Passion Music – The ‘Whole Heart’ of worship

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Like clockwork, every new year brings another sold-out, stadium-sized weekend of worship from the renowned collective of songwriters and musicians under the Passion Music banner. Several weeks after each Passion Conference event, we’ve also grown accustomed to the annual chart-topping album release, filled with several inspired and encouraging new songs for the church to sing.

This year’s entry is Whole Heart (sixstepsrecords, Feb. 23, 2018—buy), a beloved set that worship leader Brett Younker says is a bit weightier than previous years. Together with artists like Crowder, Kristian Stanfill, Tauren Wells and more, the latest Passion release is everything you’ve grown to expect. Of course, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We sat down with Younker after the release of Whole Heart to hear about his own journey into the Passion worship movement and how they bring together such compelling releases year after year.

CCM Magazine: As you’ve become a part of the Passion worship movement yourself, I’d love to hear how that happened and what being a part of Passion means for you personally.
Brett Younker: When I got into Passion, I realized there was so much more than the music. It’s putting this idea on the table that everything exists for God, that we’re all here for the glory of God. As a college student, that completely changed the way I looked at things, that God was even about himself more than He was about me. When you first hear that, the idea shakes you a bit because you think, “Wait, God loves me.” Yes, he absolutely does but there’s more to the story.

As that began to unfold in my life, what that meant was that everything I did with my life, I wanted it to amplify who God is and how great God is. I’ve loved being a part of Passion. I came back after college to volunteer to be a door holder. Then at Passion City Church, I was the guy who hung around willing to do anything and everything. I was filling that space. In recent years, I’ve been able to serve on the music side.