Jimmy Paton - Worship Leader

My philosophy for worship leading is simple, connect people with God's heart for them through music. I believe that the Spirit of God is always singing songs of hope, peace, and the unconditional love of God. It's the worship team's job to hear what the Spirit is singing and release that song over the people. Stylistically, I consider myself to be a fusion between Bethel Music, United Pursuit Band, and bands like Gungor, Tow'rs, and Rivers and Robots.

I'm available for worship leading, drumming, song-writing collaboration/consultation, and music production/mixing.

As the son of two Pentecostal preachers, I have a keen eye for spiritual trauma (having experienced so much of it) and work adamantly to do no harm in worship services. I honed this skill while serving as the worship coordinator for the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home. In that role I developed worship services for foster youth of all ages who had experienced tremendous trauma. I learned that trauma-informed worship, as we’d come to call it, is about so much more than using radically inclusive language for God, saying your pronouns when you introduce yourself, singing non-english songs, and not singing Good, Good Father on Father’s day (which is a deal-breaker for me). Trauma-informed worship is really about decolonizing Christianity. It’s about spending time with the marginalized people in your community and learning how they connect to the Divine. It’s about decentering yourself and elevating others by giving away power (like that beautiful hymn in Phil. 2) to other worship leaders, liturgists, artists, and members of the community. It’s about modifying worship so as not to trigger people on the autism spectrum. It’s about deconstructing the veneration of Mary as a virgin when there are children in the congregation who were raped. It’s about teaching from other religions, learning lessons from modern-day prophets, and admitting that there is a lot we do not know about Jesus. And it means doing those things while remaining madly in love with Jesus and working with anyone who is fighting for liberation in an unjust world.

Additional things about me. I’m the proud owner of a BS in Broadcasting (with a minor in electronic music production), along with more than a few years experience in filmmaking and video production, marketing, and sales. I’ve produced worship albums, written liturgical songs, and orchestrated some awesome worship nights focused on moving people to action. In terms of religion, I’m deeply spiritual, nominally Christian, and completely in love with Jesus. Sometimes I speak in tongues and sometimes I curse a little. I enjoy a delicious craft beer, glass of wine, or cocktail. I have tattoos. I am firmly committed to the idea that everyone deserves a seat at the table.