Alexander Pappas is a world-renowned Worship Leader and Songwriter , having served as part of Young & Free , and Hillsong Worship for over a decade , and penning songs like “ Alive ”, “ Wake ”, “ Real Love ” and “ Echo ” which have served the global Church . He ’ s an articulate thinker and worshiper who desperately desires to see changed lives .
[ WM ] Alex , it ’ s great to meet with you today and have a visit . So , tell us about your background . Where were you raised and how did you come to faith ?
[ Alex Pappas ] Yeah , absolutely . I was born in Long Beach , California and when I was 10 , my parents were big time believers in Y2K . So , we moved up to Idaho on a ten acre lot , had a basement full of canned and dry food , well water , generators , and cars that were old enough that didn ’ t have computers . It was all planned out . So , we wound up in Idaho where I got saved . Anyone listening knows a song of mine called “ Idaho ”, sort of speaks to that . Back to it . When I was 15 my parents had just split up . I ’ d grown up in church and known the Lord , but as most people would kind of know is you got to make a decision for yourself as an adult . My Mom told me about the rapture and Jesus coming back and she said Jesus was coming back for all the Christians . And I was , “ Okay , well I ’ m not a Christian yet , so tell me about that ”. And she ’ s like , “ Well , all the Christians are going to heaven and all the other ones are going to die ”. My sweet Mom is my hero . I love her so much . But I had a fear-based salvation story at four years old and she ’ s like , “ The only way you can be saved is if you invite Jesus in your heart ”. So , I extended that invitation , but as I said , 15 kind of going through teenage things and parents splitting … then I encountered the Lord in such a powerful way in worship . I had never heard worship music that spoke directly to me , and I was never in a church service that provided an opportunity for a young person to make a decision to follow Jesus . I grew up in a great church , but that wasn ’ t something they did . I encountered the Lord and fell in love with worship music at 15 and started serving in my church . This October will be 20 years serving in worship ministry .
[ WM ] Wow , congratulations . And how did you discover real worship ? You and I both know there ’ s a difference . When did you discover real worship and what songs or worship albums influenced you initially ?
[ Alex ] At this conference that I was at , I was at this youth event when I was 15 and they were singing pretty much exclusively Hillsong United songs . And man , I have such a love and appreciation for the hymns and older songs , and my church growing up with such beautiful people . But no one lifted their hands in worship . The most rowdy they got was in “ Days of Elijah ” when the good part is is that they would clap !
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