Hillsong
The songs that began in Australia’s Hillsong congregation have been an integral part of the international Christian music scene and modern worship for nearly two decades, as well as the backbone of many contemporary worship songs over the years. With their latest song “No Other Name,” off their album of the same title, Hillsong continues to reach people and bring listeners into worship.
In 1992, Hillsong’s first-ever live album, The Power of Your Love, which featured singer/songwriters Darlene Zschech and Geoff Bullock on the popular title track, paved the way for countless popular praise songs to come including “Shout to the Lord,” “All Things Are Possible,” “Everything That Has Breath,” “I Live to Know You” and “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.”
Now with more than 50 albums to its credit, Hillsong has helped launch the career of several worship leaders including Zschech, Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston and Natasha Bedingfield, who’d eventually become one of the mainstream pop scene’s leading female artists with massive hits including “Unwritten” and “Pocket Full of Sunshine.”
Hillsong’s single “Cornerstone,” off the album of the same title, was inspired by an international tragedy that took place in Norway. A gunman brutally shot and killed over 70 innocent victims- including children. “We only just have the time to forget the face of the gunman when another chorus of sirens wail,” Reuben Morgan shares. “We have barely cleaned up after the flood when an earthquake strikes. When the earth shakes, we look to our feet and wonder what it is that we are standing on. Christ is the Cornerstone – it is Him that is the anchor.”
Like all of Hillsong’s projects, Cornerstone is a worshipful album with a profound message.”When you write songs that people sing as part of their worship to God there is a bit of your soul that shares the aches of those around you,” Reuben says. “When there is tragedy, the song of lament wakes up with you, and when there is joy, the sound of praise fills your ears. To some it might seem really odd to reach for a guitar when tears are falling on scuffed up shoes, but I really don’t know any other way of being.”
Following Cornerstone, Hillsong released the album Glorious Ruins – a live praise and worship album, full of infectious and inspiring music. “It’s a vivid image which captures the imagination and stirs the soul,” said Brian Houston, Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church explains, “Ruins can speak of crushing defeat or perhaps of something abandoned, but the good news today is that the ruins come to life. …Through Jesus Christ what we look at is ruins that become glorious.”
