Israel Houghton to Shed Private Persona in New Music Documentary (Interview)
Now that he is gearing up to release his music documentary style film for one night, he hopes people will be moved by the experience.
"We're always trying to elevate the platform of Christian and gospel music, church music, worship music and not just elevate it to our comfortable corner of the earth that we maintain an international and global mindset for what we're doing," Houghton told CP. "My hope is that when people watch it they'll get to know us, they'll get to know our story a little bit better, understand our heart a little bit better and experience what tens of thousands of people there experienced."
As a worship leader for Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, among the largest Protestant church in the country led by Pastor Joel Osteen, Houghton has ministered to countless people worldwide through song, both in person and across multimedia platforms. After over 20 years in ministry, the singer-songwriter was still surprised at the response he received while creating his latest album and upcoming documentary in Asia.
"I think that worship and gospel, and I don't mean gospel as a style as much as I mean gospel as a message... the thing that stood out to me the most is that it transcends language barriers, cultural barriers, traditional barriers and that sort of thing," he revealed. "There's something about pointing people to God that engages people regardless of their language, regardless of their history. In Asia these arenas were being sold out and we were doing brand new songs they've never heard."
Houghton insisted that the presence of God witnessed by Isreal & NewBreed in Asia last year is something worth sharing with the world.
"It's just a hunger for the presence of God. So you carry that and invite people into that, it could be significant," he said. "Just the passion of the usually kind of stoic Asian culture, the responses were wild. It was amazing."
To learn more about which theaters will broadcasting "Israel Houghton & NewBreed - Covered: Alive in Asia" or to purchase tickets online, please visit www.FathomEvents.com.
