Worship Through Song

Worship Through Song is a Pursuit of Character ministry led by Bethany Rae and born of obedience to God’s will.

Having grown up singing in church with her family, as a young adult, Bethany started arranging songs for her sisters and her to sing in that setting. She was a part of the church worship team for several years and helped lead worship at their church camp. It was during this time that Bethany began writing songs. (See “How are the songs written” below.) “The way the first song came and the impact it had on our congregation when we sang it in our church, I was convinced it was a gift from God that needed to be shared with His people.” Because of this, Bethany tried to get the song into the hands of “real” Christian artists, but no one was interested. So, the song lay dormant for 20 years.

Before she could be entrusted with a ministry like Worship Through Song, Bethany first had to learn what true worship is – the posture of a heart that is fully surrendered to and in love with God. She then had to embrace a life lived from this heart of worship.

Shortly after she fully surrendered her heart to this life of worship, the songs started coming like a flood.  Because the songs are intimate prayers to God that reflect her personal journey, Bethany was quite against the idea of sharing some of them publicly. She was also convinced that she lacked the vocal talent to sing the songs well enough that anyone would want to listen to them. In fact, when her family started encouraging her to consider making an album, her response was, “That’s never going to happen!”

That changed shortly after she wrote “Captivated,” which became the title track of the first Worship Through Song album. “God showed me that the messages contained within these songs He was giving me were meant for His people, not just for me. This became so clear with the song “Captivated,” which is a love song between God and His bride, the Church. He showed me that in these days, in this time when we are, this message of His heart of love for His people needed to be shared with His people.”

And so, Worship Through Song was born. “Our goal with every single song we release is to share and inspire this heart of worship in God’s children. That as you listen, you will hear His Voice calling your heart to worship Him.”

Bethany Rae Huot was born the second of five daughters. She was first introduced to Jesus at the age of 3 and asked to be baptized at the age of 6, before her family went to Thailand as missionaries. “I wanted to make a statement that I was going to the mission field as a disciple of Jesus, not just a tag-along because my parents were going.”

Bethany recalls her relationship with God during her early childhood being marked by an insatiable hunger for His Word. “As soon as I could read, I read my Bible from cover to cover in several different translations. I was like a sponge. I wanted to know God in a real way, and this was the way I could do that.” Having a knack for memorization, she also committed much of the Word to memory, including the entire book of 1 Peter…just don’t ask her to recite it now!

While these efforts were motivated by a heart that hungered for God, she knew something was still missing. “I asked people at my church to help me figure out what the missing piece was. I was doing all the things I was supposed to do, but, when I looked inside, I knew what I saw didn’t match the victory and freedom of the new creature the Bible described. They all told me I was fine! I knew that couldn’t be true.”

The truth was, over the course of her life, the Adversary had convinced Bethany to doubt God, and she had embraced some of his lies. “Because of some of the experiences in my life, I questioned God’s ability to protect me. At one point, I accused Him of abandoning me, and I wanted to just give up and die. This unbelief was like a veil over my heart that blocked my view of God’s face. I didn’t understand this until I read The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer. He convinced me that the real, intimate relationship I wanted with God was possible, but that it was hindered by the veil covering my heart. I remember praying and asking God to do whatever it would take to remove that veil. It took many years and a LOT of pain, but He answered that prayer.”

On the other side of the darkness, there was God. "All it took was a simple choice to believe He was ALL He claimed to be. To simply take Him at His Word and walk as if everything He says is true. Wow! What freedom! What joy! What peace! I am not saying that I am perfect, that I get it right 100% of the time. (See "Plumb Line" on this topic!) I am saying that He is my everything, and I am NEVER going back to that darkness ever again… no matter what it may cost me in the here and now.”

And cost her it has! After spending over 10 years training to be a biologist and getting the job she thought would be her dream career as well as her ministry, it became clear that she could not stay without sacrificing her faith. So, she walked away. “Sure, I have lost everything I was afraid of losing. But I have also gained everything worth finding, and that is God Himself.”

It is from this place of delight in and obedience to God that Bethany lives her life of worship…and sometimes, that Worship is Through Song!

The short answer is, from a heart of worship deeply rooted in the Word of God. It is possible to write beautiful songs that people enjoy but that lack this heart of worship and Biblical foundation. While she has written many songs, Bethany’s goal is to only produce the ones that beat with the heart and sing with the breath of God in them.

When she was 11 years old, Bethany started writing poetry as a way of expressing her heart for God, her family, and her friends. As a young adult, her sisters told her she should write songs for them to sing together in church. Bethany laughed at this, thinking there was no way she was capable of writing songs!

Then, the first song came.

It wasn’t like the writing she had done before, which was done more from her analytical, technical brain. It was a gift from God. “I could just hear it in my head, both the words and the melody, which I didn’t particularly like at first!”

Bethany wrote a handful of songs around this same time (2000–2005) but didn’t really start writing until 2018. “I was looking for Christian artists on YouTube and came across a young woman I had never heard of before. While I am naturally quite skeptical, there was something about the simplicity in her face and the sincerity in her voice that cut me to the core. I recognized that heart of worship I had quieted inside myself. It was like something broke inside and came gushing out. I grabbed my pen and a notebook and started writing.”

Since that night, Bethany Rae has written over 20 songs, 10 of which were selected for her debut Worship Through Song album, Captivated, which was released on April 4, 2021. The first song she wrote, “To Be With You,” was released as the second single on her upcoming album, Cut Me Loose. “The inspiration behind each song is unique, but the common thread is a heart that longs for God, to know Him and to walk in His ways. Because His Word is literally the Way of Truth that teaches us how to know Him and love Him, all of the songs have lyrics that are based on Scripture and many of them have lyrics taken directly from Scripture. Because this connection to the Word of God is so important to me, in the digipack created for the Captivated album, we included the specific verses corresponding with each song printed beneath the CD. I hope this will inspire people to look them up and read them prayerfully, with a heart open to the illumination of the Holy Spirit.” 

For more information on the stories behind individual songs, - click here - to check out the “Inspiration” videos on the “Moving Pictures” page.

Bethany describes songwriting as more of a process of discovery than a mental activity. For her, the melody of each song comes along with the lyrics. “While, of course, my mind is involved, I’ve learned to listen and feel my way through songwriting. Because I believe each song is a gift from God, I just relax and wait expectantly for the Holy Spirit to reveal it to me. Sometimes I will get an entire song in a couple of hours. Other songs, like “Captivated” may take days to finish.”

Finding the right music producer was a critical part of the music making process, and Michael Crittenden from Mackinaw Harvest Studios has been a great fit. “It is very important that the music is designed in a way that emphasizes the message of each song. Michael understands this.” In fact, after producing the Captivated album, Michael compared the process to scoring a movie, where the music needs to help tell the story of each scene by providing the right mood. “Michael and I both like rich chords, rocking bass lines, and groovy beats. We have a lot of fun working together to get what I hear in my head to come out in the music. He even goes along with my crazy ideas like, ‘Hey, I want “Be My All” to have a tango vibe!’”

Because of Bethany’s diverse cultural background and missions-focused heart, it was also important to her to incorporate instruments and sounds from various cultures into the music. “I want people from all over the world to be able to hear a song and feel like it is from home. Obviously, there is a limit to what I can do vocally, but instrumentally we have been able to incorporate some of the sounds of other cultures, like the duduk (Armenian oboe) played by Ilia Mazia in the song ‘Grace’ and the bandoneon and classical guitar in ‘Be My All.’”

This approach seems to be working. As of March 2023, Worship Through Song has been heard by over 6,600 listeners in 109 countries around the world. “While these numbers are small for ‘big time’ artists, each one represents a person reached by the Worship Through Song ministry. I pray over each song as we release it, that the Holy Spirit would take His gift and use it to work in the hearts of God’s children wherever they are, both to draw the lost and strengthen the found. While it is exciting to watch the stats and see listeners from new countries show up, we leave the real results in His hands.”

(To see clips of how the music is made, - click here - to check out the "In-Studio" videos.)

The short answer is, Yes!

As explained above, Worship Through Song is one of the Outreach ministries of Pursuit of Character (P.O.C.). What is the goal of all of P.O.C.’s Outreach ministries? HOPE! What is it we do? We take every opportunity provided to us to talk about, sing about, write about, pray about, and worship… HOPE! If we listen closely and follow earnestly, the Mission we hope to achieve is, to Restore Hope! (To read more about P.O.C.’s Outreach ministries, - click here -)

If you would like to join us in this Mission, then we absolutely encourage you to invite us into your community, your church, or wherever the Spirit directs you. Simply - click here - and fill out the form to make contact with us, and we can begin the discussion of what that might look like.

Prayer – “The first and greatest need we have is prayer. Please pray that God will continue to direct us as we look for opportunities to share these songs in a way that promotes Worship rather than entertainment.”

Share – “The more followers, subscribers, commenters, and likes we get on social media, the more visible the music becomes. This is a huge help for disseminating the music and costs nothing but a few minutes of your time. The most powerful tool we have is word of mouth. If you find Worship Through Song to be a blessing, please share with your friends and family, and ask them to do the same!"

Give, Send, Go – “Because this is a ministry, we have prioritized sharing the music via streaming over selling. (That said, - click here - if you would like to own a copy for yourself.) Since this is God’s work, we trust Him to provide the resources to create the music, which isn’t cheap! However, we finally accepted that He may use others to help provide those resources! So, for those who want to support Worship Through Song financially, we have set up a specific Give, Send, Go campaign for this purpose (– click here – for Worship Through Song GiveSendGo campaign). Every penny you give (other than the transaction fee) goes to creating and sharing music for Worship Through Song. Please only give as you feel prompted by God to do so.”