“My childhood was pretty tumultuous most of the time. My parents divorced when I was four, and my Mum got married three more times after that… and two of those [stepfathers] were very abusive but I have experienced in worship that when I am just really vulnerable and real, you extend an invitation to the people around you to also come into that same vulnerability. And I think if we are really going to encounter God and have lives changed, it does require some vulnerability.”
Kim Walker-Smith is an American Gospel Artiste, Songwriter and Worship Leader born on the 19th of December, 1981. She is best known as the Worship Leader of the Jesus Culture band and a Worship Pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. One of the reputable female worship leaders, Walker-Smith has been a part of the Jesus Culture movement since its beginning. For more than a decade, she has played a major role in influencing worshippers and worship teams to passionately pursue Jesus. Born and raised in Albany, Oregon, she started singing on stage at age three, involved in musical theatre. At age 18, she gave her life to Christ and attended a Christian College where she discovered Bethel Church, where she was hired to become a Worship Pastor before the Church gave directives for a branch to be opened at Sacramento. She, her family and band, Jesus Culture had to relocate. In 1999, the church launched its music ministry, Jesus Culture ministry. The Jesus Culture band is a revivalist youth outreach ministry which hosts multiple worship conferences attracting thousands around the globe and produces a live record each year. The music of Jesus Culture is known around the world for its lyrical power and heartfelt expression. The team consist of prolific songwriters and worshippers, having released over 30 albums as a collective and individual artists, and receiving a Grammy nominations. Youth worship leaders Kim Walker-Smith, Melissa How and Chris Quilala, long active with the youth group at Bethel Church in Redding, became the core of the Jesus Culture band.
Kim Walker-Smith is admired by people across the globe for her prophetic worship style. A successful Gospel Artiste, vocalist and Worship leader, best known for her songs “In The River,” “How He Loves,” “Love Has A Name,” “Spirit Break Out” and “Throne Room,” with more than 320 million global streams to date albums sold, her journey into music wasn’t a smooth one and was birthed from an abusive childhood. As a young child, Kim learnt first-hand about heartache. At two years old, her dad was involved in a motorcycle accident and had a severe brain injury. Although he recovered and learned to walk and talk again, he was never the same. Two years later when she was age four, her parents divorced and her mom remarried. Her new stepdad, known as Peter was always very angry towards Kim. Later on, her mum and Peter separated after the marriage lasted a year. Her mum got married again to Greg. Her new and second step- dad seemed to be worse than the first. He was a violent person who flared up frequently. Kim had to walk on eggshells every time, not knowing when he would have his regular outburst. She lived in fear and endured his physical abuse for years. One night, Greg left the house and never came back. Kim was relieved that Greg was gone but her experience with both stepdads left her with so much anger and pain in her heart. Kim loved to sing as it helped relieve her of pain and hurt. Her mum remarried but this time to a strong Christian man known as George. Having had experiences with other stepdads, Kim had to put up a protective front to protect her mum and siblings from another step-dad, who she felt was like the others but George was different. Her unresolved anger and pain caused her relationship with her mom and George to become increasingly strained. During this time, she learnt that her mother had breast cancer and had to have surgery and chemotherapy treatment. Kim at this point didn’t know what to do and had to turn to God at this point. She revealed, “He was the only one I could turn to in terrifying circumstances, yet He was also the one who had let these things happen throughout my life”. With so much going on in her life, she turned to drugs, wild partying and thought about taking her own life. She took some pills which made her black out. This was during her senior year in high school. When she woke up, she felt much better. She said, “There must be a God, and He must really love me for Him not to have allowed me to die”. In that moment she knew she was loved and had a purpose. Right there on the floor at age 18, she committed her life to God and vowed to spend her life pursuing Him. In all this, her step dad was kind to her and showed her love.
She felt God’s leading to go to Redding, California so she relocated to attend Simpson University at Redding, California instead of Oral Roberts University that she had planned attending on music scholarship. She struggled academically and didn’t know why God led her there. One night while driving, she discovered Bethel Church and inside, she saw people lifting hands, dancing and praying. She went inside, loved her experience with God, started worshipping at the church, attended ministry school and began inner healing with a counselor from her church. The healing process from her childhood took time, but eventually the deep pain she had lived with for so long was finally healed and left her with wholeness and freedom. God gave her new eyes to see her past through His eyes. After a year, she was asked to lead worship at one of Jesus Culture conferences. Before then, she was backing up for Sunday mornings at church and for the Jesus Culture band. One of the experiences that shot her to limelight was leading the song “How He Loves”. It went viral and changed everything for her band, Jesus Culture. Through this, the band received invitations to lead worship at other churches and events. She released her first solo Album titled “Here is my song” in 2008.
In 2009, she got married to Skylar who was a worship leader of the Jesus Culture band. Their schedule was quite busy travelling from one place to another to minister. In 2012, Jesus Culture was sent out from Bethel to Sacramento with the purpose to plant a local expression of Jesus Culture as well as relocate the ministry. They all moved to Sacramento, California and in 2014 Jesus Culture Sacramento began. Before then, her and her husband on 16th July, 2013, Skyler, released “Home”, their first album together.
She gave birth to her first son, Wyatt on the 25th of September, 2013 and when Wyatt was six months, she found out she was pregnant again. Hearing the news of her friend who lost her baby, Kim grew scared thinking that same will happen to her baby. She struggled with post- partum depression. She was also mourning her favourite stepdad, George while also working on her new solo album “On my Side”. She revealed, “In the last four years there were a lot of difficult things that I went through. It was really hard for me becoming a mom and making the transition to becoming a mom. I had my boys 14 months apart, they’re really close in age. It was a really challenging period because I had really bad postpartum depression after my second. In the middle of all of that we moved to a new city and it took us a really long time to find a home. We were planting a church with Jesus Culture and then my stepdad passed away from a sickness that he had been battling for many years. He was dad to me and all of it was piling up at once. In the midst of all of the difficulty and all of the hardship, I felt like the Lord was constantly reminding me and telling me that He’s on my side. That even in the middle of all of it, He wasn’t leaving me; He wasn’t angry or frustrated when I didn’t get everything just right. It felt like a patient father who was just there with me in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the chaos, loving me, guiding me one day at a time, one step at a time and just constantly reminding me that He’s on my side. Although the journey was a hard one, she wrote most of her songs during this time. Her first solo album “On my Side” was birthed at this time. She said, “It is really hard when you’re in the hardest season of your life to continue to walk up on the stage and lead people and worship or speak or write an album, or whatever it is. Everything feels harder when you’re in the middle of what feels like the toughest season of your life, you’re doubting yourself, you’re doubting God, you’re hurt, you’re offended, you’re angry and you have all these different emotions that you’re going through. There were times where right as I walked on stage, I would feel the accusation and the lie of the enemy. ‘You’re a fraud. It’s not real. Look at you, you’re a mess, you’re in a bad season but every time, I felt the Lord come through in that moment with me saying ‘No she’s mine, she’s in this with me and I’m there with her and I don’t expect perfection from her at all. What I expect is a heart that says yes and is surrendered to me.”
Despite being through all of these physical abuse, depression and all the challenging moments, Kim rose above it all through God’s help and therapy. Kim Walker-Smith is happily married, blessed with three children and has become one of the strongest voices in worship music with a goal to bring an entire generation into an encounter with God. Her songs, both with Jesus Culture and as a solo Artiste all have millions of streams worldwide. This is a story to show and inspire you that we can always rise above all odds and become successful.
SOURCES
Cbn.com
Christianpost.com