leadership college . It was amazing to be thrust into a massive faith environment where we were having chapel every morning and getting really encouraged with the Word . You ’ re being taught how to pray . It was just a different world and it changed my life massively . One of the things that I really noticed was that you weren ’ t just learning things in a classroom , because part of the college experience was being involved in church itself , and volunteering and being involved . So , you learned in the classroom but you also learned and absorbed things by just being a part of church life .
[ WM ] In those early days at Hillsong , Darlene Zschech was the predominant worship leader there and had written “ Shout to The Lord ”. In fact , wasn ’ t it at Darlene ’ s suggestion that the youth worship team , which became Hillsong United , do a recording in the first place ? Some of the youth group ’ s songs were being used in “ big ” church , correct ?
[ Jad ] Yeah , that ’ s right . Some of the guys had always had an interest in writing songs , so they started writing songs primarily because they wanted songs for their friends to sing at youth group , and just to provide that point of difference . But the songs became … you know , people grabbed onto those songs quite well to the point where we were singing then in Sunday night church and things like that . Darlene and Pastor Brian and even Reuben kind of felt we should just record them . I remember even living in New Zealand as a high school kid getting excited by the Hillsong United album , and thinking , “ Man , this is awesome .” It was called Every Day and had the song “ Every Day ” on it , and I remember thinking , “ This doesn ’ t sound like my church worship team . It sounds like a youth band .” And that ’ s why I guess I was drawn to it .
[ WM ] At some point , you became a team member with Hillsong United , recording and touring . How did this all happen ?
[ Jad ] Like I said before , when you get to college , you ’ re involved in church life , and I kind of immediately applied to become a youth leader . I ended up being placed in a high school youth ministry , and so I ran a small group on high school boys . I also started to get involved in the worship team . It ’ s kind of a quaint story , but one Sunday someone was sick and they said , “ Hey we need someone to sing a song . Will you ?” And I sang a song . A few weeks later someone was moving to another city and asked me to roster the band members , so I did that , and it just kind of snowballed from there . My first tour I think was 2003 , when they were like , “ Hey , can you come play guitar and sing at a festival ?” And funny enough , that festival was in New Zealand ! So that was kind of how it worked for me . I just kind of helped and things happened , I was in the right place at the right time when the opportunity came along .