Jon Reddick

Veteran worship pastor and songwriter Jon Reddick composes lyrics that speak about redemption and hope. His music's intention is to foment discussion while impacting cross-cultural narratives about difference, healing, and faith. His style, which weds contemporary gospel, praise & worship, and hymnody, has registered with several generations of listeners. The live videos from his 2019 debut single "You Keep Hope Alive," for TobyMac's Gotee label, were shot at Nashville's Church of the City and have garnered hundreds of thousands of views while the track charted at streaming. Originally from Memphis, Reddick is the son of a pastor and a church pianist. He is brother to six siblings including Janice, a Stellar Award- and GMA Dove Award-nominated recording artist for Motown Gospel. While he played piano and sang in choirs and youth choirs while in high school, it was in college that Reddick began to flourish. He wrote songs for services and led a contemporary gospel group. After graduating, he followed his family into church work. Reddick led the worship team for a church in Memphis and eventually made his way to a similar role in Texas. He immersed himself in bridge-building across racial and generational lines, working to bring churches and cultures together under a tolerant Christianity. Reddick relocated to Nashville, where he became the worship pastor of Church in the City. In Nashville he was given opportunities to work on his songwriting skills with internationally renowned artists such as Matt Redman, Tommy Sims, Josh Kerr, and Sheryl Crow. He also toured and recorded as a pianist and backing vocalist with Nashville artists Nicole C. Mullen and Mandisa. In 2017, Reddick watched TV as the horrifying events unfolded at Charlottesville, Virginia, in response to the Unite the Right demonstration. In addition to hundreds of injuries resulting from battles between attendees and counter protesters, one young woman, a counter protestor, was run over and killed by a rally attendee. Reddick's response to the tragedy resulted in "You Keep Hope Alive," co-written with his fellow worship pastors Anthony Skinner and Jess Cates. After TobyMac signed him personally in late 2018 (Reddick had been his worship pastor for eight years previously), the singer entered the studio with producer Nathan Nockels and cut the song. The response to its release in April 2019 was instant; it charted at streaming and got radio play in the South. It made way for the poignant video that has been shared globally. Reddick followed that success with "God Turn It Around" later that year and issued a live video for the single at Church of the City in August. Additionally, he, played and sang on Aaron Shust's Nothing to Fear, and he, Cates, and Skinner co-wrote the hit "In the Arms" for Terrian. As Reddick planned his debut album and co-led worship services in church, he found time to record "Glory & Majesty." The track was issued to streaming at the end of January as a lead-in to his debut album. The global coronavirus pandemic put those plans on hold temporarily, even as the single ticked up the charts. Reddick, undaunted, continued to record demos and post videos to his Facebook page; he also contributed a live version of "You Keep Hope Alive" to the Gotee quarantine compilation entitled Blessed. ~ Thom Jurek