Aaron & Lindsie Long - Interview

In this interview, I had the tremendous fortune of interviewing Aaron & Lindsie Long. You may know them as the Power Couple of Praise. We got to have a great conversation focusing on each of them as individuals and as a unit together. It was very insightful and we had a ton of fun recording this one. We covered their lives as they related to Praise Church, Hillsong (and by extension, Hillsong College), as well as a variety of other topics. Because I interviewed the both of them, there were many times that one or the other chimed in, and I did my best to adequately reflect that. What was difficult to indicate were all the non-verbal cues given. So if it seems like one or the other is dominating an answer or not leaving room for the other, please know that is simply not the case. Aaron & Lindsie constantly cheered each other on with every (serious) question. Please enjoy this interview.

Aaron

There is a lot of discourse between worship leaders about the purpose of high production value versus just 1 person with an acoustic guitar and every variation between, do you see an inherent value in the environment you lead in? 

Aaron: That’s a good question. I think—short answer—yes. I think there is inherent value in the environment you lead. For me, the tension is to realize that it’s not about the lights or haze, but those things can cultivate an environment that makes it easier for people to worship. I think they each have their own challenges. There can be distractions in either extreme. On a big stage someone could be distracted by the production elements, but on a small stage, someone cold be distracted by a missed note or poor guitar skills. So I think there’s inherent value in both environments, but each can have their distractions. 

So you’ve had many different experiences of being onstage whether it was pre-hillsong, post-hillsong, In Search of Mercy, etc. Is there anything you’ve learned from leading onstage that has informed your life offstage? 

Lindsie: Ooh, good question. 

Aaron: Absolutely. To me, the preconceived notion is that the onstage portion is the biggest part, but it’s actually the smallest. What you do offstage amplifies what you do onstage. So integrity, I think. If I’m acting foolish offstage and then I get onstage and contradict that, the audience will suspect that I don’t believe what I’m saying because I’m not living it out. As Jimmy says: “Your private life overflows into your public life.”

So I can’t interview Aaron Long without bringing up soccer at some point, is there a team that you think should get more recognition? 

Aaron: There’s a team that I wish was better, and that’s the Houston Dynamo.

Lindsie: Haha, yes, we love them

Aaron: They only became a team a few years ago. They won the League the first two years they were a professional team, but now they’re kinda garbage. Maybe when sports start back up they’ll be better (This was recorded in May of 2020 while America was still in quarantine)

So you’ve had a lot of experience over your life in the many environments and situations you’ve found yourself in, do you think people should bring back the Padawan Braid a la 2013? 

Lindsie: *slightly annoyed* Oh, my goooosh

Aaron: This is crazy! We talked about this today! I literally talked about growing it out today!

Lindsie: I just showed my nieces the picture of him with a padawan braid in 2013 today, that’s hilarious that you mentioned that. 

Aaron: 100%, you can quote me on this, everyone in the WORLD should grow a padawan braid. Male and female, it’s unisex friendly

Do you think there’s a genre of music that Contemporary Worship Music could take some notes from? 

That is a great question. That’s interesting because there’s worship music for every genre. I’ll say this: pop artists are constantly trying new things, and I think worship music could stand to get a little edgy sometimes. I do appreciate the new song “Rattle” by Elevation. It’s interesting, because in one breath I say worship bands should try to be more edgy, then in the next breath I say that Elevation is pushing the boundaries with an edgy song and I don’t really like it. 

I know you, like me, are really into the late 2000s Christcore era of metalcore, (Aaron (interjecting): So much!) so I’m gonna hit you with a few pairs of bands, and I need you to tell me which you prefer. Aaron: Ok, this is good.

Fit for a King – For Today 

Aaron: *thinking for a few moments* For Today

Attack Attack – Of Mice & Men 

Aaron: That’s almost the same band… Attack Attack! I gotta go Attack Attack, for sure. 

Underoath – August Burns Red 

Aaron: Oh my gosh, that’s so hard! They’re both literally in my top 5 bands of all time. 

Lindsie: Nooo, you definitely like one of those more, and I know which one.

Aaron: I guess Underoath, but that’s very hard

As I Lay Dying – Oh, Sleeper

Aaron: *without even breathing* Oh, Sleeper, DEFINITELY

Norma Jean – The Devil Wears Prada

Aaron: *equally as fast* The Devil Wears Prada!

Sleeping Giant – War of Ages

Aaron: Hmm, Sleeping Giant

Saving Grace – Impending Doom

Aaron: Imp- … I’m scared to say it. Uhhh, the second one. 

So I’ve spoken a lot about your musical endeavors, but I want to talk a little bit about your time as Junior High Pastor for Praise Youth and the other times you’ve preached before that. Is it any kind of different for you leading people in song versus word? 

Aaron: Ooh, these are good questions, Ethan. This is interesting, because this is something we realized when Jimmy offered me the job. One of the first things we had to think about was exactly this. The way I saw it, in worship leading I was only worried about their response to God. To me, that’s only one facet of your life. Now, I think that I’m still concerned about youth’s worship life, but also everything else in their life. 

What’s an unexpected hurdle you’ve had to overcome in preaching? 

Aaron: The fact that you basically are expected to memorize a 40-minute lecture. Which, I guess I knew, but I hadn’t considered at length how little I had practiced that particular skill. I didn’t anticipate the difficulty of trying to look engaged rather than just staring at my notes. Also, how much study goes into a single sermon. Maybe it’s because I’m just starting out, but for a single 35-minute talk, I’ll study for like 10 hours. 

Lindsie

When you first got into the realm of leadership, whether it be through small group leading or administration, what was one of the difficulties that you didn’t anticipate? 

Lindsie: Hmm, yes. So, I think when you hear a solution for a problem, the usual response is relief and then the desire to implement that solution as fast as possible. I thought my main hurdle would be explaining what the solution was, or helping someone realize the solution to some sort of problem, but I think something I didn’t expect was people not wanting a solution. It’s challenging to know that you have an answer, but people don’t want it. 

As I said, you’ve been in many different areas of leadership spanning from small group leader to church staff member and several in between and I wanted to ask: How has your experience in being a LEADER helped you become a better FOLLOWER of Christ? 

Aaron: These are very deep questions, I love it.

Lindsie: Yes, they are. I think when you’re given the opportunity of leading, you hopefully have one person following you. Once you get that, there’s a healthy fear of responsibility with the realization that people are following you. I think, in a spiritually healthy environment, that weight should push you to be more dependent on Jesus. Because, ultimately, they are God’s people and he’s just allowed you to be a leader over them in some capacity. Jimmy often puts it as, “I follow pastor Reg as he follows Jesus” and the Apostle Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (Colossians 11:1) So, to me, if you are a healthy leader, it should push you to depend more on Christ.

So we live in a time where masculinity and femininity are more hotly debated than ever before, and I was wondering: how has your experience as a Christian Woman been affected by the current culture? 

Lindsie: Ooh, that’s a very good question. I took a whole class over this at Hillsong. So, I think just naturally, the way Aaron and I live our lives is very “Go Team”. So in our home life, we are very equal, we are on the same team, doing the same things. The only time I’ve ever experienced any kind of difference from that as far as culture goes is outside of our home. I feel like there’s a stigma in Southeast Texas for very gendered tasks or expectations of marriage. A little bit in Australia, as well, actually. Stuff like assuming things about Aaron’s life because he’s a man, or assuming I spend all my time in the kitchen because I’m a woman. I didn’t like that, but I think I also disagree with the flip side of that kind of thinking. I don’t think that is equality either. Fortunately, our closest support system as well as Praise have always treated us very equally. The only time we really experience different treatment based on gender is from people who don’t love Jesus a ton/don’t love him at all. I don’t know, I feel like I read a lot of stuff about that, but I haven’t personally experienced it much, which is good I think. I will say this, though. I do a lot of reading on the enneagram, and I’m an 8 which is called “The Challenger”. Societally, a male Challenger is seen as authoritative, respected, dignified, and honored. Whereas a female Challenger, typically is seen as having more negative personality traits like stubborn, demanding, needy, or stuck-up. I feel like I’ve had things dismissed or certain assumptions made about me based on my enneagram type. So my personality paired with my being a woman has lead, in some instances, to me being treated differently than perhaps a man with the same personality might be treated. 

So you mentioned on your instagram that you should “Start where you are, Use what you have, and Do what you can?” how has that philosophy impacted you outside of your ventures in business? 

Lindsie: So, I used to believe that everything had to be perfect before I could move forward. However, God showed me that he is the one who knows the plan and I should do what he asks regardless of my opinion on my ability to do so. He says “Go to the place I will show you.” He does NOT say “I’ll show you a place, then go.” That really drove home for me the idea that it’s not perfection, but excellence that we should pine after. 

I’ve heard you talk about the tv show “The 100” and I know your affinity ran so deep that you actually dressed up as Octavia Blake for Halloween one year, is there any wisdom to take away from shows like that, or do you just see them as entertaining?

Ooh, I think I enjoy the creativity. Some of my favorite movies are ones that make you think and do new things. I’m not sure, I think I enjoy comparing their decisions to what we might do in the same sort of situation. It’s also supposed to be good entertainment, so it’s just fun to watch as well, haha. 

What I consistently hear is that you’re the kind of person who is willing to confront conflict when others might avoid it, so my question is: While many see conflict as a relational roadblock to be avoided, how do you see it that makes you behave so differently when confronted with it?

Oh, listen. I think people might even say that I like conflict, and I think that is wildly incorrect. I don’t enjoy conflict. I still get nervous every time. My hands get shaky, I get sweaty, I don’t like it. However, I genuinely believe that my personality is to love the person enough to work through the conflict. Some others might not see it that way. They might see it as something that will only breed more conflict, but to me, it signals that there has probably already been some kind of issue that needs addressing. Jimmy says all the time, “Conflict can do 1 of 2 things: it can either drive you apart or together in your relationship.” And the experiences that we’ve had with having those tough conversations has yielded success for the most part. Sometimes you have to agree to disagree, but mostly people appreciate you being willing to work through it. 

So I know you value aesthetic and also have worked in interior decoration, is there a color you’ve always hated regardless of context or surroundings?

Orange. I hate it. I have hated it my whole life. No matter the tone.

So having participated in church leadership as a woman, I think you’re uniquely qualified to answer this type of question, the American church has made great strides for women since the times of the 1800s, what do you think is the next important stride for the American church to make?

That’s a really good question, because I feel like every individual church is at such different levels in regards to that. For instance, Praise, I feel like, does a phenomenal job championing women, family, and marriage. I also know of other churches where only women serve in children’s ministry. I’m not sure what the next stage is. I think it’s case by case. I don’t necessarily thin that every church should start a new women’s ministry or something like that. I think it should be the main idea of “This is where we’re at, and what is OUR next step.” Maybe that means that one specific church should start a women’s small group or another should start couple’s small groups. 

Both

So you guys both went to Hillsong College in Sydney Australia and that got me thinking, what is something that each country’s church and by extension, church culture, could learn from the other?

Lindsie: While Hillsong Church does have Hillsong culture, they also introduced us to the idea of Kingdom Culture, which should exist in every church. Ideas like speaking life more often and placing value on people are Kingdom Culture ideas that I think American Christians could learn from.

Aaron: I think, in general, Australia is way more laid back as a country. Sometimes I think in Southern Bible Belt churches, people are very rigid. So I think Southern Baptist churches could stand to chill out a bit more. 

Lindsie: Trailing off that, Australians have a saying “Give it a go” and that’s not as much of a thing here. In Australia people are way more willing to take a risk on you. In America, it doesn’t quite work that way. You have to present your resumé and THEN you’ll be accepted. I think the American Church could do well to take from that. We’re very much the Australia version when it comes to Jesus, but when it comes to serving, expectations, staff leadership, etc. we tend to lose that a bit. The American Church also holds onto things. In Australia, they might think, “Oh, its ok if this mistake was made, let’s just keep going, and get better along the way.” Obviously not with huge errors. Anyway I think Aaron and I are more trusting than maybe other people we’ve had this same kind of conversation with. 

What’s one thing you think worship/church teams focus on too much and what’s one thing they don’t focus on enough?

Aaron: Ability is focused on too much. Character is not focused on enough. I think we’re quicker to say, “Oh you sing? Then come be onstage.” rather than “Do you love Jesus, and also do you sing?” It can be really tough, because if we prioritize ability over character, then someone could be onstage who doesn't really believe in what they’re saying. They might believe in Jesus, or at least say they do, but their life doesn’t communicate that at all.

Lindsie: Yeah, we live in a very performance-driven society. Just look at Instagram, everyone is putting forth their best. It’s not necessarily someone posting about their tough moments. I think leadership, whether on or off of a platform is about integrity. There’s so much focus on talent. If we don’t take the time to ask, “Is this person willing to serve anywhere? Like even cleaning toilets, or whatever, or are they ‘too good’ to do that?” There’s a quote that says, “If you’re too big to serve, you’re too small to lead (Rich Wilkerson Jr.).” If you just care about ability and you put someone onstage that has great ability, people are eventually going to see their true character, and that can become a glaring distraction in worship. Of course, it’s not about the people leading, but at the same time, the more you get to know that person and see the lack of integrity, it can be very distracting and confusing.

Aaron: To me, it’s like, if I’m getting someone to play electric guitar just because they’re good at electric guitar, but they’re struggling in their relationship with Jesus. Me, as a leader, would see that as: they’re worried more about the immediate fix of ‘fill this position’ rather than worrying about that person’s walk with Christ.

Lindsie: We were watching something the other day that said, “We don't use people to build the Church, we use the Church to build people.” We loved that. I think that’s the idea of what Aaron just said. We’re not going to use you just to fill a position, we’re going to use the Church, the body, to build you, as a person. 

There seems to be a lot of disagreement between churches on the purpose of spontaneous worship, do you see a greater value in either planned or spontaneous worship services? If so, what?

Aaron: I think I can speak for both of us (Lindsie nods in agreement) We favor a planned service that plans to include a spontaneous moment. Going into a service with no plan, and just wanting to follow the Holy Spirit, at some point, you’re not doing your due diligence to prepare and be a good steward of the service God has allowed you to have. Services will either give a higher or lower view of God, and you just wanna wing that? I think that’s bad stewardship. So I think its a healthy “both-and” as far as planning and spontaneity. 

You guys have both been small group leaders for different groups throughout your life, what are some unexpected challenges you’ve faced beyond distractions and disruptions?

Lindsie: Hmm. I think it’s hard as a leader when your small group members don’t view the group as valuable enough to attend. They might think, “Oh, it’s not a big deal if I’m not there.” That kind of hurts. It makes it seem that they don’t bring something valuable to the group, but that’s not true, they absolutely do. It devalues the other people who chose to attend. It says, “No one who attended is good enough, and also I’m not good enough to bring what I have to the table”. While we might be given the title of “Leader”, small groups, often all lead each other. 

Aaron: Just echoing what Lindsie said, we very much believe in people. When they don’t believe in themselves , that’s challenging to us, because we want them to believe in themselves. The way we start that is to believe in them MORE than they believe in themselves, then encouraging them in that. 

So you guys are repeatedly touted as an exemplary marriage from a lot of people I’ve talked to, what’s one thing that marriage has taught you that you never expected to learn?

Lindsie: I think, what comes to mind immediately is this. We have an awesome marriage now, but we had a really unhealthy 5 years of dating. Something we only picked up very near to when we decided to get married was the idea of “team”. Team wasn’t really pushed in my home, growing up. It was more, “Think realistically and do your own thing.” It took me a while to really believe that Aaron actually appreciated me and wanted to be on my team, even after we were married. That’s just insecurity on my part, but I think once I got rid of that insecurity and realized that Aaron really wanted to be on my team, we realized we could really make a difference as a team. I read something recently, and I fully disagreed with it. It said, “Being married is just two people who are still doing their own thing, they’re just doing it together now.” I don’t think that’s right. God brings you together as one. I’m not talking about specific interests, like I love gardening and Aaron doesn’t care about gardening. I’m talking about, when people get married, they keep their own separate values. To me, that is NOT cool. How can you be one and have different values? I think coming together and being on the same team is everything. I think it’s wonderful that people see us as a team now, but we were not always that way.

Aaron: I would say something similar. I think I’m fairly confident in my own abilities, just as a human being, but whenever we got married and got this idea of “team”, I had the realization that if Lindsie is with me and we’re doing something, we could literally do anything together.

Lindsie: I think a lot of this was built when we had nothing. When we got married we had basically nothing. We were walking home one day, and we were talking and saying, “If one of our other couple-friends had to walk 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store and literally put vegetables in a backpack and walk 30 minutes back home as their grocery shopping, what do you think they would do?” I think, for us, our answer for what our other friends might have done is: blame each other, be angry about the situation, etc. Meanwhile Aaron and I are like, “Yeah, it sucks, but whatever” and we’re like, laughing about it. Aaron’s dad gave us some of the best advice when we first got married, he said something along the lines of, “If you have nothing but God and each other to depend on, you’ll depend on nothing but each other and God.” That informed our marriage and the foundation of what we have now.

Aaron: Another thing I didn’t expect in marriage was to have someone who will always listen to your jokes.

So I hear you guys utilize a lot of specific words when talking about leadership, such as: intentional, genuine, next-level, etc. What do you think first instilled that kind of ideology?

Aaron: Your language locates you and it creates culture. So am I gonna do “the best I can” or am I gonna be “next-level”? We want to build a culture of being next-level. Am I just gonna do a good job or use excellence? We try to use specific language to create culture. What started it for us, was Hillsong College. Their leadership culture is incredible. 

So during your time with the Creative team and other background parts of ministry, is there anything you learned from the Behind the Scenes part of church leadership?

Aaron: Just from sitting in staff meetings I saw how many angles are thought through. Seeing that in action was crazy. Considering how each decision will effect different departments or church members themselves, they think through everything. 

Lindsie: Yeah, absolutely. I was just going to say that. 

So I know you went to Hillsong College and have also seen Hillsong perform live many times, when you see a massive worship band like that, is there anything you take away from that experience?

Aaron: I always leave encouraged and inspired. Encouraged to be in a different perspective. It’s encouraging to know how effective leading from stage is, because I’m getting to be led. I’m inspired because of the extra creativity that’s usually put into a live show.

Lindsie: I think the leadership they have is phenomenal. Also, just being amongst 50,000 people when we went to Passion feels like you’re in Heaven. It’s super surreal. It’s amazing. Their leadership scaling from huge events to small ones, always next-level. 

Finally, what book, other that the Bible, do you think has helped you the most?

Lindsie: I really loved “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey 

Aaron: That’s 100% what I was going to say.

Lindsie: I think it just takes everything that’s already in mine and Aaron’s brain and puts it into a book. Like, with leadership, we live that, it’s not just a good plan. I heard a quote, not from the book, that basically said, “If you’re leading, but no one’s following you, you’re just on a walk” I think we can all be great followers of Jesus, but if we’re not leading people while we’re following Christ, then we’re just on a walk. Leadership is not just a title or a role, it’s our life.

Aaron: You said all the things I was thinking, Go Team!

Lindsie: I also love “The Artisan Soul” by Erwin McManus

Aaron: He’s the pastor of Mosaic MSC in California.

Lindsie: That would, for sure, be my 2nd pick.

-END-

Thanks so much for reading this interview. If you enjoyed it, odds are you may enjoy some of the other interviews I've published, check them out! I hope you have a wonderful remainder of your day. Thanks again! -Ethan Honza