Joy [joi] -noun
The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation

Life

Jeremy Riddle grew up in New Jersey and has always been a man in pursuit of knowing the King of Kings. He was born into a family who worshiped the Lord wholeheartedly. He would often find his father singing and worshiping the Lord on his guitar in the early hours of the morning.

Jeremy started his musical career as a member of a mainstream band. The band began gaining popularity and attention from producers, but during this season of success, Jeremy started sensing a change from the Lord and felt as if things were off balance in his musical pursuit. It seemed that if he were going to have peace about a musical career, he would have to lay it down at the Lord’s feet and let Him bring it back to life again. So he drew away from the band and responded to the Lord’s invitation to humble himself and lean into God’s heart.

During this season of quiet, Jeremy was asked to take a position as a middle school youth pastor for the Anaheim Vineyard in Anaheim, California. He stayed in this position for six years, learning to pastor, disciple and lead people into deeper relationships with the Lord. It was there that he began to see the resuscitation of his musical career. God released him to start leading worship for the youth group, and Jeremy discovered that this was what he had been made for, to be a worship pastor.

He soon began songwriting and playing simple love songs to the Lord, finding that David and his psalms in Scripture inspired much of his writing.

He recorded his first album, “Full Attention,” in 2007. It was birthed from his season of writing love songs to the Lord. His song “Sweetly Broken” reached the top of the Christian music charts and became the #6 AC radio hit for 2006 with more than 2.5 million hits. Jeremy’s small, influential circle in Anaheim exploded that year as his name became popular in the radio community across the globe.

Jeremy now lives in Redding, California, with his wife, three daughters and one son. He recently accepted a position as the worship community pastor for Bethel Church in Redding. He recorded with Brian and Jenn Johnson, Will Matthews and others on Bethel’s new album, “Be Lifted High,” and he is set to release his second album, “The Now, and Not Yet,” with Vineyard Music in 2011.

Quotes

“I am a worship leader. That is what I do. I’ve been on staff at churches and I’ve been a pastor, but mainly I’ve operated as a worship leader. I’ll be honest . . . it worried me when worship music began to run to the top of the Christian music charts. It seemed that worship started to become a part of the industry with the center of attention on the artist. But worship has nothing to do with a person. Worship is anything that brings pleasure to the heart of God, and if we really want to please the heart of God, it probably has very little to do with the songs that we sing . . .”

Fun Facts

• Likes building things
• Likes writing music, nature, reading, coffee
• Loves playing with his family and being a part of a community
• Broke his first horse at age 15
• Loves all breakfast foods at any time