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14th April 2010 by Julia Hosking

I AM ROYALTY, I AM DESTINY, I HAVE BEEN SET FREE, I'M GONNA CHANGE HISTORY!

-  The Anthem, Jake Hamilton

How cool is that? The first time I heard Jake Hamilton's unique 'gruff' voice sing that line over and over again, I felt an incredible stirring in my spirit, and knew that this sound that I was hearing was something that I had never heard before, and that from that moment something was being birthed in the spiritual realm around me.

The man

For those who aren't familiar with Jake Hamilton, don't worry, I was in the same boat only a few months ago.

Based at the same church as the Jesus Culture band (Bethel Church) in Redding, California, Jake Hamilton has been running the race called life while being heavily involved in such ministries as the International House of Prayer, Jesus Culture and TheCALL just to name a few.

However rather than read what I reckon Jake Hamilton is all about, here is a taste of what exactly Jake feels he is called to be:

"I believe God is raising up a generation who understands the priority of the hour is not bigger programs and more religion but a passionate pursuit of the knowledge of God ... I am committed to living a life worthy of the calling and release a sound that cannot be stopped by religion or hidden by those who wish to conform."

And he does exactly that. It won't take you long to realise just how anointed his song-writing is, and with the idea of using a live-album recording, the sound of hundreds of young people in the background singing truth and prophetic words of life over themselves is incredible and inspirational.

The music

Marked by Heaven is Jake's first album, and to be honest, some may be able to tell it just by listening to his style, but I think that's what makes it so captivating. He isn't worried if he is a little off pitch or if the drummer loses time in some parts, because for Jake, it's obviously about his heart, and about rallying up revivalists for Jesus and being who we are called to be.

For instance, the song Embrace is at first a slow, acoustic ballad-ish type song which eventually swells up into a resounding declaration. It takes us on the journey of first coming to Jesus – wanting to feel his embrace, to feel his heart beat and know how close he is. Then, after we experience that revelation, we realise that we don't need to wait to get to Heaven to experience his closeness, but rather we can bring Heaven to earth – which is biblical (Matthew 6:10 "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven").

Musically, some will hate it and others will love it. I mentioned earlier that the texture in his voice has a 'gruff-like' sound in it, which I admit makes the songs so raw-like, and so much more genuine.

The songs are very guitar driven, so once again you will either really dig it, or hate the sound of it.

I encourage you to not listen just to the intro and switch tracks – you will find that all throughout this album there are some incredible and secret worship moments which you wouldn't expect without listening to the whole song, which I love.

Regardless of how good of an album Marked by Heaven is, I think that most churches would struggle trying to do his songs in the youth services, mostly because of how high he can sing (he is a gun at it too) and how it is carried out (i.e. half the songs are just Spirit-led, meaning they were spontaneous).

Nevertheless, this is an excellent CD, and I highly rate it. You can also check more out on Jake Hamilton and Jesus Culture at their website.

You can purchase the CD from the Jesus Culture website, or on iTunes – and I highly encourage you to.

Dan Walters

P.S If and when you do listen to it, don't be scared to comment on your thoughts of the album. I'm more than happy to hear other opinions on it :)

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1. 

   Ty

   June 17, 2010 at 4:56am

   Hey, we just had Jake at our church about 2 weeks ago, and he's working on a new album. I got to preview the songs, and DANG! It's gonna be awesome. I to love the spontaneity near the ends of songs and the passion that he has for God. Good review, great album!

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