Hillsong Young & Free is the new music ministry coming out of the youth of Australia's prolific songwriting church, Hillsong Church. The group, led by Laura Toggs, released their debut album We Are Young & Free last year, and it was one of my top 10 worship albums of 2013.

After a 2 hour rain delay, were blessed to worship with them in person on opening night at Creation Festival Northeast on June 25.

Hillsong's ministry is worldwide, and their songs are sung by millions weekly. Their songs, including "Mighty To Save," "Stronger," "Forever Reign," "God is Able" and "Hosanna" are an ongoing blessing to the global Church. Each new chapter of Hillsong's music ministry from Darlene Zschech to Reuben Morgan to Joel Houston has built on the previous legacy, and once again they are setting a new trend musically with the electronic dance music-based worship of this new music ministry.

The band opened with one of my favorite new worship songs "Wake," led by Hillsong United's "Oceans" singer Taya Smith. When we go to sleep and when we rise, we can all be praying the words of this song: "You will never fade away, Your love is here to stay, by my side, in my life, shining through me every day."

The energy and excitement of the song is infectious, and it makes me lift my hands up to God and dance before Him like David, unashamed, with all of my might. God enjoys when we have that abandon before Him. You won't be able to help but want to dance and sing along with this exciting new song of praise. 

This song celebrates the fact that once you are a follower of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit He is in your heart forever. We need to pray daily that the Holy Spirit shines the Light of Jesus through us. If you are having trouble living a biblical lifestyle, this song is a great way to connect with God daily in a fun and exciting way.

The band rotated singers with Melodie Wagner singing "Brighter" and "Back to Life," Alex Pappas singing "End of Days" and "Alive," Taya Smith singing "Love Goes On" and Aodhan King singing "Embers" and the gorgeous and anthemic worship song "Sinking Deep," which we discussed before the set for an upcoming devotional article. I can't get enough of the emotional bridge "Your love so deep, is washing over me, Your face is all I seek, You are my everything, Jesus Christ, You are my one desire, Lord hear my only cry, to know You all my life." That is a beautiful way to proclaim the biblical promises of the Deep Love of Jesus from Romans 8, and the desire to know Jesus from Philippians 3, and to allow those truths to "sink deep."

The themes of these celebratory songs are about proclaiming the promises from the Word of God in a contemporary musical style, in effect "singing a new song to the Lord." In the energetic closing song "Alive," the entire arena was jumping up and down (in the mud) and singing loudly "You are my freedom, We lift You higher, Your love never ending, You are alive in us!" It was an amazing way to celebrate that we are young, brand new Creations in Christ, and we are Free from the chains of sin. That's cause for a dance party.

Read Day 2 recap about the new Country Stage featuring Red Roots and the main stage set from For KING & COUNTRY.

Photos by Joey Zimmerman; see the full set here on our facebook page.