Meet Caleb Wilber of Freedom City Collective / Caleb As A Producer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caleb Wilber.

Hi Caleb, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers. 
Jenn and I, over the last couple of years, have experienced a lot of ups and down, but what has stayed true is our authenticity and a desire for people to know us and the God we serve. 

We see life through lenses and experiences that shape us into the people we are today, and music for us has been one avenue for us to do that. Without people knowing who you are, what drives you, and the areas that you fail – we believe that good music loses its power. Authentic songwriting screams out for both mountain-top moments and the valley moments, the questions that may or may not need answers, the tensions that come from being human, declaring truth from the Lord. 

Learning the art of songwriting has been a journey that we have been on for several years now and it’s something that I (Caleb) personally try (not always succeed in) communicating what is going on deep inside my mind and heart. It is such an art to write a melody that is as sweet as honey but lyrics that are honest, real, and vulnerable. 

To know us is to know that. 

Before launching our ministry – Freedom City Collective, we were pastors inside the local church for 6 years at two churches around the country. A hallmark of our ministry is that we tried, every day, to lead people well and see them develop as people, artists/creatives/ and leaders. Seeing people walk forward as modern-day Levites. 

During our last church, it was not the best fit for us – We started January 1st, 2020. I am not sure I need to explain more and how challenging that year was for us, being at a new church, new staff, new community, and new town. However, the circumstance she of the pandemic was a gift. It truly was. 

During that year, God began to shift our heart towards the His Kingdom. Not a church being a castle. The whole Kingdom. He enlivened a heart for creatives who were hurt from a poor experience(s) in the church. The ones that love Jesus with their whole being but deconstructing the church as an organization. He gave us a heart for those who do not know Jesus yet and a longing to bring them into a community that knows and loves Jesus and wants to see their lives change just like ours has. 

We saw the need in churches, faith-based nonprofits, and businesses for worship leaders, musicians, and visual designers who serve in their local church with high character, incredibly gifted, and infectious chemistry who have a calling in their life to serve God’s Kingdom. In our culture as a whole, but especially in Christian culture, we love to consume art and media that reflects God and a Biblical worldview, but so often that it’s not valued the way we should. The starving artist is REAL phenomenon, and it is not looked upon as a REAL job. It is so confusing for a creatives and artists for whom creating is a lifestyle that many of us started when we were so young. 

We started Freedom City as a collective of these people, each with their own story that God is writing. We are growing this to be a platform of creativity that declares truth about God to both people who know and don’t Jesus. 

Our music is our of this story. The joyful and painful private moments that God uses to shape us. 

I am learning that God cares about me more than what we do for him or what I can create for him. I have learned that grinding does nothing but take our eyes off Jesus, and the business keeps us from being in a genuine community – it so often alienates others around us. If we allow him, He uses every moment to make us in His likeness. 

These truths are the reason why you have not seen a single for more than a year. We are growing healthy first before we can share an EP that is coming. 

Our dream is to not be famous but to fulfill, in God’s timing, the calling we believe he has instilled within us. 

To end this… To me, our story feels nothing but risky. Saying yes to God has led me to be nothing but uncomfortable and lonely here on earth. But I am learning to trust him, and he is my support, my comfort, my healer, my counselor, and my provider. 

I will risk everything to say ‘yes’ to him. 

If you want to see how our story continues to unfold, go follow Freedom City Collective (@freedomcitycollective) on Facebook or Instagram or Caleb and Jenn (@calebandjenn) on Instagram. We will post when God makes it clear it is time to share music again. 😀 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I will add… 

Mental health, anxiety, depression are areas we actively struggle with and seek counseling for weekly. 

The goal is to not be ‘healed’ from some of these things but learning strategies to cope. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
#1 Three years ago (March 15, 2021), we started Freedom City Collective. 

We resource the creative needs of churches, businesses, and faith-based non-profits. 

We position organizations for growth and impact in the marketing, worship, and live events spaces. 

We currently are producing our very first app in house that will allow our services to be more organized and to network with our 40+ growing creatives across the US. 

We believe that worship involves pastors/shepherds and all types of creatives. Amazing art and moment takes a community, and we have that. 

We seek to make this world smaller and more regional – not national and impersonal. 

We are currently based in Cincy and Columbus with a vision to have local sites led by their city leaders to be planted all across the US to resource needs in their city. 

Some of our offerings include in booking/worship support include worship leaders, musicians, and production operators. In marketing, it includes website development, photo, video, SEO, social media management, application development (this is newer), and more. Lastly, in events, we serve churches and corporate events with audio-video lighting equipment and rentals, catering, event management, and sponsorship management. 

We have so many partners that do way more and can always connect you with someone else if we do not offer it. 

On the way is content creation from our team – podcasts, YouTube, and documentaries that talk about real issues to music from our songwriters with the goal of sharing stories. 

The realness is that we cannot believe all that God has done already. We have many gaps and challenges that we are working to overcome. 

We are small. Intentional. We still have many gaps. Every day, we are trusting God with this vision and mission. 

It is NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE that we are living in, and God has done it ALL. 

#2 

Caleb also produces other artists on the side. 

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Three things One, you go by yourself to go fast. But you go far together. 

It takes giving up control and if you bring someone in, trust them. Don’t rely on your own strength and wisdom cause you are faulty. We all, deep down, know how awful we are – we see it all every day. 

This applies to organizations, to creating, to being in relationships. 

I am in the midst of learning this. Jenn and my team are all so patient with me as I navigate what true teamwork is, and so many of them are way ahead of me. I get to learn from them daily. 

Two, you are a human being, not a human doer. Stop overworking and grinding. You can fool yourself into thinking you can do it, but you only hurt yourself long-term. 

(This is more ambiguous, so feel free to cut this out if it does not make sense… I am still learning this) Three, there are some things in the world (like songwriting) that may have high impact and may make an impact others. Then there are some some things (like the trade of crunching numbers in accounting) that are modest/higher income/revenue but make a low impact. For some, high revenue and high impact can work together like a Grammy award-winning softwriter. However, for most, they are separate. This means you need to do multiple things while you grow in that trade. 

Pricing:

• Productions start at $2,000 per song (songwriting, recording, producing, to final master)

Contact Info:

• Website: freedomcitycollective.com
• Instagram: @freedomcitycollective / @calebandjenn
• Facebook: @freedomcitycollective / @calebandjenn
• Youtube: @freedomcitycollective / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtMMClMMzihBf8jpbVRV2TQ