About

WIFE, MUM, PASTOR, WORSHIP LEADER, COMPOSER, SPEAKER & AUTHOR

Australian Darlene Zschech is acclaimed all over the world as a composer, worship leader, pastor, author and speaker, and became most well known for her involvement in the worship team at Hillsong Church, Sydney, Australia over many years. Although she has achieved numerous gold albums and her songs are sung in many nations of the world, Darlene’s success simply stands as a testimony to her life’s passion for serving God and people with all her heart. Alongside her husband Mark, they are the Senior Pastors of Hope Unlimited Church (HopeUC) on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, which has now grown into India and the USA.

As a composer, Darlene is perhaps most famous for the chorus “Shout to the Lord”, a song that is sung by millions of churchgoers every week and has been covered by many other artists. In addition to “Shout to the Lord”, Darlene has written many songs through solo projects: “Kiss of Heaven”, “Change Your World”, “You Are Love”, “In Jesus Name” and “Revealing Jesus”, a live worship album recorded with the Grammy Award winning Israel Houghton. Through the Compassionart project in 2008, Darlene was honoured to have the privilege of writing with some of the most generous-hearted worship writers and leaders of our day.

Her latest live worship project was recorded at HopeUC, called “Here I Am, Send Me” where she co-wrote with some incredible writers of worship music including Martin Smith, Jenn Johnson, Paul Baloche and many faithful worship leaders from her own church. She has also recently released a Christmas album, “The Table”, with the HopeUC Worship team. Darlene is passionate about raising and training other worship pastors, leaders, teams and writers. To this end, she has penned five books – “Extravagant Worship”, “The Kiss of Heaven”, “The Art of Mentoring” and “Revealing Jesus” devotional, “Worship Changes Everything”. These titles combined have been translated into over 20 different languages. Darlene’s most recent book project that is scheduled for release is “The Golden Thread”.

It was during a Compassion trip to Central Africa in 2004 that Mark and Darlene were prompted to initiate Hope: Rwanda. Hope: Rwanda was a global endeavour designed to bring hope to a nation seemingly forgotten since the horrific genocide of 1994. The 100 Days of Hope (April 6 – July 15, 2006) project was strategically coordinated to cover the same 100 days that saw approximately 1 million people viciously slaughtered. Now called ‘HOPE: Global’ this organisation continues to bring hope and healing to Rwanda, and a new ‘HOPE’ has spread into other parts of Africa, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India. The HOPE: Global team are excited about all the future endeavours that continue to gather great momentum.

Darlene and Mark live in the beautiful Central Coast of New South Wales with their family Amy and son-in-law Andrew, Chloe and son-in-law Hosanna, Zoe Jewel, and beautiful granddaughters Ava Pearl, Ruthie Feather, Thea Mae and grandson Roman Emmanuel Mark. While they travel extensively and have the honour of working and ministering alongside amazing friends around the globe, the family remains Darlene’s highest priority. Darlene says, “First and foremost I am a woman who simply and wholeheartedly loves Christ, and serves Him through loving my family, serving the church, and speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.”