Joel Timothy Houston (born 19 September 1979) is an Australian musician, songwriter, pastor, and leader in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based band Hillsong United, a worship band of

Hillsong Church Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global Evangelical charismatic movement, charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia. The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New ...

. He was co-pastor at

Hillsong NYC Hillsong NYC or Hillsong Church NYC is a Manhattan-based Christian church that is part of Hillsong Church based in Australia. History It was officially launched on October 17, 2010. It started meeting at Irving Plaza near Union Square. Joel Hou ...

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 Founding Pastors

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

and

Bobbie Houston Roberta Lee Houston (born 16 January 1957), better known as Bobbie Houston, is a New Zealand-born Australian of Tongan descent and a Pentecostalism, Pentecostal pastor in the Assemblies of God in Australia, Australian Christian Churches. Hous ...

and grandson of

Frank Houston William Francis "Frank" Houston (22 April 1922 – 8 November 2004) was a Pentecostal Christian pastor in the Assemblies of God in New Zealand and Australia. Frank Houston founded Sydney Christian Life Centre, which would eventually come under ...

. He has two siblings. Houston was also the bass player for the band Able, which was composed of

Marty Sampson Martin W "Marty" Sampson (born 31 May 1979) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and former worship leader at the Hillsong Church in Sydney. From the late 1990s until 2019 he featured on the United Live albums and was one of the origina ...

Michael Guy Chislett Michael Guy Chislett (born 6 April 1982) is an Australian musician and producer. He is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Christian worship band Hillsong United and was the lead guitarist of the rock band the Academy Is... Car ...

and

Luke Munns Luke Andrew Munns (born 20 September 1980) is an Australian musician and the original drummer of Hillsong United, one of several worship bands to come out of Sydney's Hillsong Church's youth group. Munns is also a recording producer and songwr ...

, which won the

Channel V Channel '' ("V" standing for the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney ...

Leg Up competition in 2001.

Biography

Early life

Joel is the oldest child of the Hillsong Church's founding pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston and grandson of pastor

. Joel has two 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 Hillsong Young & Free (also known as Hillsong Y&F or simply Young & Free or Y&F) is an Australian contemporary worship music group from Sydney, Australia, where they started making Christian music in 2012 at Hillsong Church. They have released f ...

). Houston wanted to play the piano at the age of seven. However he found an inclination to play bass and this led him to play the bass 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

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

with the band for several years prior to this, and contributing various songs, including the title track from the group's debut full-length live album, ''

Everyday Everyday or Every Day may refer to: Books * ''Every Day'' (novel), by David Levithan, 2012 Film * ''Every Day'' (2010 film), an American comedy-drama starring Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt * ''Everyday'' (film), a 2012 British drama direct ...

''. 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 Reuben Timothy Morgan (born 9 August 1975) is an Australian worship pastor at Hillsong Church and one of several worship leaders and songwriters in Hillsong Worship group. Prior to this he was a worship pastor at Hillsong Church in Sydney, ...

. 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 Stephen Carl Lentz (born November 6, 1978) is an American former pastor, notable for being a celebrity pastor, spiritual advisor to celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner, and Selena Gomez and categorized as a hype-priest by '' GQ' ...

until Lentz's employment was terminated by Brian Houston for unnamed "moral failings".

Personal life

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

External links

Christianity Today interview

"The Story Behind ''All of the Above''"
– Written by Joel Houston
SongDiscovery.com
interviews Joel Housto

''A Passion for His Presence''
article at

Beliefnet Beliefnet is a lifestyle website featuring editorial content related to the topics of inspiration, spirituality, health, wellness, love and family, news, and entertainment. History Launched in 1999 by Steven Waldman and Robert Nylen, Beliefnet ...

Fresh 103.2 Interview

BBC ''Heart-throb rock gods united in song''
* The Bulletinbr>interviewand photo gallery
* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Joel Hillsong musicians Christian music songwriters Living people Australian people of Tongan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian songwriters Australian Christian Churches people Australian performers of Christian music 1979 births Musicians from Sydney