Interview: Israel Houghton – Singer, Songwriter and Producer - Page 2

That was a very interesting analogy. When you look back at your life, is there a particular string of events that led you to Lakewood? For many years, you have served as the church's worship leader.

You know, if there is a string of events it's really a string of relationships. I've always emphasized relationship over opportunity. I don't know how that has happened. It hasn't been like, "Make sure you emphasize relationship." I love people and I love structure that comes with honoring people and honoring relationships and putting those first over opportunity. There are a lot of things that I've done relationally that have been at the expense of opportunities, but I always felt you're going to get a lot more longevity out of having a relationship than a one-time opportunity. In those things like that, six degrees of separation happened with different relationships that sort of culminated into a friend of mine – the worship leader at Lakewood – say, "I need you to come here and consider helping us on the worship team." Out of that has come eight years of being there full-time.

Having been in the music industry for almost two decades now, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned, either spiritually or professionally?

Wow, man. I think for me it's sort of what I said – relationships are key. Secondly, you'll find really quickly that I draw a lot of my analogies from movies. I love going to movies. Remember the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and he's at that final pinnacle moment where he's about to get the Holy Grail and he's got one more little puzzle to put together? The line was, "Only penitent men will pass." His father's outside the cave but he's dying and Indy was trying to figure out what it means to be a penitent. Do I punish myself? What is it? Just at the last second he realizes by looking at these skulls at his feet that the higher you get, the lower you got to be. So penitence in this instance is humility. The bigger the platform gets, the greater the accolades are, the more influence you have, the lower you got to be. The higher the stage, the lower you got to be in humility and just being a humble person.

I've seen a lot of people willing to step on people's heads and burn bridges to get what they need to get. In climbing the stairs to success, they're stepping on people who are also on their way up. I heard somebody say a long time ago, "Be careful who you step on on your way up because you're bound to see them on your way back down." So for me, it really is hand in hand: valuing relationship and keeping a humble heart because I think that's what enables you to be respected and have longevity. I never got involved in this for a quick shot at greatness. I never wanted to be the gimmick guy and do one song. I never wanted to be Ice, Ice Baby. I wanted to have a long career and longevity at what I'm doing. Whether I was onstage or off of it, I love what I do and I love helping other people accomplish their dreams as well. I think those characteristics are what makes for a long life.

Article Author: Clayton Perry

Clayton Perry's mission parallels that of John Hope Franklin, Marcus Garvey and Carter G. Woodson. As the founder of the NUBIANO Project, Perry facilitates the design of projects that give voice to the Black diaspora, empower the Black community, …

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