Darlene Zschech

Darlene Zschech
Background information
Birth name	Darlene Joyce Steinhardt
Born	8 September 1965 (1965-09-08) (age 46) Brisbane, QLD
Origin	Sydney, NSW, Australia
Genres	Contemporary Christian
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter, Pastor
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Hillsong Music Australia (AUS) INO (USA) Integrity (USA)
Associated acts	Hillsong Church, Dilip
Website	DarleneZschech.com Darlene.com.au live.hillsong.com hopeunlimitedchurch.com

Darlene Joyce Zschech ( /dɑrˈliːn ˈtʃɛk/; born Steinhardt on 8 September 1965 in Brisbane, Australia) is an Australian Pentecostal worship leader and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs. She is the former worship pastor of Hillsong Church and is currently a member of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith.^[1]

Biography

As a young adult Zschech sang jingles for a number of international companies including McDonald's, KFC and Coca Cola.

In 2003, Zschech released her first solo album in nine years, entitled Kiss of Heaven. She had earlier released a self-titled vinyl album in 1988 and a cassette album in 1993 called Pearls & Gold. Change Your World followed in 2005. In addition to writing songs, Zschech has written four books: Worship (1996), Extravagant Worship (2002), The Kiss of Heaven (2003) and The Great Generational Transition (2009).

Zschech founded Hope Rwanda in 2005 with her husband Mark. The primary objective of Hope Rwanda is to assist developing nations reduce poverty, to achieve sustainable development and to bring spiritual strength and social justice to every segment of society. She is also an advocate for Compassion Australia.

Zschech and her husband were the founding executive directors of Mercy Ministries Australia. In 2009, after an 18-month investigation, they were named by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as being two of several former directors of Mercy Ministries Australia likely for the organisation's "false, misleading and deceptive conduct". They claimed their services were free, but in fact "residents had to sign over their Centrelink benefits during their stay."^[2][3] She is a mezzo soprano coloratura.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Hillsong Church

Zschech was the worship pastor of Hillsong Church from 1995 to 2007. She stepped down as worship pastor in 2007 and Reuben Morgan was appointed to the worship pastor position in 2008. At Hillsong she still leads worship on a regular basis and is a key leader of the church's team for conferences. She travels regularly with the Hillsong team throughout the world leading people in worship. Hillsong made headlines^{[citation needed]} when their 2004 live CD release, For All You've Done, reached Number 1 on the Australian national music charts.

Hope Unlimited Church

In January 2011, Darlene and Mark Zschech became senior pastors at Church Unlimited (later named Hope Unlimited Church) in Charmhaven on the New South Wales central coast, but Zschech intends to still be part of the Hillsong Worship Team, leading worship at Hillsong's key events during the year. She also continues to host the Creative Stream at the Hillsong Conference while leading tours with the Hillsong Team around the world.

Hope Rwanda

In 2004 while visiting their Compassion sponsor child in Rwanda, the Zschech family were devastated about the lack of publicity and assistance Rwanda received about the genocide in 1994. They founded an organisation called Hope Rwanda and championed a fund-raising initiative "100 Days of Hope" in 2006. Hope Rwanda now runs long-term development projects, such as Hope Education and the Village of Hope, and has hosted Parramatta Eels trips to Rwanda with CEO Paul Osborne.

Shout to the Lord

Zschech's best known song is "Shout to the Lord", sung by an estimated 25–30 million churchgoers every week.^{[citation needed]} This song is the title track for the first live album co-produced with Integrity Music featuring Zschech as a worship leader. Shout to the Lord was nominated as Album of the Year for the 1997 Dove Awards and Song of the Year for the 1998 Dove Awards.^{[citation needed]} It has been recorded on over 20 different albums. In 2000, Zschech received a Dove Award nomination^[4] for Songwriter of the Year and has received the "International Award" from the Gospel Music Association (GMA) in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Songs

Songs written or co-written by Zschech include:

• Stone's Been Rolled Away (1993)
  • "Your Name"
• People Just Like Us (1994)
  • "Shout to the Lord"
• Friends in High Places (1995)
  • "Praise His Holy Name"
  • "Rock of Ages" with Geoff Bullock
  • "Lord I Give Myself"
• God Is in the House (1996)
  • "God Is in the House" with Russell Fragar
  • "And That My Soul Knows Very Well" with Fragar
  • "Let the Peace of God Reign"
  • "Walking in the Light"
  • "I Will Run To You"
• All Things Are Possible (1997)
  • "All Things Are Possible"
  • "I Live to Know You"
  • "I Know It"
  • "Glory to the King"
• Touching Heaven Changing Earth (1998)
  • "That's What We Came Here For" with Fragar
  • "I Will Bless You Lord"
  • "Jesus You're All I Need"
  • "The Potter's Hand"
• By Your Side (1999)
  • "Sing of Your Great Love"
  • "Free to Dance"
• For This Cause (2000)
  • "Here to Eternity" with David Moyse
  • "It Is You"
• You Are My World (2001)
  • "Irresistible"
  • "Glorious"
  • "To You"
  • "Worthy Is the Lamb"
• Blessed (2002)
  • "Blessed" with Reuben Morgan
• Hope (2003)
  • "My Hope"
  • "Call"
  • "You Are"
• For All You've Done (2004)
  • "You Are Worthy"
  • "Glorify Your Name" with David Holmes
• God He Reigns (2005)
  • "Saviour"
  • "Know You More"
• Mighty to Save (2006)
  • "More to See" with Mia Fieldes, Deborah Ezzy (Zschech's sister), Donia Makadonez & Nigel Hendroff
  • "I Believe"
  • "At the Cross" with Reuben Morgan
• Saviour King (2007)
  • "One Thing" with Marty Sampson
• This Is Our God (2008)
  • "High and Lifted Up" with Mike Guglielmucci
• Faith + Hope + Love (2009)
  • "His Glory Appears" with Marty Sampson
• A Beautiful Exchange (2010)
  • "Believe" with Reuben Morgan
• God is Able (2011)
  • "Cry of the Broken"
• You Are Love (2011)
  • "Under Grace"
  • "Saving Me"
  • "You Are Love"
  • "We are Your People"
  • "I Will Wait"
  • "Beautiful"
  • "Hope for Humanity"
  • "Faithful"
  • "Cry of the Broken"
  • "Face to face"

See also

• Extravagant Worship: The Songs of Darlene Zschech
• Kiss of Heaven
• Change Your World
• "[{ You are Love}]"

• List of Hillsong albums

Notes and references

1. ^ Powell, Mark Allan (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (First printing ed.). Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. p. 1067. ISBN 1-56563-679-1. 
2. ^ "Mercy Ministries admits claims were false". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 December 2009. http://www.smh.com.au/national/mercy-ministries-admits-claims-were-false-20091216-kxl4.html. Retrieved 26 July 2011. 
3. ^ "Undertaking". ACCC. 16 December 2009. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/item.phtml?itemId=906586&nodeId=3e5d2c62fdfda22b0c1c708fe24326ff&fn=Undertaking.pdf. Retrieved 26 July 2011. 
4. ^ "Dove Awards 2000". Metro lyrics. http://www.metrolyrics.com/2000-dove-awards.html. Retrieved 26 July 2011. 

External links

• official website
• Hope Rwanda project by Mark and Darlene Zschech
• Faithtalks.com Interview with Darlene Zschech
• Song/Ministry links

Persondata
Name	Zschech, Darlene
Alternative names
Short description	Australian singer and pastor
Date of birth	8 September 1965
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death