There was a moment in Andy Cherry’s life when he just wasn’t sure. Fresh out of high school, leading worship at church in the morning and playing music in bars at night, he stood up to sing during a service one morning and something just didn’t feel right.

“I didn't want to be there. I thought, ‘I'm wasting my time.’ And then it just hit me. God was touching people where they were and He didn’t need me to work in their lives,” says Cherry, now 25, newly married to wife Michelle, and poised to release his first LP Nothing Left to Fear on Essential Records, March 6.

“That was the moment where I thought, ‘OK, this is bigger than me, and I'd better get on board. I'd better hold on for dear life and follow wherever God leads me.’”

You’ll sense the musical and spiritual growth Cherry’s been led toward in Nothing Left to Fear, which he created alongside highly regarded producer and five-time SESAC Christian songwriter of the year, Jason Ingram.

Stomping percussion underlines the celebratory refrain of “Rise with a shout, cry out, our God’s alive!” in leadoff single, “Our God’s Alive.” Gentle fingerpicked guitars lead through “Running to Our Savior,” an expression of God’s comfort in the face of loss. And “Nothing to Fear” -- with its refrain of "Why should I worry/ When Your love surrounds me?” -- grounds the album’s overarching sense of the comfort and hope that comes with faith, the knowledge that worry is needless, that God will sustain you.

But Cherry also funneled the struggle and uncertainty that lingers, and the honest questioning that comes with both, into Nothing Left to Fear.

Opening track “City of Light” -- a lush melodic rock anthem -- ended up a treatise to God that asks Him to awaken our hearts and for that to be recognized. It started as the expression of a personal breaking point, when Cherry was confused and lost and needed to be reminded that a new day would dawn. That song and others -- “He Has Done it All,” about how God has made us complete; “Beautiful Morning,” in which Cherry sings, “I need nothing, but Your love” -- aren’t just proclamations of devotion but reminders and sources of comfort to Cherry himself.

To Cherry, there’s strength -- and closeness to God -- in admitting that you haven’t figured it all out. Nothing Left to Fear is his admission, and his invitations to question, learn, grow and worship with him, together.

“The reason I do what I do is because I want to compel people to a deeper walk with God,” says Cherry.

“Through my work in churches, I’ve witnessed people – for whatever reasons – shy away from asking hard questions. I think this hesitancy, or fear, keep them from a closer relationship with God. Through these songs, I hope to help people work around that fear and find the love He intends for each us.”

He continues, “There's an understanding that comes when you start looking at yourself through God's eyes, and when you're finally able to communicate with Him on an honest level I think you're able to see yourself without a filter.”

He finds inspiration toward that intent in the “pretty extensive example of worship music” we have in Psalms. (He takes on a very famous hymn on Nothing Left to Fear -- “Nothing But the Blood” -- repackaging and modernizing it as a propulsive, layered sonic celebration.) Beyond the poetry and praise in the hymn, you also find real struggle -- and real honesty.

“I’m sure we’ve all had moments where we’ve felt like we’ve been attacked; even forsaken,” Cherry says. “The moments where you just want to say, ‘My life is really messed up, and I think You have let this happen to me.’ God can handle that -- He's got really broad shoulders and He handle your honesty and confusion – even your anger. His feelings aren't going to be hurt. He doesn't need us to sugarcoat things because He knows what we’re feeling. So when we dancing around what we're actually feeling towards Him I think we do ourselves a disservice. In my writing and playing, I hope to point people to a broader view of God; to encourage them to dialogue in honesty, like David did.”

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Some bands are artistically innovative boundary breakers with an unwavering ability to cast their nets wide and attract an audience that literally spans all walks of life. Others put their focus exclusively on unabashed praise and are so anointed they can literally usher listeners into the presence of God with a single strum of a chord. And while Worth Dying For certainly fits both impressive character profiles, the California-based troupe of praise purveyors is actually something much grander in the form of an all encompassing movement spanning worship, the arts and the church as a whole.

On the musical side of the coin, Worth Dying For is currently readying the release of Live Riot, its third national long player and fitting follow-up to 2011’s Love Riot. The collection of 10 brand new songs and a few live versions of already familiar material was culled from a praise service at the Ammunition Conference, which the group hosts annually to unite worship leaders and speakers from all the world over. However, the members of this ministry team don’t just serve on stage but literally roll up their sleeves in the trenches, as evidenced in their forthcoming FEARLESS church planting efforts in Los Angeles.

“Worth Dying For is a faceless army of worshippers that’s not about certain people in a band or ministry,” explains co-founder Christy Johnson. “We really believe in investing in people and raising them up. We don’t use people to make ministry happen. We use ministry to make people happen and we love seeing when someone starts out as an intern and is later able to get up in front of people and usher thousands into the presence of God.”

Indeed, the journey of all Worth Dying For’s facets is an unconventional one, dating back to 2007’s self-released debut Ammunition and winding through 2008’s self-titled label debut on Integrity Records (which found the troupe leading worship on Creation Festival: The Tour). Come 2011, the group returned to the self-releasing route on Ammunition Records, the home of both Love Riot and Live Riot, the latter of which features original members Christy Johnson, Josh O’haire and Sean Loche, as well as new worship leaders Dalisha Turner, Deanna Joven, Nick Morris, Rochelle Leguern and Sarah Agbayani.

“What we want people to experience whenever we play or when they listen to Live Riot is not a band that wants to get up there and perform for people, but one that’s all about making His presence known,” continues Nick. “Our hunger personally is for God to resonate and I think people catch onto that. You can’t take people anywhere you haven’t been.”

Adds Sean: “Our goal is to always disappear and remove ourselves from the equation. We hear testimony after testimony about someone who wanted to end their life and get connected to God, someone who had a broken leg and was healed, or someone who had their purity restored. The last thing we want with this album is to feel like it was a concert and just a lot of fun. We want people to encounter the power of God, fall more in love with Him and change their life for the better.”

In order to help facilitate those goals, it doesn’t hurt that Worth Dying For just so happens to be a razor-sharp musical collective with some of the most intriguing sounds of any musical scene. Perhaps Christianity Today.com described it best: “Taking the adrenaline up a notch while bursting through all the worship clichés—all while remaining reverent—makes for an assertive and musically alluring album. Even with the vertical lyrics, the band would easily fit modern rock radio, switching between synth-spiked pop, power ballads and screamo.”

Although the moments of worship are deep, high-energy praise songs like “Freedom Is Rising” and “One Love” keep listeners on the edge of their seats, while modern worshippers will also be drawn in by ballads like “Risen from the Grave” and the prophetic style of “Spirit of God.” The album also includes explosive new live versions of already established fan favorites, including “Savior,” “Higher” and “Love Riot.”

"We'll go from a song that has driving guitars, loud drums, and screaming in one song to a soft, melodic, ballad in the next. You can hear our musical influences which range from As I Lay Dying, to Coldplay, to LeCrae,” continues Sean, before Christy interjects. “And sometimes there are very spontaneous moments of worship led by the Holy Spirit where a song can stretch out like nine, ten or even fifteen minutes. We’ve never captured that on a CD before until now and it’s a very powerful account of the raw passion we’re all experiencing.”

Worth Dying For also draws comparisons to other seminal modern worship collectives including Planetshakers, Jesus Culture and Hillsong United. Indeed, much of those similarities stem from their shared format of being a worship team, church community and forum planners, which is where the Ammunition Conference comes into play.

“Long story short, my husband and I started a camp to coincide with Spirit West Coast Festival six or seven years ago under a tent with music and speakers,” recalls Christy of the venture she spearheaded with her husband/pastor Jeremy Johnson. “It grew to the point where we were attracting speakers from all over the nation so we thought ‘why not have a conference in our home church in February in addition to the camp in the summer?’ Ammunition Conference started two years ago and last year it doubled in size to about 3,000 people. We wound up stopping the camp aspect to put all our efforts into Ammunition and we’re currently in the process of branching out to various locations across the nation.”

Opportunities for Worth Dying For’s unique ministry umbrella are sure to grow all the more as 2012 finds the church plant FEARLESS getting off the ground with a mission that’s just as bold as the group’s soul stirring musical expressions. "We were traveling to an event with our team to lead worship and Jeremy heard God speak to Him,” unveils Christy. “For him, although the team was loud and having fun, the sound drowned out to dead silence in his mind. At that moment, he heard God speak, 'In 5 years, you will plant a church with this worship team.' It happened that my dad is the pastor at Calvary Temple where we were serving and 5 years later, he released us and the team to go into L.A."

For the first year, the group will build a ministry team throughout L.A., then love on the city in general with the goal of salvation, in turn, creating the need for a physical church and subsequent service. From there, FEARLESS will be officially up and running with Worth Dying For leading worship alongside a full-fledged multi-media team for maximum ministry impact.......

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Wilson was raised in the Chicago, Illinois area. Since his childhood, Wilson began singing with the adult male chorus at the Rock of Ages Baptist Church.

After growing up, Wilson enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he also sang in the black chorus. He eventually graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences, with an emphasis on economics. Wilson took a job as a pharmaceutical salesman, while he continued to sing on his free time.

After seven years, Wilson moved to Houston, Texas, to work for Johnson & Johnson. He started visiting Windsor Village United Methodist Church with a friend and became a born-again Christian. After some time, Wilson was invited to write music for their services, with some of his songs receiving airplay in local radio stations.

At some point, Wilson met Pastor Rudy Rasmus, who was looking for songs to pitch to friend and music entrepreneur Mathew Knowles. After listening to Wilson's song "Already Here", Knowles signed Wilson to his record label Spirit Rising/Music World.

In 2009, Wilson released his debut album titled Just Love. The album was produced by Stan Jones and features contributions by Tommy Simms. In 2010, the title song was nominated for a Dove Award for Urban Recorded Song of the Year, while Wilson himself was nominated for New Artist of the Year at the 41st GMA Dove Awards. Wilson re-released a deluxe edition of his album on October 5, accompanied by a nationwide tour through 25 cities in the United States.

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Parachute Band is a worship band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed out of the New Zealand-based Christian organisation Parachute Music The band makes pop/rock music and is currently in its second generation, with the current line-up regularly topping the mainstream MySpace NZ Music Charts for acts on a Major Label, and it also won the coveted People's Choice Award at the 2008 New Zealand Music Awards.

The first Parachute Band line-up was formed in 1995 to lead worship at Parachute Festival, and has since grown into a full-time endeavour. Parachute Band records New Zealand-written contemporary worship music, and performs it both in New Zealand and worldwide.

The original line-up, led by Wayne Huirua, Libby Huirua and Chris de Jong, released seven studio albums, toured extensively in the U.S., won numerous New Zealand Music Awards for Best Gospel/Christian Album, won the Gospel Music Association's International Achievement award (in the U.S.) and paved the way for what the band is today.

In 2006 the original members retired from the band and a complete generational changeover took place. This was marked by a moving ceremony at Parachute Festival 07.

The second generation Parachute Band (formerly known as Victor Rose) has released three studio albums; Roadmaps and Revelations (September 2007), Technicolor (September 2008) and Love Without Measure (February 2011). The band has toured extensively in USA, Canada, Asia, South Africa, UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Highlight performances have been: Mainstage slots at Creation Festival east to 65,000 people, Mainstage at Kingdom Bound Festival in NY to 50,000 people and also being the house band for the annual Parachute Festival to 25,000 people.

This new face of Parachute Band carries a passion to influence their generation through worship music that is relevant. Five young musicians in their 20s have been passed the mantle and an exciting synergy has quickly formed to create a new guitar-driven sound.

Winners of the 2008 VNZMA Peoples Choice Awards, the band's sophomore release Technicolor was a finalist for 2009's Best Gospel/Christian Album.

Parachute Bands latest album Love Without Measure has already been in the Top Ten of many charts since its release at the Parachute Festival in February 2011. Love Without Measure shot to No. 3 in the New Zealand iTunes on its first week of release, debuted a No. 2 on the official RIANZ chart and No. 1 on the IMNZ charts.

Love Without Measure was also the first recording that the band has self-produced, and drummer/producer Sam de Jong says, “The process for this album has been one non-stop learning curve. I feel like we’ve pulled together something that reflects where we’re at.

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Kari Jobe grew up knowing God was drawing her toward worship. “I remember hearing a worship song that applied perfectly to a family that I knew, and I knew that I wanted to write songs like that, for people who are hurting, songs that people make their own prayer to the Lord when they can’t find words of their own.”

A featured worship leader on Gateway Worship projects, Living for You and Wake Up ...the World, Kari released her self-titled debut album through Gateway Create Publishing and Integrity Music on February 10, 2009. Produced by Ed Cash, the album contains a collection of worship pop/folk songs written by Kari Jobe as well as co-writes with worship leaders/songwriters Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Mia Fieldes, Ed Cash and Klaus Kuehn.

The album, Kari Jobe, features new versions of “Revelation Song,” “No Sweeter Name” and “My Beloved,” in addition to new songs of worship taken from Kari’s life and journals. She explains one of her favorites, the deeply personal “You Are for Me,” saying, “This song is gut-wrenching for me. There are times you are so broken that all you can do is sing over yourself with words like, ‘God is for me.’ But I believe it is one song that people can use to remember that God is for us, so who can be against us.” Songs of intimate musings are balanced by songs of joy and praise. The buoyant “Everyone Needs a Little” emanates with expressions of love, joy and hope, while “I’m Singing” conveys a simple happiness of heart in vocal praise to God.

“This album is about hope and life; it’s about lifting the broken off the floor and singing love over them,” says Kari. “The songs create intimate moments and outward shouting, and it’s my hope that these songs find the broken and lift them to a place of praise to God for what He’s done.”....

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Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is a Billboard top ten Billboard Hot 100 recording artist and Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in Contemporary Christian music. Smith also has achieved a considerable amount of success in the mainstream music industry. Smith is a three-time Grammy Award winner, and has earned 40 Dove Awards. Over the course of his career, Michael W. Smith has sold more than 13 million albums and recorded 29 No. 1 Hit songs, fourteen gold albums, and five platinum albums. Smith is an American Music Award recipient; he was also named one of People magazine's "Most Beautiful People".

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With Luke Dowler what you see is what you get, and what you get, is presence. At 6 foot 6 inches tall, it is hard to fit Luke into any pre-made mold of artistry. Known as an engaging performer and versatile songwriter Luke brings a unique combination of soulful authenticity fused with memorable pop hooks.

From living on the pacific coasts of japan and monterrey CA, to the hustle of Washington DC and midwest cities like St Louis to the open skies of Montana; growing up the son of a marine, brought many transitions and many opportunities for Luke. With so many influences and inspiration to draw from, you can almost hear the sweeping sounds of the Pacific in his lyrics and the honest, wide expanse of the Rocky Mountains in his melodies.

As a songwriter Luke continues to push forward into new territories from where he started. From a front man for a ska-punk band, moving to fronting a 4-piece indie rock band, touring internationally, sharing the stage with nationally known bands and playing for crowds of up to 8,000. But where songwriting and styles have evolved, in his music there remains a combination of honesty and a wide open feel that ties his music together. Most recently he has also emerged as a strong solo artist bringing an inventive perspective to his soulful acoustic set using multi layered rhythms and melodies. Even with one guitar the songs feel huge and carry you along.

No matter the venue or the type of crowd; solo or with a band, audiences connect with Luke’s music. To listen to Luke Dowler’s music, find information on upcoming tours or watch one of his videos go to www.lukedowler.com.............

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Many are asking what is God doing and what is happening in the church today? We certainly don’t have all the answers, but we are seeking to know and respond to those questions at Jesus Pursuit Church. We are dedicating ourselves to know Christ and understand and respond to His message on the kingdom of heaven. God has truly blessed us and we want to do all we can to please Him, demonstrating His love in both word and deed.

We are trying our very best to pursue His presence through worship, prayer, the revelation of His word, and a lifestyle of giving and helping the poor in an effort to reach the world with the gospel. Those who become a part of this community of faith do so for many reasons, but will find few external controls or structures to move them to action. We value the unique calling upon each person, yet consider the headship of Christ and His love for the whole church to take a higher priority than individualism. Each ministry that is described on our web page was born in the heart of the person describing it. Our vision is continuing to develop from those God has joined together here, whether they have found Christ with us or were sent to help us. But there are some key values and parts of our vision that make us who we are, a developing regional resource center dedicated to equipping the saints for the ministry of Jesus Christ. We consider our values, that is, the way we carry out vision, to be as important as vision itself.

Worship and Prayer:
You will notice that I put them together. We have found joy in the house of prayer by doing them together. Worship is more than singing songs and expressing our selves to the Lord in dance or the arts. We truly enjoy these times together. But coming to behold the Lord and surrender our hearts to Him again and again is the real issue with worship. There is so much more of Jesus to know and love. The more we worship Him in spirit and in truth, the more we can become like Him. True worship must lead to a lifestyle of becoming a living sacrifice to Jesus. Worship often leads us into prayer, works of compassion, prophetic declarations and encounters with the glory of Christ.

Community:
Jesus never called converts, but disciples. Once the first disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they became a community of believers who were committed to both entering and extending the kingdom of heaven on earth. That is our heart’s desire. Though we have no formal membership, we welcome and are looking for those who want to be a part of a community of believers who are committed to be followers of Jesus in word and deed, doing the works that Jesus did with love and compassion.

A prophetic people:
What I mean by that statement are a people who love the truth both historical and present. The Holy Spirit continues to speak today to lead the body of Christ into greater power and purity to display the glory of God. We want to know the secrets of God’s heart for our generation and teach the next one to do the same by being humble servants first, then true friends of God who spend time in His presence through worship, soaking, waiting, listening and learning to both see and hear the mysteries of God that are in His word and Spirit. Prophetic people who have the Father’s heart will encourage, comfort and stir others to love and obey Christ and reach for their inheritance as sons and daughters of God.

Healing:
The word SOZO is a Greek word used in the scriptures that means to be saved, made whole, healed, rescued, set free. It is an all encompassing word for salvation that shows God’s heart for complete restoration of the human condition damaged by sins inherited or committed. So we minister to heal the sick and deliver the oppressed as Jesus and the early disciples did. These acts of compassion demonstrate God’s love and His desire to destroy the works of the devil while bringing a measure of the kingdom of God to earth.

Equipping:
The highest purpose of mature and gifted ministries is not to do the entire ministry, but to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Our Training For Reigning School of kingdom ministry is a concentrated three month time of teaching, impartation, and activation in basic kingdom theology and practice. But we also are finding more and more ways to take what is taught in ministry training, events, and weekly teaching corporately and in home groups into lifestyle activities that reach outside the walls of the church.

Justice and Mercy:
We continue to seek God for ways to reach out to the least of the world, especially the most innocent and vulnerable here and abroad. The plight of the hungry, children born and unborn, prisoners, and those disenfranchised is of great concern to us, as it is to Jesus. Missions at home and abroad consider it important to feed, clothe, house, and protect those we are trying to reach with the good news of the kingdom.

The Presence of God:
The last value I want to point to is our passion to know the glory and presence of Jesus Christ. We respect the many expressions of the body of Christ and love the whole Church. For our part, we want to know the tangible presence of God as Spirit filled and led people. That means that we try to avoid barriers that keep people from accessing His presence. We try to avoid overtly religious symbols and activities, and yet, we are not impressed with the culture of the world and see little value in trying to emulate it to reach people. Our hope is that people will walk into our worship times and other meetings and literally feel the very presence of God. Love, humility, generosity, hospitality, and a holy passion and focus to encounter Jesus together are what makes this possible or the lack of it diminishes it.

We invite you to come see and hear. This is a wonderful day to be alive. God has arisen from His habitation is coming to dwell with us. The kingdom of God is advancing, so passionately pursue and lay hold of it with intense desire...........

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Led by Jon Egan, the Desperation Band was birthed out of the student ministries of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. They are recording artist with a great family of worshipers from Integrity Music based out of Colorado Springs, CO. They continue to lead worship at New Life Church and annual Desperation Conferences.

The Desperation Band has recorded five albums for Integrity music, including t...he critically acclaimed "Everyone Overcome", and their very first studio worship record “Light Up The World”, which was Jon Egan’s first shot at producing! In addition to albums, the band released the Everyone Overcome DVD, produced by Jon Egan, Andy Catarisano, and Jared Newman. They have also been featured on two New Life Church recordings, 2006's "My Savior Lives", and 2008’s “Counting on God”. Look to the springs of 2011 for New Life’s next worship album “Our Freedom” also featuring Jon and the Desperation Band.

Dband albums feature "high-energy, passionate new worship songs that convey a raw hunger for God." Desperation Band was originally formed in 2001, when New Life youth pastor David Perkins launched a youth movement for local churches called Desperation. They hold multiple Desperation Conferences every summer in Colorado Springs. The Conferences draw thousands of high school and college students who are desperate for the things of God. The emphasis of the conference is wrapped up in “the vow,” a commitment to PASSION, INTERCESSION, CONSECRATION, AND MISSION. Over 30,000 young people have signed the vow and the stories continue to pour in about the difference they are making.

Made up of several committed musicians, the band also travels to conferences, churches, and concerts throughout the country. Desperation is best known for writing songs like "Rescue", "I Am Free", “My Savior Lives”, “You Hold It All’, “Yahweh”, “Overcome”, and more. Several of these songs have been covered by mainstream Christian bands and many songs are sung in churches throughout America and around the world.

The Dband has found great purpose in “Heartwork”, a ministry to the orphans of the world that started with New Life’s student ministry. In an effort to build one orphan home, and with the help of a spiritual dad in the youth group, the student ministry raised enough funds to build four orphan homes! Then in an act of spontaneity, the desperation conferences jumped in and raised money for 3 more orphan homes! This movement has turned the young people involved upside down for the kingdom. The Desperation Band has been right in the middle of it. It’s a God thing. Starting June of 2010 at the Desperation Conference, Heartwork and the Desperation Band launched “the 1k Campaign”…1,000 orphan projects built by 1,000 student ministries in 1,000 days. Student groups all over the country can log on to www.heartwork.tv and sign on to an orphan care project. The clock is ticking. The needs are waiting to be met..............

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Vineyard Worship exists as an organic extension of the Vineyard church movement in the USA (Vineyard USA). We are, in a phrase, "from the church, for the church". We are not a music company first and foremost; we are a non-profit worship ministry. Our efforts will be centered in the cultivation and empowerment of the core value of worship in the Vineyard or more simply put "to help the local church experience God", rather than in a profit-driven music business model.

We believe that the Vineyard continues to have a unique voice and quality in the broader Church's experience of worship. We believe that the songs, words and expression of our worship are different because they are informed and infused with Vineyard core values -- intimacy, accessibility and authenticity. Our music is not written from within a vacuum; it comes from the trenches of local Vineyard church ministry as they seek to experience engaging the Kingdom of God in their local communities. Our founder, John Wimber, said that our worship leaders should be ministers first and musicians second. We still believe this is a vital emphasis for us. We make it our aim to instill this servant's heart deep into our Vineyard worship community.

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