1. BIG DADDY WEAVE

Big Daddy Weave is made up of a group of “ordinary guys” with an extraordinary job. A job they love every minute of because of the people they meet and minister to along the way! 

Their music is a series of anthems about the one they love and trust – Jesus.

Beautiful Offerings, the bands seventh studio album,shares the message that, “Every one of us is beautiful because of what God has deposited in us. Our lives are an opportunity to literally be used for the Kingdom,” says lead singer Mike Weaver.

The album follows Love Come To Life (2012) which includes songs like “Overwhelmed” and Redeemed.”  The album also includes “The Only Name (Yours Will Be)” a song that Mike likes to discuss this way…

“He’s given us authority in His name. He’s given us healing and redemption in His name. Our identity is wrapped up in the name of Jesus. As children of God, we are living for the glory of someone else, the Son of the living God. Jesus is the only name that matters.”

Big Daddy Weave won the first ever “Song of the Year” award at the 2013 K-LOVE Fan Awards with “Redeemed”, and was a nominee for the same award in 2014 with “The Only Name (Yours Will Be).”

Between recording and touring regularly for the past decade, the band has amassed a considerable catalog of fan favorites including “Audience of One,” “Every Time I Breathe,” “Fields of Grace,” “In Christ,” “Without You” and “What Life Would Be Like.” Big Daddy Weave compiled their favorite songs into an Ultimate Collection album released in the fall of 2011.

2. CHRIS TOMLIN

By age 14, Chris had written his first worship song.

Chris enrolled in college thinking he’d ultimately pursue a career in physical therapy. Of course, God had other plans. After earning a degree in psychology, Chris became friends with Louie Giglio. 

Louie is the founder of Passion – a movement designed to create an awakening on college campuses. Responding to his friend’s invitation to be part of the first Passion worship event for college students in Austin, Texas – Chris found his life’s calling in leading worship. 

Now, more than two decades after getting involved with Passion, Chris continues to bring us into God’s presence through his music.

“It’s the gift that God’s given me … it’s definitely God’s favor on the songs,” Chris says in regards to the impact his music has on people. “There’s no marketing plan that can do what only God can do and put the songs in people’s hearts. The beautiful thing of it is – the kind of songs I write aren’t about the artist. A lot of these songs, hopefully, become the people’s songs. Hopefully they become the soundtrack for their lives and their worship to God. That’s why I write them.”

Chris lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area with his wife, Lauren, and their two daughters. When not on tour, he leads worship at Passion City Church and participates in Passion Conferences.

3. CORY ASBURY

In addition to countless worship sets spent in the prayer room there, Cory’s eight-year sojourn at IHOP-KC took him throughout the US, and abroad, for worship gatherings. Passionate about helping men and women encounter the love of the Father, Cory continues to lead worship regionally and internationally. He’s contributed to numerous albums including Reckless Love which features the song, “Reckless Love.” Reflecting on his own experience with God’s love, Cory says…
“I know that the Lord encountered me, in a powerful way, related to His love and that He sees me. He wants me. He wants me to talk to Him.” God’s love is something he gets great joy out of sharing, “And so, when I see people feeling that same thing and getting that absolute revelation of the love of God, that’s my favorite part of leading worship.”
In December 2016, Cory, Anna and their three children: Gabriel, Lily, and River moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan to join Radiant Church where he serves as Worship Pastor.

4. KING AND COUNTRY

As he shares the inspiration behind their new song “God Only Knows,” Joel Smallbone, lead singer, points out how we can get caught up in making assumptions about people based on the briefest of interactions…
“There seems to be a lot of: ‘You said this. You did this. How dare you.’ The song is really a question mark of, well, first of all, do we really understand each other, fully? Our histories. Our family heritages. The struggles. The things that have been done to us that no one knows about. The shame that we carry. Some of it we’ve done to ourselves, as self-sabotage, some of it other people have done to us. You’re just seeing a brief moment in time of that person – when, you know, he showed up at the airport at 5 am and cut you in line and really upset you,” 

5. HILLSONG WORSHIP

In 1992, Hillsong Worship’s first-ever live album, The Power of Your Love, which featured singer/songwriters Darlene Zschech and Geoff Bullock on the popular title track, paved the way for countless popular praise songs to come including “Shout to the Lord,” “All Things Are Possible,” “Everything That Has Breath,” “I Live to Know You” and “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.”

Hillsong Worship has more than fifty albums to their credit and has helped launch the careers of several worship leaders including Zschech, Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston and Natasha Bedingfield. 

As they navigate the second half of their second decade as a worship team, Hillsong Worship taps into one of their foundational tenents: their commitment to equipping and building the local church – across the globe. 

“We are convinced that part of our purpose is to champion passionate and genuine worship of our Lord Jesus Christ in local churches … we hope to do our part in resourcing local church worship teams across the many denominational faces of The Church, as we all learn from each other.” – Hillsong Worship

6. MATTHEW WEST

Originally, he wanted to play baseball, professionally. However, when he was offered a four-year music scholarship to Millikan University, he accepted it. It was a decision that changed the direction of his life. During his college breaks, he wrote most of his first songs in the sanctuary of his father’s church, and after graduating from college, a friend suggested that Matthew attend the annual the Gospel Music Association Music in the Rockies event for aspiring musicians.

Eventually making the final round of the songwriting competition, Matthew was offered a songwriting deal. Then after writing songs for established artists including Billy Ray Cyrus, Rascal Flatts and Natalie Grant, Matthew continued writing his own songs and eventually signed with Universal South Records.

His first radio single “More” held on to the #1 position on the Christian adult contemporary charts for nine weeks and his second album, History, scored him two more hit radio singles, “Next Thing You Know” and “Only Grace.”

In 2007, however, it was no longer smooth sailing when his career took a rather turbulent turn. Turns out, Matthew was on the verge of losing the very voice that endeared him to fans. Instructed to undergo vocal rest for two months by not talking at all, the future of Matthew’s singing career lay in the balance. As it turns out, the treatment worked and God wasn’t quite finished using Matthew’s voice after all.

Matthew resumed his singing career and went on to write, “The Motions” and “You Are Everything” which firmly established Matthew as one of the industry’s premiere songwriters.

Another fan favorite, Matthew’s song “Do Something,” is a great reminder about the importance of serving others by being the hands and feet of Christ, and doing something to make a difference in this world. 

“I will never forget meeting Andrea.  If I were judging a book by its cover, I’d say she looked like a college girl, maybe in a sorority or something, lots of friends, bound to be successful someday. But that is not the whole story,” the singer shares. “Andrea, a former University of Colorado student had chosen to spend a semester abroad learning micro-financing in Uganda.  While there, she happened upon an orphanage in critical condition. The children were being badly neglected and even abused. That’s when this college student decided to do something. She refused to leave these children until something was done to improve the conditions.”

He continues, “Today, Musana is a thriving orphanage in Iganga, Uganda, housing over one hundred children! When asked what it was that made her fight for these children she simply said, “I just kept thinking, ‘If I don’t do something, who will?’ Today, so many of us Christians talk so much about being the hands and feet of Christ, but never really displaying what that looks like. It’s not about talking. It’s about doing! It’s time for us to do something!”

“Do Something,” is one of the songs included in his 2012 release Into The Light.The album also includes, “Hello, My Name Is“- a powerful redemption song

Into The Light follows Matt’s album The Story of Your Life, where Matthew first thumbed through thousands of stories shared by listeners to seek inspiration for his songs. West hosted a “Storytellers Weekend” for the families and individuals who inspired the music on Into The Lightand songs from The Story of Your Life. Each of the storytellers were surprised with a concert, commemorative plaques, a special dinner, and a night at the Grand Ole Opry where Matthew performed. 

“I was face to face with the real stories of people’s lives,” Matthew reflected in an interview with K-LOVE’s Scott and Kelli. “It made me take a look in my own life, and I realized that a lot of times, I stay safe in the confines of My Own Little World.”

Matthew’s songs “Grace Wins” and  “Day One,” off his album Live Forever(April 2015), were inspired by the words people shared with him about their life experiences. As of 2015, he’s received 40,000+ responses to his call out for stories from people all over the world. And, while reading through those stories, he began to notice some common themes.

7. PLANETSHAKERS

Formed in Adelaide for the first Planetshakers Conference in 1997, the band has a goal to spread contemporary worship music worldwide. They are now based in Melbourne at Planetshakers Church, under the leadership of Senior Pastors Russell and Sam Evans.

8. HILLSONG YOUNG & FREE

The group formed in 2012 out of Sydney, Australia, where they were located at Hillsong Church. Their members are worship leaders, Aodhan King, Alexander Pappas, Tyler Douglass, Renee Sieff, Ben Tan, and Melodie Wagner. Hillsong United [launched in 1998], the original group, got underway when the members were all pretty young, because it was started as part of the youth ministry at Hillsong Church. As they evolved and started to mature, have families of their own and take on adulthood, many people at the church felt that there was a need for a new group that would aim its message at younger people with a stimulating new sound

9. NEWSBOYS

Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band founded in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis.^[ They have released 17 studio albums, 6 of which have been certified gold. The band consists of lead vocalist Michael Tait formerly of DC Talk, keyboardist and bassist Jeff Frankenstein, drummer and percussionist Duncan Phillips, and guitarist Jody Davis. In addition to performing music, the band has appeared in the films God’s Not Dead and God’s Not Dead 2.

10. KARI JOBE

Kari Brooke Jobe is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter. Since her first album in 2009, she has received one Grammy Award nomination and nine Dove Award nominations, four of which she won .