There’s a mother who every morning gets up and worships God by looking after her kids. And she’s not singing and she’s not jumping up and down and clapping but maybe she’s packing a lunch. She’s looking after the miracle that God gave her and that is a life of worship. That is a heart after God.

And what I say in the corporate expression is - and this is just my definition - but worship is a conversation between friends and if God has called me His friend there’s something about honouring Him. And conversation is an important phrase because a lot of times we co-mingle "God, you’re great, we love you, we worship you, we lift our hands", and we leave and we never listen for the response [from God] because God does want to encourage our hearts. God does want to speak to us and sometimes you just need enough of that exhale in the moment to let God do only what He can do. So worship to me is a conversation between friends.

What can we expect from Israel Houghton five years from now?

Whew, well you know I haven’t made the turn yet but I’ve got the blinker on. I’ve been telling everybody, when I turn 40, I expect to make some significant changes and that’s in about three years. But I’ve seen people who I really admire sort of try and perpetuate something that is really for another generation so that doesn’t make them obsolete. If anything that makes them more necessary to say, "Okay I’m going to take whatever platform I’ve been given thus far and whatever relationships I’ve been blessed to be apart of cultivating and make a way for another generation."

And for me, I think when I look at "New Breed" and when I look at my daughter’s generation, we’re actually doing something with her and her friends called "New Breed Next" where we’re looking at that next generation, and saying, okay you go for it. And I think I can get as excited about being on the side of the stage and watching that next generation win their generation as I can about being on the stage and being front and centre.

So I think five years from now, if you see me, you’re going to see me in a bit of a different capacity and just promoting and helping other people realise their dreams. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop leading worship. That is always going to be a part of what I do.

Israel Houghton next CD, entitled "The Power of One", is set to release March 24.