Who we are
Circle of Hope Audio Art is a mission team of Circle of Hope… Read Full Bio ↴Who we are
Circle of Hope Audio Art is a mission team of Circle of Hope (circleofhope.net). We live in Philadelphia and the metro area. Forming this team began in early 2012 when Joseph Mahoney took the reins in attempting something we’ve attempted several times in the past unsuccessfully. Recording a handful of our original worship songs for training leaders and sharing more broadly.

We are trying out a missional process of recording and distributing worship music as a tool for training, edification, and getting Circle of Hope into new places. We are celebrating all the creativity around us and are responding to a felt need for new worship material that is creative, theologically sound, and not commercial.

We are facilitating a process for creating quality audio recordings of songs that our church uses for worship as a resource for our Public Meeting Teams as well as other interested people. We want to distribute the recordings in a way that does not succumb to the norms of the music industry – Christian or not – but promotes Kingdom entrepreneurship and good storytelling.

Why we are trying this experiment
We have written nearly 100 original songs with over a dozen songwriters and music teams contributing to our worship experiences. We’ve learned a number of ethnic songs that don’t have recordings accessible. We’ve been gifted as humans with imagination, and co-creating with Jesus moves us towards wholeness. We want to respectfully teach the songs to our music leaders. We want to offer our friends outside Philadelphia new music to use for worship. We hope that we make some new friends, new partners for Circle of Hope, and can proliferate more creativity in how we live into God’s big story in the tradition of the church and making something

How to contribute next time
This first release is digital-only. We are already working on a second release to be out before the end of the year. So far, we’ve managed to keep everything on a shoestring budget - no one is making money, we’re trying to grow a studio. Members of our team and community individually contributed to rent and the mastering. Our church has graciously allowed our rent to be deferred until we get donations (tax deductable) from people who want to support the mission of this team. You can download, share, post and pay whatever you want. We ask that you don’t commercially use the music without written permission from our team. The songwriters aren’t getting royalties, we’re hoping that we can make more music as a tool for worshipping our First Love for all the people. If our efforts are useful then we are sure we’ll find the financial support to continue. If you would like a receipt for your donation, please email us at the address at the bottom and we’ll happily send you one.

You can suggest songs for the next album to anyone on the Audio Art Team or through the email. We are starting to put together the tentative list for another 10-15 song release later this year. We’re hoping to engage more people as well as get more from the 40+ musicians (and drummers) on this first attempt.

Contact us at circleofhopeaudioart@gmail.com
circleofhopeaudioart.bandcamp.com
circleofhope.net (four congregations have Sunday night meetings, about 50 cells meet all throughout the Philadelphia region)
credits
released 07 June 2013
Produce and Engineered by Circle of Hope Audio Art
All songs written by Circle of Hope
except Motion of Love- Bill Jolliff
Morning prayer, The illogical spoon
Natamba, Isikulu- public domain

Thank Yous
We are grateful for all of Creation and for this unique local expression of the church known as Circle of Hope. Thanks be to God and to the people from all four of our congregations for participating in making this recording whether it’s playing, singing, praying, encouraging, or constructive criticism.
Thank you to
Olivia Street Verdugo (oliviastreet.me) for layout,
Michael Heneghan (www.michaelpheneghan.com) for illustrations, Hans Dekline at Sound Bites Dog (www.soundbitesdog.com) for mastering,
and Cameron DeWhitt (camerondewhitt.bandcamp.com) for group/choir vocal and string arrangements and direction
Nick Justice -Video promo work