Christian worship artist Jon Shirley
To most fans, Jon Shirley is a new face to the Christian music scene: a singer / songwriter and worship leader living in Kansas City. He lives among and serves as worship director for The Gathering Network, a spirited community of 20-somethings rising into their call to be sent into the world as friends of Jesus Christ. Together they are joining a growing movement of young adults determined to use what resources they have to help make wrong things right in the world.
Nickel and Dime
Jon’s musical career began as ½ of the acoustic duo Nickel and Dime. The band formed in 1996 in Jon’s senior year at Ouachita Baptist University. The two recorded their first CD, 3 Days in March, through spring break, and upon graduation hit the road without looking back. Five years, three albums, and two additional band members later, Nickel and Dime called it quits after becoming one of the most successful touring independent bands in the southern part of the US.
listen now » Nickel and Dime on myspace
Arkansas, River Market Church
In late 2000, Jon helped plant a church in the downtown area of Little Rock, Arkansas. The church began in a loft apartment in the River Market district downtown, and aptly became known as the River Market Church. The church grew as a team of five would meet on Tuesday nights to fervently pray for friends and neighbors — basically out of an intuitive sense that if they called on God, He would answer and heal.
" …if they called on God, He would answer and heal."
Months turned into a year, the prayer group got a little larger, lives were being touched and changed, and the River Market Church began to form as a young and lively community of faith, opening publicly in September of 2001. In its first years, the RMC grew to around two hundred people, meeting in local coffee shops and bars around the River Market district.
Purchase the “Hallelujah” album from the iTunes Store. This disc – released in 2003 – is the first of two solo discs released by Jon.
Hallelujah
Jon’s first solo album was recorded in 2003 as cry of worship through a very dark night of the soul. As the United States was still grieving the loss of many innocent victims of September 11, 2001; in January of 2002 Jon’s grandfather passed away in Beaumont, Texas. After catching an early morning flight from Little Rock to Houston, Jon's family was involved in a serious car accident while driving south to the funeral. Jon’s older sister, Jill, died in that accident, leaving behind her husband Jason Mirikitani and 16-month-old daughter Abby. Jason suffered a major head injury, Jon's father, Jakie, had severe internal injuries, and Jon was left with a broken shoulder. Abby, by God’s true saving grace, barely had a scratch on her body.
"The album Hallelujah: Let the Wounded Hear and Rejoice was simply an effort to just keep moving forward in life and faith," says Jon. "It was an invitation for anyone else who found themselves getting out of bed every day trying to do that very same thing to simply walk alongside me, you know. I just felt it would be appropriate for us to try to get along together. It became clear to me that there were a lot of folks trying to just put one foot in front of the other — or breathe one breath at a time — just to make it through a really hard place.
"It became clear to me that there were a lot of folks trying to just put one foot in front of the other…"
That’s a full-time job when things are really bad, and sometimes it’s really hard to find some kind of soundtrack that feels like a lament and a hope at the same time. That’s really what I wanted to offer people at the time, and I think it’s been a theme in my life and ministry."