Nashville, TN) May 10, 2010 – Kingsway has entered into an exclusive, long-term recorded music, marketing and distribution agreement with Jesus Culture, a youth and young adult movement that began at Bethel Church in Redding, CA in 1999 and whose songs have since traversed the globe. Selling hundreds of thousands of recordings spanning seven full-length albums and CD/DVD combinations to primarily an international audience through online outlets and at events, Kingsway will for the first time bring Jesus Culture Music to physical retail throughout the USA into both Christian and general market stores with distribution by EMI CMG.
With over 150,000 units sold on iTunes alone, Jesus Culture’s online reach is poised to be expanded by Kingsway as it offers all catalog products to physical retailers beginning July 13, 2010. A brand new live CD/DVD is also being recorded now at Jesus Culture events in Las Vegas, Belfast, Berlin, London and other cities across the USA and Europe and is scheduled to release through Kingsway in November. Other upcoming albums include Heather Clark’s Overcome, which releases in July, and the My Passion EP releasing June 1.
Featuring worship leaders Chris Quilala, who recently appeared on The 700 Club, and Kim Walker-Smith, who was named this year by Charisma magazine as one of 21 “Emerging Leaders of Tomorrow’s Church,” as well as solo artists Jake Hamilton, Kristene Mueller and Heather Clark, Jesus Culture Music exists to ignite revival in the nations of the earth, compelling the Body of Christ to radically abandon itself to a lifestyle of worship, motivated by a passion to see God receive the glory that is due His name.
“We long for Jesus to be exalted in the nations and for His manifest presence to invade this world. Although we aspire for people to sing great worship songs, we are primarily committed to see them come into His presence through worship…to encounter His extravagant love and raw power,” says Banning Liebscher, Jesus Culture Director. “We are excited about our new relationship with Kingsway and its likeminded mission.”
Steve Nicolle, Director of Kingsway in North America, says, “Kingsway is grateful to come alongside Jesus Culture extending its reach and ministry through our marketing and retail strengths, and we are thankful to include Jesus Culture’s compelling and excellent music to our expanding worship music repertoire being heard around the world.”
Jesus Culture recordings that will be released July 13 through Kingsway follow:
2009 Consumed (Chris Quilala, Kim Walker-Smith, Melissa Wise-How)
2009 Marked By Heaven (Jake Hamilton)
2008 Those Who Dream (Kristene Muller)
2008 Your Love Never Fails (Chris Quilala, Kim Walker, Melissa Wise-How)
2008 Here Is My Song (Kim Walker)
2007 We Cry Out (Chris Quilala, Kim Walker, Melissa Wise-How)
2006 Everything (Chris Quilala, Kim Walker, Melissa Wise-How)
In addition to its recordings, Jesus Culture holds conferences led by Liebscher and its team of worshippers travelling across the USA and beyond. Upcoming conferences will be held in Cleveland May 21-22, Dallas June 9-11, Atlanta July 14-16 and its hometown of Redding July 28-30 before travelling to multiple cities throughout Australia and England.
Jesus Culture Music history:
In the summer of 1999, the youth group led by Banning Liebscher at Bethel Church in Redding, CA launched the first Jesus Culture conference. The heart of these gatherings was to serve other churches and lead young people to experience the radical love of God. After each conference the youth and young adults were going back to their homes, schools, work places and churches, completely transformed and impassioned from the experience.
With worship becoming a significant part of the movement, worship leaders from the local youth group, including Kim Walker-Smith, Chris Quilala, and Melissa How, began leading a generation of young people into whole-hearted worship.
“A few years into hosting conferences at Redding, the Lord began to speak to us about a new breed of revivalists that were emerging throughout the earth to answer the cry of God’s yearning for nations. Our mandate was defined: to raise up, mobilize, equip, encourage, resource, and send these burning ones to fulfil the call of God on their lives, and see entire cities saved, campuses revolutionized, and nations discipled,” explains Liebscher.
“Shortly after God commissioned us to mobilize this new breed of revivalists, we began taking Jesus Culture conferences to different regions,” continues Liebscher. “In response to our mandate, Jesus Culture Music and Campus Awakening have been inspired and birthed out of Jesus Culture.”
More information on Jesus Culture, including its conferences, can be found at: www.jesusculture.com.
Kingsway Music:
Kingsway Music, a division of Kingsway Communications Ltd, is owned by David C Cook, a global ministry and publisher of Sunday school curriculum, children’s discipleship, books and Christian materials for the church and home and whose profits and 100% of its donations provide free discipleship materials to pastors and teachers across the globe. For more than thirty years, Kingsway has produced worship music that has become the soundtrack for churches and concert venues across the world, including the music of such well-known artists as Delirious?, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman. Brenton Brown, Ben Cantelon, Chris McClarney, Kelly Minter, Miriam Webster and more. Kingsway Canadian distribution is through David C. Cook Distribution Canada, with U.S. distribution through EMI Christian Music Group.
More information on Kingsway Music is available at www.kingsway.co.uk.
Tags: Christian, church, EMI, kingsway, Music, new, PR, Press release
