EDEN PRAIRIE — Australia's most popular worship band, Hillsong United, sprouted a decade ago from Hillsong Church's youth ministry. Drawing from a talented pool of youth and worship leaders, the Hillsong United band began recording live worship experiences in 1999 as a way to document what was happening in the ministry.
"A lot of the worship that has come from Hillsong over the years was birthed out of the youth ministry—songs like 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul,' 'My Redeemer,' 'I Give You My Heart' and many others emerged from our youth camps or services," Houston says. "The reason we first recorded a United album in 1999 was simply that there was an overflow of songs being written by the youth and were particularly youth-focused."
Since that time, the group has released seven live CDs and become one of the most popular worship bands in the world. Set to release their eighth CD and first-ever studio album, "All of the Above," in May, Hillsong United will perform at Grace Church in Eden Prairie May 29.
The overall United worship team at Hillsong Church involves about 200 young people including: musicians, vocalists, production specialists, artists, designers and media coordinators. The worship leaders who appear on Hillsong United CDs direct and disciple the youth-led worship teams of various ages.
Taking time away from their home church in Sydney, Australia, Hillsong United will play before an estimated 150,000 people between April and August. The band was also invited to lead the Sunday night worship service on April 22 hosted by Michael W. Smith during GMA Music Week in Nashville.
"We are really excited about coming back to North America and we're looking forward to taking songs, which have been specifically written to be sung corporately, to young people across the continent," said Joel Houston, Hillsong United's creative director and one of the lead worship leaders and songwriters. "With the tour and new record, our hope is to stir up a generation both locally and globally to live lives that are sold out for God and His cause—lives that are committed to being His hands and feet on the planet, and to bringing justice to the hurting and the broken."
Although it is the group's first studio album, the songs from "All of the Above" originated in the church's youth ministry.
"The response from our church to these songs tells us they are cross-generational. Our church loves them because they love worshipping Him," Houston said.
Hillsong United is also releasing a DVD project in 2008 called "The I Heart Revolution" in order to highlight what they have experienced on the road.
"'The I Heart Revolution' is in its early stages but as we traveled all around the world in the last 12 months … it became so clear that God is doing something significant among young people," Houston said. "Regardless of language or geography, whenever they worshipped God, something powerful happened. We captured this on tape and are pulling together a documentary that will share with the world what we had the privilege of seeing and being part of."
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