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A lot of the hymns have not stood the test of time. I found an old hymnbook that my mom had that was copyright 1870 or something, and a lot of these hymns are really bad in their theology. Thankfully, they have not lasted. It's one thing to hold hymns on a pedestal and say all hymns are great. That's not true. [Today] there's a lot of choruses that are great, but a lot of them have bad theology. Thankfully, the songs like "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace" have survived not only because they have a good melody, but because they have great words too. If I wrote a song that's bad theology, I hope in 25 years nobody's singing it. I hope it disappears.

You started as a worship leader. Did you ever expect to "blow up"?

Aaron Shust I would certainly not say "expect." I always felt like God might have in his plan for me the ability to take my songs to a broader audience. I hoped for that. The other thing is validation: You write songs and first of all you hope your mom likes it. Then hopefully your friends will like it. Then maybe even some strangers will like it. So it was nice having people from Nashville come down and listen to the songs and say, "Hey, we're interested in managing you. We're interested in booking you." It's a new chapter. But I've been writing songs for a long time—it's what I do.

If things hadn't taken off as a recording artist, would you still be content with leading worship?

Shust I would hope so. But I believe God planted in my heart a desire to take it outside of our local home. So maybe I wouldn't. I wasn't doing everything that I should. I don't know—that's a tough one. I take it one step at a time, man. I feel like if God is calling me to this door, I'll kinda push on it, and if it's open, I'll walk through it. But if it's not open, I'll stay in the room that I'm in.

Your have a huge radio single, topping several different charts, over 50,000 albums sold, numerous tours—were these aspirations you had?

Shust Maybe. If it were an aspiration, it was subconscious, subliminal. I have a lot of people coming to me with that situation. They ask for advice, "How do I make it in the Christian industry?" "How do you go from being a worship leader to a performing artist?" And well, [my answer is], "I'm still a worship leader. Sometimes I lead worship in Atlanta, and sometimes I'm leading worship in Fargo, North Dakota." The best [advice] I can give them is, "Bloom where you're planted."

Although it's good to be a visionary and dream about what you want to do, God made us all different. And God has you here right now. Maybe you're doing music in your local church—maybe you're not even playing Sunday mornings, but Wednesday nights for the sixth graders. Do the best you can to play great music for the sixth grade group, and to the glory of God. Then maybe God will open doors for you to lead on Sunday morning, or maybe you'll get asked to open for a national act. Or maybe not. Maybe God wants you to be a local hero to the sixth graders for the rest of your time there. Bloom where you're planted.

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