Faith Filled Family Magazine September 2016 | Page 97

based Christian band, Hillsong
UNITED. The music of Hillsong
is so popular it is estimated that
on any given Sunday, more than
50 million church goers around
the world are singing their songs.
What specific qualifications
does an individual need to
have to become a member of
the Hillsong United Worship
Band?
The No. 1 qualification for any
member of a worship band, not
just Hillsong but any band that
sings praises to the Lord, is calling. The guys and gals in UNITED
have been called by God to lead
others into His presence through
music. They may look and sound
like a “rock band,” but as we who
worship in our own churches
each week know, they’re much
more than that. They’re the ministers in the church who create
an atmosphere of praise for the
rest of us to glorify and glory in
the presence of God.
For those that may not know,
tell us some history about
the band. How was Hillsong
United birthed? Whose idea
was it to begin such a band?
UNITED began as a youth worship band at Hillsong Church’s
main campus in Sydney, Australia. At first, they were just a
bunch of friends with an interest in and a talent for music who
liked to get together and play.
And as they did, they truly began
to understand and practice the
call on their lives to be worship
leaders more than musicians
and singers. To this day, every
member of the group who was
there at the beginning is shocked
that from such rather uninspiring
beginnings something as massive and influential as UNITED

was born. But that’s the way God
works, right?
There is a different, what I
prefer to as a “Theme” for
each album, such as One, King
Of Majesty, Oceans, to name
a few.. ..What events and or
circumstance spur ideas for
each album’s title? What is the
mission/purpose of “Let Hope
Rise”?
That’s a very astute observation. The band, and you’ll see
this in the movie, sets out at the
beginning of each new project
with a given Scripture in mind
that will inform the content of
the entire album. It’s not a limiting thing – it’s just that the songs
all are rooted in some way in the
themes of that verse. For the