I come from a town divided. Texarkana, Texas, USA. I barely made it into our fine Republic. The town is positioned, geographically, in the northeastern corner of the state, with half of the city proper hanging over into Texas and the other half juttin’ over into Arkansas. “Texarkana is Twice as Nice!” is what the water tower says. Stateline Avenue splits the municipality right down the middle and if you follow it all the way downtown you’ll run smack into the city post office that sits right atop the bi-state dissection. There’s a sign there to prove it. It’s a scarecrow post type situation with two metal objects hanging out to either side of it, one in the shape of Texas and one in the shape of Arkansas. At the foot of the sign there is a white line painted on the concrete. It’s presumed to be a photographic opportunity. You can stand there with one foot on one side of the line and one foot on the other and be in two states at the same time. I’ve stood right there, with my feet on either side of the divide, and you know what? I couldn’t feel a thing.

    I moved from Texas to Georgia a few years ago. Atlanta, GA, to be exact. When I first got there, I landed in a pretty rough part of town called, Atlanta. That’s a joke you can...

Brian Houston is the Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church, a global family of congregations comprising more than 100,000 weekly attendees. Considered by many as a leading voice in the shaping of contemporary leadership values and church culture; Brian is highly regarded for his bold innovation and passion for the local church and is a visionary when it comes to empowering the next generation of leaders with fresh Biblical teaching, relevant worship and accessible community.

Pastor Brian’s infectious love for people and his empowering brand of leadership is beamed to millions of people weekly through his program, Brian Houston @ Hillsong Television, and draws tens of thousands annually to Hillsong Conference in Sydney, London and New York City. He is also the President of Hillsong International Leadership College and the Executive Producer of countless gold and platinum albums that have come from the Hillsong Worship team.

Jesus Culture is a global movement, awakening hearts to worship and demonstrate the love and power of God wherever we go. We are passionate to see campuses, cities and nations transformed and we have a mandate: to raise, equip, and mobilize those who were coming to fulfill the call of God on their lives. We do this through the ministry of conferences, events, worship, campus ministries, curriculums, resources and now a local church. Jesus Culture is continuing to grow in bringing young people into encounters with Jesus and equipping them to minister His heart to a broken world…but it wasn’t always this way. Here’s a brief look into the beginnings of our ministry.

Erwin Raphael McManus

Erwin Raphael McManus is an iconoclast known as a
cultural pioneer for his integration of creativity and spirituality.
Erwin is a storyteller and observer of life.

It’s said for everything there is a season. Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. One by one, we experience these seasons throughout our lives. Our souls grow dark and weary in the thick of winter, and just when we think we can’t endure another cold night, we recognize the first signs of spring. Slow and unexpected, welcome shades of green break through the frozen ground. Sometimes our Creator uses His own creation to remind us that even amidst winter’s chill He is always at work. For it’s in the unseen where life’s most beautiful moments take shape. Worship leader Kari Jobe knows this to be true in her own life, and on her fourth album, The Garden (Capitol CMG), she invites listeners to drink of the wellspring of hope she’s found in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.

Hillsong United is a worship band that originated as a part of Hillsong Church. Formed in 1998 as part of Hillsong's youth ministry, the band consists of several rotating worship leaders from the church, including Brooke Fraser, Joel Houston, Reuben Morgan and Marty Sampson. Due to several songs written by the youth ministry, Hillsong worship leader Darlene Zschech recommended that they record an album, which resulted in their debut extended play, One, which was released alongside the Hillsong Worship album Touching Heaven Changing Earth. Since then, the group has released eleven annual live albums, as well as four studio albums. The band composes songs and performs in church services as well as concerts in worldwide tours.

Chris Lane is the Founder and President of First Priority of South Florida.  For the last 18 years, First Priority has been connecting the Church to reach he Campus for Christ.  There are currently First Priority Clubs on 195 South Florida Middle and High Schools.  In the 2015 - 2016 school year, over 3,000 students made a decision for Christ at a First Priority meeting.

Chris also serves as Chaplain for the Miami Marlins.  He is entering his 18th season with the team serving in that capacity. He leads Sunday Chapel services for the Marlins and a separate Chapel for the visiting team also. He teaches a weekly Bible Study to interested players and his wife Wendy leads a Bible Study for the players wives.

Chris is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where he was a 2 sport letterman. He has been married to Wendy for 23 years, they have four sons; Josh (19), Jake (16),  Jonathan (13) and Josiah (12).

Originally from Columbia, MO and Kansas City, MO, Caleb wasn't raised in a Christian household. He actually grew up thinking that Christians were the "enemy." After joining a Bible study in high school in hopes to disprove the Bible, he ended up following Jesus.

Caleb went on to study at Ozark Christian College, Talbot School of Theology (Biola University), and is finishing a Doctor of Ministry at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has served at churches in Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and was an associate pastor at Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, CA for 11 years. Caleb is also the author of "Messy Grace" (a book that tells his story and urges people to live in the tension of grace and truth).

In their spare time Caleb, his wife (Amy), and their two kids enjoy Disneyland, the beach, and traveling. Caleb is also a fan of Star Wars, the Kansas City Chiefs, Mizzou Tigers, the Lakers, and having fun!

If you had told me I would be serving and leading as a Pastor in the church 25 years ago I would have taken a swing at you. I saw the church as a place of compromised mediocrity; an emaciated organization that lacked vision, heart and courageous leadership. Today, I love nothing more than taking a swing at being what Christ always wanted His people to be. I am grateful for the passionate, gifted, others-centered group of Christ followers that daily live to serve and lead with me. Come join us as we take our turn in God's great adventure of reaching out, serving and loving a confused and increasingly chaotic world.

The idea that worshiping Jesus Christ is best done not when we just sing about Him or what He has done or what He will do in the future. The highest and best worship is modeled by what the angels do: sing to God about God. Vertical.

Vertical Church Band is a collection of people who play every week in places all over Chicagoland as part of Harvest Bible Chapel, a place that believes singing isn’t a warm-up for the sermon; singing is a warm-up for heaven. So the faces may change. The style may evolve. But the aim will stay the same. Vertical.

Robert Morris is the founding senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multicampus church in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Since it began in 2000, the church has grown to more than 39,000 active members. He is featured on the daily television program The Blessed Life and serves as chairman of the board of The King’s University. He is the bestselling author of 14 books, including The Blessed Life, The God I Never Knew, Truly Free, and Frequency. Robert and his wife, Debbie, have been married 36 years and are blessed with one married daughter, two married sons, and eight grandchildren.

Christy Nockels has long had a huge appreciation for music and its role in the kingdom of God. As a worship leader for many years, she’s seen first hand how music can usher people into the presence of God in a powerful way. On her newest album, Let It Be Jesus, Christy’s prayer is to further explore biblical truths that elevate our worship and bind us our hearts closer to our Creator.