Aaron Shust
Over the past decade, Aaron Shust has earned a reputation as one of Christian music’s most compelling songwriters and a vocalist of considerable depth and passion. He was named both New Artist and Songwriter of the Year at the 2007 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and the impact of his song, “My Savior My God” was recognized with the Song of the Year honor. He has continued to build on that early promise to become one of the community’s most creative and trusted voices.
Shust is well known for such hits as “My Hope is in You,” which spent 14 weeks at No. 1, “No One Higher,” which hit the summit on the Inspirational chart and “Ever Be,” which made its way to No. 3 on the NCA chart.
As potent as Shust’s voice is alone, there’s a special anointing that happens when he engages other believers in worship, and that anointing is readily evident on his new live album Love Made a Way, a collection of familiar worship anthems mingled with powerful new songs. As he completed his first decade as a recording artist though, it just seemed like the right time. “Hitting the 10-year mark, it felt like a new season, like a little celebration, a tip of the hat to the first 10 years.
That spirit of celebration infuses every moment on Love Made a Waywith a sense of purpose and exuberance. “To hear voices in a crowd singing along changes the game for me,” says Shust, a Pennsylvania native who led worship in church for years before gaining a national platform as a recording artist.
Shust was very intentional in choosing songs for Love Made a Way. “Five are songs that I’ve recorded over the past twelve years, standards that I’m going to play every night in concert,” he says. “And some of those songs we play very differently from the original recordings.
The album’s first single, “You Redeem”, is a perfect representation of the passion that reverberates throughout the project. There’s been some stuff that has happened in our family over the past couple years that brought about some of these lyrics that were just really important to us, Lies that were meant to defame will be crushed by the truth that You speak. The whole song addresses God being God. We are all fallen creatures and we try to elevate ourselves by lowering others. We’ve all had lies spoken to us, spoken about us, spoken over us, but God redeems those moments.
In writing and selecting songs for this collection, Shust wanted the songs to be worshipful, yet direct and unyielding. “I went into every writing session saying, ‘I want to write praise and worship, but I want the worship to be bold, confident,’” says Shust. The most subdued song is “You Redeem,” but there’s such a strength to it. There’s such a confidence in our God as we worship Him saying, ‘You do this. You do that. These are the things You do. This is the way You are. We are declaring Your character and declaring Your attributes. We are declaring You as worthy. We are declaring You as higher than us and that’s why You are worthy of our praise and worship.’”
“My favorite line from this whole record is from the song “Belong”. It’s actually a prayer inspired by Ezekiel 36 & 37: Take this flesh and bone / Breathe Your life within / Take this heart of stone / Make it beat again. It attributes the characteristics of Life-Giver to God. Why would we ask someone to breathe life or make our hearts beat again, if we didn’t believe they could do it?”
“I feel really privileged to continue to make music. I could summarize everything with one Scripture verse, it’s a new favorite of mine and I’m going to keep this for the rest of my life—Psalm 45:1. The second line says, I address my verses to the King. It’s my favorite thing, not just to sing about God, but to sing to Him. He hears our praises. The Bible says He inhabits the praises of His people. He lives within the praises of His people! I consider it a super high privilege to be able to address my verses to the King. I love it!”
aaronshust.com
