Klaus Interview

Who Is Klaus?
Klaus is the newest worship leader signed with industry juggernaut Integrity Music.  The critically acclaimed musician was born in Germany but American raised.  Klaus was trained at the Christ for the Nations Institute.  He served as worship leader there for a few years before embarking on his own.  Klaus just released his debut album for Integrity Music - Glory:  An Evening of Worship with Klaus.

KEY:
K> Klaus
L> Leah

L> Okay, so does Klaus have a last name?

K> No. (laughs) Yes I do, but we just keep it simple, because the last name is a little difficult to pronounce,and there aren’t that many Klaus’ out there that lead worship, so I think we’re safe.

L> So you’re like the Cher of Christian music?

K> Yes..or let’s go with Bono or Sting or something.

L> Give us a little background on who you are.

K> Well, I was born in Germany, but spent most of my life in the states. My parents were born and raised there, so we’re German immigrants. We went to Chicago first, then to Michigan and then lived in Canada until I graduated high school.  We went to Dallas, and I ended up at Christ For the Nations for a couple of years as a student. Then I launched out into the big world and a lot of stuff started happening. I did start leading worship at a church for the next nine or ten years. So, I was full time for about four or five of those years. I came on when the church was really small and grew into it.

L> I read something about you building houses. Where did that come in?

K> When I left that church, I felt like God was leading me on to something else. I went through a little bit of a season where I didn’t really feel like I had all of my bearings - Just trying to find my way, and I started building houses.  I started remodeling first and then started building houses. Which I still do. I have one or two under construction right now. I have a great guy who handles the construction. So, we’ve been able to do that and that has been some of our income support base over the last 10 years.

L> How did you get back into leading worship?

K> I got a call to be the worship leader at Christ For the Nations. So, I thought about it and prayed about it, and my wife and I felt good about it. So I ended up back at C.F.N.I. as the worship leader for two years. It was a great season in my life. I got to meet a lot of great people and recorded a few records. I had recorded some things before that, but this was a little different, because the listenership was a little bit broader there.

L> When did you decide to go out in ministry on your own?

K> They had made some leadership changes both years I was at C.F.N.I. in terms of the director of the school, and they were going to do it again. The guy coming in was a pretty young guy. I felt like he would stay there for a while, and I said, “Ya know, I think it’s better for you to put together a team that you can grow with.” The window in my heart was maybe three years to do it. Four at the most. We had two great years there. I had met a lot of great people. Kari Jobe and Rick Pino and some of these kids that were there during that time.  I got to mentor and see them grow. Also, Elisabeth Clark and a whole bunch of great people. It opened a lot of doors. To give credit, C.F.N.I. was a great launching pad for me. The same way that Kari Jobe really got a huge platform during that time, because of singing “Revelation Song.” It was just a time of some great openings. Some people get that opening when they’re 18, some 28 or older. I can’t say when you’ll get that opening. For me, it didn’t happen until I was 38.

After that, Mary Zook who was the registrar there, was looking for a change. She had been at C.F.N.I. a few years, and every one there is great, but if you’re on staff there, and you’re in a high energy job, it’s a hard place. It can be a grind. It’s intense. So everybody does about two or three years, and then man, you’re done. So Mary, felt a change coming. I talked to my wife, and we asked her to come on part time and help us grow our ministry. After about six months, we really
decided to do more with what God had given us. When we were still at C.F.N.I. we started doing these nights of worship, the second Friday of every month. When we first started doing them we had about 300 people, then it grew to two or three thousand people. They would come from six hours away just to worship. So, we decided to start trying to take the “night of worship” experience out to other places. It’s been pretty great.

L> How did you come to record with Integrity?

K> Well, I got a call from Integrity just recently and said that they would like to do something with me. I told them I had just recorded at Christ For the Nations again. So I sent it to the head of artist development, and they really liked it. I went out to see them, and they told me that you have one shot with a national or international release like this, to kind of leave a mark and make an impression on people as to what kind of worship artist you are. You can keep making records, but you kind of have one opportunity to leave a mark as to what you do.

I had recorded a few cover tunes on that record, not because I didn’t have other things to record, but because in a night of worship I didn’t want to do ten new songs and have people think it was a concert. So, I kept intermingling songs like “Heart of Worship” and some others, so that they could just worship, and then I would throw another new one in there, so it would keep them connected to it. Integrity tells me that even though they love the cover tunes, they had heard other songs of mine that they would like to have been included on this release instead. So, we went back to C.F.N.I. and had another night of worship, and wemerged the two, and you could never tell it. We worked very hard to make it that way.

L> You have a few friends join you on this record. Tell me about that.

K> In the process, we recorded “When I Speak Your Name” that I had written a few years back with Elisabeth Clark, but it felt like Kari was supposed to sing it, so she sings it on the record. They both sing on the record. Elisabeth sings “Stay Amazed” and helps me on the song “Glory.” Kari sings on “Running,” a little bit on “Abba Father,” “When I Speak Your Name, “ and she sings another verse.

L> So you’re about to release Glory. What are you feeling right now?

K> I have no idea how people are going to respond. It is a bit different from what’s out there. There are very few overdubs. Most of the vocals are live to the night. I mean, they’re not perfect. There are some areas where I’m like, “Ah!” But I really don’t care. My goal was an honest night of worship. We’re there. We’re feeling it, and feeling what’s happening. You can always polish something, but I believe you can polish the glory off something too. I felt like personally I was satisfied. It
was the best we could do technically and the best we could do to keep the moments of worship and the spontaneity. I hope you like it!

L> You’ve used the phrase “launching pad.” What do you feel this is the launching pad to?

K> I don’t know. I think that if people listen to it, they will feel like they’ve been a part of a night of worship. I don’t really care that we sell a lot records for my own gain. That is irrelevant to me. I care about one thing, because it’s a dream of my own heart, and that is to fill the earth with the sound of worship. To be a small part of the plan that God has to fill the earth, to fill the nations will the sound of worship. I think there’s a lot of great, great worship out there right now. Hillsong United has done a great job, I have a lot of respect for them. Tomlin, Passion, I mean I could make a list of all of the people that have done a great job. All of the music is needed, because we want to fill the earth with the sound. I hope in some small way, I have added to that. I hope it finds it’s way into the hearts of worshippers.

More information Klaus can be found at his website or on his MySpace.

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