we were doing , whether it was campus ministry or worship , it was all just exporting what we feel the Lord was calling us to . It ’ s the same thing now , we just want to export fruit . We ’ ve got that rolling , and we ’ ve got plans to plant other Jesus Culture churches . It ’ s always been our heart , and we just want to see the body of Christ equipped , ignited , to go see the harvest of cities transformed .
[ WM ] This new album is debuting even as we speak .
[ Banning ] Yeah , it ' s called Church Volume 1 , and the second part of it comes out in a week or two . We record now at the church , but there were so many songs . I think there were eighteen songs or something , they were all really good . I thought we should keep all of them ! ( laughs ) So we decided then to just release Church Volume 1 and Church Volume 2 pretty close together .
[ WM ] This is an expression of your church life , just like it always has been ?
[ Banning ] Yeah , absolutely . We ’ ve got some guest worship leaders that are kind of part of our family who come in from other churches as well , but we recorded at our church , with our church musicians . For me , I just want to pursue God and invite people on the journey with us . I want to invite you into the process of us going after God . It ’ s less about giving you a product and more about inviting you into a pursuit . And that ’ s always been our heart , we just want to welcome you in . The very first album we ever did was us saying , hey , we ’ re encountering God , and maybe if we put a CD out it will invite you to do the same . That was always what it was about , so we ’ re not ‘ getting back to our roots ’ because I don ’ t think we ever left that , but we ’ re definitely stripping away the band concept .
This is about a community of people who are hungry for God , who want to see the name of
Jesus lifted high , who are passionate about His presence , who would love for you to come pursue God with us . We ’ re capturing these moments with a hope and a desire that people will say yes to pursuing Jesus as well , so that together we can go after God . That ’ s why we ’ re doing what we ’ re doing , and why we ’ re calling it Church .
[ WM ] I think this is giving people an insight into the pastoral aspect of Jesus Culture , not just between you and the band , but between you and the people who are listening to this music .
[ Banning ] There is something to that , I agree . For one , it puts some mission behind it . The goal is not just for people to sing our songs , that ’ s not even the third goal ! We have a bigger goal in what we ’ re going after with our mission and the mandate that God ’ s given us . It ’ s keeping worship leaders connected to something bigger than themselves . And this
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