This was a Friday night gathering where we “reinterpreted” the songs we sang on Sunday for a younger crowd…. SM: One of my first roles in Hillsong Church was as youth worship leader in our youth group, Powerhouse. You co-wrote on a song from those days, “Jesus, Lover Of My Soul,” along with Daniel Grul and John Ezzy. I think it was the combination of the song being a such a unique and fresh style of worship song tied with the fact that it was sung by a female worship leader, which at that time, was a rarity. This was our first significant offering to America. This didn’t change the fact that “Shout To The Lord” was a landmark song for Hillsong Church, especially with the release of the album of the same name in 1996. Churches today are far more willing to try new songs, where I think in the mid-nineties, songs stuck around for a lot longer, and there were many well-loved songs like “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” that dominated worship set lists for many years. SM: It was always surprising to me that “Shout To The Lord” never achieved the #1 spot on the U.S CCLI charts, but song activity in churches was so different back then. Looking back, can you describe what “Shout To The Lord” meant for Hillsong? CCLI charts-mostly because “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” dominated our charts from 1996 to 2003. Although “Shout To The Lord” by Darlene Zschech was the earliest signature song from Hillsong, it never reached #1 on the U.S. Hopefully our recordings have gotten better over the years, but one thing has never changed, at least from my perspective, and that’s our desire to reach all people through music and enable worship leaders all over the world. This took us on a journey of recording and developing resources for worship leaders. Over time I think we found a sound that was uniquely ours, and before long there was a demand from other churches to sing these songs in their own services. SM: Hillsong Music started out of the heart and desire of Pastor Brian Houston and other leaders of the time to write songs that reflected the heart of the church. Tell us about the early days of Hillsong Music. list (“Who You Say I Am” by Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan is #1 and “What A Beautiful Name” by Ben Fielding and Brooke Ligertwood is #2), we thought we’d take this opportunity to hear the Hillsong story from one of the people who know it best. Since Hillsong songs now occupy the #1 and #2 slots in the U.S. We caught up with Steve just prior to the release of the June 2019 CCLI Top Song Lists. Steve is the Manager of Hillsong Music Publishing and a valued member of the Hillsong worship team since the beginning. By CCLI When it comes to Hillsong Music, Steve McPherson has pretty much seen it all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |