Though the music of Sydney, Australia’s Hillsong Church has impacted the global Church for over a decade, it has only been in recent years that the their youth worship team, Hillsong United has exploded. Their passionate lyrics and fresh brand of modern rock helped catapult them to top-selling status and earned the group the Gospel Music Association’s International Award, as well as Dove Award nominations for “Group of the Year” and “Praise and Worship Album.”

Amidst the growing zeal for the Aussie group, Hillsong United released their latest album, Tear Down The Walls.

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the sold-out Hillsong United concert at Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, April 15, 2010. There was a capacity crowd of almost 3,300 which was cheering non-stop as the band took the stage The signs in the lobby were for upcoming shows by The Fray, Def Leppard, Poison, The Eagles and Rihanna. The message and light of the Gospel was being brought into the darkness of the inner city of Philly. Here is my song-by-song description of the concert.

After a great drum intro with the crowd clapping along to "Chains be broken, Lives be healed, Christ is revealed" Hillsong United started with “You Deserve.” "What is this love given to us, You've shown me life, God's light shines, sing out to God, we live for You our God," which led into "Break Free." "Would you believe...won't you break free, get up and dance in His love." The crowd and band danced throughout the entire song, and it was a fun way to kick off the show, leading into "Look To You.""So I look to You, no one else will do...I know You live again, now I stand in Your grace again." There was so much energy in those first 3 songs, and it was a great way to get geared up for a night of worship.

Next came "Mighty To Save," one of the most powerful worship songs ever penned. "Everyone needs compassion, a love that's never failing" was on the screen, and the crowd erupted. Hillsong United's main songwriter and worship leader Joel Houston said: "We're going to give everything we have to God. Give this moment to God! We are singing to the God who was, and is, and is to come." I literally got goose bumps singing this amazing worship song amongst so many fellow believers and hearing the number one song sung in churches today, by the original artist, was breathtaking. As if that wasn’t powerful enough, next came "Hosanna," a personal favorite of mine with one of the best bridges. Brooke (Fraser) Ligertwood, who sings this on the recording, wasn't there, but the female vocalist was excellent.

The next block of songs were in that same great style of reflective worship including "All I Need Is You," a classic Hillsong United song, which was recently covered by Adie. The song kept the sincere flow going beautifully and reflected the theme of the night, "all I need is You Lord." We then sang "You Hold Me Now" with these stirring lyrics: "Where the streets are made of gold, no weeping, no hurt or pain, no suffering...no darkness, no sick or lame, no hiding, You Hold Me Now." We then all lost our voices singing "The Stand," also covered by Michael W. Smith, while everyone sang the chorus over and over. It was totally incredible as the entire crowd gave themselves over to the amazing lyrics: "I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all, I’ll stand my soul Lord to You surrendered, all I am is Yours." I was so moved by the audience's reaction and seeing thousands of hands raised in unison was very inspiring.


We got dancing and jamming again with the next three songs, starting with "Freedom Is Here." "All of my life I cannot deny Your love." The song ended with the crowd clapping in unison, which flowed great into "Take It All." "Jesus we're living for Your Name, we'll never be ashamed for You." Then they performed "No Reason To Hide," another great song about living a life unashamed for Jesus. It was great to see so many young people excited for God and gives me so much hope for our generation.

I can’t say enough about the flow of the songs as the set flowed perfectly into another block of reflective worship beginning with "Desert Song," another fantastic song written by Ligertwood, which had the crowd all singing along (“I will bring praise, I will bring praise, No weapon formed against me shall remain, I will rejoice, I will declare, God is my victory and He is here!”). Then, "Oh You Bring," another song recently covered by Adie, written by Matt Crocker. It is one of my favorite songs from Across The Earth/Tear Down The Walls. We all sang: "Jesus You're everything I need, All Honor, All Glory, All praise to You," which led to "Arms Open Wide." The crowd shouted:"All I have I give to You oh God, keep my heart in purity... oh, here I stand arms open wide, oh, I am Yours and You are mine." Jonathon Douglass, one of Hillsong United's lead singers, read Romans 8:38: "Nothing can separate us from God's love."

Douglass continued: "We travel all over the world, and we know we all need love. We want to invite you to receive the love of God." He prayed for people to pray along and accept Jesus and hundreds of people raised their hands as they accepted. Douglass then gave advice to new believers: "One, tell someone. Two, get or download and read the Bible, which is the Living Word of God. Three, go be the church and be part of a church community."

Houston followed up by saying: "I can't believe Jesus came and died for me, with all of my junk. We want to encourage everyone to live in the Truth of Jesus, to live in the Freedom that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus." We all belted out "From The Inside Out" together, another song that has really resonated with believers in churches throughout the world. Houston prayed to be changed from the inside out. That song is one of the most sincere worship songs ever, as it is very personal and extremely moving. Hillsong United continued by singing "With Everything." ("Let Hope Rise, every eye will see Jesus our God, great and mighty to be praised.") That song closed out an incredible set of totally vertical worship songs in honor and praise of our Savior. “With Everything” also closes out the Passion: Awakening album and was a perfect way to end the first two hours of non-stop singing to Jesus.

The crowd never stopped singing "whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh" until they came back and sang four more songs at a frenetic non-stop pace starting with "Your Name High" ("We are living to make Your Name high"), and then "Yours Forever." After the song, Douglass yelled out "WE LOVE YOU JESUS," and then Houston said, "We don't know if we've heard a louder crowd of singers than you," which led to us crying out for more songs.


Although we could have stopped on that note, it seemed as though the crowd’s energy and enthusiasm propelled the band to continue with "One Way," also covered by Phillips, Craig & Dean. The worship anthem had us all crying out together: “One way Jesus, You're the only one that I could live for!”

Houston closed by saying: "We started singing with Americans on the other side of the world, and we were told the Northeast didn't have much going on spiritually. Places like Boston, New York and Philadelphia have all showed us amazing energy and support. Anything is possible, and God wants to use all of us."

That led to the closing song "Solution." It's an energetic song dedicated to making the commitment to live for God. That was an extremely cool way to challenge us on our way out.

For two and a half hours, the 20 songs of worship at the Hillsong United concert were an awe-inspiring display of "being unashamed" of the Gospel as we sang to Jesus in our dark and fallen world. This is what a night of worship is all about--submitting completely to Jesus, leaving our pride and sin behind and committing to live every day for God. I can't say enough about the ministry and impact of this incredible band.

Something that struck me from the concert and my “behind the song” interview with Houston is that he doesn't seem to have a master plan or strategy for what Hillsong United does. He is truly overwhelmed with what God is doing in his life. He knows he's not worthy and can't believe he gets to do this. It reminds me of the fact that God "opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." He is true to His Word. There was one point in the concert during the encores where the look on Houston's face said it all.