Free Republic

A “flop.” That’s how Australian web site TheMusic.com.au disparaged “Let Hope Rise,” the concert documentary featuring Hillsong United, which debuted three weeks ago here in the United States. As of this past Friday, the film has earned $2.3 million. That’s little more than a tenth the sum earned over the same span by, say, “Blair Witch,” as Hillsong’s detractors would no doubt point out. But the success of “Let Hope Rise” cannot be measured by the standards of Mammon, the god worshiped by the secular world, but by the Great Commission the risen Christ issued to his followers: “Go into...

My wife and I went to see Hillsong United last night at the Hollywood Bowl. The Australian band – fronted by the talented Joel Houston, whose dad, Brian, founded Hillsong Church exactly 30 years ago – has produced some of the most well-known praise and worship songs of the past decade and a half. Its playlist includes “Shout to the Lord,” “Mighty to Save,” “Hosanna,” “My Redeemer Lives,” “The Stand,” “Worthy is the Lamb,” “From the Inside Out,” “Lead Me to the Cross” and other standards in Sunday church services not just in the land down under, but also here...