One short year ago, Aaron Shust sat excitedly in the crowd at his first Dove Awards to enjoy performances by many of the artists he had long admired. Today, just twelve months later, he's returning to take the stage himself at his second 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.

"Every time you go into the studio, you wonder if the songs you bring to the table are going to be able to speak to people's hearts and minds," Aaron says of Whispered and Shouted. "It's my offering to God, and I believe that He's pleased with it, and in the end, that's the only thing that's important." It's easy for Aaron to keep that kind of perspective. He's still a new enough name on the music scene to confuse some fans. "The other night, I got introduced as 'Aaron Shoosh,'" he laughs. Touring with multi-Platinum artist MercyMe, Aaron has even had fans mistake him for a member of that mega-group. "By default, the music business is an industry that fosters 'celebrity,'" he says. "Sometimes, Satan will whisper in my ear that I'm important, and that's so different from when the Spirit tells me that I'm valued. If I ever start to believe the wrong thing, God reminds me, 'Hey, I'm the Famous One, not you.'"

After serving for five years as a worship leader at Perimeter Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Aaron is now humbled to serve a much larger congregation. As he first began to tour nationally, it was difficult for him to create the intimate environment he longed for at his concerts. "Rather than being able to lead the crowd, I had to think of it as demonstrating the songs, teaching them so that listeners could use them to worship God in their own way," Aaron recalls. "Now, people are becoming familiar with my songs, and that can change a concert into a corporate worship experience where the crowd can sing along, rather than just being entertained." Throughout the overwhelming changes he's experienced over the last few months, Aaron has continued to be awed by God's kingship and mercy over all of his life, and the songs on Whispered and Shouted are a testament to that.

The album's title was drawn from the song "Can't Hide from Your Love," which is loosely based on Romans 1:20. "Take a look at creation," Aaron says. "God reveals his existence and divinity so much that we have no excuse for not believing in Him. He whispers in the wind and shouts in the waves that He loves us and hears us."

To bring the new CD to life, Aaron remained loyal to the production team that crafted his first project. Working in Atlanta with producer Dan Hannon allowed him to stay close to home, and spend more time with his wife and newborn son, Daniel—yet another change God brought into Aaron's life last year.

Aaron also revisited one of the songs from his first album. The title for Anything Worth Saying came from a short chorus at the opening of that album dubbed "Give Me Words to Speak." Aaron finished the song - born out of an episode of writer's block - for Whispered and Shouted, and it's now a favorite of his. "That day, I couldn't find any words of inspiration," he recalls. "I sort of threw my hands up in the air and asked God, Give me words to speak, because I can't think of anything worth saying. I felt that, somehow, God was responding, "Well, Aaron, write about that."


Although that song seemed to simply flow from his prayer to paper, songwriting usually takes him months of wrestling with lyrics and notes. Nonetheless, it's 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.

That realization is more important now than ever for Aaron, as he begins to deal with the trappings of fame - like the first time he was recognized by a fan on the street. "It was surreal," he admits. "I had stopped at a mall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, traveling to a tour date, and I ran into a Verizon store to get my phone repaired. The salesperson pulled up my account, smiled, and said, 'I thought so.'"

Aaron worried that something had gone awry with his phone plan until the man pulled out his own cell phone and hit a button to play his ringtone … "My Savior, My God." Life may continue to be a blur of change for Aaron Shust, but he knows that God is still with him in the midst of the melee. With more laurels already under his belt than many artists assemble in a career, Aaron's just smiling and enjoying the music.