Few gospel acts cross racial, generational and denominational boundaries, and over the years, you have defied being labeled as a purely Gospel artist or a black Gospel artist. What obstacles did you have to overcome for your music to be judged solely on its content?
Whisper Out Loud was very challenging because it came out at a time where – I hate to use the word segregation – but that basically was what was going on. I sat across from executives who said, "Man, you're not white enough for this." I sat across from other executives who said, "You're not black enough for this." I found myself in the middle very, very confused. At the same time, I'm watching Carlos Santana put out the Supernatural record and I'm going, "You got a hip hop artist, black artist, country artist on this one record. Why does MTV get it and the church and the kingdom of God which I love being a part of doesn't get it at all? Why are we still 25 years behind the times?" I found myself very frustrated, very hurt sometimes, terribly disappointed in the way people looked at what we do.
For me, I was very happy – and still am very happy – when worship music really started to take center stage because worship in its truest sense has nothing to do with us and has nothing to do with color and has nothing to do with style or culture. It has everything to do with honoring God and putting our hearts in the right place and connect with Him. At that point, suddenly we started becoming more and more relevant in the times that we're in because the emphasis now is not "What would you prefer we play today?" It's "God, what would you prefer that we offer up to You?" When people get on that page, suddenly we found ourselves far more effective and far more relevant. Frankly, we're just getting started. We feel like in that context, we've got a long way to go.
I'm relatively young and I'm concerned that a lot of people my age have just stopped attending church. What's one way you get youth excited about church and create a ministry that really empowers young people?
I think what's happening is you're seeing a true generation gap right now especially as it relates to the church. I'm going to wax philosophical here for a second but anytime you make a copy of a copy – you know back in the day when you had a double cassette machine, a dubbing machine and you take a cassette and you'd make a copy of that and give it to your friend. Then you use the copy to make another copy. When you do that philosophically, they say that you lose a generation of quality. I think that's part of what we're dealing with at church right now. We've lost a generation. We have not necessarily rejected God but we have sort of rejected the God of our parents, the God of our parents' church, the traditions.
Article comments
1 - David
In reading this article I am deeply touched by the words of both the journalist and My Favorite Gospel Artist Israel Houghton. I'm always wondering what's the next agenda, idea, goal, passion. I have the place where GOD wants Me to go in Life, that much HE has shown Me, yet I'm not there and so I'm constantly saying to Myself what can I shed to lighten My load so that I can get there...not necessarily faster because the race is not given to swift, but what can I do to lighten My load to make the journey easier? More conducive to the terms in which GOD has set for Me to reach the Destination, that mark that We all so desperately press toward. Am I even desperately pursuing the things of GOD like I would like to confidently say I am desperately pursuing? The question still remains, how...
2 - Dianne Knowles
Just to let you know....your article is very good, however it was difficult to read because it is covered with half-naked women. I am supposing that you are unaware of this and am bringing it to your attention.
Thanks to Israel Houghton for all the great worship music.
3 - Jordan Richardson
Dianne, I assume you mean the advertisements? None of the writers can do anything about the ads here.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Diane, you should try surfing the web with Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. With Firefox, you can either use NoScript or AdBlock Plus. Trust me, you'll never see an ad again!
5 - Kawanzaa King
Wonderful interview! I was clinging to every word :-). Thank you Mr. Perry and Israel for sharing your hearts. The Power Of One is just, (sigh), right on time! Like you Mr. Perry, the track "Moving Forward" is one of my favorites and the song just gets right to heart of my own matters, just like- "Rejoice", "Rise Within Us", "Another Breakthrough", "You Are Good" and so many more. Again, thank you both Mr. Perry and Israel for sharing your gifts.
Abundant Blessings~