Aaron Shust – Finding A Way

It might eventually get chosen to be on a recording and the people within the record label and the publishers will hear it, but there’s something so special about having a song at that stage where it’s not been critiqued, when it’s just you and the Lord with these songs. It might not be special in terms of commercial viability but the Lord doesn’t care about that. When an album is released, it’s like that line from Polar Express where the boy’s going to sleep in the beginning and Tom Hanks‘ character says, “It’s the end of the magic.” [Laughs] That’s how it feels when an album is released.

CCM: So how did you know what to pick?
AS: We made a plan from the beginning to have five pre-existing songs, basically the songs I do in my set from the last ten or eleven years. Obviously, we had to do “My Savior My God” and “My Hope Is In You.” I’ve been doing “God Of Brilliant Lights” for a long time. I love playing that song. Recently I’d covered Hillsong UNITED‘s “Cornerstone” and Bethel Music‘s “Ever Be.” Those will be standards for a long time because they’re well loved songs. Doing all of these songs the way we performed them live was special, especially “My Savior My God.” We’ve really never performed it the way it was originally recorded in 2004, so it was nice to get a different recording out there.

When it comes to songs like “Cornerstone” or “Ever Be,” I always love finding songs that are bubbling up within the church that are meaningful to me and recording those as well. I want to bring the feeling of worship into my concerts. “Death Was Arrested” is a song that was born at North Point Church. It’s the same thing with “Resurrecting” from Elevation Church.

It’s not all about having to write a song. Ten years ago, I really struggled with that. I only wanted to record songs that I wrote. On my second album, I was willing to co-write a bit. Over the years, I hope it’s a sign of maturity that I’m open to more and more co-writes or even covering songs that I love. I just want to craft the best worship experience possible for the people who listen to my albums—even if that means I had nothing to do with the writing of the song.

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