As one of the great songwriters of our time , Jesse has co-penned How Great Is Our God , Indescribable , Lord , I Need You , Famous One , The Wonderful Cross , and many more popular worship songs that millions sing weekly . After a 17-year run as bass player with Chris Tomlin , Jesse left the group , and served at Austin Stone Church in Austin , TX . Along with his wife Janet , he has now founded a profound house church movement called KingsPorch . KingsPorch ’ s Songs for the Simple Gathering , Vol . 1 , is scheduled for release May 7 , 2021 by BEC Recordings .
[ WM ] Hello my friend . It ’ s been a while . How ’ s life in Austin ? We ’ ll talk about the church and the new EP in a bit , but I know that the past 12 months have been just crazy for you . Besides Covid19 and the ongoing plight of the homeless in Austin , y ’ all had that unbelievable snow and ice storm in February , complete with Arctic weather conditions . That ’ s absurd for Austin , TX ! What ’ s that all about ?
[ Jesse Reeves ] I have no idea what that ’ s all about other than I think that Jesus is just keeping us on our toes here . It has allowed us as a little bitty house church to step up and be the church that we want to be . Number one , because we have a bunch of rednecks that go to our church with 4x4 trucks , so we were running urban rescue and delivering firewood
and water . But yeah , it was crazy times .
[ WM ] Every so often during my lifetime , I ’ ve told myself that there had to be something more . This thinking , at times painful , has led to my leaving bands , tour plans , executive roles with record labels , and even certain churches . This doesn ’ t mean that I ’ ve been unstable or unreliable , just dissatisfied while knowing that there is something greater out there for me to be involved in . How has this malaise impacted you ? I know that you ’ ve walked away from a lot , from bands to your involvement in planting churches .
[ Jesse ] That ’ s a big open-ended question . I think I ’ ll just start by saying , “ Yes ”, there is more ! I know that you and I have some similar stories . When I left the Chris Tomlin band in 2014 , I think most people thought I was crazy and that I was committing career suicide , and maybe I was in a very real sense .
But I did feel like God was calling me to something different , and I didn ’ t know what it was . I will say this ; it hasn ’ t been a road full of rainbows and unicorns . I had about three years where I was completely jaded and bitter . I was jaded to worship music in a very big way . And I don ’ t know how deep to get into that , but being on tour and playing worship music … if you ’ re playing the same set every night and every night they say they really felt the Holy Spirit at this particular time , and it ’ s the same time every night … then you have to ask yourself the question of whether the Holy Spirit is waiting in the wings for its cue to come into the room , or are people feeling something because the lights went spooky and we were hanging out on a 6 minor progression ?
And if that ’ s the case are we ’ re manipulating people to think they ’ re encountering the Holy Spirit but it ’ s really just music and production ? I actually started getting really scared about that , because I believe we ’ re going to have to stand before Jesus one day and be accountable for what we did . So that started questions in me , and I went through a three-year period where I just thought that it was all manipulation , and it was all bad . I just didn ’ t see any good in it . Now I ’ ve been out for seven years , and I have realized that God is so good that He uses all of it , despite our imperfections , He ’ s just that good .
So anyway , that ’ s what led my journey . I just felt like I never was going to do music again . I quit the band on January 8 , 2014 and went straight to work for a church that we started here in Austin called the Austin Stone . I was there for three years as the family pastor over kids and students . In December of 2017 my wife came to me and said , “ God told me that you have to