Music and worship have been intertwined topics for Chris Quilala, one of the primary vocalists and leaders of the band Jesus Culture, for most of his life.
He began playing the drum at age 12 and dove further into music after finding his mother’s old guitar in a closet. He taught himself to play through the chord diagrams on praise-song sheet music. However, it wasn’t until a few years later that he gave his life to Jesus at a youth camp and realized he wanted to lead worship.
“I was just like, ‘What is this that happens when we worship? God shows up, and he also responds and pours out his love on us,’” he says. “So for me, I was about 14 or 15 when I decided that was something I wanted to give my life to.”
Quilala, 34, says that in the early days, Jesus Culture, a ministry that started in the youth group at Bethel Church in Redding, Calif., mostly played for the youth. When they had opportunities to travel, though, their experience didn’t differ much from other bands.
“We’d be so stoked to hop in a van and drive nine hours to play somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and traveling to play music was like, ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing,’” he says with a laugh. “But we were sleeping on floors in churches, and we loved it. It was something that felt just pure and honest. … We were just being faithful with what God put in front of us.”
While that goal remains the same, a lot has changed for Jesus Culture. The ministry, which also includes leaders such as Kim Walker-Smith, and Bryan and Katie Torwalt, currently hosts conferences around the world, and launched a church plant in Sacramento, Calif., in 2014.
