A worship pastor from Portage la Prairie has released a new song just in time for Easter.

Jake Fretz, a worship pastor at Prairie Alliance Church in Portage la Prairie, is showing he is also an artist.

Fretz says he has been writing songs for worship for almost 20 years.

"My heart is to really connect people with God and to do that in a moment, in an experience," Fretz says.

For Fretz, music and songwriting come from moments in daily life and grow to become an anthem through a church community.

"It becomes our story and then it becomes the story of others," the worship pastor shared. "It's honouring and it's humbling at the same time."

"Alive Alive" came out of a community tragedy.

"We had been writing it and prepping it for Easter Sunday," Fretz says, "but that same Easter weekend there was a tragedy in our community and our congregation had a ton of questions, a ton of hurt. They were mourning."

Fretz says their church community was faced with a decision to celebrate the joy of Easter or acknowledge and mourn their community's loss.

"One of the values that we have would be 'the empty grave is greater than my worst day,'" Fretz says.

Their church community chose to sing "Alive Alive" that weekend.

"We chose to celebrate and to trust the living God," Fretz says. "From there, it became this moment where we began to celebrate again and again."

Giving people words to connect with Jesus is something Fretz says he feels honoured to do, "but it's always humbling because you're there presenting your perspective on it."

Not every song is one the church community connects with, Fretz says, calling it a process that involves everyone from the artist to the last service attendee in the back row.

Fretz has begun releasing behind-the-song videos to fans on his Instagram page to connect with fans and share more about the song.

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Share HOPE: Share the story Alive Alive Behind the Song FOLLOW ON SPOTIFY (Link in Bio) https://open.spotify.com/artist/0lfaWY2ruoCgSKDT3uflMD?si=F5Lvec9YTf2TaeDP-7PC5A PURCHASE on ITUNES, or Follow on Apple Music https://music.apple.com/ca/album/alive-alive-single/1501877565 or Subscribe on Youtube jakefretz.com #hope #newmusic #newmusicalert #song #songwriter #spotify #spotifyplaylist #spotifyplaylists #spotifyplaylistsubmission #itunes #itunesmusic #youtube #applemusic #worship #worshipmusic #pac #worshipleader #canadianartist #canadianartists #cancon #radio #christianradio #klove #chvn #kfmradio #singersongwriter #singer #guitar #announcement #newrelease

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"'Alive Alive' is a song about hope and the resurrection. It would fit great into the Easter season and recent events, and beyond that, it has become a year-round anthem for our church family," says Fretz.

"Alive Alive" is available for listening and download anywhere online.