The Listening Porch

How Architecture Shapes Our Art and Worship Expressions | The Listening Porch with Ray Hughes | Episode 7

In this conversation, we explore how worship, music, and even church architecture influence the way we encounter God. From the awe of ancient cathedrals to the simplicity of a living room or open field, we talk about how real worship isn’t confined to walls or production — it’s born in moments where love meets love.

We discuss the beauty of sacred spaces, the loss of wonder in modern worship, and what it looks like to encounter God with undivided attention.

What Is It About Porches? | The Listening Porch with Ray Hughes | Episode 6

In this episode of The Listening Porch, Ray Hughes shares the heart behind the name itself — why porches once mattered so much, how storytelling shaped families and cultures, and what we lose when we trade real connection for technology.

From Irish legends to front porch memories, this conversation reminds us that stories are sacred spaces — and that listening itself is an art form.

Paint Your Words with Music | The Listening Porch with Ray Hughes | Episode 5

In this episode of The Listening Porch, Ray Hughes and Eric Yun dive into the beauty of creative freedom — how every artist, poet, and musician carries the potential for a new revolution when they stop trying to fit in.

They discuss how styles evolve, how comparison can kill creativity, and how to rediscover the purity of making art just because it’s in you.

From the birth of musical genres to the heart behind prophetic art, this conversation will remind you that what finds its way into your heart will always find its way into your art.

Topics include:

• The power of cross-cultural creativity

• The danger of imitation without authenticity

• How revolutions in music start from genuine expression

• The art of listening for your own sound

Music Before It Was An Industry | The Listening Porch with Ray Hughes | Episode 4

In this episode of The Listening Porch, Ray Hughes explores what happens when music moves from being lived to being consumed.

Drawing from his book 107 Things I Forgot to Say About Worship, Creativity, and Music, Ray unpacks how the invention of technology—from the microphone to the radio—shifted music from porches and fields to studios and stages.

What began as a divine sound born from place and purpose became a business built on access and control. But somewhere in that evolution lies an invitation: to recover the song that’s still inside us.

Topics include:

- Why “listening to music” and “being a song” are two different things

- How the music industry evolved from access to control

- Biblical roots of music as sound, place, and presence

- The prophetic role of musicians, troubadours, and poets through history

- Why technology redefined what worship sounds like

- How to find your own “porch” again in a digital world

Referenced Scripture & Themes:

Psalm 33:3 — “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”

1 Samuel 10:5 — “You will meet a procession of prophets... playing lyres, tambourines, flutes, and harps before them.”

2 Chronicles 5:13–14 — The unity of musicians bringing down glory.

Ephesians 5:19 — “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”

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Write a Song Only God Will Hear | The Listening Porch with Ray Hughes | Episode 3

In this episode of The Listening Porch, Ray and Eric talk about the kind of creativity that no one else will ever see — songs, poems, prayers, and moments meant only for God.

They start with one of the short reflections from 107 Things I Forgot to Say — “Write a song today that you don’t want anyone to hear but God.” From there, the conversation unfolds into the tension between honesty and performance, filters and freedom, and how humility often shows up in the cracks of our lives.

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Highlights:

• Why the most honest songs might be the ones no one else hears

• How to remove creative filters by writing “only for God”

• The cracks of humility where God truly meets us

• David, Psalm 51, and the difference between Saul’s hardened heart and David’s broken one

• How hidden worship restores authenticity and intimacy with God