Donald James “Don” Moen (born June 29, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, pastor, and record producer widely regarded as one of the founding voices of modern worship music.
Best known for the global worship anthem “God Will Make a Way,” Moen spent over two decades as creative director and president of Integrity Music, where he helped launch the careers of Israel Houghton and the artists behind Hillsong Church.
You’ve probably sung one of his songs without even knowing his name.
Don Moen At a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Donald James Moen |
| Born | June 29, 1950, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Age | 76 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Laura Lee Szuchna Moen (m. 1973) |
| Children | Melissa, James, John, Rachel, and Michael Moen |
| Residence | Brentwood/Nashville, Tennessee |
| Education | |
| High school | Graduated 1968, Minneapolis area |
| University | University of Oklahoma (music degree, 1972); also studied at Oral Roberts University |
| Ministry & Career | |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, worship leader, record producer, pastor |
| Known for | “God Will Make a Way,” “Give Thanks,” “Thank You Lord,” “I Offer My Life” |
| Former role | President, Integrity Music (1984–2008) |
| Current venture | Founder, The Don Moen Company; Worship In Action ministry |
| Religion | Protestant, charismatic/evangelical tradition |
| Website | donmoen.com |
| Financial | |
| Albums | 20+ solo and worship albums |
| Net worth | Unverified public estimate; no confirmed figure exists |
Early Life and Background
Don Moen was born on June 29, 1950, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up training as a classical violinist, which is not exactly where you’d expect the future father of contemporary worship music to start.
He graduated from high school in 1968 and went on to study music at the University of Oklahoma, earning his degree in 1972.
He also spent time at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, a Christian liberal arts school that would end up reshaping the direction of his life.
It was at Oral Roberts University that evangelist Terry Law noticed Moen’s musical gift and invited him to join Living Sound, a touring ministry music group.
That invitation changed everything. From 1973, Moen spent ten years traveling with Living Sound behind the Iron Curtain, ministering through music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during some of the tensest years of the Cold War.
Ministry and Career Journey
Joining Integrity Music
In 1984, Moen was hired by Michael Coleman to join a new music label called Integrity Music. He started as a worship leader and quickly moved into leadership.
Over the next two decades, he served as creative director and president of Integrity Music, president of Integrity Label Group, and executive producer across the label’s catalog.
Moen produced eleven volumes of the Hosanna! Music series, a set of worship albums that shaped how churches around the world sang together.
His first solo album, “Give Thanks,” released in 1986, went on to sell more than a million copies and became one of the best-selling worship albums in Christian music history.
A Launching Pad for Other Artists
Part of what makes Moen’s career so significant isn’t just his own catalog. It’s who he helped along the way.
At Integrity, he was a driving force behind the early careers of Paul Baloche, Darlene Zschech, and Israel Houghton. He also signed Hillsong Church‘s worship team to early recording deals, well before Hillsong became a household name in global worship music.
Going Independent
In 2008, after more than 20 years with Integrity, Moen left to start The Don Moen Company.
The move gave him more creative control and let him focus on releasing music and resources directly to churches and worship teams, rather than through a traditional label structure.
He has since recorded albums across the globe, including a live album at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and a recording at Yoido Park in South Korea, one of the largest gatherings for a Christian worship event in Asia at the time.
He’s also released Spanish-language albums, “En Tú Presencia” and “Trono De Gracia,” reflecting his long history of ministering to Latin American audiences.
Rise to Prominence: “God Will Make a Way”
Every worship leader has a song that defines them. For Don Moen, that’s “God Will Make a Way.”
He wrote it in 1989 after his wife’s sister and brother-in-law lost their nine-year-old son in a car accident.
The other three children in the car survived but were seriously injured. Moen wrote the song to offer them comfort in a moment when there weren’t any adequate words to say out loud.
He didn’t write it for radio. He wrote it for two grieving parents. That’s the whole reason it still lands the way it does, decades later.
The song went on to become one of the most recorded worship songs of the modern era, translated into dozens of languages and sung in churches on every continent.
It earned Moen his first major industry recognition and remains, by a wide margin, his most requested and most covered composition.
Discography and Publications
Moen has released more than 20 albums across his career. Some of the most notable include:
- Give Thanks (1986) — his solo debut, certified Gold
- Worship with Don Moen (1992) — his first album under his own name
- God With Us (1993) — won a Dove Award for Musical Album of the Year
- I Will Sing (2000) — recorded live at Christian Broadcasting Network’s studios
- Thank You Lord (2004) — charted on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums
- Hiding Place (2006) — his first studio album, recorded in Franklin, Tennessee
- I Believe There Is More (2008)
- Uncharted Territory (2012) — funded through a Kickstarter campaign
- Hymnbook (2012) — released to mark reaching one million Facebook followers
He’s also written more than 100 songs used in churches worldwide, working alongside co-writers like Claire Cloninger and Paul Overstreet, and collaborating with musicians including Lenny LeBlanc, Carl Albrecht, and Abraham Laboriel.
Personal Life
Don Moen married Laura Lee Szuchna in 1973, following a concert at a downtown church in Minneapolis. The wedding itself has become part of Moen family lore: it started at 10 p.m. and drew about a thousand people from the audience who stayed, most of whom the couple had never met.
Don and Laura waited twelve years before welcoming their first child, going through infertility struggles and multiple miscarriages along the way. Once children did arrive, they came quickly. The couple had five kids in seven years: Melissa, James, John, Rachel, and Michael.
The Moens have lived in the Nashville, Tennessee area for years, where Don continues to lead The Don Moen Company and his ministry, Worship In Action. He’s also the co-host of a radio program, “Don Moen & Friends.”
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
Moen’s approach to worship has always leaned toward simplicity. He’s said the goal of a worship song isn’t to impress anyone musically.
It’s to give people plain, singable words that point straight at God, even in the middle of pain.
That philosophy shows up across his catalog. Songs like “Give Thanks,” “Thank You Lord,” and “God Is Good All the Time” aren’t complicated theological arguments.
They’re short, repeatable declarations meant to be sung by a room full of people who may not have any musical training at all. That’s by design, not by accident.
Influence and Legacy
Don Moen’s fingerprints are on modern worship music in a way that’s easy to underestimate if you weren’t around before contemporary worship became the norm in churches.
Before Hosanna! Music and Integrity’s catalog, congregational singing in a lot of churches looked very different.
Beyond his own songs, his influence runs through the artists he developed. Israel Houghton went on to become one of the most awarded artists in gospel music.
Hillsong Church‘s worship movement, which Moen helped bring into Integrity’s early catalog, became one of the most influential forces in global congregational music.
He’s also toured and shared stages with Chris Tomlin, another artist who helped define the sound of modern worship for a new generation.
His reach extends well past the United States. He’s ministered on nearly every continent, with a particularly strong and enduring following across Africa, where his songs are staples in Pentecostal and charismatic churches from Lagos to Kampala.
The 2017 Death Hoax: Setting the Record Straight
If you’ve searched for “Don Moen funeral” or wondered whether he’s still alive, here’s the full story.
In July 2017, a fake news website disguised to look like a legitimate Houston news outlet reported that Moen had died of stomach pain. The story spread fast, trending on Twitter and generating an outpouring of mourning online.
It was completely false. Nigerian gospel artist Frank Edwards, a friend and collaborator of Moen’s, confirmed the report was fake by sharing a text from Moen’s son Michael, who wrote that his dad was doing great.
Snopes fact-checked and debunked the story the same week, and Moen himself posted on social media to confirm he was alive and well.
As of 2026, Don Moen is alive, active, and still recording and touring. There’s no credible report of any health crisis or funeral.
The 2017 story remains the source of the recurring “is Don Moen still alive” searches, nearly a decade later.
Criticism and Controversies
Don Moen’s public record is largely free of personal scandal or documented controversy.
The most persistent misinformation associated with his name is the 2017 death hoax covered above, rather than any actual dispute involving him.
Some broader criticism aimed at the contemporary worship movement he helped build, around commercialization of worship music or the dominance of a handful of major labels shaping what churches sing, has occasionally touched his industry more than it has touched him personally.
There’s no substantial, well-documented controversy tied directly to Moen’s own conduct or ministry.
Net Worth and Financial Information
Public estimates of Don Moen’s net worth cluster around $30 million, a figure repeated across several celebrity net worth sites.
No primary source, tax filing, or statement from Moen himself confirms this number. Treat it as an unverified estimate rather than a fact.
What is verifiable: Moen built substantial income over decades through album sales exceeding five million units globally, his leadership roles at Integrity Music, and ongoing revenue from The Don Moen Company and licensing of his songs, which remain in active use in churches worldwide.
Awards and Recognition
- 1992 Dove Award, Song of the Year — “God Will Make a Way”
- 1993 Dove Award, Inspirational Album of the Year — “Worship with Don Moen”
- 1994 Dove Award, Musical Album of the Year — “God with Us”
- 1995 Dove Award, Musical Album of the Year — “Mighty Cross”
- 1999 Dove Award, Musical of the Year — “God for Us”
- 2003 Dove Award, Country Recorded Song of the Year — “God Is Good All the Time”
- Multiple additional Dove Award nominations across a decades-long career
Interesting Facts About Don Moen
- He trained as a classical violinist before ever picking up worship music.
- He failed his college speech class because he couldn’t stand up and talk in front of twelve people. He now regularly leads worship in front of stadiums full of thousands.
- One of his sons was born on the bathroom floor at home because he arrived faster than anyone expected.
- He’s recorded live albums on three different continents, including at Yoido Park in South Korea and the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
- He funded one of his albums, “Uncharted Territory,” through a Kickstarter campaign in 2012.
Don Moen Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1950 | Born June 29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| 1968 | Graduates high school |
| 1972 | Earns music degree from the University of Oklahoma |
| 1973 | Marries Laura Lee Szuchna; joins Terry Law’s Living Sound ministry |
| 1984 | Joins Integrity Music |
| 1986 | Releases “Give Thanks,” certified Gold |
| 1989 | Writes “God Will Make a Way” |
| 1992 | Releases “Worship with Don Moen,” his first solo album under his own name |
| 1999 | Records “The Mercy Seat” live in Singapore |
| 2000 | Records “Heal Our Land” at Yoido Park, South Korea |
| 2008 | Leaves Integrity Music to found The Don Moen Company |
| 2012 | Releases “Uncharted Territory,” funded through Kickstarter |
| 2017 | Fake news reports of his death go viral; debunked within days |
| 2026 | Continues to record, tour, and lead Worship In Action ministry from Tennessee |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Don Moen Catholic or Protestant?
Don Moen is Protestant, rooted in the charismatic and evangelical tradition through his time at Oral Roberts University and Integrity Music. He’s ministered to Catholic audiences, including performing at an ecumenical event in St. Peter’s Square, but he identifies as Protestant, not Catholic.
Is Don Moen a Seventh-day Adventist?
No. There’s no credible record connecting Don Moen to the Adventist church. He’s associated with charismatic, non-denominational, and evangelical circles throughout his career.
Who is the lady who sings with Don Moen?
Vocalist Rachel Robinson has been featured alongside Moen on recordings including “Goodness of God.” He’s also performed and recorded with numerous other artists over the years, so the answer can vary depending on which project you’re thinking of.
What is Don Moen’s most famous song?
“God Will Make a Way,” written in 1989, is widely considered his signature song. It’s been translated into dozens of languages and remains one of the most sung worship songs in churches worldwide.
How rich is Don Moen?
Public estimates put his net worth around $30 million, though no verified or official figure has ever been published. Treat any specific number you see online as an estimate, not a confirmed fact.
Where is Don Moen now?
Don Moen lives in the Nashville/Brentwood, Tennessee area, where he leads The Don Moen Company and his ministry, Worship In Action. He continues to record, tour internationally, and host the radio program “Don Moen & Friends.”
Is Don Moen still alive?
Yes. Reports of his death in July 2017 were a confirmed hoax from a fake news website. He remains alive and active in ministry as of 2026.
Does Don Moen have children?
Yes, five: Melissa, James, John, Rachel, and Michael Moen, all with his wife of over 50 years, Laura.
If Don Moen’s story reminds you that God still writes good endings into hard chapters, let his music be part of your week. Explore more worship leader stories on Flicxa and share this one with someone who needs the reminder that God will make a way.
