Hillsong Worship – More. Beautiful. Worship.

CCM: We talked to the Passion leaders a few years ago when they were hosting conferences in multiple cities simultaneously, and were struck when they sensed how connected they felt to each location worshipping together at once. With Hillsong being a global ministry, what’s it like to be a worship leader there? Do you experience that kind of momentum, unity?
DW: Yeah, the word “unity” is important because it’s the place in the Bible where God says He commands a blessing, you know? Like, every time I get to lead, even when I don’t really want to, I still walk away pinching myself because of what you get to be a part of. Anything to do with the Kingdom of God, it’s so much bigger than you. You’re walking on very ancient roads when you’re worshipping God and you’re leading people to Christ. With us, we tend to not make it so much about our experience, but just making sure that our hearts are in a place where the people who are gathered, the congregation, we’re leading them. We’re literally taking them into a place where they can feel free to worship.

So, there’s a lot of times [in my mind] when I’m like, “I can’t believe we get to do this,” but my heart is more set on, “Alright, are we pastoring people? Are we conducting our lives in such a way that we are being responsible with what we’ve been given to steward?” So that’s what I experience more than anything when it comes to leading worship and being a part of Hillsong Church.

JG: I love that when we start our services in Australia, because the way the world turns, in the Hillsong organization we have our services first. And I love that from Friday night on in Brisbane, you start seeing the reports come through of the other services—photos and reports of what God is doing. Then through the weekend in Sydney, on through to Sunday and then still into Monday night, you can still see the ripple effect of what God has been doing across our entire church globally along the rotation of the earth.

L-R: Jad Gillies, Dave Ware

CCM: …because when Hillsong in Los Angeles is beginning their services, it’s basically Monday for you, right?
JG: They’re something like 19 hours behind, or something… I love that because you can see thread of God throughout the course of a weekend across our church. I’m sure that happens for a bunch of other churches, as well, but for me and from what I’ve witnessed, that’s what I feel honored to experience. I live in Sydney, Brooke lives in L.A., but we still kind-of “went” to the same service, if you get what I’m saying. I think that’s really cool.

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