long ago yeah and you came over it was a night of worship I did right I do these little nights of worship at the house with Patrick Mayberry sometimes and we'll just invite random people like whoever wants to come come and um you showed up yeah and I remember that night thinking between you and Gracie Bion I think Gracie B was on the floor and you were across the um on the other couch and I was like yeah I ain't singing I Ain saying nothing because it was just one of the most beautiful nights of of this cuz it's just the worship it's just like it's kind of spontaneous and it was such a great introduction to you because not only was it just that people that we both love love you um but it was just in the in a great setting hearing your talent not not in the sense of oh did you see her lead worship she's so great but just yeah it was very sweet very the best um but you have a stunning stunning voice and you're an incredible little songwriter as well but you also have this really beautiful story and I thought man I just want you to come because you know doing interviews with people I always want to find people that not just have interesting lives or or like what they're doing in their careers um I think all that stuff is super encouraging but I'm always trying to find the trail of why people end up why the Lord brings people and and it's like some people like Mia you know I I interviewed Mia Fields and I've known Mia for a long time best and you look at Mia and you're like I never I would never think that she was one of a triplets and that her life was the journey that it was because from where she came from to where she is it's like how in the world did that happen and you kind of have a similar thing where you kind of I mean was it can you tell us a little bit about your backstory like how you even got involved cuz you know your recently in the last few years you won The Voice in I did Australia yes that's right and so I want to talk about that a little bit too but can you just tell us a little bit about the clip like the the historical clips of of Bella's life yeah I mean um I kind of my parents got divorced when I was 18 months old so never kind kind of had that regular family structure of like Mom and Dad um both of my parents remarried and I have four half siblings who I would consider as my whole siblings um yeah didn't didn't grow up in church never heard a Bible story really just it's so funny being in America now I feel like everyone has like these incredible even like songs that like scripture songs I'd never heard them before and now I feel like I hear people singing them to their kids all the time but yeah didn't grow up in church my dad um um always just had an incredible like Foundation of conviction I guess which I never really understood where it came from but he raised me like with what I Now understand as biblical principles just without the Bible part yeah um and then yeah I got saved when just before I turned 16 I had a friend in my high school and to be honest the the religious climate in Australia is actually quite different to how it is here um I think I'm always surprised by that you guys said it's like what yeah so it's it's actually really not common to grow up in church and not common to attend um and so I had there was a girl called Monica in in my high school in my year group who like I use the word harassment softly but really like hassled me to come to Youth and um just like to her local youth group so I went went for a whole year before I decided to like dedicate my life to the Lord um which was like a funny and very special time um and then as soon as I like made that decision and got saved it was just like I know why I exist I all of my purpose and like everything about me was made to be like in communion with the Lord and and I just felt like I I don't know I figured it out you yeah in that that you said that when we were songwriting a couple weeks ago you were telling me that story about you went to youth group for before you gave your life to the Lord what are you thinking as a teenager you're in that whole year are you thinking I never would come back here but you came back all the time I think it was just the fruit of that place was so attractive to me like the fruit of Freedom that was there and just um I didn't really sing much in my house growing up and so the church that I was invited to like the their their worship expression was so beautiful and so I think I was just attracted to that like I could sing growing up but didn't really enjoy it didn't really know why never had kind of a desire to do it and then when I started going to church I was like oh the freedom in this place is so attractive to me and then I think it took me a year to really believe that it was real wow but were you did you grow up with a hairbrush in your in your hand sitting into the mirror um I don't know if that's how I was when I was very little but I think my kind of later like it from when I was maybe like eight or nine you know and all through my teenage years was a bit tumultuous just with like my family Dynamic and then even into my early 20s so it wasn't really a priority and and nor did I ever have a desire to really pursue it until I got saved yeah yeah I want to ask you something because I was talking to another friend the other day about this concept where you know because I'm an American and I've been raised in church my whole life and so there's almost kind of like this common thing that I meet up with more Christians that fall away from the Lord then I meet up with people that didn't grow up in that environment yeah had no real like they just didn't know I mean I have some friends who are like oh no God just showed up in my house one day I'm like well how did he show up in your house no he was just like no he just was there he was there and I'm like wait a second you weren't freaked out or scared no and then the reality of when they say we figured that's how he shows up to all you guys because there's just an absence of anything spiritual and it feels like whenever I talk to an Australian yeah there's almost kind of this when you guys do get a hold of the Lord there's such a revelation because it's not common that you hold on to it almost more like the priority yeah absolutely than than than some like oh here's our little hope you know we always have our hope in Christ kind of thing that doesn't really kind of pan out to to stick if you're not fully committed when you're drowning in in you know religious culture I guess do you feel like that that's kind of because some of the stories that you told me about your life I'm like how did this girl find the Lord like how in the world in the in some of the just the circumstances and and even what divorce will bring but if you're not in a culture of spiritual awareness and then in high school you come into that there seem there seems to be a certainty on you like yeah he was just the best yeah I think it's definitely like culturally in Australia it's a really big statement to say like I'm a Christian and that's what I believe and so I think it's it really is that you kind of need to have that defining moment there's not like you know lukewarm Christianity is not really very present in Australia like you might see families who have grown up Catholic potentially who like their kids go to Catholic schools they do confirmation like that's definitely something but um like a regular it's a really big statement to say like I'm a Christian and I'm and I attend church and like I'm a practicing Christian like I have a relationship with Jesus like that is a real like defining statement for someone in Australia that's not the lukewarm thing isn't as common as it is here I feel do you feel like it makes you almost better at um being around unsaved people because you you understand yeah their journey I think like evangelism here even has been such like my husband and I have only lived here for about 5 months um specifically we live in Franklin we live in Tennessee in the South and so like that is I guess a part of the Bible Belt and and the what boggles me the most is the people that I converse with probably know more about the Bible than I do but don't actually have an active relationship with Jesus that's right and so like evangelism here is just a completely different ball game because in Australia it's like this person might have never heard of Noah Ark like they literally have absolutely no con no back understanding of who Jesus is no no understanding of the stories and and like the doctrine and the the Bible like just no understanding and so it's like I can you know approach that as like hey this is who Jesus is whereas here it's like I know who Jesus is I know what he did I know all of these things but that like active heart relationship is sometimes missing so that's been a really interesting um change being here yeah cuz I think that's what I've seen from knowing so many Australians to be like oh that's what's going on because when you grow up in that and it's just it's part of your almost your nationality in a sense you you just don't realize I mean it Australia sometimes sounds like a unchurch it does feel that way and I think there are some states in America like that I've heard it kind of compared to and I can I know that obviously being in Tennessee I'm getting like the brunt of religion here um but yeah yeah okay so you get saved in high school but do you have this I I would love to sing one day when did like the gift of singing and you realize you could actually sing I think like I always knew that I could but just never had a desire to do anything with it like I was never like oh I want to be a pop star or like as a kid I wanted to be a midwife my I don't know um but when I got saved it was actually my um youth leader at the time like sponsored me to go to a summer camp I been going to youth for the whole year and just like hadn't really made that decision to like dedicate my life to the Lord and we were in worship at a summer camp we were singing like a old like young and free song end of days and I was like kind of singing that and I lifted my hands for the first time in worship and sung that and like that was my salvation moment and I think as soon as I kind of like fully received the Lord there it was like this is what you're made for like this is who you're made to be like singing like singing your songs to me like singing to me lifting your hands worshiping me like this is this is who I made you to be and then I just was like well sounds good but did you translate that into oh I'll sing for a living what no no no definitely not so you just were like that was your salvation yeah yeah and then I like started serving in church after I got saved like started leading worship singing in church um being like very involved in youth ministry I did Bible College after I finished high school um and just like yeah really full send into kind of um like Ministry and and what that looked like and loved every second of it it was so special for me to to find that like foundational footing for for what I wanted my life to become um but then I just end like after I finished College I was just working like part-time for my local church and teaching singing and that was all I kind of ever wanted to do what did you in in Bible College what was your like did you major in something no we just um like I like a Ministry yeah Ministry and then like worship as the kind of part and then did you were you on the worship team because you went to Hillsong for yeah and was Hillsong College you okay yeah hey everybody I want to take a minute to talk to those of you and encourage those of you who maybe you're planting a church you're on staff at a church you're in the children's Department of a church and you run and oversee uh the curriculum at your kids division of church there is um some friends of mine that have developed this curriculum that I just think it's the best curriculum for kids church out there it's called amazing kids it is a bible-based Spirit-filled curriculum I know these guys they are incredible creatives Connie and Tyler Bates are the genius behind this and they just love serving kids and serving God in serving our kids if this is something that you're church is looking for if it's something that you as a pastor of your children's department is looking for um an enriched bible-based um curriculum to bring to your children's Department of your church or your church plant this is something that I would highly recommend that you do I fully believe and back what these guys do I my my own kid was under it for years and it's just uh the way that they're doing it right now is just beautiful you can find all that information if you go to amazing. kids and there's a kind of a special discount code that you can get or a promotional code that you can get if you type in um Rita in the promotional area of that and they'll give you special pricing on that but it's something that I just highly recommend and kids are so important they're so important in our churches what we do when we drop our kids off in church and what's happening in the Sunday School is so important for your children and this curriculum is one of the best and you will love it for your church so check that out uh it's it's incredible and I back it 100% so you're on the worship team out there when did you like get involved with writing oh yeah writing didn't start until after the voice which is crazy like I I actually had never rid I maybe did one or two sessions here or there and was in the studio a lot for like projects that we would were doing at church um but never really thought I just didn't think it was a skill that I had I just never and I think the time frame of when I was involved in just like our creative team at church there was kind of two generations and I was sort of in the middle so I think I always found it difficult to kind of find my place there in like who were my people um and so didn't really have that kind of community of songwriting around me to learn right yeah well and that would be a little bit of a tough culture yeah being the way that it it was very fulltime lots of people and like so many incredibly deeply talented people as well who were all just trying to find their way at the same time in the same place yeah you know I want to ask you this from that perspective too because I I talked to so many worship leaders and worship you know songwriters and a lot of women and how what would you kind of say about uh about feeling like you're called to something but being in a place where I don't want to use the word overlooked but sometimes it can feel overlooked like there's so many others that are in line ahead of you that if you feel like God's called you to something what would you say and how did you like I don't want to say even stay in your lane because it's not about getting out of your lane as much as it is almost really believing how do you believe that you have the gift when there are 15 people ahead of you and everybody else everybody else notices and you're the one that's like you just pop in and do your thing but you feel called to do it because there's so many unseen that I talk to and I Mentor with it it's like oo that's a big thing in churches where it feels like everybody's in line next who's the next voice like who's the next and I also feel like that's such an interesting thing because you would think that it's like next but sometimes it's not next sometimes it's like I have this personal relationship with this person or there's like this incredible anointing that God is placing on someone and like I think that I just had to reconcile with like who am I to to make those distinguishing decisions one and who am I to like question the sovereignty of like I fully trust that God gave me this gift and I think it was just the nature of my upbringing and how I got saved as well that I was like so open-handed with like I didn't do anything for this like I have done nothing for this and like in his kindness I'm just here I'm present I'm doing like what is is placed in front of me like stewarding that to the best of my ability and I just I guess had a resolve that if it if it wasn't for me then I don't want it yeah um and that actually quite freeing yeah it definitely does feel freeing and I think even like you know when I did the process of the voice which is just hilarious because I never ever wanted to do that or or thought that I would do that the whole process was just like I'm just here because these doors are opening and I can see the Lord's on it and so I'm just going to keep walking and whatever happens kind of is what his his intention is and so I just needed to reconcile with that it definitely was more uncomfortable like in my younger 20s where I was kind of like I feel like I'm doing all the right the right things like I feel like I'm walking in obedience and seeking after the Lord and and but I'm not you know in this group or friends with these people or in this circle um but I'm so grateful now in hindsight For That season because it completely has shaped like my heart posture towards Ministry well then a lot of times you're you're you're coming up alongside people that you know there's a timing for everybody and a timing for everything but if you're you know it's why I'm so fascinated by those that have never been raised um in Christianity because I'm watching this solid effect take place when they when they find the Lord and a lot of times kids that have these Big Dreams have grown up being prophesied over that they're going to be a singer God's going to do something amazing with their life and so they go into these positions in worship leading on that stage looking at this is my life's call and I think that that is the thing that that I've always thought has boggled me right cuz it's like after I got saved like I mean I love what I do for my job I love serving my local church I love doing ministry right but what I really deeply want is to like have a healthy marriage own a home and be a great mom to my kids right and like I think that when people start identifying who they are what they want with like around an organization or like a specific title or role that's when things go a little bit wonky and I think because All I Ever Wanted growing up was just like a stable family structure that was like that was my thing that was my goal and no one ever said to me like you know you're going to worship lead and do this and whatever got something for yeah I just was like that's not my I don't know that's that's not my deepest heart desire yeah and so I I feel grateful for that well I think a lot of times too we get like for me I grew up in a movement called The Vineyard which was a lot like Hill song in a way um kind of the the pre Hill song kind kind of thing and it wasn't like I that what was there like the like the steps to get there um I I knew it's when you get into a church like that and then you get onto a team and then it's just assumed that's what it looks like and a lot of that stuff all of a sudden is the thing that I'm I'm always trying to tell worship leaders you know understand what God's called you to to not what what you do um what what you do looks like it's supposed to look like in the calling totally it's like what has God called you to because maybe the years that you're not on stage are going to be the best cultivating years of your life but because it looks like no no no it looks like the next step is this or the next step is that so I've always appreciated in our conversations and I'm like oh she kind of came through a side door um instead of coming through like the front I'm so grateful for it honestly it's like yeah so you you get even doing the voice like what prompted that and you even applying to to be a contestant on The Voice yeah it's so fun every time I talk about it it feels like not my life you know what I mean I'm like that was not me um cuz I remember like in the Years leading up to it in Australia like you can get scouted I think it's the same here where people like see you online and might say like hey you should apply you know and I had just hard no not interested like people had asked my friends to ask me and like this and just was not for me um Co in Australia was like a the our lockdown was like really really full on yeah um and so all of us were just kind of like sitting in our homes I was singing teaching like fulltime at that time and so we weren't allowed to sing in the same room as other people which meant I wasn't allowed to teach so um I was sitting in my little granny flat with just and that season of my life personally was extremely extremely challenging um and I was like on my computer and it popped up as an advertisement like audition now for the voice whatever it was like the day before the the um applications closed and I like felt this like quickening which is it's so funny to sayz I'm like now I can see that obviously that was God but even saying it is such a strange like I felt this quickening to apply for the voice you know but I did and um even in my application like I just was so nonchalant about it I was like look I'm just doing this for fun like I love serving in my local church this is what I do like but I'm in lockdown right now and so maybe I'll meet some wonderful people and and have a great experience whatever and so then I had gotten a response from the team on on the show what did you do did were you like la la la would you apply yeah so you send in like a little video um and there were some resources online from just like and things that I had done with Hill song so I sent those links as well God um yeah and so I did like the first process of that which is an online application the second process is you go into a room with like the producers and the executive producers um and so I like went into the room took off my shoes cuz I love singing with no shoes on like kicked off my you know and um I ended up like singing I think between like 10 and 13 songs to them they just were like can you sing this can you it was really fun was there like an accompanist there yeah an incredibly talented player I was like okay cuz you have to send like a list of 20 to 30 songs so they were like wait can you sing this for us or can you sing this and then um there's a producer who I literally every time I did a show in Australia I would talk about him his name is Lee he's incredible um and he was like oh like do you know um a Maria by Beyonce right which I had sung maybe once when I was 14 years old like for fun I was like oh I think yeah I think I can do it kind of thing pull up the lyrics on my phone whatever um and sung it for them and then that ended up being my it was like the last song that I sung and and I don't know it was just such a felt like a very private but very big first moment in in kind of like the the domino effect of what sort of fell from that so when you left that particular audition were you like oh this I think I'm in uh I think I was like they liked me like it was a positive after that did they call you and say we want you to be a contestant probably like 3 weeks after so you're just waiting in Oblivion before they called you the funniest waiting part is like uh you know I went through the the process of the show and in the Grand Final like we had to film for alternate endings so like I had to film losing three times and winning once and then we filmed act losing yeah that's hilarious so we like filmed in April but it didn't air until like the the finale I think I think didn't air until September so I didn't know if I had won but had pretend won andit wait get like I got to W my brain on this you go through the whole show which you don't know that you you I thought you were supposed to keep it secret no oh no cuz it's live voting yeah and because of Co it wasn't live show live vote it was pre-recorded live vote cuz it's live now isn't it okay yeah oh interesting so you for a few months yeah just don't know if I'm going to win The Voice don't know who knows so your your I won I won was all pre-recorded back in yeah yeah yeah so there's actually a video there's a video of like that we set up a little camera I was at now my husband but he was my boyfriend at the time's house with like his family cuz we were only allowed like at that time it was like you're allowed five people in a household whatever we were like full on restrict my dad was like um in in rehab at the time like on a zoom a and um got a real reaction yes we like I like set up a little camera and then like sobbed like burst into tears cuz I was just it was had been such a crazy time and I just couldn't believe it um and then I posted it on Tik Tok and it went super viral on Tik Tok and everyone was like why are you crying you already knew I was like no oh wow oh gosh funny things TV things so okay so what has that did that season do for you because is you can go into something like that and be like if I win this that I'm that's going to just set me you know you know I mean but what did it do for you yeah like what do you think God had you do that for yeah I mean it feels so obvious to me now which is so funny you know I was like at Hillsong for 10 years working there for for many years and um was so heavily involved in so many ways all I ever wanted to do was like you know do ministry and build the church and that was just like what I felt God had really called me to um but just you know with things that were happening and dynamics that were happening like I could see that the doors there weren't for me and and not doors that I wanted to walk through anyway um which I'm grateful for the wisdom that the lord gave me in that time and so it's just hilarious like the way that it has worked now in like I'm now here and have like label representation here that's like with a Christian label that has all come from like voice contract initially so I've just like continued on with my options and like just the logistics of it it it's just got God it's very funny the sweet thing about about winning something like that is that you have you have this contract that has all these different little options and you kind of took the one where you could come out here yeah so it was it was basically like I did um like two full years of of like a pop career in Australia and like released pop projects toured and did pop music yeah I love it totally I just I love writing it and like syn is something I love as well but just like for my Artistry that's not something I really wanted to do and then in 2022 um we got asked to like come for a writing trip here and like Josh and I who was my fiance at the time like we stepped off the plane and like both heard the Lord say like welcome home like your home wow wow um and so then spent like a year and a half trying to get our visas over the line to come here um but that was all because like I auditioned for a television show and did pop music in Australia where prior I was like doing Ministry at like one of the biggest music you know churches and it's just a very very strange Circle for me to have like won a television show in Australia to like being doing Ministry full-time In America which is where I always wanted to be just a very strange walk around yeah usually it's Christian that goes into the yeah yeah not me I'm good and so you're you're in the middle now you're signed to a label here and you're kind of in the middle now of just writing Gathering songs because you really want to do a put out your first worship release yeah yeah that's amazing I'm and will you um will you uh kind of tell a little bit about your heart for that yeah you know cuz I think for you it kind of all goes back back to your history too yeah I think you know um in Australia we don't even really have a Christian music industry and the fact that it's so kind of like compartmentalized here like radio CCM is a thing like church worship is a thing like it's all you know um I like have a real heart for for making space for all of those things to kind of like function and I think that that is something that's happening in the Christian music industry um but you know project I want it to be for the house and for the home for the house being for the church and and equipping like you know Global Ministries to to sing truth um and then for the home for those like introspective like personal moments with the Lord um that just like almost like lullab yeah you know that help like Foster and like facilitate um people to feel equipped at home to to Worship in their homes um yeah so I I actually am releasing something in like October November time it's a song called Thank you a thousand times um I'm really passionate about the scriptures that speak about like entering the Lord's courts with Thanksgiving and so that for me is like a really special like first step into this space in the industry like I I'm so grateful to the Lord and want that to be kind of my first like outward expression of of what what it's going to look like yeah yeah but you you what's so beautiful about you Bella is that you even when you talk it's like you hold hold everything with such tender kind of like oh it's whatever the Lord wants you know saying very authentic it's not a it's not um that's your personality and I'm I I kind of was taken in by that because sometimes you don't see a lot of that sometimes you you you see the you know if you if you won The Voice and you get all this stuff I mean i' I've actually when I did the dive school for years I would have American Idol contestants you know um Voice contestants and um I don't America's Got Talent or something contestants and there was such a Spirit of Rejection that was left over from some of these things and these young girls who got in there at like 16 17 years old and just when it didn't happen it just shattered the world and I do think that a lot of that is growing up kind of with this expectation of what it's supposed to look like but but how how for you when you think about the word authenticity and authenticity God's way like how do you see your career um being held in your hands from the Lord or from the Lord's hands to yours I mean like are you if the Lord hands you something do you take it quickly or are you very tentative to be like you seem almost like very just yeah you know what I'm saying just kind of I feel like I'm definitely the type of person that's like this and if the Lord places something in my hands I'm like thank you I will run with that and like until you take it from me I will give everything that I can to that and like I it's funny cuz I am definitely like um like I like to think I'm quite a gentle person yes you you are but she but there's strength in you yes and I feel like that's like this righteousness that the Lord has given me so kindly which is something that honestly like my last kind of the last sort of church that I was really he like when I was at Hillsong um that really was a big defining time for me just in my young adulthood and like having the confidence to not allow fear to Define my relationships my relationship with God like um even just like my my belief in What the Lord Has for me like not not limiting um out of fear and and a lot of the time I think that like we just put fear on ourselves like if I do this then this might happen and this might happen then I might not or it might not or you know and I think obviously there's an action that the Lord so kindly allows us to partner with in his sovereignty um but that's allowed me to have that open handedness cuz I'm like if it's not for me then I really don't want it because it will end up not being good for me you know um yeah but also in in in my upbringing like there were other things that really took my attention from potentially thinking like you know oh I want to do this all I want this all I'm this you know it's hey everybody this is Rita Springer thank you so much for coming in and joining me on the podcast here with worship is my weapon there's a lot of things I'm doing right now and one of the things that we provide um alongside this podcast is a newsletter that we do that we send out to those of you that are subscribed where um I just answer questions and um kind of give you information and sometimes you guys are able to um write in with questions uh that you um just are curious about we love that we love that interaction I actually love to interact with those of you that um want something a little bit more beyond the the podcast so if that's you make sure to to um get our newsletter sign up for our newsletter subscribe to the newsletter and stay in touch with all the things that we're doing here on the podcast in that newsletter well it's very normal to be in a um in a church especially a church that size and not feel I I remember um actually um being on staff at at Gateway in Dallas really really large Church beautiful church but um I remember being on you know here I'm in my 40s right so I'm I came on staff in my 40s I ain't got time for I I like I don't struggle with what I struggled with in my 20s ands and all of a sudden this thing just started creeping up on me when I was up on the weekend and I it was it was like familiar from past but it felt High schoolish almost like like what is this like I what oh my gosh like I could care less about this why is this sticking all over me and I remember I walked Walked back at the Green Room I'm like what Lord what is this thing like I haven't felt like this for years and this is not me what is this thing and he he actually said oh it's the beauty pageant Spirit wow and I was like what he goes it's competitive it's the competition spirit and there's a lot of competition on this stage because you've got a lot of young people and they're not coming in on it having walk through what you've walked through so you're walking into all of this like I'm up will I shine I'm up will they notice me I'm up will they and I was like oh my gosh and even in some of the like the the bgvs that we were up with you know um it just was kind of like there's a common there's a common courtesy and and I don't think that it's like uh that I'm rare I think that I'm rare in a lot of things but I was always built like you were built if if you're up with somebody and they just blow a song out of the water the the thing that just you do when you're off stage is like that was insane yeah because it's serving the service I think it's like the intention at the end of the day and having those it's like a big thing that I talk about a lot when I'm like talking to people who are considering like doing the voice and things like that it's kind of like you need to make decisions before you have to make decisions like I need to decide that this is who I am and this is like I need to decide I am an encouraging person that that is who the Lord has made me to be and so in search like circumstances like that if some if the Lord has anointed someone to do something like that is something that is like I'm celebrating that I'm celebrating that the Lord moved through that person and that it was an incredible like incredibly impactful moment for people in the room like that's a win salvation is the goal you know so I'm like if we're getting closer to that no matter how kind of it it works I feel like that's you know yeah and I think that it's fear of of fear rejection that drives somebody to not be able to and and unfortunately that's kind of all over the church stages um and it's interesting to me that you know the the secular um world of the voice and American Idol um and you see a lot of commodity you see a lot of cheering each other on like oh my gosh you're amazing and sometimes I watch that stuff and I'm like man too bad the worship team isn't like that on Sunday morning I think it's just that it's that identity part right totally yeah which is crazy and I like I say this I I say this with a um like not with a preface but I'm so grateful for Hillsong church I got saved there I like it it the people there supported me when I didn't have somewhere to live when I didn't have family structure when I didn't have like I could not be more grateful for the expression of like the bride of Christ the capital c church that supported me um because I wouldn't be here without without people and um I found reality t a little easier than navigating those personal relationships sometimes and that's just that that's just what happens when people's identities are so closely tied in with what they do and who that who that makes them to others you know absolutely and I think it's why it's so important to talk about this especially in in my journey where I'm I've been through over 30 years of this and then someone like you that are kind of coming into it it I really believe I mean I've been tooting this horn for a long time but I am so um convinced that God wants to do something with the creative arts like I'm so convinced of it that he wants to do and and create and and make a harvest through the creative arts which is film you know art painting drawing photography music all you know all of the Arts because it is the language that the saved and the unsaved speak we're all speaking that language we all love that language we all love to go to an art museum and go to a concert and go to a movie and and I think that there's something something said in that that we need to as as people of Faith actually start leaning into what the Lord is saying for us to not it's not about cultivating the things of the world that's that's that's the kind of the thear I think of the church the church has done a really poor job at um leaning into creative expression because they've been too afraid of it yeah you know and I I'm like where are the arits you know I mean like I just love it yeah I've been talking with a close friend so much recently about um like he has this incredible articulation of that he talks about like the period and how the church was the influence to the world and I feel like and I believe that that is something that the Lord is doing like he's allowing his creativity to be the influence of of our expression and that that should be the influence in the Overflow of of what we see in the world and and and those things I think need to be set right again and so it's like that's what we like me and you know the church family that I'm a part of we're praying like for that Renaissance and believing that that is going to shift and and kind of go back to how was because that Purity is like the Lord's creativity is unlike anything we could possibly I you know I tell my my mentees and my students this all the time when I'm teaching stuff that you know it doesn't say and I've said I think on this podcast several times it doesn't say in scripture in the beginning God sent a savior yeah it doesn't say in the in the beginning God's plan was to uh to to have a son shed his blood and save the world it says in the beginning God created and and he created creates and he creates and he creates for 5 days nothing that has ever deviated from the plan except for day six and he made all day all one two 3 4 5 for day six and day six a day 1 2 3 4 5 is still keep a day six alive yeah you know what I'm saying there's something so powerful in that so when I'm when I'm you know and the things like the voice and American I don't stuff those were now 30-year conversations when I was 27 nanning in a house in Seattle where the lord said one to me one day you're going to see worship leaders come out of churches and be on competition shows on television I was like what in the world and I said to him then why yeah and he said because the church won't know what to do with what I'm doing with them and it is the most Grievous thing I know but I I think that it it it it breeds hope for you know maybe those that are watching on the podcast or hearing you know clips of the podcast where it's like if you are creative in any sense of of the form even a carpenter what whatever your art is or if you have a desire to um to do something that you think is the Lord but it feels impossible it's probably the Lord if it feels impossible totally because most of the stuff that God does for us feels pretty impossible but when you just be like okay right place right time and pandemic you know what I'm saying it's that one approach too I think like so often and what we were talking about before like people thinking that their journey is 1+ 1 plus 1 plus 1+ 1 you know equals this and it's like the Lord actually makes it so clear like he will leave the 99 for the one it's like this individualized relationship that we have with the Lord and so I think we we potentially get caught up in every area professionally in Ministry in our personal lives that like these boxes need to be ticked to achieve this but but who are we to actually Define you know the individualized journey plan that the Lord has for us who are we to say and and when we like the church not knowing what to do yeah yeah with with those those creatives it's like heartbreaking because it's like the Lord has created us in as these individuals with these specific gifts and it's like to celebrate those things is is his heart's desire you know and so creating space for that I pray is is where we're going I hope yeah and I I think when you when I think about the coming generation even those that are right behind you yeah and I you like even my son's generation and I see what now is their burden and and the Lord will always say yes their burden is insane yes you know even even the political surroundings it's full on bizar mindblowing insane um but he's like but when chaos seems like it is in control I'm always doing something around the corner yeah because it usually gets worse before there's there's a breaking or there's a there's a massive Revival or a harvest and I even kind of tiptoe around the world word Revival because I'm not looking for something that's been done before yeah I'm actually looking for God to do something new and I want to see Artistry Thrive in it so even if that Revival happens in an art museum or or there it happens at a at a Coldplay concert who that would be that would be would that not be the best thing ever can you imagine how many people would get saved I'm like I think that's where I'm like and and I hope that the the hunger to see salvation and to see people like side by side in eternity I hope that that priority Contin to come to the top of the pile because it's like we are literally called to make disciples like the Lord makes it very clear our purpose our greater overarching purpose separate from you know you're going to lead worship you have an incredible ministry here you're an amazing veterinarian you know what I mean there's this overarching mission that we have and if we can continue to put that at the Forefront and the center of of our decision making of our of of our vision like if I see that first maybe that will help me make better decisions yeah yeah I mean I was you know seeing a bunch of Clips speaking of Coldplay of uh um uh Chris Martin um with this new song they releasing called pray yeah and you know there there's things like that I I look at that and I'm you know I I it's so hard I maybe sound a little sarcastic saying this but I'm like thank God yeah yeah thank God somebody's writing it no but for real and and who am I to be like oh it's not this way or it's theologically this way or it's this or that I'm like do you know that some person read the word prayer today that probably would have never read the word prayer and totally like you know if we eliminate God from that situation we could definitely be like you know whatever it'd be really easy to be I'm sure you you sure there'll be people on this podcast they'll be like yes but that they're not talking about the real God the true God it's like but a seed are you a seed also yeah yeah it's like I at least some is and it's it's it's going out there and that becomes super popular yeah and that could be a softening of his heart like can you imagine if if like he walks into salvation for example and and that was just like a seed at the beginning of his journey and we're sitting here judging being like we shouldn't be celebrating I'm like I just feel so much like there are priorities that the Lord has made very very clear to us and like me having an opinion about someone else in that way is not worth it for me yeah yeah yeah cuz you just don't know what the Lord is doing I have no idea and I think I've seen in all of my years I've seen so much wow and unexplainable stuff done outside of the religiosity I know that's not a word but it's one of my favorites you know of of the parameters of of how it should have been done or how we we assume it's going to be done it's like even God the way shown up and and spoken things to me and and caused my jaw to drop to the floor being like what you know I didn't I never expected you to say that and then it actually pan out or that you know just in in an odd way because I reached for something I never reached for before and or I showed myelf Grace that I hadn't shown myself before and all of a sudden religious shot off my back you know religiousness shot off my back so I I I just I'm always so intrigued when God brings people in the way that he brings them in and then he actually actually uses the world to set them apart and I I feel like strange that yeah so much part of your story that that there are people out there that need to know that it doesn't have to look like a church camp yeah you know and and that you can I mean I'm sure even with all the things that in the last few years have been so upsetting about Hill song and the collapse of this or the collapse of this or the truth about this and the truth about this so many people get so worried about their faith being shaken I get that I understand it but when you're and if your um values and ideas and role model and everything that you are attached to God in are attached to the building and to the title over the building it's going to be a rough go for you but when you really attach yourself to the Lord you can look at man's mistakes and still be grateful for the time that you had yeah in the totally and that's and that's just for me the difference between like Capitol c church and like little C Church you know what I mean I think it's like I'm especially being here I feel like I'm constantly in conversations about people who have experienced hurt at the hand of people you know and and and and attaching that to the church is so heartbreaking like I had a conversation with Mia actually recently about um like she said this analogy and I was like yes she she was saying imagine if you walked into a room and someone was like bad mouthing your spouse right saying I don't like them they've been horrible to me whatever imagine how you would feel walking into that space being like no this is my spouse like I love love them they they're good and kind and and generous and gentle it's like imagine it was just such an imagine how the Lord feels when we're saying I hate the church like his bride you know I just and it just I think when I got saved it was such a god decision not a this person's really amazing or this organization is incredible or I love the expression of Music in this place it's like this is between me and God and yes like people and people sometimes it hurts and it's hard and it's uncomfortable but it's like that's actually not a reflection of the church his church his bride that's just a reflection of humanity it happens in businesses it happens in households it happens in friendships you know and it's like for us to so closely attach our relationship with the Lord to an organization can be devastating yeah well I'm going to ask you a question that I ask everybody okay um have you ever heard me ask uh what you burn for as opposed to what your gifts are oh no okay so the difference between being having your gifts and burning um burning is what you're born with like it's the thing that God it's like the wick in the middle that's that's burning so for me when the Lord asked me what I burn for I just said worship and he said that's your gift that's not your Burn yeah um so the the things that we do in our Ministries or whatever are our gift under our gifts are not really our burnt but the burn is actually the fuel to the gift so without the burning that thing those things can't be fueled and for me the way I found it because I didn't understand what he was saying I was I was uh con confused at the time it was so long ago um uh he asked me well what's your greatest area of attack and I said discouragement like right off the bat I was like I'm discouraged all the time and he said what's the opposite of that and I said encourage he goes there's your burn oh yeah and then I realized oh my gosh I everything that I done is is courage from the songs that I write to the everything that I put out is all to throw courage on people so I always ask people that I'm interviewing what they feel like they burn for oh okay and sometimes you have to find it like in in whatever is their attack yeah so maybe like to like on the spot I feel like I don't know if this is correct like to the question but um like to see salvation or the joy of Salvation is absolutely mine just in any in any way in any like the idea that I can partner with the Lord in in any part of my gifting and anything that he's put in my hands to see people saved is like 100% what what is my burn yeah 100% I just like you know you know like old to cool moments moments I just feel like I can feel Heaven rejoicing and like the joy of that yeah is like definitely my feel yeah yeah even like when um people get baptized they tend to lose it wait can I tell really quick okay so baptism um I and this is like maybe an encouragement for someone um I my dad had like walked through addiction for for many years and um we had a an amazing program attached to Hillsong Church in Australia called 180tc um which is a rehab itation program and every Sunday night we would do baptisms and like all of these incredible men who have walked through addiction who had gotten saved like would get baptized every week and I would be like on the platform watching them get baptized and just like cry every single time because like my heart would break for my dad my heart would would Rejoice for these men and like the moment the defining moment that it is for their life and yeah like this defining moment for their lives and you know years and years kind of went on on and and the Lord was so kind and and ended up working it so that my dad ended up attending that program and he ended up getting saved and oh we did yeah and it's just like I just those specific moments those things it's like what you're saying where your heart really breaks or really Burns or like that righteousness bubbles up in you it's like you know to see to see the expression of that in your personal life and then in the outworking of your your own life is like the most fulfilling thing in the whole world well thanks so much Bella are you under Bella Cole are you still under Bella Taylor Bella Taylor Smith M but all my socials it's actually funny they they did my name wrong by accident when I was on The Voice it was all of my socials are just Bella Taylor but my artist name is Bella Taylor Smith okay all right well look for Bella Taylor Smith her new single will probably drop in October yeah November October no October November of 2024 yeah and keep your eyes peeled cuz she's pretty amazing thank you yay