Every song that finds its way to a Hillsong album has been through stages of writing, re-writing & theological checking… then recording, re-recording, mixing, mastering all with the express purpose to be heard by your ears!

I wrote a post all about the faith foundations we write about here.

Can You Believe It!? was no different so we asked the songs writers to share with us exactly what inspired each song and just what it means to them.

We pray that this collection of fun and vibrant songs will help children around the world declare biblical truths about God’s love and grace for them. As always our mission is to “…tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might & the wonders He has done.” – Psalm 78:4

Oh… for songs like “What a Beautiful Name” which is already released on other Hillsong projects I have included a link to song story videos.

I Give You My Hallelujah 

We had a Mega prayer night at church and at the end of the night our global Creative Pastor Cass Langton ended off the night by praying for us all and as she prayed she said the words “I give you my hallelujah”. I was so inspired by those lyrics as words our kids could declare through song hence inspiring me to write lyrics around this thought. It turned into kids declaring powerfully praise for their God – Beci Wakerley

Ask Seek Knock 

Through this song Dave and I wanted to remind kids about what the word of God says and how approachable God is. And to show them the power of their decision to ask, seek & knock (Matt 7:7) and what it unlocks. When Dave & I write we tend to stay away from spelling out words in our kids songs but as we wrote this song it worked and we were able to write in a way that was not cheesy or outdated ha! The track turned out to be a little bit country, a little bit Rock and Roll. – Beci Wakerley

This Is Living

This is one of our favourite songs to sing with our kids from Hillsong Young & Free. Laura Toggs (Hillsong Youth Pastor) says, “It’s about remembering the moment we found Jesus, and reflecting on all that He means for us NOW.” The kids version adds some disco vibes with funky guitar and creates an atmosphere of celebration. “See the sun now bursting through the clouds. Black and white turns to colour all around. All is new, in the Saviour I am found. This is living now!”

My Best Friend

This is a song I have wanted to include on a Kids project for a long time. It’s written by Joel Houston and Marty Sampson back in the year 2000 for the Hillsong United album of the same name. Having been just out of my teenage years when the album came out it stuck in my mind as a perfect declaration for children to make… Jesus, you are my best friend! So the time was right and it has found a new home in the ears of kids who were not born yet when it was written! – Dave Wakerley

Voices Of Freedom

This song started life as thinking about who we are in Christ and the freedom he has given us. We imagined children using their own voices just like Paul and Silas in a tough situation to break chains. They weren’t trying to worship to get the chains off, they were worshipping because of who he is. It’s great in a kids song to be able to directly talk about Bible characters because it gives them an incentive to find out more about who they were. We hope as kids sing this song they understand who the Son sets free is free indeed as they raise their voices loud and proud. – Ben and Josh Banton

Little Life (For You Jesus) 

Ben Fielding had written a song called ‘the creed’ which inspired Dave & I to write a creed for kids in a simple way so they would sing out what the word says and what they believe. The Trinity can be a big concept for kids so this is our attempt to put into words this major idea in Christianity but simply for kids to understand it. This songs had many rewrites and we are happy with the end result. – Beci Wakerley

Made In Your Image

Each one of us is an individual and unique, fearfully and wonderfully made. That’s the place we start with this song. Anxiety and depression are topics that increasingly (sadly) come up when we talk about children. There is no one easy fix to help a child overcome these emotions, but we believe that an understanding of their creator and his purpose for our lives is a good place to start! The bridge of this song went through a lot of changes to become stronger declarations made by each person. We love where it ended up, You made me special, You made me precious… – Ben and Josh Banton

We Came To Meet With You

Kids get 3,000 hours at school each year, but perhaps only 70 hours at Church, so every moments counts. We wanted our song about the Church to celebrate and describe a place full of family, friendship and love. This started life as a demo from Nathan Eshman, one of our amazing producers at Church. The lyrics went through multiple changes to make sure we weren’t describing Church as a religious obligation, but a group of people you want to be the Church WITH! – Dave Wakerley

As The World Shakes 

Being a kids pastor working with families week in and week out and hearing so many kids stories of challenges and unfair situations I wanted to write lyrics around Jesus being our rock no matter what we are going through. It’s one of those songs I see as an everlasting seed – sown into kids hearts with lyrics they will remember daily in the hallways of their lives and even into their teens and adulthood. – Beci Wakerley

Heaven Is Our Home

This was a song floating around our Young & Free team as a demo. Melodie Wagner had written this great song with ‘temporary’ lyrics that were searching for some direction. I loved the track and with Beci we re-wrote lyrics so it focussed on Heaven. It came together pretty quickly and ended up being a simple but powerful description of our eternal home. – Dave Wakerley

You Know Me 

This song had definitely been on a journey with many rewrites until it was right. At times it had many lyrics to deciding to keep it shorter, biblical and powerful. When you hear kids singing the lyrics it will give you goosebumps as they sing out that God sees them, knows them and loves them. – Beci Wakerley

Brooke Ligertwood talking writing the song What A Beautiful Name

Ben Fielding on new song cafe talking about writing ‘Who You Say I Am’

Joel Houston and Matt Crocker talking about ‘Oceans (Where Feet My Fail)’