From the Inside Out -- Joel Houston

Joel Houston’s pedigree could not be better for what he does. His parents, Brian and Bobbie, are the pastors of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia – they are its founders. His grandfather Frank was the senior pastor of the Sydney Christian Life Centre. The third generation of faith…Joel could easily think ‘How can I miss?’ in Christian music ministry in Sydney, where mom and dad and grandpa have been pillars. But, each one’s faith must be his own. That’s what the title of the song “From the Inside Out” and its lyrics that Joel wrote in 2005 imply. Externals like family name and upbringing might make you seem familiar, but what Joel says in the song seems to come from a different direction. Joel Houston learned music from an early age with his parents’ encouragement. It started with piano, but he soon gravitated to the guitar. In 2002, he sang with the Hillsong United’s debut album, and over the next several years continued to contribute both vocally and instrumentally, culminating when he became the group’s creative director in 2008. What had he learned up to that point? Perhaps it’s best said in what’s in the song’s words that he wrote at the midpoint of that six-year journey, when he was 26 years old, five years into the 21st Century. He calls God by two names: Everlasting and Neverending. They’re names that call to remembrance the grace and mercy that He extends to believers, not just once or a few times in one’s lifetime, but continually. And, as the song’s title indicates, Joel must have sensed even at this age that this quality of God is crucial, perhaps something that he observed in the two generations of Houstons who’d come before himself. It wouldn’t be surprising if their life examples told him that Christianity starts germinating inside each believer. Joel came from good stock – an advantage, right? But good parents and grandparents are, after all, outside of me. I need something internal to make me cry out in my own voice. Call out to His Spirit (often metaphorically seen as a dove, like in the picture), Joel Houston says in “From the Inside Out”. It emanates from the album “United We Stand” that was recorded in October 2005 and released in 2006. The Spirit is for each individual, but isn’t it great that when believers grasp that notion, that’s when we can all unite through Him, as the album’s name tells us? That’s what the members of Hillsong United promote. God on the inside – that’s where He starts. And, it’s where I keep goin’ to really find Him, over and over again. Biographic information on the composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Houston The Hillsong church website: http://www.hillsong.com/ Composer’s comments in a press interview: http://www.thefish.com/music/interviews/11618087/United-Front/