Worship is not a genre of music.  It’s not a trend or passing fad. It’s the overflow of a grateful heart that impacts every aspect of a believer’s life.  It’s that outpouring of emotion that reverberates through Michael W. Smith’s music and makes everyone want to sing along.  These days the veteran singer/songwriter/worship leader and beloved mentor is leading the way yet again with A New Hallelujah.

Recorded live at Lakewood Church in Houston with a 250-voice choir and more than 12,000 people in attendance, Smith’s latest project takes worship to another level.  “I think this record is global, bigger than just a worship record in the West,” says Smith.  “It was inspired by my travels around the world including visits to Europe, Israel and Africa.  That’s why I incorporated a guest vocalist singing in Spanish, and we feature the African Children’s Choir.  I’m kind of the cheerleader here.  Let’s get with it! Let’s go! Let love reach to the other side!”

A New Hallelujah is just the latest chapter in a life devoted to ministry.  Michael W. Smith’s contributions to the kingdom go far beyond creating memorable songs.  He’s a mentor whose wise counsel has inspired a new generation of young artists and he’s a leader whose creative vision has had immeasurable impact on the church and believers all over the world.  Most of all, he’s a worshipper whose life on stage and off celebrates the God he serves.

“When people think about worship today, I think they look at it a little bit different than they did seven years ago,” he says.   “I think they are seeing the big picture.  I’ve preached it for years and I’ll still preach it until the day I die---worship is a lifestyle.  Whether you are building a house for Habitat for Humanity or mentoring a kid at the Boys Club, it’s all an act of worship.”

Smith’s lifestyle of worship has always informed his artistry, and he’s widely credited with breathing new life into the worship music movement with his platinum selling collections 2001’s Worship and 2002’s Worship Again, two albums that serve as landmark releases in a stellar career that includes three Grammy Awards, an American Music Award  and 42 Dove Awards.

“I’m just really trying to be who I am,” says Smith of the new record.  “In some ways it feels like the third phase of Worship and Worship Again, but I think it’s very different in a lot of ways.  It’s more progressive.   It’s maybe not as safe in some ways.  This record, in some places, just explodes.  We don’t have a regulator on it.  The whole record is an experience.”

Even though there’s a global flavor to A New Hallelujah, in many ways, it’s Smith’s most personal worship effort yet.  “I ended up writing half of this record, which is unusual,” says Smith, who admits he feels most comfortable writing music and turning to co-writers to help with the lyrics.  “I never thought writing lyrics was my strong suit and I was always intimidated by all the great writers like Paul Baloche, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Amy Grant, but on this record I found myself start to really come up with some things that I didn’t know were deep inside me. These are new songs that resonate in my heart and I want to sing.”

One of Smith’s favorite moments is the compelling ballad “Deep in Love With You.”  “That was the place I lost it,” he says softly.   “‘Deep In Love With You’ is probably the moment that I’ll never forget because sometimes life just gets so fast and moves too quickly and you feel like you’re sort of losing touch with your spiritual side.  That song just reminded me that I still have this soft place in my heart for the Lord.  We got to the end of ‘Deep In Love With You’ and I just said to the audience ‘Sing it from here--I’m deep in love with you.”  Then all of a sudden it was like a torpedo came right back at me and I couldn’t pull it together.  I started crying because it just took my breath away.  That was a moment.”

One of the most jubilant celebrations on the project is the vibrant anthem “When I Think of You,” featuring the African Children’s Choir.  “I thought of them when I wrote the song,” Smith says.  “There’s a scripture that says ‘he not only dances over you, but he sings over you.’  It’s sort of hard to get that visual that God actually dances over you and sings songs over you.  There are a lot of people who could never get a visual of that, but I get that image.  The song says ‘When I think of you, I see you dancing.  I see you dancing!’ I kind of put my Africa hat on and came up with this little melody and I just wrote the whole thing.”

Special guest Coalo Zamorano, a young worship leader from Houston, further adds to the international flavor of A New Hallelujah singing in Spanish on “I Surrender All.”  “He sort of has that Josh Groban thing going, and he’s so humble,” says Smith. “He sang it and it was like butter. It was beautiful.”

A New Hallelujah is teeming with memorable moments, including “Help is On the Way,” a potent collaboration between Smith and Israel Houghton.  “Nobody can sing quite like Israel. He took it up about five notches,” says Smith.  “It’s such a song of encouragement, saying ‘God will never leave you or forsake you. I don’t care what you’re going through, God said he’ll never leave you.  Help is on the way.’”

Another highlight is “The River is Rising,” a song Smith wrote just the day before the album was recorded, which he describes as “ kind of wild, U2 meets Coldplay, meets Smitty; musically it’s real fun,” he says.

The disc also features a powerful rendition of “Mighty to Save,” a worship anthem that became a favorite at Smith’s church, New River Fellowship, and there’s a new version of “Grace,” originally recorded on Smith’s Stand album.

The centerpiece of the project is the title track “A New Hallelujah,” a song Smith co-wrote with his wife Debbie.  “‘A New Hallelujah’ is sort of the anthem for the new record,” says Smith.  “Deb came up with the title and I loved it.  That’s sort of my whole concept, so I started writing ‘let the world sing a new hallelujah!’”

Once again Michael W. Smith is leading believers in a new song, bringing the passion and intensity of that one night in Houston to the church around the globe.  “My hope and dream would be that this record would change people’s hearts,” says Smith.  “There’s something really powerful about the love of God and the grace of God, and it just exudes out of this project.  At the end of the day, you want people to have an experience with God.  There’s nothing better than that.  Hopefully, this record will take people to a place that they’ve never been before and change their lives so they can go out and change the world.