Benjamin Hastings on honest worship and feeling alone in the flock

I’m not a lost sheep,

I just feel alone in the flock,
I think we all have our doubts,

I think mine just caught up.

Benjamin Hastings, Faith is.

You can feel the sincerity when Benjamin Hastings sings these words.

Beautiful, honest lyricism that many of us can relate to. 

But, perhaps we don’t expect to hear these words from the lips of someone who has written some of Hillsong’s biggest songs in recent years? (So Will I, O Praise the Name, Highlands). Benjamin’s songs have had over 500 million streams online.

And yet, chatting to him feels like opening up with a safe friend at the pub about all the tricky and confusing aspects of faith. Ben is warm, humble, well-versed in philosophy and unafraid to give voice to the whole spectrum of experience that come with faith, doubt and searching. 

Our conversation with Ben was a great reminder that human beings — whether on megachurch platforms or in suburban lounge rooms — have questions. Live within mystery. And doubt. And faith. And mess. And beauty. 

This is what honest spirituality looks like.

And Ben is a true spiritual seeker, not satisfied with easy answers, and deeply committed to bringing his whole mind, heart and being to the search for deep truth.

Ben generously shared some of his own story with us — about the unravelling and the searching and the creative process in the midst of it all. And it was such a joy to speak with him, as a fellow pilgrim on the search for ‘deep truth’.

And as an incredibly special treat, Ben played two of our two favourite songs of his at the end of our chat. Listen to the end of the episode and you’ll hear these songs played exclusively for our Spiritual Misfits community. 

Trust us, they are a gift you will want to return to.

May we all have the courage, creativity and self-aware honesty that Benjamin Hastings showed us in this conversation.

Click here to listen or via the podcast player below:

Benjamin Hastings on honest worship and feeling alone in the flock – Spiritual Misfits Podcast

Benjamin Hastings is an incredibly gifted songwriter and lyricist, most known for some of the songs he’s written with Hillsong, including ‘So Will I’, ‘O Praise the Name’ and ‘Highlands’. His songs collectively have more than 500 million streams.Hillsong worship leaders probably  aren’t the image you typically think of when you hear the phrase ‘Spiritual Misfit’. But our conversation with Ben was a great reminder that human beings — whether on platforms or in lounge rooms — have questions. Live within mystery. And doubt. And faith. And mess. And beauty. This is what honest spirituality looks like. And Ben is a true spiritual seeker, not satisfied with easy answers, and deeply committed to bringing his whole mind, heart and being to the search for deep truth.Ben shared some of his own story with us — about the unravelling and the searching and the creative process in the midst of it all. And it was such a joy.And as an incredibly special treat, Ben played us two of our favourite songs of his at the end of our chat. Stick around to the end of the episode and you’ll hear these songs played exclusively for our Spiritual Misfits community. Check out more of Ben’s work here: https://www.benjaminhastingsmusic.com/Sign-up for The Sunday Message to make sure you never miss an episode of the Spiritual Misfits podcast: https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Sign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/Send us an email: Spiritualmisfits@outlook.comView all episodes and access transcripts at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Benjamin Hastings is a modern day Irish born poet and songwriter, living in LA with his wife and two kids. After hearing this song we knew we wanted to chat to him. We’re so grateful he said yes.