Israel Houghton’s mother never expected her son would grow up to lead thousands of people in worship or become an award-winning recording artist.
In 1971, when his 17-year old unwed mother found she was pregnant, she shocked her parents who advised her to terminate the pregnancy. But a simple act of kindness from a stranger who offered his mother hope and a promise of something greater paved the way for Houghton to be born.
“I could have easily been an abortion statistic,” Houghton says. “My mother is white and my biological father is black. When she came home and told her parents, ‘I’m pregnant and the father is black,’ they had a really difficult time with it. Their suggestion was to have an abortion, chalk it up to a mistake, and move on. She chose to keep the baby, ending up being shunned by them for a good chunk of her life.”
When she was eight months pregnant, Houghton’s mother and biological father split up. She moved to San Diego, California, in danger of losing the baby due to drug use. But a woman who was driving by saw the obviously pregnant young woman and stopped to talk with her. “Jesus loves you. You’re not forgotten. You did the right thing by keeping your baby. It’s going to be all right.”
Those words of life were so powerful in Israel’s mother’s life that she got on her knees on the street corner and gave her life to Jesus. Israel will tell you he’s here today because of that stranger sharing the gospel and giving his mom a Bible which she started reading. In time she chose Israel’s name as a sign of new beginning.
“I really enjoy that I’m in the good news business,” Israel says. “If you turn on CNN right now . . . you’re going to hear what’s wrong and a lot of bad news. I love that I get to give people hope, a chance to exhale and find encouragement. At the heart of it, I want people to connect with God. If you look at my albums thematically, the early ones were about the church and what God is doing. On the most recent records, the message has shifted to social and global concerns, focusing on identity and the purpose of God in everyone’s life. I strongly believe that those of us who consider ourselves worshippers need to have a heart for social justice. ” “Power of One” is a song he wrote specifically around that thought and is the title of his newest project which came out this spring.
Israel has won 2 Stellar Awards, 6 Dove Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, a Soul Train Award and has 2 gold-selling albums to his name. Mostly known for his cross-cultural style of Christian music that fuses elements from Gospel music, jazz and rock, Israel is currently signed to Integrity Music. He has also written and co-written 11 CCLI Top 500 favorites, served as worship leader at Hillsong conferences, Franklin Graham crusades and is a featured CompassionArt songwriter and artist, as well as a worship leader at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. He ministers through concerts in the US and around the world, has accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael’s “Freedom ’90″, and performed at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in a segment saluting Gospel music.
“I really enjoy what I do,” Houghton comments. “It’s about getting a bigger picture of what’s going on in the world instead of focusing on my life, wants and needs. It’s about connecting people around the world.”
Excerpts taken from Wikipedia & The Baptist Standard article published May 15, 2009
