A Winnipeg pastor is bringing new life to old hymns with his latest music project.

"It was just a community that allowed young people to kind of find their way"

Cody Anderson is the associate pastor at Faith Covenant Church. He's also a musician, playing the guitar since he was a kid. In fact, it was at Faith Covenant as a 13-year-old that he first began playing in front of others.

"I was bad," Anderson says. "It was just a community that allowed young people to kind of find their way . . . and they said 'You know what? Why don't you just try. And make mistakes and it's ok."

Anderson now co-pastors the church he grew up in with his brother Erik.

He began to write music for the church community to sing in their own services. "The more I got into ministry, and the more I interacted with people as a pastor, I would just look for ways to spill my heart out and to say 'What would it look like for us as a community to bless God on Sunday through song?' These songs came from that, and my personal prayer times."

The songs are on a new album Anderson recorded called Hymn & Chorus.

"I've always been drawn to hymns, and I made a practice of reading through the hymnal looking for lyrics that caught my attention." Anderson says that he loved the lyrics, and thought that many of the songs, for modern congregation could use new music.

Hymn & Chorus takes oldy hymn verses, and then Anderson penned new choruses to the songs.

"Hymns are sort of declarative in nature. But, then, how do we respond to that? You know, when you say a statement what's our response to that? That's why I called it Hymn & Chorus. So in the CD booklet you'll see, you know, 'written by Charles Wesley 1740, and Cody Anderson 2018.'

"It's kind of a neat compilation of old and new."