In 1999, I was given my first pair of turntables. What started out as a hobby, soon turned into a passion as I fell in love with dance music. I started making my own music, and a remix I created was picked up and got some attention. Now, I get to travel around the world, DJing under the name King Arthur.
I grew up going to church, but it wasn’t until I went to college that I made the shift from being “culturally Christian”—going to church because everyone in my town did—to developing my own relationship with God. I’ve always had a bit of a rebellious streak in me, but in a healthy way. For example, when I was in college, 85% of the student body belonged to a fraternity or sorority, but the Christian organizations on campus were only connecting with the 15% of students outside of the Greek system. So, I joined a fraternity and held a Bible study only for frat guys. Every Tuesday night, guys would gather with their beer, cigarettes, and chew to read the Bible and talk about Jesus. That Bible study recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary.
I’ve always questioned the premise of choosing to focus on a small part of the population when the whole world is available. God loves music, dancing, and festivals, and He wants His love to be shared in those places. Historically, the body of Christ hasn’t done a great job loving the people in those worlds, so He’s raising up a generation that will. Festivals are fun, the quality of entertainment is higher, there’s a lot more freedom, and often people are much more open to Jesus than they would be within the church.
My vision is simply to bring the kingdom to earth—whether it be through music, shows, or interacting with people off stage. I want to draw people closer to Jesus and let them experience how amazing He is. I want my music to impact people’s lives, infusing hope and freedom into their lives.
This has been a 20-year journey. We live in a world of highlight reels, but overnight success doesn’t exist. God wants to see how much we believe the call on our lives. I encourage you to be so in tune with what God is saying over your life that it drowns out everything the world is trying to say.
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