Australian musician

Musical artist

Joel Timothy Houston (born 19 September 1979) is an Australian musician, songwriter, pastor, and leader in the Sydney-based band Hillsong United, a worship band of Hillsong Church.

He was co-pastor at Hillsong NYC between 2010 and 2017. He is the head of the Christian worship band Hillsong United, for which he sings, plays guitar, and writes songs. In 2008, he became the creative director at Hillsong Church. He is the oldest son of the church's founders and Global Senior Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston and grandson of Frank Houston. He has two siblings, a brother Benjamin and a sister, Laura. Houston was also the b* player for the band Able, which was composed of Marty Sampson, Michael Guy Chislett and Luke Munns, which won the Channel V Leg Up compe*ion in 2001.

Contents

• 1 Biography
  • 1.1 Early life
  • 1.2 Hillsong United and Hillsong
  • 1.3 Personal life
• 2 External links
• 3 References

Biography

Early life

Joel is the oldest child of the Hillsong church's senior pastors and founders Brian and Bobbie Houston and grandson of pastor Frank Houston.

Joel has three siblings, Ben Houston (lead pastor of Hillsong Los Angeles) and Laura Toggs (pastor of the Hillsong youth ministry in Australia and also member of Hillsong Young & Free and his Sabrina Houston who sings too).

Houston wanted to play the piano at the age of seven. However he found an inclination to play b* and this led him to play the b* guitar for a number of Hillsong Worship albums instead.

Hillsong United and Hillsong

Houston's debut with the Hillsong United as a vocalist was in 2002, however he had been playing b* guitar with the band for several years prior to this, and contributing various songs, including the *le track from the group's debut full-length live album, Everyday. As part of Hillsong United music team, Joel Houston has helped lead worship conferences in North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. He has also contributed to the main Hillsong album recordings as well, which are led by worship pastor Reuben Morgan. Many of the songs he has written or co-written are sung in churches worldwide and have been translated into 32 languages. His music has been featured on Hillsong albums that have quickly risen on both the Australian and American Christian music charts. In March 2007, Hillsong United's eighth album All of the Above debuted at No.:6 on the ARIA charts. Joel Houston has been the creative director of Hillsong since 2008. Joel was co-pastor of Hillsong NYC with Carl Lentz until Lentz' employment was terminated by Brian Houston for unnamed "moral failings".

Personal life

Joel married Brazilian model Esther Lima in 2012 and had a son, Zion, in 2013.

External links

• Christianity Today interview
• "The Story Behind All of the Above" – Written by Joel Houston
• SongDiscovery.com interviews Joel Houston ,
• A P*ion for His Presence article at Beliefnet
• Fresh 103.2 Interview
• BBC Heart-throb rock gods united in song
• The Bulletin interview and photo gallery
• "CCLI SongSelect". us.songselect.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
• "Search Results for Joel Houston". WorshipTogether.com. WorshipTogether.com. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
• "Esther Houston". Hillsong.
• "Joel Houston". Hillsong.
• "Highs & Lows". Hillsong.

References