UPPERROOM is more than a church; it’s a community that offers space for prayer and worship in a steady cadence throughout the week. The Dallas-based collective, known for original songs like “Give Me Jesus,” featuring member Abbie Gamboa, cultivates an atmosphere of peace where people can come day and night to seek the Lord’s presence. The group recently released a new live album, “1350,” that reflects not only UPPERROOM’s unique worship culture, but their distinct creative culture as well — one that encourages museum visits and other artistic pursuits to inspire imagination as much as songwriting sessions.
Air1 recently chatted with UPPERROOM members Joel Figueroa and Jonathan Lewis to discuss their respective paths to Dallas, how a rhythm of worship has shaped their latest batch of songs and why they often heard dogs barking at their very first location.
Air1: How did each of you come to be a part of UPPERROOM?
Joel Figueroa: I found UPPERROOM through my friend. When I went to UPPERROOM, it was probably the first time I felt fully empowered to be myself in worship. I was struck by the simplicity of when you’re in a room with people and you sing to God. Recognizing God is listening to me when I’m singing to Him — that changed everything for me. We’re not singing to the ceiling; we’re not singing to the idea of God. This is more than singing to a room of people. This is me singing to God.
Jonathan Lewis: My introduction to UPPERROOM was actually through Joel. He invited me to come when he was leading worship one night. And so I came to this little community known as UPPERROOM, and I didn’t know what to expect. I walked into that place, and I feel like I found family. I feel like I found a tribe that wanted to look at God the same way I did.
Air1: When did you both, respectively, fall in love with music?
Joel Figueroa: My middle school and high school years were when I discovered that I loved music. I started playing violin for a couple years, and I fell in love with classical music. I just became obsessed with playing violin. And through violin, I remember my teacher telling me, “Oh, if you can hear it, you can sing it.” So I started testing my singing voice.
Jonathan Lewis: I grew up here in Texas in a small town called Mabank, about an hour outside of Dallas. I grew up in church all my life. My mom led worship, and so I was always around music. I was always around the things of church, around the things of the Lord. And just to see my life kind of take that journey has been awesome. It’s such a testimony of the Lord and His faithfulness to not just one generation, but many generations.
Air1: The two of you share a very close bond. What’s your relationship like?
Joel Figueroa: I moved my whole life to Dallas when I was 18. That’s where I met [Jonathan], actually. I learned the most foundational things about leading worship from this man. He just became like a big brother, or even a father to me in many ways. He’s helped me and continues to help me.
Jonathan Lewis: To see the journey of what the Lord has done in Joel has been amazing. I would have never known how the Lord was going to use his singing voice. So it’s just been an amazing journey to watch the Lord use that in his life.
Air1: How would you describe the impact UPPERROOM has had on your life?
Joel Figueroa: I want my life to look like the songs that I sing. I’m trying my best to live my life that way. So I think the message of UPPERROOM has marked a lot of how I live my life outside of our house. I’ve been there for 12, 13 years now, and I can just recall many moments of God meeting us when there were no cameras, when no one knew who we were; and we were trying our best to know how to respond to God in real time. And I still find that, in 2025, we’re trying our best to know how to respond to God in real time.
Air1: What does the creative process look like for UPPERROOM?
Jonathan Lewis: I think one thing that’s really unique for us is that we don’t really try to write for a project. When we get together to write, it’s for the sake of writing. Writing is a part of who I am. Writing is a part of who Joel is. Writing is a part of who a lot of us are. And so, we just try to be integrous to that. And so when we write, we don’t really write for something. We write for the integrity of, “Wait, God has put this inside of me.” And so it’s really freeing as an artist to have that liberty to just write. Especially as a creative, you’re simply writing because it’s who you are. And so it’s just a really beautiful process, I think.
Joel Figueroa: We have grown and continue to grow a culture of songwriting. I’m thinking about one of our worship leaders at UPPERROOM… His name is Brett Bell. He just released an amazing album, but he really is helping to carry songwriting in our community; and that begins to trickle down. I do notice that the more acquainted I am with writing, it also affects how I lead worship and how I can actually step off of the page and say something that’s not in the song because I’m already exercising that muscle of connecting words with melodies. And so I think creativity and worship are very connected.
Air1: What’s the significance behind the title of your new album, “1350”?
Joel Figueroa: I think street numbers have really marked our house. The first location we were at was 2727 Oak Lawn Avenue, and it was on top of a vet clinic. And so sometimes when we would be leading worship, you could hear dogs barking. It was the funniest thing. 1350 Manufacturing Boulevard was our next location. And so we named the album “1350” because that recording was one of the last things we did at that location. So many beautiful things happened at 1350 that it just felt very fitting to name it that. And now we’re at this other location; it’s 1911 Wall Street.
Air1: How would you sum up this particular collection of songs?
Joel Figueroa: This album kind of feels like us trying our best to tell God that we love Him with words and with music. Sometimes it’s more polished, sometimes it’s not; but it’s just us trying to say, “Lord, we love You. Have Your way here,” in a span of a lot of songs. It feels like a very enormous breadcrumb of what God has done in our house — big, but just a breadcrumb.
Jonathan Lewis: I feel like some of the language that you hear on this album is just a piece of what happens in this room every day from early in the morning to late at night; when the room is empty and when the room is filled. I’m so thankful that much of the way I see God now has been shaped through what has happened in this room. I hope these songs fill people with the same God I have seen.
Air1: In addition to being a church, UPPERROOM has established a daily rhythm of worship and prayer, open to the community. What does that look like?
Jonathan Lewis: If you walked into this room at 6 a.m., you may see five people there. You may see 20 people there, depending on the morning. But the value to minister to God, no matter how many people are in the room, has marked us. We’ve found this rhythm based off of Psalm 55. David makes this cry, where he says, “I’ve cried out to the Lord morning, noon and night.” So we have found this rhythm of crying out to the Lord, and the Lord hears us. He’s a God who listens. It’s really unique. I haven’t seen anything like it. I mean, you could come here at 9 a.m. or 3 p.m. and find a group of people having community, outside drinking coffee, or inside weeping. So it’s just a beautiful place.
Air1: What’s the story behind the anchor song “Consider Him”?
Joel Figueroa: It has to be one of my favorite tracks on the album. Abbie Gamboa leads it. I first heard that song probably two days before the recording, and Abbie asked me to be a part of it. I had the honor of being able to sing background vocals next to Abbie. I love leading with Abbie, so that song is so special for me personally. I did not write it, but when I hear those lyrics… it’s so visual. I think it gives people permission to remember the power of the covenant we have with God.
Air1: “The Church” is another standout selection on “1350.” UPPERROOM wrote it with key members of Bethel and Passion, so it represents a bunch of powerhouse worship collectives coming together. What was the intent behind this song?
Jonathan Lewis: I once heard somebody say that if you ever want to see what the Lord is doing, just look at what the enemy’s doing; and it’s the exact opposite. I think about that when I think about this song. If you look at what’s trying to infiltrate every part of culture — society, politics, church, family — it’s division. And so that’s what the enemy’s doing. It’s so clear. You don’t have to have a microscope to figure out what he’s doing. And so what is the Lord doing? It’s the exact opposite. He’s trying to unify and bridge places of separation. So I feel like this is a real unifying song for the church right now.
