Award-winning and multi-platinum selling Christian music/modern worship powerhouse, Hillsong Worship, has recently release its latest album, Take Heart (Again). The project was a collaborative expression of familiar yet newly potent declarations of praise featuring members from Hillsong Worship, Hillsong UNITED, and Hillsong Young & Free. Take Heart (Again) is a continuation of the faith-filled messages that Hillsong Worship was built on and a reminder that “taking heart” is not a one-time occurrence. Consisting of both timeless and more recent songs from the group’s extensive catalogue, many of the tracks take on a new meaning in our current world where declarations of hope, faith, and God’s love are so important.

CCMmagazine.com is pleased to bring you this question and answer interview with members of the Hillsong Worship team.

 

CCM: Tell us about the upcoming “Take Heart (Again)” album. How does this project differ from previous HW releases?
Brooke Ligertwood: This album is all three worship expressions of Hillsong Church (Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United and Hillsong Young & Free), bringing a brand-new album of familiar yet newly potent declarations of Christ’s praise. As a global church with local campuses all over the world, and thus a global worship team with extraordinary geographic spread, the few times we as a team come together around our key conferences are special – and it’s mostly within these contexts that our live album recordings are created. So when a pandemic grounded planes and closed borders, we each and all rallied and leaned in to building Church through locational disparity but global connectivity. And, as we led our church in worship virtually, we found a storehouse of declarations that – though written in seasons past – were powerful, timely and possibly even essential for RIGHT NOW. Hence, Take Heart (Again), recorded and captured across three continents and as many time zones, tells the story of these declarations and confessions sung and prophesied anew—again, for right now.

CCM: Why did you choose to re-release these songs to the public?
Brooke Ligertwood: I think songs occupy such a special place in our lives. Certainly, in the lives of believers, songs are memorials to things God has done. They are evidence and testimony that God is moving, right now. In a season like this, when we are coming together just like every other local church to pull off services week after week, we’ve revisited a lot of the declarations and confessions that have been a part of our legacy of song.

CCM: What are some of the classic Hillsong Worship tunes people can expect to hear on this album?
Brooke Ligertwood: We’re including older songs like “Hosanna,” “Eagle’s Wings,” “Broken Vessels,” all the way through to more recent favorites like “Who You Say I Am,” “New Wine,” “Still,” and so much more.

CCM: Tell us about the song selection process.
Brooke Ligertwood: We were deliberate about choosing songs for this project that could be sung as confessions—critical confessions about Christ’s Lordship, about peace, about stillness in the presence of God, and about our hope being none but Jesus.

CCM: Take Heart (Again) is the album title. What is the meaning behind it, and what significance does it have in relation to our current global culture?
Brooke Ligertwood: Ultimately, the album title encapsulates our prayer that we would take heart as believers in this season. That as we read the next headline, or receive the next report, whether good or bad, we would take heart again, put our hope in Jesus again, and confess his Lordship again. He has been faithful in the past and He will be faithful again. So we can take heart (again).

CCM: Where did the idea or concept of the album come from?
Joel Houston: We thought it would be really awesome to pull together on a project, specific to this season that would be a blessing to people and would help them in some way. That’s kind of where this thing started.

CCM: The year 2020 has been a pretty unusual year, and so many people have returned to things that are familiar to comfort them through this year of uncertainty. Did that have anything to do with deciding to release this project at this time?
Joel Houston: You know, people are suffering in different ways with different things. However, in the midst of it, God is faithful, and his grace is good enough for every single person—it’s sufficient. So to say something like take heart, the response might be, “yeah well didn’t we sing that song like however long ago on the aftermath album, we took heart then”, and it’s like, no, no, it’s not just a once off, it’s every day. Take heart again, breathe again, trust God again, take another step again, believe again, turn up again, love your neighbor again, be kind to people again, be patient again, all that good stuff.

CCM: What are some of your personal, all-time favorite Hillsong Worship anthems?
Laura Toggs: There are songs that take me back to my childhood when I was forming my own faith, forming my own belief, and getting that revelation of who Jesus is for myself—songs like “Eagle’s Wings” and “Still.” I have distinct memories as child being in the room when those songs were sung for the very first time. It just reminds me of this kind of soundtrack to my relationship with Jesus.

CCM: What’s your vision for this album and what do you hope it brings to those who hear it?
Laura Toggs: I get overwhelmed thinking about the world we live in and how tumultuous it is, how it’s so volatile. Anything could happen and nothing would actually surprise us because the times are so weird and so crazy. But, I love the fact that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So, when I think about these songs, and people hearing these songs for the very first time and having moments where they encounter the presence of God and the saving grace of Jesus, it fills me with so much hope.
Brooke Ligertwood: May these words and melodies that may be familiar to you “hit different” this time. May they be EXACTLY the promises you needed to remember, and may they be propelled into fulfillment and fruition in your spirit as you worship Jesus, in whom every promise is Yes and Amen.

CCM: Is there anything else you want listeners to know about the upcoming album and other plans on the horizon for Hillsong Worship?
Brooke Ligertwood: As we pray again, lament again, rejoice again, declare again, love mercy again, PRAISE again—we do so in absolute faith that we will see His goodness again, experience His presence again and see Him keep His promises again. We will take heart, again, and God will be faithful again, because faithfulness is not just what He does—it’s who HE is.

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