Worship Hosts
The desire of our Worship Hosts is to usher you into an encounter with Jesus.
Christina James
I remember having a noticeable awareness of God when I was nine-years-old. I recall feeling a tug within I didn’t quite understand, but as I got older, I realized it was Him whispering for me to get closer. I did my best to do just that.
Since my upbringing was in a Christian home, and my formal education was primarily at a Christian school, some would say it was destined. However, the ideal environment isn’t the answer. It’s the environment of the heart that makes it all happen, which is something I still bring to Him often.
I’m very grateful for the various opportunities I’ve been able to step into: praise and worship leader, radio host, and fitness coach. Regardless of the platform I find myself on, I always go back to my nine-year-old self and recall the pull, the whisper of the Creator wanting to get connected.
My desire is to help others become aware of our God, who is constantly looking for ways to get close and stay close.
Sam Kelly
Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy - think about these things! (Philippians 4:8)
We live in a world that is desperately hungry for Jesus. We live with lots of noise and things that assault the purest light of God in us. I love Worship 24/7 because how can we shine it, how can we give it away if we aren't refilling that in ourselves?
I gave my life to Christ when I was 25... and still growing. Just these last few months even, submitting some of the final parts that I was holding tightly. I thought I needed to control things. Instead I just needed to be held, by Him.
I am married to Carlos. Mom to Desmond (18) and Zoe (7.) Zoe was born with Down Syndrome. I kept praying for her to be healed until God showed me that He already made her perfect, that He was trying to heal me.
I've worked in radio for many years and have seen God move mountains. My passion is for people to know Him and to know how deeply he loves.
Jake Schwein
My heart was captured by the love of Christ when I was a young child and I grew up in a family that modeled the life of Jesus in very real and authentic ways. As a teen, I committed my life to follow Jesus wherever he would lead.
My passion for leading worship started on a mission trip to South Africa in 1997. A day before I left the USA, for a period of two months, I made a curious decision to take a guitar that I had never played. While sitting outside the Zulu huts in South Africa figuring out chords and strum patterns, God began to birth something in my heart that was going to forever change me. It was there that God placed a desire to lead worship in my heart. Since that moment, my life and worship ministry has been marked by two things: a passionate love for Jesus, and a desire to Do Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with my God. It is out of this heart for God, The Church and The World that I teach, lead, and live.
My desire is that people would not just sing worship but their lives would be worship.
Jon Wood
At the age of seven, I felt the embrace of God's love for the first time on the "altar" of my living room floor. I understood that the promise of God was that He was going to be there for me when I needed Him for all of eternity. However, as I grew, I began to realize the very real difference of 'knowing God" versus "knowing of God".
Through various chapters of my story, I've seen really great moments and VERY challenging times - I'm sure you can relate. It was through these various seasons that I continued to be pulled back to the same question, "Do I want to know Him, or do I simply want to carry knowledge of Him like a familiar backpack?" After a wrestling match between the two of us that He easily won my heart in, I knew it was my purpose to share His message of embrace with anyone who would listen. Christian radio just happens to be one of the ways He gave me to do so.
My hope is that together we can move away from the pageantry of vanity that this world tries to force us into and dive head first into the depths of our Heavenly Father's love. Being a part of Worship 24/7 is truly an honor, and I look forward to our time together.
Paul Owen
Honestly, I am an on-air radio rookie, but I sure love to worship Jesus! Worship is a deeply personal part of my life but worship does not uniquely belong to me alone. Together we make up a global choir that Jesus loves to listen to.
The best form of worship is a changed life. One of my favorite verses from Psalms demonstrates this idea.
Psalm 40:1-3 NIV
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.
With this Psalm in mind, I want people to see the outcome of our lives (individually and collectively) and look to Jesus and worship. Imagine that! More and more people added to the global worship choir because of the way we live. Now that is worship This is what Worship24/7 is all about.
Along with my wife Christina and our four children we live just south of Portland OR. I pastor a historic, growing church that loves to serve our neighbors with no strings attached and fearlessly preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chris Spivey
Philippians 1:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus captured my heart from a young age. But, I guess you can say that my passion for worship started when I saw Marty McFly slide across the stage on his back, playing Johnny B. Goode with a vintage Gibson ES345. God used that scene to ignite an interest in music that He would continue to develop into a deep passion for worship.
I grew up in the Willamette Valley and have been privileged to be in music ministry for over 15 years. Currently I serve as Worship Director for Willamette Community Church in Albany, Oregon, and have 5 children (Caden, Trynt, Paxton, Kyndal, and Isaac) with my lovely wife, Tosha.
From leading national conferences to small groups, I’ve come to appreciate how worship is such a special and sacred time where we get to join with all of creation, heaven and earth, to praise the Lord. It’s also something we will get to enjoy for eternity, in His presence! What a day that will be.
I am grateful to serve along side these wonderful people at Worship 24/7 who are passionate about giving God all the glory He deserves! Until the whole world hears, may we be a people who worship 24/7.