Jess Cantelon is a songwriter and worship leader who has a talent for expressing the prophetic word of God through music. He is a great storyteller of the Gospel and has a unique depth in the way that he communicates the Scriptures through poetry and song. His eclectic ministry experience in settings including charismatic evangelical congregations, traditional Anglican churches and growing up in Israel, combined with his education, have had an impact on his unique approach to song writing. With influences such as Kevin Prosch, Lenny Kravitz, U2 and Jan Arden, Jess' style can be described as rough and unpretentious, sometimes aggressive and other times a lullaby. He engages in song writing in a provocative and fresh way.
Cantelon is a worship leader and young adults pastor for the largest Messianic congregation in Israel (King of Kings Community, Jerusalem www.kkcj.com). He has been writing music and leading worship for eleven years in small groups, churches and conferences. In addition to directing the young adults program at King of Kings, he has also initiated an inter-congregational worship night that meets monthly called thedeepend. In conjunction with this ministry Cantelon is pioneering a national worship gathering in Hebrew called ShirEhad (OneSong), which will be held in strategic cities throughout the country, launching November 2006.
Cantelon was born in 1976 in Newmarket, Ontario. From 1981-1988 he lived in Israel with his family, during which time he attended Hebrew public school. In October 2004 he returned to Israel from Canada with his wife and two children to encourage Jewish believers by drawing them together to sing and worship, that together they might "provoke the Jewish people to jealousy."
Prior to his ministry in Israel, Cantelon spent four years as the worship leader of Freedomize Toronto, an emerging generation church plant in the heart of the city (www.freedomize.com).
Cantelon has also lead worship for events such as the David Wilkerson Let's Go Up to Jerusalem conference, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's New Kind of Christian conference with Brian McLaren, Aglow International's Israel conference and the International Christian Embassy's Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
Simultaneously with his ministry at Freedomize Toronto, Cantelon also invested four years as the youth pastor at St. Saviours Anglican Church. As well, he has just completed his Masters degree in Theology, studying with the leading scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Jess has a reputation for his crazy sense of humour and for being wild and full of life. He has a gift for bringing out the child in people and filling a room with laughter.
Cantelon's debut album, City of Gold, was released in March.
Jess and his wife Erica have two children: Jonah and Benjamin
