Top 20 Christian Music Videos (2023)

Top 20 Christian Music Videos

In celebration of JesusFreakHideout's 20th birthday this past August, we as staff did a 20 Day Countdown that featured many Top 20 lists and blog posts. We enjoyed putting them together and you all (our readers) engaged with them, making your own lists and discovering (or re-discovering) some Âfavorite artists and albums. The whole thing was very much in synch with the heartbeat of the site, so we decided to do more of these lists!

Taking to social media, staff member Scott Fryberger asked the readers on our Facebook page to come up with some suggestions for new Top 20 lists. One of you suggested we do a top 20 music videos, and though I knew it would be an impossible task to create a definitive list of the best visual art in the Christian music industry, I thought it would be fun... so I signed myself up. When I initially started thinking about what would be on this list, there were only two songs that immediately came to mind: "In The Valley of the Dying Sun" by House of Heroes and "SMS [Shine]" by David*Crowder Band. Visually, SMS [Shine] is one of the best examples of what hard work and creative thinking can accomplish. And "In The Valley of the Dying Sun," has always been my personal favorite music video. From there, I asked for nominations on our JFH Facebook page and from my fellow JFH staff members. Based on those nominations (and a couple dozen more of my own considerations) I put together a YouTube Playlist and watched at least part of each video. After a lot of second guessing and spending way more time on this than I intended, here is my best attempt at an objective list of the top 20 music videos in the Christian music industry... -- Christopher Smith, JFH Staff Writer

Stop motion animation is a time consuming style of filming, but the result here is extremely rewarding. I love when an artist utilizes the visual component to add an additional layer of story while still paralleling the original. If you've never seen this before make sure to grab the tissue box.

"In the Valley of the Dying Sun" is one of House of Heroes best songs. The lyrics very loosely tell the story of Jacob from Genesis but the video adds a new dimension to the story with soldiers fighting each other. It's a powerful portrayal of redemption with excellent cinematography. The way they incorporated the band into this shoot is pretty creative as well.

"Typical" is a ridiculously catchy song and this video is both innovative and fun. The whole thing was shot in reverse, which is actually even harder than it sounds. Paul Meany (vocals) and Darren King (drums) had to learn their parts for the song backwards while maintaining focus.

Though "Flood" put Jars on the map, "Work" is arguably their best music video (which, ironically, also involves a flood). In the video a fixed camera shows the band playing the song in a closed quarters while the room fills up with water until it goes above their heads.

A gut-wrenching song about Luke's struggle with a life-threatening sickness, and what kind of feelings he wrestled with during that experience. The video, which features Luke's wife Courtney, shows the couple and their son at home shot in a professional but still personal fashion.

The mind of Cody Bonnette (lead vocals) is quite complicated, but there is no denying that he knows who to write compelling and thought-provoking lyrics. Here those lyrics take shape as a visual story that complements the lyrics which come from the perspective of an elder brother type personality who thinks he is not in need of God's grace. The video adds a new dimension that conveys how possessions amount to nothing in the end, tying into the message of the original that pride will leave you empty and lonely.

Of all the versions of Doxology that appear in a recorded song, this is hands down the most fun. "Zen and the Art of Xenephobia" is also a fantastic video.

"Now I Know" tells the story about all the things Andy Mineo has been deceived about starting from his childhood leading up to now with his experience in the record industry. The music video creatively translates these lyrics into an 8 bit animation.

"All of Us" is a creepy video about the dichotomous nature of our hearts to run from those who can help us. Arguably this song is about God but it can also be applied to friendships, family relationships, significant others, etc. "Pitiful" is also a great video, but this one is a little more innovative in terms of connecting to the theme of the song.

"Instincts" is an intelligently crafted and catchy rock song with an accompanying video that references the story of Icharus flying too close to the sun. The splash into the ocean looks low budget but otherwise this is a creative video from an underrated rock band.

I'm no expert on hardcore music but it's hard to deny the excellence of this song and the creativity of this video.

I tried not to select songs just for being "cool" without connecting back to the song somehow, but this was definitely an exception. This may not be Switchfoot's best song, and they have several other good videos (such as "Dare You To Move" and "We Are One Tonight"), but this music video for "Stars" takes the cake as their best.

Fever Fever is undoubtedly the least known talent on this list. This video for "Hypnotized" tells a Pocahantas-like story of young love and is matched perfectly with the band playing organic instruments within the same setting.

I'm not sure that any part of heaven will be a disco party, but this song and video is a lot of fun.

This is a brilliantly written song that both encourages those who struggle with self-worth and tells us not to worry so much about our future. As if the song wasn't already deep enough, this video, which is comprised of black and white clips of city life, adds a poem of sorts to give some more thought-provoking material.

"Dead Man" is probably the second heaviest inclusion on this list. This is a powerful song about redemption with great visual storytelling.

This video for "Death of Me" is about running from and fighting your sinful nature symbolized by a hooded figure in the video. Side note: lead singer Michael Barnes was going to fight a CGI version of himself, but instead they found a doppelganger that looks remarkably similar to Michael. In recent years Red's music videos have been more cinematic in nature (and loosely connected), and always interesting to watch.

DC Talk did many music videos over the course of their five studio albums. "Between You And Me" stands out as being one of their strongest, and has certainly stood the test of time.

There are a plenty of songs about how God is better than drugs--Skillet and TFK immediately come to mind. Off Lecrae's mixtape Church Clothes 2 "I'm Turnt" is a interesting video that follows Lecrae selfie-style at a party. The lyrics and beat are already solid, but the video adds a new dimension about how drugs will leave you empty in the morning, but the Holy Spirit will never fade.

This was arguably Relient K at the their best and at the peak of their popularity. This song perfectly demonstrates how this band was able to capture the hearts and ears of so many--thought provoking lyrics set to an accessible pop-punk / pop-rock sound. This video, which shows the band performing the song in a shrinking room, serves as a nice metaphor for the message of the song.