Joel Houston’s AMXN Radio Breaks the Mold of Christian Music
The worship leader who helped make UNITED a worldwide phenomenon is now stepping into uncharted territory with a deeply personal and experimental project. Joel Houston told Relevant Magazine his newest venture is AMXN Radio (pronounced “Amen Radio”), a genre-blurring creative outlet that fuses music, visuals, and artistic experiments -- and as Relevant summarized, sounds nothing like Hillsong.
“I wasn’t trying to write songs for church services,” he said of AMXN Radio. “I was just making music again for the love of it.”
The award-winning group UNITED -- which filled arenas with such anthems as So Will I (100 Billion X) and From the Inside Out -- is “not going anywhere,” he said.
“We’re just in a bit of a limbo, waiting for clarity on what the next chapter looks like,” Houston said.
On Instagram, Houston described AMXN Radio as a venture that will produce “music to pray to; prayers to music to” -- a “safe space to say what I wanna say, make what I wanna make.”
The idea for AMXN Radio, he explained, was born during the pandemic.
“I was sitting in a studio by myself, messing around, pushing buttons, trying things. For so long, I had relied on others -- people far more talented than me -- to bring my ideas to life. But suddenly, it was just me.”
Songwriting, he said, “has always been a refuge for me.”
“Even before anyone ever heard my songs, that’s where I found God,” he said. “I tried every devotional strategy -- nothing worked for me like writing songs did.”
Relevant described AMXN Radio as “stepping into a dreamscape -- a place where worship music collides with lo-fi beats, ambient electronica and whispered prayers.” It’s very different from UNITED’s music.
“The Psalms are full of songs that probably wouldn’t work in a church service,” he told Relevant. “They start in one place, wrestle through doubt and struggle, and then end in another. That’s what I wanted this music to be -- a journey.”
Houston wants to challenge the boundaries of Christian music. In fact, he says, it’s happening already.
“There’s this whole movement happening,” he says. “You’ve got people like Josiah Queen, Forrest Frank -- guys who are just making great music, without worrying about whether it fits the ‘Christian’ box.”
AMXN Radio promotes creative freedom, he said.
“There’s a whole generation of artists who grew up in church but listen to everything -- country, hip-hop, EDM, indie rock,” Houston said. “They want to make music that reflects all of that. But a lot of them think the only way to do that is to leave Christian music entirely.”
He asked, “What if you didn’t have to pick a lane? What if the Kingdom is big enough for all of it?”
Photo Credit: ©Facebook/Hillsong Church
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.
Originally published March 24, 2025.
