Louder Than The Music

Anchoring the Heart in Hope, the third installment in the uniquely crafted Every Moment Holy: Prayer Songs series (inspired by Douglas Kaine McKelvey’s bestselling Every Moment Holy books), is set for release August 28. Produced by Unspoken’s Jon Lowry and co-penned by McKelvey and Lowry, the 14-song collection marks the first Every Moment Holy: Prayer Songs project to dive deeply into a single topic.

A lyrical and musical interpretation of a prayer cycle found in the second book, Every Moment Holy: Death, Grief & Hope, the 2026 Q3 Anchoring the Heart in Hope recording - like the original prayers - is intended to kindle a light of eternal Hope for those who find themselves in the valley of the shadow. As with previous Every Moment Holy: Prayer Songs releases, the latest selections are offered as aids to contemplative, personal prayer and were carefully designed to be seamlessly loopable when a track is set on “repeat.” While Lowry and McKelvey orchestrated the new project as a cohesive, 14-part movement, songs such as “Convince Me,” “Let Visions of Our Pending Joy,” and “O My Soul Be Anchored” are also fitting for corporate worship settings.

“We wanted these songs to be personal expressions relevant to any Christ-follower enduring a season of struggle,” McKelvey explains. “But during the songwriting process we had a particular passion that they might become a source of deep comfort and anchoring encouragement to individuals navigating the end of life, as well as for those who might be caring for a dying loved one, or ministering in a hospice situation.”

“In the end, these are truths that each of our hearts might dwell on and be shaped by, in any season of life,” he adds. “Our hope for these songs is that they might serve to wear permanent grooves in the souls of those who meditate on them, such that in their hours of need, these ready expressions will arise in their memories as channels along which grace and hope and joy and prayer might flow.”

Offering insight into the collection's songwriting process, Lowry shares, “In Every Moment Holy: New Liturgies for Daily Life, Doug has a prayer ‘For the Writing of Liturgies.’ It begins with the line, ‘How fearful a vocation is the writing of liturgies, O Lord, for it presumes the shaping of words that others will speak to You.’ I sat down at my piano with that prayer in front of me, feeling fearful and daunted at the prospect of crafting melodies and fitting words to them that the children of the living God might sing in prayer to Him. I knew I needed a prayer song for myself before I dared write a melody for anyone else. Out of that desire to faithfully steward this good work set before me, I wrote the prayer song ‘Every Moment Holy’ for the first album release, and it has become an anthem for me before any creative endeavor, including the crafting of these new songs.”

The latest volume in an ongoing music series launched with the goal of releasing four prayer-song albums per year, 2026 Q3 Anchoring the Heart in Hope takes its place alongside January’s 20-song 2026 Q1 and May’s 10-song 2026 Q2 projects. The two prior offerings feature topically diverse selections from the book series, including songs for daily table blessings, road trips, stargazing, bedtime with children, worship, communion, and a host of other familiar life moments and experiences.

This fall McKelvey and book illustrator Ned Bustard, along with Jon Lowry and other musical guests, are set to bring Every Moment Holy: The Live Experience to multiple US cities from late August through mid-November. A compelling weave of live music, personal storytelling, and prayers from the Every Moment Holy series, the live event is structured as a shared journey, carving out a space in which participants might acknowledge the reality of loss, disappointment, and sorrow, while reawakening to the greater story and abiding Hope of divine redemption.