Wood Drake East to West arrives Sept. 25 with 11 songs that look for the love of God in places that do not always make it into worship music.

On East to West, Paul Ranheim and Kirk Sauers move through work, anxiety, relationships, money, failure and death while asking what God’s love means inside ordinary life.

The project is The Wood Drake Sessions’ first full-length recording in four years. Lucas Morton produced the album.

“Our hope with East to West is to use songs as a prism to behold the brilliant spectrum of God’s love, from its most grand expressions to its most intimate details,” Ranheim said.

‘East to West’ Looks Beyond Easy Answers

The album’s title comes from a song Ranheim and Sauers first released in 2024.

Inspired by Psalm 103, “East to West” begins from a place of doubt rather than certainty.

The song asks whether grace can run out and whether failure can finally push someone beyond God’s mercy.

That tension now becomes part of the larger Wood Drake East to West album.

Sauers said the project looks for God’s love in the ordinary pressures people carry every day.

“It’s a journey of God’s love with us, active through the daily frustrations of work, anxious nights, battles with depression, fear of a fragile economy, and even the thought that sits deep inside our hearts that God might finally ‘kick me out of the house’ for my failures.”

The Album Brings in Familiar Voices

East to West also expands The Wood Drake Sessions’ collaborative approach.

Skye Peterson appears on “Working for Good,” while Andrew Osenga leads “Bless The Lord O My Hands.” Caroline Cobb and Mission House are among the other guests featured across the project.

“Doxology Creed,” featuring Mission House, is written for congregational worship.

By contrast, “Working for Good” turns toward the quieter question of what God is doing during difficult seasons.

That range reflects the duo’s larger goal. Like The Rock Music’s recent Not Alone project, these songs are intended to serve churches without being limited to what happens inside a worship service.

The Wood Drake Sessions Keep Worship Connected to Life

Ranheim and Sauers started The Wood Drake Sessions in 2020 after years of songwriting and church leadership.

Ranheim serves as pastor of formation and creativity at Redeemer Longmont in Colorado. Sauers is music director at Faith Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

The project also provides lyrics, chord charts and other church resources for many of its songs.

Still, Ranheim said he does not want the music to remain confined to personal listening.

“These songs aren’t meant to stay trapped in our headphones,” he said.

That idea may be the clearest summary of East to West.

The album begins with the love of God, but it keeps asking what that love should change once the song ends.