2020 looked promising for David Yoon, also known as Kindred Worship. He had dropped his EP, Edmund, the previous year, and he would be leading worship for SOLA Conference 2020. Then the pandemic hit.
The church where he was the worship pastor went into lockdown, and he had to lead the congregation in song remotely. SOLA Conference was canceled. But through it all, David continued to serve his community and create music.
Aaron Lee, SOLA’s social media manager, caught up with David Yoon in April 2021. They talked about David’s journey in creating Kindred Worship, leading worship through a pandemic, and how the church can better support worship leaders and worship artists.
We hope this conversation will encourage worship leaders and remind churches to love and support the artists and musicians within their midst.
Below is a transcript of the conversation. It has been edited for clarity and length. You can listen to the audio here.
Aaron Lee: This is Aaron Lee, the Social Media Manager for SOLA Network. Today we have a very special guest. David, would you please introduce yourself for us?
David Yoon: My name is David Yoon. I am on Spotify and Instagram as @kindredworship. I’m a worship pastor at Worship Jesus Bible Church, currently at Talbot seminary (hopefully graduating very, very soon), and based in Orange County.
Aaron Lee: David, I am a fan of Kindred’s music. I wanted to ask you what started your journey as a worship artist? Is it okay if I call you a worship artist? Is that a term that you like to use?
David Yoon: You can call me whatever you want. [Laughs.] If I’m very honest with you, I’m kind of new to this whole thing myself. I’ve heard various different titles, so I’m okay with whatever you’re comfortable with.
To answer your question, I’ve always been interested in music. I’ve always been involved in worship or music in church since I was in ninth grade. I started off on keys, then picked up the guitar in high school, and have been involved in church praise teams because I could play an instrument, right? A lot of worship leaders or praise leaders get thrown in because they can play G, C, E minor, D, and so I got thrown into that.
But after college, I was in this flux of having this passion for worship ministry but this is a little bit less accepted or a little bit less common of a path to go down, especially coming from Asian American churches. It almost seems like if you want to do ministry, there’s only really one pathway — you have to be a pastor. So I felt like that was the only way to go about it.
But God kept putting on my heart this passion for music and to see music being reclaimed for Jesus. So I started down this pathway, joining various different teams, and I was serving as a worship pastor at my church for four years.
Then about two years ago, a good friend of mine, who’s a very talented producer, he and I got together. I told him that I’m at a point where I’m about to give up on this dream. I was feeling pretty defeated at that point because it just felt like there was no opportunity for it. And I said, “I’m just gonna give it one last shot. If you’re willing to help me, it would be really nice if you’re willing to do that for me.”
So we started Kindred two years ago and put the EP out. We recorded and put it out in about 6-7 months, which is kind of fast. We had no idea how it was going to do. We really had expectations that maybe 100 people might listen to it, and that might be 100 people that I know — that might be the end of it. But I was at a place where I thought, “God, if this is your will.” And I didn’t want to regret not giving this a real, honest shot. Next thing I know, we’re still doing this, and we’re still working on music together. God has been opening up a lot of pathways and a lot of doors for us to keep doing this. And so yeah, just been really, really excited about it.
Aaron Lee: That’s a great story, and I love that you’re still doing it. So to be clear, Kindred Worship is you. You have a friend that’s helping you, but Kindred Worship is you.
David Yoon: Yeah, it is a little confusing. It’s because when I was coming into it, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I didn’t know if it was gonna be a band. I didn’t know if it was gonna be a collective project. I just kept bouncing around like, “God, I’m not sure what to do.”
But as we dive deep into it more and more, it just seems like it is me. My friend that I’m talking about runs something called Beloved Music, and he’s a very, very talented producer. I work on every single song with him, and it’s been an awesome relationship not just in a musical sense. How God has been growing both of us throughout this process has been really, really cool. But yeah, to clarify, it’s just me. I always say “we” and my girlfriend always makes fun of me for it, but it’s just me.
Aaron Lee: How would you describe your music? How would you describe it for those who are interested?
David Yoon: Yeah, that’s a very good question. I honestly have a hard time, even for myself, pinpointing what genre it might be. A lot of people sometimes tell me it’s a mixture of lo-fi hip hop/rock/a variety of different genres.
What’s been cool to see is that a lot of the music I used to listen to as a kid is showing up in this type of music. Whatever I’ve listened to, the influences are showing. I listen to a lot of Kings Kaleidoscope. I listen to Chance the Rapper sometimes and then fusion jazz from Japan. Back when I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of Final Fantasy soundtracks, and some of those lines are showing up. So all of those influences are starting to pop up a little bit, and so it’s been cool to see it’s a melting pot of all that.
Aaron Lee: Can you tell me about your role as a worship leader at your church and a little bit about your worship-leading background?
David Yoon: Like I mentioned before, I got thrown into it as a kid because I could play keys, I could sing a little bit, and I could play guitar. But I never learned [how to lead]. Contemporary Christian music, especially for the Asian American church, was something that we were slowly picking up. There were not many role models or anything growing up. It was a struggle trying to figure out for yourself and through whatever worship leaders you can kind of find for guidance through it.
So I’ve been wrestling with the question: What is worship leading? What kind of songs can we sing? What is theologically sound? Is “Reckless Love” a problem? [Laughs.] Unforeseen? Sloppy wet? We struggled through all of those. But I just know that I had this passion to see people, through music, experience God in a powerful way and a theologically rich way.
So that’s just been my journey, especially in this season where I’m at Worship Jesus Bible Church. The pastor there gave me an opportunity to say, “Hey, I want to see this vision come to fruition. This is just an open slate and open canvas for you to do that.” That was very enticing to me, and I’ve been there for the past six years. It’s fun because it’s very experimental, new, not your typical second-gen English Ministry Korean church. It’s been really fun to explore what is theologically rich, but also musical and awesome God-glorifying worship.
Aaron Lee: You and I got connected because we’re recording this for our digital SOLA online conference. The theme is “Witness,” and we’re talking about worship. How do you see worship and witness being tied into your calling as a worship leader and as a worship artist?
David Yoon: You can’t lead anywhere that you haven’t been. I’m going through this book that I’m sure a lot of people have read with their own praise teams that I’m going through with my own: Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. He makes this whole point about how I don’t want anybody to be surprised by my private life. When they see me on stage, I don’t want them to be surprised by how I live in my private life.
I totally agree with that. Your witness starts from your bedroom, starts from where you’re living at home. There is a major temptation for worship leaders to look really good on the outside. They’re very good at portraying a certain image sometimes. They could be going through the motions, but we need to lead a worship set. So the moment that countdown stops and it’s time for worship, it becomes, [with exaggerated perkiness] “How are we doing in the house of the Lord today?” It’s so easy to turn that on.
That’s where the problem is. That’s the reason why we also see so many church leaders and worship leaders falling from grace lately. Their personal worship and the witness of Jesus stems from what’s on the outside rather than their personal relationship with Jesus. I think it’s very interrelated.
Aaron Lee: The church has gone through a lot, especially with COVID. How have you seen worship change during this COVID season?
This is a heavy one. The hardest thing was the fact that I’m trying to lead people through a camera. Whether it’s live streaming or pre-recorded, I have to trust that there are people on the other side.
One of the hardest challenges of the church in this season is: How do we make worship still corporate while being separated? I don’t know if we’ve overcome that. If there’s one thing that this season has taught us or has revealed to us is that there’s been this ongoing idea: “It’s about God and me in worship” — there’s this personal aspect of worship. I believe that is true. But sometimes in the pursuit of that sometimes, corporate worship seems not as important.
What we’re seeing in this season is that corporate worship is so important and so necessary for the believer because it’s not the same. I’ve heard countless church members and people around me say, “I’ve come to realize how much I rely on Sunday service and worshipping together with other people.” So I don’t think it’s changed; it’s just been very revealing of how important corporate worship really is to our faith and to bolster our faith.
Aaron Lee: How is your church doing right now? Are you guys doing it on a livestream? Are you doing Zoom?
David Yoon: We’re doing a hybrid model right now that things are opening up a little bit. We have a few people in the sanctuary, and we’re doing livestream. So most of our congregation is still on the livestream.
But man, when there were some people that came in through the door and we sang together, it was a breath of fresh air. After a full year of not being able to sing together with other people, to now be able to confess together was such a big blessing.
Aaron Lee: SOLA Conference was canceled early last year, and you were the slated worship leader for the event. Can you tell me how you got involved with that? How did you feel when they canceled it?
David Yoon: How I got involved was very, very simple. I got an email or a message from someone from SOLA: “Hey, can you lead worship for us?” The hard part was just accepting. Not because there’s anything against SOLA or anything but because I struggle with self-confidence. And let’s be honest here — SOLA hosted Citizens and people like that. I’m thinking to myself, “Man, I don’t think I can do this.”
But as I prayed about it, I thought it would just be great to encourage pastors and encourage ministry leaders around the area if we can just all worship together. So I became very excited about the idea as I agreed to do this.
Then when it got canceled, I was honestly very sad but very understanding. I understand that the [SOLA] board is trying to juggle health concerns and going through all of that. So I’m just excited that I got to meet you, Aaron, and we get to talk and have this conversation together. And hopefully, someday soon, we’ll all be able to gather and work together.
Aaron Lee: I hate to say it, but I think we made the right decision. Looking back on what happened, the conference was when everything started going nuts. But I do hope to meet you someday, and I love talking about worship with you.
It sounds like you have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share about these things, not only as a worship leader but also as an artist. There are other people in our audience who might be worship leaders or worship artists trying to do something musically. Are there any dangers or opportunities that you see right now, post-COVID, regarding worship or worship artistry, specifically for Asian Americans?
David Yoon: Yeah, the church needs to be on board. That’s the one big thing. I don’t think I would have been able to do Kindred if my senior pastor at my church or my church didn’t support me. They wanted to see that vision move forward.
A lot of artists have kind of left the church because they didn’t feel supported in the church, which is sad because the church was a huge pioneer in artistry for a long time. There has to be some kind of proactivity to say, “As a church community, we do care about the arts and we do care about how powerful of a medium this can be for us.”
There can be a beautiful relationship formed within the Asian American church specifically. Sometimes Asian American churches can be a little bit slow on the uptake, and I understand the fears of it. But the church can give really good direction to artistry, and artists can really push the bounds of that direction and do some really awesome things. If we’re able to see the two worlds together, that would be the dream and that would be something beautiful. It would be really awesome to see the church win back some artists.
Aaron Lee: For me as a worship leader, the relationship between my pastor and me has been really good. We’re friends, and he’s been alongside me. We’ve actually written songs together, and the songs that I write, I asked him, “Is it cool if we play this?” He says, “Yeah, let’s do it,” and so he encourages me to use art for the church. The church can take part in that and sing these original songs. For anybody who’s listening, I want to encourage you to keep doing that too.
David Yoon: I think that’s really beautiful. To kind of go off of that, the fact that you’re writing original songs for your community is really awesome. I think in some sense, the monoculture of the church is dying out whether we like it or not. We don’t all sing the same songs, and we don’t all sing the same hymnal anymore.
While that is kind of sad in some respects, there is also a great opportunity here for a lot of worship leaders to work with their pastors and to write awesome songs for their communities. It doesn’t have to be the next Hillsong hit with a million listeners or anything. But if one person is being blessed by that talent or skill that God has given you that’s amazing.
Aaron Lee: And it’s super humbling because I guarantee you the songs that I write are not the next Hillsong songs. I wouldn’t even call them good. [Laughs.] But I feel supported, and I feel encouraged to do it. So what’s next for Kindred Worship?
David Yoon: Like I said at the beginning, I didn’t know what Kindred worship was gonna be. I’m still figuring out different details and facets of it every step of the way. What I’ve been noticing, at least on Spotify, is that the songs that people are responding to are like “Jesus I,” “Father and Child,” and those types of songs. Those are the more personal worship songs. I’m realizing that the arena of Spotify is very different from writing congregational worship music.
I’m in the season right now where I’m working on this album called, At the End of the Day, where I’m processing God’s faithfulness, especially in the time of COVID where it just felt like everything was going crazy. Everything was in upheaval, and I was trying to process that God is still faithful throughout it all. That was already something I was talking about, but it became even more relevant while I was writing this album during a pandemic.
Hopefully, we finish that album soon. I don’t know how people are going to take it because it does sound kind of drastically different from everything back before. So we’ll see how it goes. But I’m excited for it.
Aaron Lee: Before we go, do you have any words of encouragement for fellow worship leaders or worship artists?
David Yoon: I would say, keep going and keep making new things. My biggest problem is sometimes I’m a perfectionist. I have a little bit of paralysis when it comes to releasing things because either I’m fearful that there’s one little thing theologically that it’s wrong, it’s not good enough musically, or whatever it might be. But what God’s been teaching me is that if I’m wrong, then I’ll be corrected — just humbly receive that correction. And if it’s not good enough, that’s not the end of the story.
If you’re a worship artist or a worship leader, I would encourage you to talk to your pastors. Talk about how you want to keep creating things and you want to keep doing things for God’s name. As you keep creating, even though it might be like, “Oh, I’ve created this small thing,” that’s not the end of your story. You’re gonna keep creating awesome and beautiful things. The greatest thing that you’re creating is still in the future, so keep doing it. At some point, release it and move on, and then keep creating the next thing. We just need to flood this world with more beautiful things for Jesus.
Aaron Lee: What a good word, David Yoon, Kindred Worship. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I hope we get to get together soon.
David Yoon: Yeah, thanks for having me. I really enjoyed this.