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Artist Description | Klaus
Leading the saints in song can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, there’s a need to remain accessible and facilitate a connection with the heart of God. On the other, it’s the power of the moment: being submissive to the Spirit’s leading and attentive to what he wants to reveal about the character of God.
Glory, the Integrity Music debut by German-born worship leader Klaus, reflects both sides of the coin. Like his rousing, Spirit-led evenings of worship stateside and abroad, the album is a balancing act-a manifestation of the symmetry Klaus strives to attain when ushering congregants into the presence of the Lord.
Recorded over two nights at Christ for the Nations Institute before an audience of more than 2,000, Glory is rife with explosive praise rockers, anthemic ballads, and spontaneous moments of worship-all important components of Klaus’ leading and songwriting style.
“I’m kind of in the middle,” Klaus says of his approach. “If I could only write stuff that people could sing, it’d be great, but not at the expense of writing songs that relate something about the heart of God, whether they’re ever sung again or not. There’s something that’s beating in my heart wanting me to release this sound.”
That certain something didn’t come to Klaus overnight, but was cultivated over a lifetime of learning and growing in worship. A former student and worship leader at CFNI, Klaus came full circle and recorded Glory at the campus of his alma mater, a setting that he says proved ideal for the songs he had to bring to the table.
“There’s no better place to go worship than CFNI,” Klaus says. “They’re crazy over there. It’s the most explosive environment you’ll worship in. It doesn’t get better than that.”
Born in Germany, Klaus and his parents moved to the United States when he was barely old enough to walk. The family lived in Michigan and Chicago for a season, only to settle in Canada when Klaus was still young. All along, Klaus spent his formative years playing the piano and studying jazz and classical music, which laid the theoretical groundwork for when, following high school, Klaus moved to Dallas to attend CFNI.
His college years, plus his love for the music of CCM icon Keith Green, influenced the way Klaus saw music and ministry. That training led to a post at a church in Plano, Texas, where he served faithfully until 1995. That year marked a season of change for the worship leader: he tried his hand at something totally different, real estate and home remodelling, a career path he maintained full-time while still leading worship on the side.
It took an invitation to serve with worship veteran Lindell Cooley at an “Encounter” event in Mexico for Klaus to receive a direct calling from God to serve him in ways that he never thought imaginable.
“I attended the conference to help with worship and ended up with an encounter that changed my life,” Klaus says of the 2003 gathering. “The word I received that weekend from Lindell was that I had not been forgotten, that the Lord had a need of me in this hour, and that a fountain for the nations was about to open up.”
That word, in addition to the prophetic impact of ministers and mentors such as Marco Barrientos and Enrique Bremer, reignited the spark for worship in Klaus’ life, directing him back to a ministry position at CFNI in 2003 and later the founding of Pure Worship Ministries in 2005. Today, he resides in McKinney, TX, with his wife Julie and children Candace Elizabeth, 12, Aaron Judah, 3, and 1 year-old Olivia Grace.
All of this hands-on experience and spiritual maturation come to the fore on Glory, an album that’s representative of Klaus’ versatile, piano-rich compositions: catchy and immediate one moment, heartfelt and spur-of-the-moment the next.
The track listing includes huge, Brit-pop/rock numbers like the engaging “The Lord Reigns”, a call to worship that’s also featured on Gateway Worship’s best-selling second album, Wake Up the World. The intensity of that song bleeds into the techno-dipped, pop/rock anthem “I Give You Glory”, yet another chorus that brims with energy, corporate value, and even a Spanish-language breakdown.
Anchored in the same progression as “I Give You Glory,” Klaus and his talented 10-piece band launch into the stirring “You Are the Joy”, the first spontaneous prayer to emerge from the night of the recording.
The way Klaus commands this improvisational flow is second nature, he says.
“I never think about it. It’s just the inspiration of the moment,” Klaus says. “It’s an impulse where the Holy Spirit wants to release something into the atmosphere. I guess you could call it prophetic worship. It’s not this kind of mystical thing as much as just lingering for a moment while a stream starts flowing and you immediately sense God wanting to tell you something.”
Klaus can’t help it. Sensitive to the sweet, small voice of the Spirit, the temple worshipper appends nearly every selection on Glory with unrehearsed codas or interludes-anointed melody lines and arrangements that could only come from above. “Running” is one said selection, a devotional piece fronted by CFNI alum and Gateway worship pastor Kari Jobe.
Jobe steps in again for the more performance-oriented “Abba Father” and “Breath of Your Spirit”, two atmospheric tracks where Klaus addresses the Godhead with the passion of a modern-day Keith Green. Another noteworthy collaboration is the soaring “I Stay Amazed”, a powerful ballad led by Elizabeth Clark, the same songwriter with whom Klaus wrote “When I Speak Your Name”, the standout closing track.
But whether he’s allowing the Spirit to move freely in songs like “I’m Listening” or penning more congregational fare like the title track, Klaus says he’s being responsive to the magnitude of God’s glory, which, like His holy Name, is the most perfect expression of His matchless character.
“I really feel like the glory of the Lord will be seen in the nations of the Earth,” Klaus says. “It’s no coincidence that in the last three decades God has begun to release worship into the world like never before.”
“God, His very presence demands worship-who He is demands worship,” he continues. “I hope this recording is one more small cog in the wheel of a sound that will bring people into the very thing that they were created for. I think God has an agenda here.”
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