By Gabrielle Gillen
Worship band Housefires blazes a trail in contemporary worship with their raw, spiritual performances.
In an interview with Relevant Magazine, singer Nick Day shared the spontaneous, open nature of their performances: “[Housefires has] always created space for the Lord to do whatever He wants, even if it means going completely off-script… It’s like an added word to what’s already being spoken. It’s an extension of the conversation between God and His people.”
Housefires performances feel like a return to real, grounded worship: people sing over each other and ad lib mid-song. Worshippers clap and holler. These live recordings invite listeners to let God in.
It sounds a bit chaotic and unrefined, but that’s the point. Housefires doesn’t want a polished, perfect studio version; it wants the live community and the authentic and visceral feelings felt in those moments of worship. Singer Nate Moore shared that they view production as a way to capture the recording’s intimate moments. He said, “Our aim is to make it feel real and invitational so that listeners feel like they’re in the room, experiencing the exact moments that we did.”
The rawness in the live recordings of Housefires is a breath of fresh air in a time when music tends to be overproduced and perfected, creating impossible standards in the music industry.
Christian music, before Housefires, was teetering into dangerous territory, sounding more like a product rather than true worship and seemingly forgetting what the point was — not to glorify ourselves but to glorify God.
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Housefires got its start in living rooms, where it grew to include more and more people. But the name came to mean something more. Blake Wiggins shared, “It was kind of a prayer too: that the songs could ‘spark’ something in other communities like they did in the beginning.”
Moore added, “Starting a housefire is all about seeing every part of your life set ablaze with the presence of God: the ordinary and the spectacular. Both high and low moments. Your family, your community, your home, your vocation — your whole life consumed with the fiery love of Jesus.”
Housefires has helped spark a rise in Christian music groups leading the charge in raw, open worship.
Maverick City Music similarly records powerful live performances like “Promises,” and Elevation Worship provides more upbeat songs like “Praise the Lord.”
Housefires shows that everything we do is greater when it’s authentic — and when it’s done with God.
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