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With Israel Houghton's first solo release in March, The Power of One, the already eclectic artist reached new heights of variety, crossing genres and cultures and voices. What unifies the record, however, is a theme that now pervades Houghton's life: Social justice. From the simple kindness of a woman to which he credits his very existence to a call to help orphans in South Africa, Houghton represents a wave of consciousness in music. In many cases, Houghton's included, that awareness is leading to action.

Your new CD is called The Power of One. What is the power of one person to change the world?

Israel Houghton: I would reference my own story. My mom is white and my father was black, and my mom got pregnant when she was 17. She was advised to have an abortion. She chose not to. She got kicked out of her father's house, was disowned for a while, and ended up out in Southern Cal. She's eight months pregnant, she's messed up on drugs, she and my father have split up. It's bad. The State has said, "When your child is born, we're taking him, because you're an unfit mother." As daunting a situation as you can imagine. The power of one is that this lady came up to my mom, just out of the blue and said, "Hey, I don't know you, but I really felt like I'm supposed to tell you that Jesus loves you, and cares about you, and you're not forgotten." She loved on my mom and led her to the Lord, right there on the street. The power of one for me is that lady's decision.

Israel Houghton is a two-time Grammy winner

A lot of times when we talk about the power of one person to change the world, there's this sense of, well, you've got to go cross the ocean and go to Haiti or Africa or India to really change the world. I'm saying no, that lady just crossed the street and changed the world. We all have that barrier that says, DO NOT CROSS. She crossed it. As a result of that one encounter, my mom's life was changed, and my life was changed. God intervened, and I was with my mom ever since. I never became property of the state. I've given my life to being that one person who hopefully starts a chain reaction in the lives of other.

We all hope to have that ripple effect.

Houghton: That's the whole purpose of this record, is that you can do something. It's a real challenge to the American church mentality that essentially says, "Somebody else will do it." This is saying, no, what if it's just you? What if you're the one to start this chain reaction? People think you've got to be Bono in order to really do it. I'm saying, Bono started somewhere. It started in the heart. It's crossing the room. It's crossing the street. It's showing kindness in your immediate surroundings and it grows from there.

Do you think the church is any more or less complacent than in the past?

Houghton: I think it's less complacent. I feel like we've got a long way to go, but I do want to find the optimism. We've had a couple of things—9/11, Hurricane Katrina—that have been these really strong wake-up calls to the church to shake us out of our routines. When Katrina happened, a lot of churches became shelters in the Baton Rouge area, in Mississippi, and they just went for it. Six or seven months later the government offered to reimburse the churches for all their efforts, and all of the churches said, "Don't you dare. We're a church! This is what we do!" I just loved that.

I look at those moments and I think, if we could keep that perpetuated, wouldn't it be fantastic if the government said, "Hey, you guys are doing it. Keep on doing it. You guys have got the whole poverty thing covered, you've got the whole welfare thing covered, you just keep that going." Dude! I think if you really boiled it down, that's the job of the church. Jesus said reach out to the least of these. Give the poor a voice. Give the orphan a home. Give the widow shelter. I am looking toward a day when that becomes as common as us singing together.

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