Waco-based worship band seeks to be relevant in the digital age

WACO— Through their music and message, the Waco-based worship band The Digital Age seeks innovative ways to reach teenagers and college students with the gospel.

“We feel like our group name fits what we’re trying to do as a band—trying to be relevant in the digital age,” band member Mark Waldrop said. “There is nothing better than singing praises to the King of kings, the Creator of the universe, the author and perfecter of our faith. That is why we do this—to lead people to his throne and offer adoration to him for who he is and what he has done.”

Waldrop and his fellow band mates—Mike Dodson, Jack Parker and Jeremy Bush—met while attending Baylor University and became a part of the Dove Award-winning David Crowder Band. They led worship at University Baptist Church in Waco and chapel services at Baylor University during their tenure with the David Crowder Band.

In 2012, when Crowder joined the worship team at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Ga., his band members decided to remain in Waco and transitioned into their own worship band.

Since then, The Digital Age has released two extended-play recordings and a full-length worship album, Evening:Morning. The concept album includes 12 songs corresponding to the hours between 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“Songwriting is a very collaborative process for us,” Waldrop said. “We discussed what message we wanted to convey and gave each song a theme. For our debut album, we knew that we wanted to center the songs around the creation story, resurrection, beauty from ashes and going from dark to light. …

 “There’s a song called ‘Through the Night’ that is our midnight song, and the chorus is, ‘Through the night we’ll keep on singing.’ We felt like that was our motto for the first record. We still don’t necessarily know where we are going, but we know that God has a plan, so we’re going to keep singing and praising him.”

Throughout the year, the band maintains a busy schedule leading worship for ministry events, church services, youth camps and Student Life camps.

In the spring, The Digital Age performed a special concert for the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ annual Congreso gathering, held on the Baylor University campus.

Youth Ministry Conclave

The group will lead worship for Youth Ministry Conclave Oct. 12-14 in Arlington.

Wherever they perform, their goal remains the same—to be relevant in the digital age by creatively communicating the gospel through songs.

“When people come to our concerts, our focus is leading worship and facilitating a time when they can sing praises to God,” Waldrop said. “The most fulfilling moment is when we’re playing a song and we get a chance to step back from the microphone—letting the audience know that we are just there to sing praises to God alongside them. I love moments when we can do that.

“As a band, we want to modernize worship just a little bit and actually take it back to the days when we were singing old hymns with our parents and everyone’s voice was just as loud while singing in one accord. That’s such a cool moment when everyone’s voice is joined together.”