About Us
Husband-and-wife duo Dave & Jess Ray have a new outlook on music and ministry. The beginning of their marriage was immersed in the Christian music industry in Nashville. Dave was a member and songwriter for Creative Trust artist BDA, and Jess worked tour publicity for bands such as Jars of Clay, David Crowder Band and Charlie Hall. But in 2005, God called them out of Nashville to begin leading worship together at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.
Since their move to Houston, God has been leading them to something new, and redefining success in their ministry through a series of pivotal encounters. One of those encounters took place on a trip to the remote bush of southern Sudan with a woman named Asinita.
Most of Asinita’s possessions had been carried off in a tribal raid just a year prior. She still had six chickens, which represented the sum of her material wealth. As an expression of gratitude and hospitality, Asinita gave one of her chickens to the mission team to which Dave & Jess belonged. It was a beautiful gesture, but left a haunting question: “What would it cost me to give up one sixth of everything I own?”
That question became the heart of Music for the Radio, the new EP from Dave & Jess Ray. Every penny received from the sale of the EP will go to purchase hand-held radios that allow the people of southern Sudan to hear the Gospel in their own tribal languages. For Dave & Jess, music has become more than melody and lyric. It is an expression of lives that are committed to obedience and sacrifice for the sake of God’s glory.
