California's
Jesus Culture is an international Christian revivalist youth outreach ministry that utilizes the power of music to spread its message. Led by youth worship leader and pastor
Kim Walker-Smith, the
Jesus Culture Band, which initially released albums through the ministry's own record label, Jesus Culture Music, started issuing nearly annual live praise & worship albums beginning with 2006's
Everything. Showcasing individual artists like
Walker-Smith,
Chris Quilala,
Kristene DiMarco,
Bryan & Katie Torwalt,
Chris McClarney,
Justin Jarvis, and
Derek Johnson, as well as the whole collective,
Jesus Culture became one of the most prominent and influential CCM acts, selling over a million albums worldwide.
In 2015, they issued their first compilation album,
This Is Jesus Culture, a collection drawn from the group's previous albums that was their first release under a new recording contract with Sparrow Records, a spiritual imprint of
EMI Records. The collective's follow-up,
Let It Echo (2016), debuted at number one on the Christian/Gospel charts. Their 2017 release,
Love Has a Name, was recorded at their home church in Sacramento. The following year saw the release of the live worship LP
Living with a Fire. ~ James Christopher Monger