Hillsong worship leader Brooke Ligertwood was a guest speaker at Vous Conference 2018 last month and while describing the inspiration she draws while writing worship songs, she used an interesting analogy to help bring her point across.
"Songs are like poo," Ligertwood told Vous Church Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. after he praised her famous worship song "Hosanna" and asked where the ideas for her worship song come from.
"Whatever you feed yourself, is what's going to come out. You could say life is like that," she described. "Scripture is the answer to that. I love to read, I love the Bible, I have a bad back because of it."
Ligertwood explained that meditating and chewing on Scripture is what keeps her focused on the right lyrics to put together.
Adding, "Songs are not only like poo, but songs are almost like the ground that's fertilized by the manure of life."
Hillsong is widely known for their world-renowned worship songs, including "Shout to the Lord" and "Oceans." The artist who has been a part of the church for many years went on to say that every one of their songs is written by people who believe in building the church.
"When it comes to worship, I think that one of the special things about Hillsong Church is that every single one of our songwriters are people who are either serving in the church, volunteers or staff [but] none of us are on staff to write. We're in the business of building the church," she explained.
She referenced Proverbs 14:4 that says where there is no oxen, the stalls are clean.
"Meaning where there's life, there's mess. That's the reality of humanity," Ligertwood stated.
"I think that all of that manure, in all of its stench and warmth is a fertilizer for songs."
Earlier, Hillsong Church Senior Pastor Brian Houston revealed in an interview on TBN earlier this month that they've been "more intentional" about vetting their songs in the last decade, noting that all of Hillsong's music is reviewed by theologians.
"We do put more effort into the theology of our songs than we ever have before for that very reason (of being able to reach into the hearts of people around the world)," he said. "So we have people specifically who, every single song has to fit through a system of being tested by theologians.
"There's often a lot of grind, hopefully in a positive way, between the songwriter and getting it to a point where we feel like it's not going to be too easily misrepresented."
He noted that they usually do not throw a song out but they work on it until it's theologically sound. Otherwise, if they release a song "that's going to be misunderstood or theologically weak, believe me, we hear about it."
Hillsong now has churches in major cities throughout the world, including New York City, Los Angeles, London, Barcelona, Paris, Bali, and more. It's their mission to reach the unreachable cities of the world. Combined, the ministry reaches over 100,000 people weekly.
This article was originally published in The Christian Post and is re-published here with permission
