Relocating to Sacramento has not hindered JESUS CULTURE. Tony Cummings spoke to Chris Quilala.

Jesus Culture

Chris: I love that that's how you interpreted it. We've always loved songs that were prayers like you were saying - songs like "Set A Fire" - so this song was somewhat that. There's a verse that says "We're satisfied but desperate." We're fulfilled in God, but he does tell us to knock, to seek; so there's that beautiful tension in that we're satisfied but we're always hungry for more of him. It is a prayer. When we encounter God, it's not just for us. Even though we do experience freedom and breakthrough in our own lives, it's ultimately for our cities: to see our families and our nations transformed. When talking about this song I referenced the Scripture when Paul and Silas were in prison and they began to worship. It wasn't just their prison doors that opened, it wasn't just their chains that fell off, it was the other prisoners that were there with them set free as they began to worship. There really is that thing that happens when we go after God, individually or corporately: those around us are set free. It really is a prayer, that when we pursue God as we lift our praise we're believing for him to show up in our families, our schools, our churches - see people encounter the Lord too.

Tony: Are you comfortable with the description often given you, that of "revivalists" ?

Chris: Yeah, I've been comfortable with that. We come from a background that's probably a little more comfortable with that term.

Tony: We are seeing the beginnings of worldwide revival, and the challenge for those churches starting to see revival is for the work of the Spirit to go beyond their walls and out in their cities. Is that your hope?

Chris: Absolutely - you're exactly right. You don't have to be in what the church would classify as full-time ministry - you can be a businessman, a teacher, you can be involved in sport - have an encounter with the Lord and become an encounter to those people you're seeing on a daily basis. We're encouraging businessmen, teachers, athletes, "Wherever you're at, use that influence to bring revival to that realm of society."

Tony: How much are the leaders of your city becoming aware of what God is doing in your church?

Chris: It's interesting because we are meeting every week in what would be classified as a secular high school. We've had a lot of positive feedback even as far as just practical stuff. We tell our volunteers, "Even though there's rubbish around the campus - maybe left over from students - let's go clean that up." Simple things like that have spoken volumes to a principal or district supervisors in the school. It may be a silly example, but things like that are giving us a lot of favour in the local community. Our pastor volunteers with a high school basketball team. The influence in those simple areas have meant a lot to the community, so we've seen a lot of people accepting of us being in the city; and in turn we've seen people come to the church and get saved - they've come and they've experienced God.

Tony: You broke away from Bethel quite suddenly, and there was suddenly no mention of Jesus Culture on their site. Was the break difficult for both parties?

Chris: We were definitely sent out and blessed by Bethel. I grew up at Bethel, I went there my entire life. Jesus Culture was started out of the youth group at Bethel. They felt and we felt that we had this on our hearts to start a local church in Sacramento through various prophetic dreams and words. It was hard; the hardest part was that they're our family. Brian and Jen Johnson, Pastor Bill and Pastor Benny - so many of them are fathers and mothers in our lives. I lived in Redding my whole life. It was a very tough transition. We still go up there often to see friends and family. They've been so supportive and super-generous in helping us get the church off the ground. Some of the pastors will come down and speak at our church. We went from being sons in that house and then stepping out and having to be fathers now, building a community; we miss being part of the weekly goings on at Bethel, but we've had love and support.

Tony: Are you independent of Bethel, not a satellite?

Chris: It's a Jesus Culture church plant. Who knows if there'll be other Jesus Culture church plants; it's the first of its kind.

Tony: Did you have more songs that you could fit on a CD?

Chris: It's funny, because typically we record at a conference, over a couple of days. A lot of the recordings, that's the first time we ever played the song, the only time we recorded it. Most of the time we're scrambling: "We've got 10 songs. We need to find one more!" We did a lot of co-writing, and we actually had a lot of songs to pick from. Even as we started recording in September, over those six years, there were a few songs on the backburner. One of those, "Miracles", ended up being on the album; and we pulled a few off the album. It was great to have a deeper pool of songs to choose from, and find those that felt like they were supposed to be on the album.

Tony: You've got a lot of work ahead of you ministering with these songs. Will that be a worldwide ministry?

Chris: We do have a lot of the book so far. We're starting next week. The album comes out Friday, then we have our hometown conference next week. Matt Redman's going to be there - a hero of ours - then after that we have tours here and there. We'll be at Big Church Day Out over your way; we had a blast last year. There's a lot of things in the works; I don't know if there'll be an official 'Let It Echo' tour, but we'll definitely be playing these songs wherever we go, whether that's nationally or internationally.