<\/p>\n
Topher Jones had already spent more than a decade building a career in electronic music before anyone knew him as Rave Jesus.<\/p>\n
Performing under the names King Arthur and later King Topher, the Florida native played some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Tomorrowland\u2019s main stage. His records found a global audience, and his career kept growing. Yet the moments that stayed with him had little to do with the crowds.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part of all of it was having these conversations backstage at these festivals, getting to love on people and talking about Jesus and pray for them and see God move kind of behind the scenes in the dance music space,\u201d Jones told RELEVANT. \u201cIt stirred me up to really think, \u2018God is hungry to meet people in this space.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones began wondering what it would look like to pursue those conversations as intentionally as he pursued music.<\/p>\n
In 2018, he invited a couple of friends from the dance music industry to a weekly prayer call. The group met to pray for artists, producers and others working in EDM. Without giving it much thought, he called it the \u201cRave Jesus\u201d prayer call.<\/p>\n
For the next five and a half years, Rave Jesus wasn\u2019t an artist. It was simply a group of people praying for God to move in dance music. During the pandemic, the call opened to the public and quickly grew as industry professionals from around the world joined each week. Jones says people were meeting Jesus through those gatherings long before he ever released a song under the name.<\/p>\n
When he felt God asking him to make Rave Jesus his music project, his first response was no.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to do any of this,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are like, \u2018It\u2019s such a great idea.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018Yeah, I said no to God so many times.’\u201d<\/p>\n
His hesitation came from a practical concern. Jones had spent years earning respect in mainstream dance music, and he assumed openly branding the project as Christian would close doors.<\/p>\n
Instead, many of the people he expected to lose became some of his biggest supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll my friends in the dance music industry are just like, \u2018Yeah, well, we know you. This isn\u2019t anything weird. This is just you being you,’\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re some of the biggest champions of it, even if they\u2019re not Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n
The criticism, he says, has largely come from inside the church.<\/p>\n
Many Christians hear \u201crave\u201d and immediately associate it with drug culture or nightlife. Jones understands where that reaction comes from, but he believes it misses the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial Christian response to anything new is apprehension and a bit fearful,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018I don\u2019t know, so this must be evil.\u2019 That\u2019s just not actually discernment. That\u2019s maybe your preference or your lack of understanding of what\u2019s actually going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones doesn\u2019t see electronic music as spiritually different from any other genre. For him, it\u2019s simply another way to tell stories and point people toward Jesus.<\/p>\n
That philosophy influences where Rave Jesus performs. Rather than taking headline shows into churches, he books clubs and independent music venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want this to be a place where people that wouldn\u2019t go to church might feel more comfortable showing up to a music concert than they would going to church,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n