Every once in a while, something unexpected shows up in the worship world—and it doesn’t just grab your attention, it grabs your soul. That’s exactly what happened when the Sons of Sunday showed up.
A handful of worship leaders and a room full of microphones and raw, honest songs.
Related Blog: What you don’t know about Pat Barrett
So, how did this happen?
When Pat Barrett sat down with Justin and Kim on-air, you could feel the excitement in the room. The second the name “Sons of Sunday” came up, everyone leaned in. And Pat? He didn’t hold back. He described how years of friendship, late-night songwriting sessions, and ministry moments behind the scenes eventually led to this question:
“Hey… you wanna be in a band?” His answer? “Let me think about it… yes.”
From there, things moved fast. The group gathered in a small church in Charlotte, NC, for three days to finish writing songs, sing them live, and let the Spirit do the rest. What they captured wasn’t just music—it was joy. Deep, rich joy. The kind that can only come from people who genuinely love each other and the God they’re singing to.
So, who are the Sons of Sunday?
The lineup is no joke. It’s a worship dream team made up of some of the most impactful voices in the Church right now. There’s Pat Barrett, whose songs like Build My Life have become staples in worship sets around the globe. Brandon Lake, known for anthems like Gratitude and his fiery, heartfelt delivery in songs like Hard Fought Hallelujah. Chandler Moore, whose voice you might recognize from Maverick City Music. Add Pastor Steven Furtick and Chris Brown from Elevation Church—two guys behind the sound and heartbeat of Elevation Worship—and then top it off with Leland Mooring, who’s quietly penned more of your church’s favorite worship songs than you probably realize. Together, they make up the Sons of Sunday—a group rooted in friendship, worship, and a shared desire to point everything back to Jesus.
Related Blog: How to Surrender in Worship | with Pat Barrett
What to expect from the Sons of Sunday?
The songs coming out of Sons of Sunday aren’t just polished melodies or catchy choruses—they’re deeply personal. Pat described them as songs that “take on a whole new life” when sung together in the same room, shaped by whatever season each person is walking through. Some are filled with gratitude—“just thankful you even have breath today.” Others celebrate the joy and freedom found in Jesus. And some were born from the lowest valleys, written in those moments when “you come to the end of yourself” and finally surrender. It’s worship that doesn’t ignore the hard stuff. Instead, it brings it into the light and meets it with hope, healing, and honesty.
Read this conversation with Pat Barrett
Justin:
Can we talk about something that Kim and I have been dying to ask you about?
Kim:
Yes.
Justin:
I mean, the second these songs dropped, we’ve known you were coming and we’re like, we’re going to ask. Okay. Don’t even know if we’re allowed to ask, but we’re going to ask.
Kim:
Sons of Sunday.
Pat Barrett:
The Sons of Sunday.
Kim:
It’s like the worship super group of all time.
Pat Barrett:
What y’all know about the Sons? The Sons.
Kim:
Absolutely, it’s the Avengers of worship music.
Pat Barrett:
The all united.
Kim:
Come on.
Pat Barrett:
It is so fun.
Kim:
No kidding.
Pat Barrett:
So fun, y’all.
Justin:
I think we do-
Kim:
Tell us about it.
Justin:
We have to share exactly who’s in this so you can grasp the magnitude of this worship super group. It’s Pat Barrett. It’s Brandon Lake. It’s Chandler Moore. It’s Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. It’s Chris Brown, lead singer of Elevation Worship, and it’s Leland Mooring, who has probably written more worship songs that you’re singing in church than anyone.
Kim:
Oh my gosh, yes.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah, crazy.
Justin:
It is insane.
Pat Barrett:
So fun. So there’s already a friendship there with everybody. And then, over the years, we’ve all been writing a bunch of songs together and sometimes, not always in the same room, but at least in relationship and especially, going out to Elevation. And you collect and amass so many songs and some of them feel like, intuitively, like, “oh, this is where they go. These are Elevation songs.” And then there are all these other songs that felt that there was a different road for them. And when I got a call I was like, “Hey, do you want to be in a band?” I was like-
Kim:
Let me think.
Justin:
I’m already in one but sure.
Pat Barrett:
“Let me think about it. Yes. Which one am I?” And so we got together and spent three days at a little church in Charlotte and just sang and finished up some songs and captured it all. It was so meaningful because you got to come together in the same room and just hear all these songs take on a whole new life when you’re singing them together. But also, and I hope people hear this, the friendship, you can just feel it. There’s so much joy in it. There’s so much meaningful…
Kim:
There is a video that has been released and you guys are all in a heap.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah.
Kim:
I’m like, “What is going on? I need to know what’s happening.” Chandler’s just being Chandler, just being amazing.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah, he is amazing. We got done singing one of these songs and were just a wreck about it and that’s what’s so beautiful… Okay. Music is so interesting. You go through whatever you go through in life, you write a song and then however many months later, you come together to sing that song, whatever’s happening in your life to make it meaningful. It’s like, it always takes on a new depth. Even, that’s why you hear an old song that meant something to you, but you’re in a new phase of life and all of a sudden it feels like brand new. It is just… There’s songs about gratefulness to God that you even have breath today. There’s songs about celebrating the joy and freedom of victory in Jesus. There’s songs about being in your worst place in life and remembering what that felt like and crying out for help because everybody knows what that feels like, when you come to the end of yourself and then you finally, you throw in the towel and surrender and all of a sudden, what you’ve needed has been here all along.
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
Well, this is something special that we have-
Kim:
I’m glad I’m not alone.
Justin:
Specifically for this interview. You know, you have lots of friends in Christian music and one of them just wanted to ask you a question and so this is called Interview Takeover. It’s a Joy Fm artist who’s taking over the interview for one question. We have disguised their voice, so you’ll have to figure out who it is.
Pat Barrett:
A voice disguised?
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
Yeah. Based on their question.
Pat Barrett:
Where did you… I mean, that’s…
Kim:
High-tech around here.
Pat Barrett:
Wow. AI.
Justin:
I know. I know.
Kim:
No low budget here, okay.
Justin:
A little bit. All right.
Pat Barrett:
CIA stuff.
Kim:
Oh, yeah.
Justin:
Joy Fm Artist Question Takeover. Take a listen, Pat.
Josh Baldwin:
Hey Pat, I have a question for you. Who is your favorite person to play golf with, who shares a beautiful mustache like you?
Pat Barrett:
Well…
Justin:
Does that give it away?
Kim:
Wow, there’s more than one.
Pat Barrett:
Chuck Norris. I knew that was Josh Baldwin by the cadence.
Justin:
Yes!
Pat Barrett:
By the cadence. But I was also wondering, would they take… You can’t take a female voice to make it sound… I knew it had to be.
Justin:
Well, I figured the mustache would eliminate that.
Pat Barrett:
Well, I didn’t hear the mustache part, yet.
Kim:
Fingers crossed.
Pat Barrett:
Fingers crossed. You would hope.
Justin:
Yes! Here’s the real question.
Josh Baldwin:
Hey Pat, I have a question for you. Who is your favorite person to play golf with, who shares a beautiful mustache like you?
Pat Barrett:
Josh, don’t you dare ask me questions you already know the answer to, baby boy. You and me for life.
Kim:
He was so excited to do that.
Justin:
He was. He’s like, “I can’t wait to talk about golf.”
Pat Barrett:
Can we talk about how rich his voice sounds, as well, on the radio?
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
Put him on the air.
Pat Barrett:
I know. He’s got a deep little growl thing going.
Kim:
It’s good.
Pat Barrett:
It is good.
Justin:
We tried to convince him that he should start a podcast with Christian artists, like yourself, playing golf.
Kim:
Yes.
Pat Barrett:
Would he do it?
Justin:
Just mic it up.
Pat Barrett:
He would totally do it.
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
While you’re playing.
Pat Barrett:
He would totally do it. You would see everyone when they’re most angry.
Kim:
But it normalizes you guys.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah. You’d see the full spectrum of emotion, like highest of highs, lowest of lows, all within… It’d be a lot to take in.
Justin:
Yeah.
Kim:
But then you would be able to turn it towards the gospel.
Pat Barrett:
I know. I know.
Kim:
It’s like, Jesus isn’t in it through all of it.
Pat Barrett:
Well, if golf wasn’t so hard, I mean, it’s so hard.
Justin:
So we asked him this question and we’ll present it to you to see if you maybe do it better. We asked him, if you had to combine your love of golf and your love for Jesus and share the gospel in golf terminology-
Kim:
With people that only speak golf.
Justin:
Yeah. To a bunch of golfers.
Pat Barrett:
How would I do it?
Justin:
How would you do it?
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
How would you share the gospel to a bunch of golfers who didn’t know anything about Jesus?
Pat Barrett:
Ooh, goodness. What would I say? I’d probably start with guys we know, this sport teaches us, no one’s perfect and then whatever happens from there… How many hole in ones did you hit? None.
Kim:
Only Jesus hits the hole in one.
Pat Barrett:
Only Jesus. Only Jesus.
Justin:
Let’s talk about Beautiful Life.
Kim:
Yes.
Justin:
I think this is the song of positivity we need right now.
Pat Barrett:
It is very positive.
Justin:
Yeah.
Pat Barrett:
Well, so I grew up in the church and my memories of being in church, while some youth groups would play fun youth group games. What were the games? Like, Chubby Bunny.
Justin:
Oh, with the marshmallows.
Kim:
Yeah. Yeah.
Justin:
Put as many marshmallows in your mouth as you can and I don’t know, put a Big Mac meal and a blender and see who can drink it. Our Sunday school class just had Bible homework. So I grew up… Which that’s all I knew at the time. So I grew up with all these really key verses that I’ve always memorized. So much of the songs I write are just plagiarized Bible and Beautiful Life was like the Ecclesiastes version of that. It felt like… It’s kind of fascinating. You talk about things being beautiful, it doesn’t mean it’s always pleasant, which I think you learn that, probably, later in life, that you read and you go through life. You experience sickness. You experience family stuff or whatever. And when you start to see that God is there too, all of a sudden, you don’t feel alone. You don’t feel hopeless. Even the hard stuff starts to feel beautiful.
So the song sounds positive and in some ways it is, but also in some ways it feels realistic to me. That finding God in the… There’s a time to live and a time to die, a time to reap, a time to sow, a time where you have a lot, a time where you don’t have a lot. God’s present in all of it. He’s made everything beautiful. I don’t think it always feels good, but then it makes everything more rich and beautiful. And that’s why I think faith, even now, at this phase of my life, faith is so important because you start to realize there’s no place in my life that God is absent from if I allow myself to see it the way he does, which is hard.
Yeah. I think it’s when you come out of the struggle, it can give you the confidence that even when things are bad, God is still good. Life can still be beautiful. I feel like that’s what that song represents.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah, totally.
Justin:
Yeah.
Kim:
That’s great.
Justin:
So we, actually, reached out to a few St. Louis worship leaders and we wanted to know what they were saying about the songs of yours that they’re singing in church. And so we compiled their responses and just wanted to share them with you. Maybe, it encourages you. Maybe, it gives you hope because I feel like, you do write songs for the church. You do write songs for [inaudible 00:09:44] worship.
Pat Barrett:
You going to leave out the negative ones, hopefully?
Justin:
There were none.
Kim:
There weren’t any.
Pat Barrett:
Yes!
Justin:
There were none. There were none.
Pat Barrett:
I’m like, all right, hit me with the truth. This is never good. It’s like when you get a text and you’re like, “Hey, can we talk?”
Kim:
Oh, that’s the worst.
Pat Barrett:
It is the worst.
Kim:
Yeah.
Justin:
Spoiler alert. Yeah. Everybody loves Pat Barrett songs.
Pat Barrett:
That’s great. So sweet. Very sweet.
Justin:
For sure.
Kim:
So Luke, who’s my worship leader, his favorite is Build My Life. And he said, “It’s because it’s the gospel plus a response, all in one and it’s real.” And his second favorite is “Sails because it’s a beautiful representation of opening up to his wind and abiding.”
Pat Barrett:
That’s amazing. I didn’t see this coming, guys. This is like… That’s really meaningful to me.
Kim:
You pour out all the time.
Justin:
Yeah.
Pat Barrett:
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Kim:
I mean, we’d love to pour back in.
Justin:
If that got you, this one got me when I heard it. This is from my friend Chris, who’s a worship leader. He says, “Better is one of my favorites. It speaks to the everyday struggle of getting distracted by things the world offers and the doubt that creeps in. Jesus is enough to satisfy,” he says about that song. He also goes on to say, “Canvas and Clay is my close second, because I always need a reminder that I’m exactly who God made. Even though he is changing me and shaping me, I don’t think very highly of myself often. Just helps me remember who I am.” So the worship leader struggling with doubt.
Pat Barrett:
Oh-
Justin:
And your songs are telling him-
Pat Barrett:
I know that feeling. Yeah.
Justin:
He’s enough.
Pat Barrett:
There is something… I mean, that song, for me, was, it was a reminder that you’re not here on accident. Even the beginnings of our life, we don’t even remember. We spent nine months being formed before we ever took a real breath.
So you’re like, there’s been intention and purpose and a knitting together with a loving hand. And so much of, not just experiencing my life, but even writing song and leading worship and feeling weird insecurities that just flare up when you look to your left and right at other peers or whoever that are in a place that you would imagine yourself, you would’ve been or whatever. However comparison creeps into our heart and robs the joy of who we are. I think that song has reminded me of that so many times, so to hear it do that for somebody else is the best.
Kim:
That’s cool. PJ says, “How We Remember.”
Justin:
Oh, I love that song.
Kim:
“It encourages us to ponder the costly sacrifice of Jesus, more specifically, how he presented the idea of remembrance to his disciples and his intention. As Barrett points out, for us to never forget that he gave us everything through his sacrifice.”
Pat Barrett:
I love that song.
Justin:
That’s the perfect communion song, by the way.
Kim:
It is. Yeah.
Justin:
We play it at communion at our church. So that one gets stuck in my head a lot.
Pat Barrett:
My church growing up, every single Sunday, we did communion, which is, it feels kind of strange. It’s not that way.
Justin:
Yeah. That’s how we do it.
Kim:
Some don’t.
Pat Barrett:
And it’s strange now, but I guess, I grew up Lutheran. My dad, or he’s like a charismatic Lutheran, I’m going to say mutt, in an endearing way. And every Sunday, I could recite on the night our Lord’s Savior Jesus Christ was betrayed. He took the bread… Because it was said every Sunday. It wasn’t like, “We have a surprise ending to the service.” We knew exactly how this day was going to go. We were going to read a confession, we were going to worship, we were going to read scriptures, hear a message, and then we would all come to the table. And there was always, over the years, the older I’ve gotten and the more spaces I’ve been in, I start to see the table disappear a little more and more because it doesn’t necessarily fit in the programming or I don’t know. And that song was, it’s like the one thing that levels the playing field for everybody.
We’ve all been invited by God. There’s no room at that table for you to perform or to try to gain attention for yourself. And I don’t know, it’s just… I doubt you want me commenting on all these things that people are saying, but-
Kim:
No. We do.
Justin:
I love it.
Pat Barrett:
It makes me weepy because how often we forget. And we get wrapped up in all these weird things that steal our purpose or direct our vision to weird places. And all of a sudden, you remember, if you just come to the table and remember in this way, it doesn’t fix all your problems, but it, certainly, puts them in perspective.
Justin:
Yeah. Lucas said his favorite is Morning by Morning. “It brings me back to the old hymns I used to sing in my childhood. It’s something I can sing to myself when I’m feeling most overwhelmed. It’s in the lyrics.”
Kim:
Such a great song.
Pat Barrett:
I want to see Lucas. How old is Lucas? Do we know?
Justin:
He’s my age. So I think he’s mid to late thirties, I think. Yeah. So those are just what a few St. Louis worship leaders are saying about Pat Barrett songs that they’re singing in church.
Pat Barrett:
That’s amazing.
Justin:
So I hope that encourages you because your songs are not only being sung in church, which I think is part of the reason you wrote them, but that they’re making a lasting impact, not just on the people of course, but on the people who are singing those lyrics.
Pat Barrett:
Yeah, that means a lot. I was half expecting you to read another, I like his left hook because it’s a wrong Pat Barrett. I really love his pile driver and his leg kick.
Kim:
When he jumped off the top of the ring.
Pat Barrett:
I like his work on the ropes.
Justin:
I don’t think those worship leaders know anything about those Pat Barretts.
Pat Barrett:
That’s beautiful.
