Exclusive Interview: Tim Hughes - "Holding Nothing Back"

|PIC1|Months after the successful launch of worship training school Worship Central and a move to Holy Trinity Brompton Church (HTB) in London, popular British worship leader Tim Hughes is now launching his third studio project Holding Nothing Back. In this interview, the smiley worship leader indeed holds nothing back, as he gives Christian Today a heads up on the new album and Worship Central.

How has the Worship Central been developing so far?

It's been going great! We're getting about 900 worship leaders and musicians to each of the days, and we're getting great response from the podcast and website. There's always a great need for training and resourcing, and it's great to see a community of worship leaders developing.

Has there been an increase in participants since the first workshop?

I think we see that 50 per cent of the people are the same, and the rest are new. So it's still growing - we're still getting the word out there, and new people are coming in... it's all really exciting.

Have you had any worship training retreats yet?

We actually had our retreat two weeks ago. We took 20 worship leaders away for three nights, along with Martyn Layzell (worship pastor, St Aldates)... There was teaching, songwriting, and we prayed and worshipped together. It was really a great time!

The next Worship Central gathering will be a 'Bring your Pastor' event. What is that all about?

The pastors of our churches are the 'chief leader-worshippers'. We want to see churches change in a way that they worship deeper in a more developed way. For that, we need to get the pastors on board. I'm a worship leader, but I could only do as much as my leader gives me permission to. As worship leaders and pastors, we want to explore what worship is together, and what's going on with the church. Especially since there have been so many walls in our community over worship - songs and styles. We want to be able to pray for our leaders, and encourage them. We're going to have Mike Pivalachi and Nicky Gumbel speaking at the event.

And how are things going with Holy Trinity Brompton Church (HTB)?

It's been great, really lovely. With Alpha and Worship Central, we've been learning a lot. We love being in London and it's very exciting. Obviously we're still linked with Soul Survivor and Mike Pivalachi.

So what's the overall theme of you new album Holding Nothing Back?

We live in a time when the stakes are high in the church. So much apathy that's affecting our generation... we need the church to rise up and to be passionate about God and dedicated in the lives that we live. Taking up the Gospel and Good News, loving the unlovable, and caring for the poor and the weak. So we really need to be taking huge steps. I guess the songs are kind of a full-on expressive response - raw and honest - of who God is. I hope the songs encourage people to get excited about God - to get excited about serving Him - and that they really relate to people.

What's the story behind the first track on the album, "Happy Day"?

There's a theologian at HTB, Graham Tomlin, who once told me that there are very few contemporary songs about the resurrection. It was Easter time... and he was telling me that there are lots of songs about the cross but less about Jesus being alive. So that really got me thinking - and I was actually reading this book, and it had this quote from Michelangelo. He laid out a challenge to fellow artists who depict Christ in His death. He said, 'Paint Him instead the Lord of life'. I remember one morning just jamming around with my guitar and I started singing out some of these lines and pretty quickly, it all came together. So in one sense, it was that this is an amazing truth that we need to sing, and celebrate that Jesus is alive and that makes all the difference.

Do you think any of the songs have the potential to become worldwide hits like some of your previous singles ("Here I am to Worship" and "Beautiful One")?

Sometimes the songs that you think are going to do great don't, and sometimes, songs that you're less sure about do well. There are different songs that I love. For me, I write the songs, so they're all quite personal and have meaning for me, so I don't know what will connect with people.

Who is the woman singing with you on "Clinging to the Cross"? Is she your wife Rachel?

No! (laughs) It's a lady called Brooke Fraser - she's actually from New Zealand. She's had a massive mainstream success there. My wife and I got to know her when we were in Australia - she's part of the Hillsong church there.

We just loved her heart, and she was great fun, and had an incredible voice. I thought it would be fun if we did a duet.

How is this project different from your previous ones?

I think it's a lot rawer and edgier in the sound. I tried to take more risks. I tried to push myself vocally, songwriting-wise, production-wise. I hope that every album will get better and better... For me, this is the album I'm most happy with from what I've ever done.

So what will happen after you release the album?

I'll continue developing stuff with Worship Central. And we'll also be doing stuff in America. And obviously there's Soul Survivor... In the summer, we're looking at different possibilities.

The last time we met at HTB you mentioned that you wanted to see the church step out more in setting musical trends. Do you think that's improved?

I think we're still stepping out. I think we all sing with different expressions. Guys like 29th Chapter sing rap and worship together. We had some amazing classical nights of worship at church. In terms of church setting the trends for music we're still praying, hoping. We'll just have to wait and see... I think the exciting thing is that we can't just hype up on our own strength. It's got to be God doing it, so we've just got to be faithful with our part.