Bethel Music CEO resigns, sets out on ‘deep pursuit of God’

Bethel Music CEO Joel Taylor announced Friday that he’s resigning from the popular worship ministry. 

The worship music ministry that’s an extension of the charismatic Bethel Church in Redding, California, has exploded in popularity in recent years. And Taylor and his team have created songs that are sung in churches worldwide.

While Bethel Music didn’t immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment, Taylor shared details about his decision in a post on social media. 

“After 13 wonderful and challenging years, I’ve resigned as CEO of Bethel Music,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “When we founded the label, we knew God was going to use us to build something special, but God’s plan was even bigger than our dreams — and we had big dreams,” he added. 

The father of two shared the news of his departure alongside a photo of his family. Taylor’s post went on to describe how Bethel Music defied the odds.

“We had no investment capital and minimal support, so with the little revenue we had, I hired a part-time bookkeeper and got an intern. At that time, the music industry was in a downward spiral and labels were doing massive layoffs,” he said.

Taylor continued: “As we tried to create our own label, we were told we could never do it on our own. They didn’t play worship on the radio back then and they told us we wouldn’t ever be on the radio. When we wanted to bring worship to the world on tour, we were told people wouldn’t host us. We had to listen to God and believe in our hearts the ‘impossible’ could happen, and it did.”

The musician said he greatly enjoyed “stepping into the unknown and trusting God.” As they did that, they saw God make the impossible possible.

Taylor maintained that he was grateful for his time at Bethel in Redding, and now he and his family are embarking on a new journey in Tennessee. 

As for what is next for Taylor, he ended by saying he has been on a “deep pursuit of God, His truth, His presence, and His direction as I enter into my second-half of life.” 

“There’s so much noise and distraction out there and it’s easy to get lost in it. I have a lot of plans and opportunities in front of me, but Jesus showed us that the greatest call is to love God, to love yourself, and to love people, and this is what I’m going to do next,” he concluded. 

Taylor added that he’s excited for the beginning of the “next chapter.” 

In 2018, the songwriter and his wife found themselves in need of a miracle as their two young children battled a dangerous E. coli infection.

Thousands of believers worldwide prayed for the children’s recovery and, through medical treatment and prayer, the Taylors’ prayers were answered