Kim Bensen: For the Love of Food

CBN.com  Jason Upton is a unique worship leader.  His worship is raw, unconventional and truly an experience with God.  He wants to lead people to Jesus and not religion.  A central theme to Jason's testimony is the revelation of the spirit of adoption. 

Jason says when you don't know your blood line it changes everything – how you look at relationships, lines of family, racial relationships.  He knows this first hand because Jason was put up for adoption after he was born.  A few months later, he was adopted by a Christian couple and was brought up in the ways of God.   

As an adult, he requested a file from the adoption agency that placed him and received a letter from his birth mother.  Jason found out that she prayed that he’d be brought up in a two-parent home, that they would know Jesus and that they would follow the Lord’s leading in the development of his life. 

God answered his birth mother’s prayer in a wonderful way, giving Jason a love of the Lord that is expressed in music.   In the Kingdom of God, God adopts us as His children.  We can't be disowned or disinherited, and we don't look at physical blood lines.  We see the relationships as God sees them.  We have the connection of being adopted as God's children. 

When Jason met his biological family, it didn't change things with his adoptive family.  He met his biological mother last year.  He found out that she was a Christian and had listened to his music for six years and didn't know Jason was her son.  He was able to meet his biological father, who is not a Christian, but is a Cherokee Indian.

Jason gained lots of musical experience singing in churches, but eventually “the Lord began to show me that I wanted to entertain and please people.  It was a form of my calling, but without the power,” he says.  His wife told him that at home at the piano, he just worshiped the Lord. 

Jason stopped booking engagements for a period of five years.  While attending Regent University, a chaplain heard about a cell group Jason was leading at his home, and asked them to lead a worship service.  It was during these times that they realized that the songs God was giving them during worship were not simply songs but keys that would open and shut doors in the spirit.

Since that time Jason has been asked to worship all over the country and the world.  Sam Chappel, from 40 Records, was at the first service Jason and the group led.  Now Jason says, “I want to lead people to Jesus, not to a religion.  Let’s let the church be a place where we raise up young people, fill them with God’s presence and love, and send them out.  God has a unique calling for each of us.”

Jason feels like right now God is saying to people: "Don't be afraid – especially the fear of man."  The fear of man is wrapped up in self-preservation.  The last temptation Jesus had to face in the wilderness was about self.  It is a big bondage, and the way to remedy this is to go after God.

Jason also says there is a "reversal" happening.  He sees that there is a bringing back the wisdom of the Cross (what Christ did for us) and bringing the generations together.  At his events, he sees 50-year-olds and 20-year-olds from the charismatic movement coming together, and the younger generation wants spiritual fathers and mothers from the older generation to guide them.  He also sees that God has given us the Key of David, which is governmental authority by walking in the ways of Jesus.  These keys lead us to the truth and authority given to Jesus by the Father.  He sees the same transfer happening from spiritual sons and fathers – through relationship, something happens.

Jason wants his latest album, Beautiful People, to be a facilitator for people to know about the Father God.  It is recorded like a live album to capture the spiritual experience, the realness – the intimacy that people experience with God that happened at one of his worship events. 

The song "Beautiful People" is about people being the sons and daughters of God and through Jesus we are part of His plan.  During 2005-2006, Key of David Ministries made efforts to record every event that Jason Upton and his team was scheduled to do. The idea was to capture a live recording of the particular song cycle that Jason planned on entitling "Beautiful People". At the moment, it did not seem like this goal was accomplished, but sometimes hindsight is 20/20.  At two different events - one at Life Center International in Harrisburg, Penn., and the other at Morningstar Christian Fellowship in Fort Mill, S.C. - several of the recorded moments were beckoning to be shared with a larger audience.  The compilation of these moments – both audio and video – was released as one project entitled “Between Earth and Sky”.   The song "Father to the Fatherless" is one of the songs from this project.  It shares the heart of what God wants to be in many people's lives.

Jason is working on a new project called 1,200 Feet Below Sea Level, which is a compilation of live music.  The theme of the album is what Jesus taught us at the lowest place on earth.  He's doing something new on this album.  It will have kid friendly/family friendly music called Tater Peeler Road.  Even the way it will be recorded is different - just recording the songs as they come. Jason also regularly tours the country, leading worship in churches small and large most weekends out of the year, usually at unticketed events.