{"id":1207,"date":"2012-08-28T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2012-08-28T02:37:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T06:37:30","slug":"a-conversation-with-hillsong-live-worship-leader-reuben-morgan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2012\/08\/a-conversation-with-hillsong-live-worship-leader-reuben-morgan.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Hillsong Live worship leader Reuben Morgan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In 1992, American worship leaders began gradually embracing the music of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Before long, names like Darlene Zschech, Marty Sampson and Joel Houston became mainstays within the United States and eventually, songs like \u201cShout To The Lord,\u201d \u201cMy Hope,\u201d \u201cThe Stand,\u201d \u201cYou Said,\u201d \u201cMighty To Save,\u201d and \u201cForever Reign\u201d could be heard any given Sunday morning in churches all across the globe.<\/p>\n

This summer, Hillsong Live released its 21st album Cornerstone <\/em>and is about to embark on a U.S. tour starting in September. Whole Notes had a chance to catch up with Reuben Morgan, one of the group\u2019s primary leaders and songwriters, who talked about (among other things) how they approach each new project, how they came up with the album\u2019s theme, how the title track was born out of tragedy and why Hillsong has such a unique relationship with churches in America:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How much has changed, if anything, in the way the church has approached ministry over the past 20 years?<\/p>\n

Reuben Morgan: One have our biggest challenges if making sure that we are staying true to the mission that we feel called to do, which is writing songs for the church and helping the church connect with God. While the global ministry grows and the influence has been blessed in an amazing way, we are really conscious about staying focused on the families that come into our church every weekend and making sure that we\u2019re meeting their needs for whatever season they\u2019re in. We\u2019re really conscious of that and I pray we\u2019ll never move away from that core value of bringing the Word of God to Christians and helping them respond to God in song.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How thin is the line between exercising the gifts and talents afforded to the church and putting pressure on yourself to keep making music that impacts the world?<\/p>\n

Morgan: I would say there\u2019s a very, very thin line. We get to travel around and go to a lot of different countries. We love connecting with Christians all around the world. But we can\u2019t allow other people\u2019s expectations get in the way of our core message, which is the Gospel and helping people find Jesus. It is a fine line because personally as a writer you want to keep getting better. You want to stay sharp. You want to keep improving your craft. We\u2019re all very passionate about songwriting and that craft. Even personally, I want to see myself get better in that area. I feel like I have such a long way to go. That\u2019s all a part of it. But our core message needs to stay the same.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What kind of process does the team go through in order to maintain integrity on all levels\u2014personal, spiritual, artistic, lyrical, etc.?<\/p>\n

Morgan: It\u2019s a constant thing. We go through different seasons. There are seasons when we go through massive touring and we travel. And that\u2019s great, because that mission is part of who we are. It\u2019s amazing to meet people and lead worship. But that\u2019s always got to come out of being grounded in the local church. You always have to come back to that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What do you do both individually and collectively to tackle that desire to stay creatively fresh?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Morgan: We\u2019ve seen a lot of young talent come through recently and they\u2019re doing a lot of great stuff. Their perspective is inspiring and it keeps you on your toes. And just seeing people receive salvation in Christ is inspiring. There are always new Christians around and that helps you keep your edge. But through our travel, we also like to connect with our friends like Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin and Jason Ingram. I find those guys really inspiring. That\u2019s part of what you need as well.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you personally respond when you see the passion that comes out of a group like Jesus Culture?<\/p>\n

Morgan: I\u2019m not going to lie. I\u2019m a huge fan of Jesus Culture. I absolutely love them. I listen to them a lot. My wife loves them as well. I\u2019m unashamedly a Jesus Culture fan. I love the spontaneity. They\u2019ll play a song and it will go for like 25 minutes. That kind of worship, and how they lead people into the presence of God, is just awesome.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How do you usually prepare for a recording and make sure that you\u2019re putting out the right message at the right time?<\/p>\n

Morgan: It\u2019s something you approach with a belief and a hope that God will come through. For me, it\u2019s like, \u201cGod, we need You in this. We need You to help us with the message. Help us find the songs that you want the church to hear in this season.\u201d We depend on God to lead us. I mean, how can we know what people need? We\u2019ve got not idea. People come into our church from all walks of life and there are others who hear the music across the globe. How do we know what God needs to speak to them through the music? So we\u2019re really dependent on Him for that message. With Cornerstone<\/em>, it was that understanding that we are living in quite uncertain times. But no matter what is shaking around us, we can put our hope and our faith in Jesus\u2014the foundation and the cornerstone. When we started singing the song \u201cCornerstone,\u201d we had most of the other songs and we\u2019d been singing them, but it just felt like the right theme to put the pieces into place. That tied it all together. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. But we can put our trust in our foundation and our cornerstone.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Do you usually know in advance when a song is going to resonate in a big way or are there ever surprises and certain songs make a bigger impact than what you would have predicted?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Morgan: There are definitely some songs you sing and you just know there\u2019s something about it\u2014there\u2019s kind of a touch on it that\u2019s different. But there are no rules to that. Every time, it\u2019s a surprise and it\u2019s humbling to hear that people are singing the songs in different places and different parts of the world. We\u2019re always amazed by that. And there are some songs that are just for a season in our church. Not every church meet in the way that we do, so there are definitely some songs that are very specific to our church in Australia and other songs that seem to have a universal ring to them.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Have you already identified a song that you believe will be the thumbprint of this album?<\/p>\n

Morgan: It might be a little early to determine that, but we\u2019ve sung \u201cCornerstone\u201d in every service since we introduced it. It\u2019s one of those songs that\u2019s just relevant to where we\u2019re at as a church. We\u2019ve seen a little bit of that in other churches, but every time, it\u2019s a God thing. We just wait to see what God\u2019s going to do with it. There\u2019s also a song called \u201cBeneath the Waters I\u2019ll Rise,\u201d which is basically about identifying with Christ\u2019s death and resurrection. It\u2019s a beautiful song that we\u2019ve sung a lot at church. That potentially could be sung all over the world. There are some other amazing songs in there but I feel like the whole project is a step up for us as a team.<\/p>\n

Bonham: While the song \u201cCornerstone\u201d is very hopeful and inspirational, is there always perhaps a sort of revelatory message that\u2019s telling people the time is now to make sure that you\u2019re standing on solid ground?<\/p>\n

Morgan: We wrote the song when we were in Scandinavia about the same time as the shooting in Norway. We were there and that really shook everything up. Everybody knew somebody that was affected. We got together to write that song and we were thinking about, \u201cHow do you respond to an event like that? What do you say in a time like this? What our we going to give to our church to sing?\u201d The words at the end (from the old hymn) that say, \u201cMy hope is built on nothing less than Jesus\u2019 blood and righteousness,\u201d just seemed liked the right thing to be singing at the time. That just felt like the right thing. Really, it was our response to an event that took place. But it\u2019s been very universal. People relate to it because we\u2019re living in those times.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why is there such a special connection between your ministry and the American church?<\/p>\n

Morgan: I don\u2019t know. We definitely love America. It\u2019s a God connection. We\u2019ve been amazed at the way that the songs and the worship has been embraced by the church in America. To be honest, we\u2019re pretty humbled by it. We just love to see it and we\u2019re really grateful. We love any chance we get to meet with worship leaders and pastors. I do think that there\u2019s a special connection between Australia and America that way. It\u2019s kind of unexplainable. It\u2019s just one of those things. It\u2019s all about God\u2019s timing. We\u2019re thankful to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

To keep track of Hillsong Live\u2019s U.S. tour dates, check out the official website by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1992, American worship leaders began gradually embracing the music of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Before long, names like Darlene Zschech, Marty Sampson and Joel Houston became mainstays within the United States and eventually, songs like \u201cShout To The Lord,\u201d \u201cMy Hope,\u201d \u201cThe Stand,\u201d \u201cYou Said,\u201d \u201cMighty To Save,\u201d and \u201cForever Reign\u201d could…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,70,120,337],"tags":[49,111,171,82,50,74,165,48,172,183],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-music","category-music-feature","category-qa","category-tour-news","tag-chris-tomlin","tag-darlene-zschech","tag-hillsong-live","tag-hillsong-united","tag-jason-ingram","tag-jesus-culture","tag-joel-houston","tag-matt-redman","tag-reuben-morgan","tag-sydney-australia"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with Hillsong Live worship leader Reuben Morgan - Whole Notes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2012\/08\/a-conversation-with-hillsong-live-worship-leader-reuben-morgan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with Hillsong Live worship leader Reuben Morgan - Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1992, American worship leaders began gradually embracing the music of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Before long, names like Darlene Zschech, Marty Sampson and Joel Houston became mainstays within the United States and eventually, songs like \u201cShout To The Lord,\u201d \u201cMy Hope,\u201d \u201cThe Stand,\u201d \u201cYou Said,\u201d \u201cMighty To Save,\u201d and \u201cForever Reign\u201d could…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2012\/08\/a-conversation-with-hillsong-live-worship-leader-reuben-morgan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-28T12:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-28T06:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2012\/08\/Cornerstone-Coverjpg-300x300.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A conversation with Hillsong Live worship leader Reuben Morgan - Whole Notes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2012\/08\/a-conversation-with-hillsong-live-worship-leader-reuben-morgan.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A conversation with Hillsong Live worship leader Reuben Morgan - Whole Notes","og_description":"In 1992, American worship leaders began gradually embracing the music of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}