hope is not in the government . Our hope is in Jesus and the people of God raising up and leading the way instead of having to follow the government . People say Jesus wasn ’ t political . Jesus was very political . It just wasn ’ t partisan . So that ’ s what we ’ re trying to do … is to be nonpartisan , Jesus loving world changers .
[ WM ] And building community is the key here . I ’ ve often wondered how so many churches that I ’ ve been a part of or visited , espouse “ building community ”, when there is so little community and fun happening within their own homes . And so , I ’ ve asked myself , “ How can you preach community involvement , and that Christianity is ‘ fun ’, when your own homes are remiss of both .”? I really enjoy the annual Reeves ’ “ Party of Six Christmas ” videos that y ’ all put out . Tell us about this unique yearly offering ?
[ Jesse ] Ha ! ( laughs ) I think it started in 2014 , I think we ’ ve done seven of them . My wife ’ s family was living all over Texas , and we would get together over Christmas once a year . Janet ’ s mother eight years ago said , “ Hey it would be fun when all the families get together at Christmas if everybody made a music video and then we could share . It is not a competition . However , I am wired in a way that
Party of Six Christmas
asks , “ Why do anything if you ’ re not going to win ”? So , in the early years , especially Janet ’ s brothers would show up and have something shot on their iPhone of their kids all sitting in the living room singing a song . But I was like , “ No , if we ’ re going to make music videos let ’ s make music videos ”! So , the first one we did was “ Boom Boom Pow ” by the Black Eyed Peas , and her brothers thought I was crazy but it started kind of this war in our family . So , they ’ ve gotten pretty ridiculous over the years , but it is a lot of fun . And actually , I am glad to say that tradition is over after this year . I ’ m about to have two [ kids ] in college , and it ’ s just really hard , so the one we did this year was “ End of the Road ” by Boyz II Men , kind of as an ending to our tradition . ( laughing )
[ WM ] Out of this community , KingsPorch has captured indigenous worship and recorded a new EP , Songs for the Simple Gathering .
I noticed that each of the five songs is well over ten minutes in length ! What can you tell us about the project overall ? I will address the songs individually next .
[ Jesse ] Okay , so this will bring it full circle . I had my three years of being jaded , and swearing I was never going to do music again , starting a house church , not having music at all , but people wanting to sing . However , the songs that are big in modern worship right now don ’ t work on a back porch . I love worship music , I love the songs that my friends are still putting out , I love Hillsong , I love Elevation ’ s worship . But it ’ s really hard to do on a back porch on an acoustic guitar with a guy that can play four chords .
John Hartley and Brian Ortiz are the guys at BEC Records . BEC does fasting the first Tuesday of the month , so we ’ ve been writing songs that work on my back porch . About six to eight months ago after one of the fasting days John called me and said , “ Hey mate , all day long I ’ ve felt like God was saying ‘ it ’ s time to make a record for Songs for the Simple Gathering .” John was feeling in his spirit that there is a pendulum shift in the church , and that a lot of people are leaving the “ mega church ” and are finding themselves in living rooms and