Aaron Shust was one of the worship leaders at a Presbyterian church in 2000.

Now he takes the stage himself at the Dove Awards show carrying an armload of nominations that have followed his own smash hit single, My Savior, My God. Aaron’s debut release, Anything Worth Saying, sold over 140,000 copies in the last year while My Savior, My God was downloaded over 85,000 times on iTunes and maintained the #1 spot on the Web site’s Inspirational chart for more than three months. With more radio airplay than any other song in 2006, My Savior, My God topped several radio charts and was named the #1 Song of the Year across multiple formats. Even as everything was changing due to his overnight success, Aaron set to work on his anticipated sophomore release, Whispered and Shouted. Though the songwriting process was sometimes challenging amid a whirlwind of media interviews, tour dates, and meet-and-greets, Aaron remained focused on writing songs that lead people to worship Christ more deeply.

Song writing is a process that he enjoys immensely. “Writing requires a time of rest,” he shares. “I always feel like I’ve accomplished something good when a tour ends or an album is recorded, but it’s exhausting. After I write a song, I feel relaxed and rejuvenated.”

That sentiment is illustrated best in Create Again, a cornerstone of the new album. “I don’t know how anyone who has ever flown in an airplane can look at all the amazing sites of nature and not believe in a Divine Creator,” he explains. “It blows my mind that, out of all of the amazing natural wonders I can see from 40,000 feet, God chose humans to be the monument that points to His worth and His glory more than anything else. My prayer in this song is directed to the Creator of the Universe, acknowledging all that He has done, and then asking that He would create again, but this time, in me.