Interview: Russell Fragar, Former Hillsong Music Pastor, on 'Shout to the Lord' and New Album
Once upon a time, there was a little church called Hills Christian Life Centre located right down south in the suburb of Sydney Australia called Castle Hill. The church was just emerging.... they did not own a building, they were struggling financially, they were just tiny in terms of church attenders. But God has birthed with them a big dream. A dream that one day millions would be singing to their music. From humble beginnings senior pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston together with their worship leaders Darlene Zschech, Russell Fragar and Geoff Bullock stepped out in faith. Now, Hillsong Music has revolutionized worship forever. With songs like "Shout to the Lord," "Mighty to Save," "Worthy is the Lamb" and their latest "Glorious Ruins," Hillsong music has made up a huge proportion of worship music sung across churches today.
BreatheCast is privileged enough to spend some time to talk with Hillsong's former worship pastor Russell Fragar for an exclusive interview. Fragar was the man instrumental in getting Hillsong's first International hit album "Shout to the Lord" released. He produced the first 10 albums for Hillsong Live with Darlene Zschech. And he wrote many of their staples such as "People Get Ready," "Love You So Much" and "Holy Spirit Rain Down."
BreatheCast: Let's start with your time with Hillsong Church. Tell our readers, what was your role at Hillsong Church?
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We started attending Hillsong simply because it was a great church for our family. Chris and I were in our early 30's, Michelle was aged 5 and Alana was still a baby. I had no intention of becoming involved in the worship team and in fact after years in the music business I had my first normal (ie not in music) job. I was about to sell all my instruments, declare myself fully recovered and become officially a non-musician.
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