MATT
MINOR (Grey Holiday):
I’ve spent my entire life focused so inwardly. I’ve been really
caught up in myself for a long time, maybe forever. I want to tell people
to look outside of themselves. It’s so, so easy to be selfish about
everything. I’m as guilty of that as anybody. There are so many people
struggling, so many who need the community. It’s so easy to get caught
up in yourself. Look outside of yourself. There are people who need you.
KEVIN
YOUNG (Disciple):
When we started writing for the Scars Remain album, I was personally
kinda out of ideas. We knew that the label was wanting to put out another
cd. I was just talking to the guys and was like, “I have nothing.
I don’t know what to talk about. I feel like I’ve talked
about everything.” I remember being in the back of the bus praying,
and I remember saying this specific prayer: “God, if you have anything
you want to say to this generation will you please put it on our hearts.” It
wasn’t even a few days later that we were in an airport, of all
places, and the inspiration and words to our song “After the World” just
started happening. I even told Tim about it at the check-in counter.
It’s a song that talks about how God loves us. We’re all
on a search, each and every one of us. We’re all looking for something.
You see a lot of people who get messed up in certain situations that
we would think are bad situations they need to be rescued from, but in
reality they’re looking for the same thing everybody’s looking
for. Nobody wants to be hungry. Nobody wants to be lonely. Everybody
wants a purpose for why they’re alive. Everybody wants to be happy.
Nobody wants to just be a mistake or an accident. It’s basically
a song where God’s saying, “Hey, that thing that you’re
looking for, that purpose, that happiness . . it’s me. I’m
it.”
JACOB
OLDS "Crouton" (Family Force 5):
This generation gets lost in taking themselves too seriously sometimes.
Family Force 5 is about showing our generation, and whatever generation
we’re speaking to, the joy of Christ. We hope that as crazy as
our live show is and as crazy as we are on stage that we’re a reflection
of the joy of Christ.
ROB
BECKLEY (Pillar):
One thing: Get reckless. It stems from
a song we just finished in the studio
the other day. It’s going to be on our new record, and it’s called “Reckless
Youth”. The whole thought behind it is to challenge you to be reckless,
but reckless in your faith. The definition of reckless that I really like is “to
act with disregard to consequences”. I challenge kids to act recklessly
in their faith, with disregard to what people will think or say or wanna do to
them. Live your faith recklessly. The challenge is for a generation to become
reckless. When we say, “be out of control,” I mean I wanna be out
of control so God can be in control. I think this needs to be meditated on and
really taken in to gain the courage to be strong in the generation we have now.
A lot of kids are very laid back about their faith. It’s just kind of a
side note for their dog tag, so to speak, of what they’re religious preference
is. Kids need to lose control of themselves, let God take control, and become
reckless.
DAVID
CROWDER:
When you experience love, you experience God. As a generation we want
to give ourselves away all the time, and usually we’re giving it
to the wrong thing. That’s what we’re always trying to do
entertainment-wise. But there’s no better person to give yourself
to than the person of Christ.
Is Their Hope For This Generation?
13 Top Artists Share Their Advice
by Tracy Darlington
Is there hope for this generation? A generation who gets its information
from Wikipedia, YouTube, and blogs? These music artists think so. In
fact, they believe God has a great plan for everyone to change the world
around them. Here’s the one thing they’d like to say to this
generation:
TOBYMAC:
For an artist like me who’s just put out my 8th cd (not counting
remixes and greatest hits and all that stuff) it’s very difficult
to remain unjaded, to remain soft clay in God’s hands. But my number
one goal in life is to remain unjaded. And I think that’s a problem
in Christian artistry. Our artists backstage get jaded. The next song becomes
the next song they gotta write because it’s their job. The next cd
becomes the next cd they gotta go make in the studio because it’s
their job. They feel like they’ve gotta do this for radio and do
that for this other department. It breaks my heart. Because if you can
put yourself in a place where every record, every song, every studio session,
every show you’re just like, “I wanna walk on water today with
this song I’m gonna write. I’m gonna step out in faith and
believe with all my heart that God can breathe something through me that
changes someone’s life. I’m gonna believe that God can breathe
something through me that wakes someone up who’s turned away from
His love and opens their mind to His love again.” Man, if you can
do that and remain soft clay, life can be amazing. It really can. That
was my goal with Portable Sounds. I was like, I will not walk into that
studio hardened. That goes for everyone, even if you’re not a musician.
Be soft every day. Walk on water. Have the faith to say, “Alright,
God, I’m believing you’re gonna do something cool here.” And
start steppin’.
BETHANY
DILLON:
To my generation . . . I feel that there are a lot of distractions, especially
for American people who are my age, a lot of things that fill up your day
and your time. I so wrestle with those things. I’ve been challenged
to realize how short my life really is. The only thing that really lasts
is Jesus. I would say to this generation, sow into what lasts.
MIKE
SMITH (Leeland):
Our main cry is to draw kids closer to God and show that they can have
an intimate, tangible relationship with Christ. They don’t have to
wait until they’re of legal age or an “adult” to do something
for God and have a ministry. At ten, eleven, twelve, and even younger .
. . God can use any age. It’s not about how old you are. It’s
about where you are with your relationship with Christ. You can be a light
to your friends in school. Our main thing is to call our generation to
a deeper walk, to an actual intimate relationship with Christ. A day to
day thing.
ANTHONY
ARMSTRONG (Red):
I would say that I think life is all about inspiration. People’s
lives are changed by being inspired by one thing or another. Music, another
person, an athletic event, these are things in life that inspire people.
If you’re a decent person, and you live your life inspiring the
people around you, we’re all gonna be in a better place. Do you
best to be inspirational and inspire people. That’s the reason
we do what we do. We were inspired by a message, and it changed our lives
forever. If people live every day to try to inspire somebody, even if
it’s to clean the dishes to inspire their brother, up to inspiring
somebody in your school to pick up an instrument or a Bible, anything.
Inspiring them into a good situation. It’s a gateway for so many
things. That’s what we’re all about, making sure kids can
look up to someone.
KJ-52:
I always encourage people to find out who Jesus is for themselves. Don’t
base your relationship on a pre-conceived notion of what church is or what
your parents teach you. A relationship built on your own personal relationship
with Christ lasts way longer than dogmatic rules, regulations or even doctrine
of a particular denomination. Not that there’s anything wrong with
those things. They have their place and are important. All I know is for
me I didn’t really grow up in the church so finding out who Jesus
was at fifteen helped me kinda go further than the “youth group kids” who
just coasted by. So discover the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus of American
Christianity or whatever we paint him as. Pick up the Bible and go talk
to God. It doesn’t get more un-complex than that. And get some people
to help you too. Those answers that you’re looking for, they’re
found in Him.
NATE
HUSS:
Release your inhibitions, stop trying to prove yourself and show yourself
as worthy to the world! Trends change constantly, so obviously we can
never totally get it down on what’s beautiful, what’s perfect,
or what’s acceptable. Be you! Be happy with who you are because
you are truly unique and beautiful to God. To fight and to strive to
be acceptable to everyone around you is a task that’s impossible
to achieve. You have to be totally satisfied with who you are in Christ.
Once you’re completely satisfied with that person—you’ll
find real fulfillment in your life!
NATHAN
CURRIN "Nadaddy" (Family Force 5):
One thing to remember is we all came into this world as an example, as
a reflection of who God is, created in his image. We didn’t come
into this world as people divided. We came in all as one. And when we
go and have a big party up in heave it’s gonna be us as one. So
there’s no reason to have division here in the body when we’re
all going to be one, as we were created and as we’re going to finish.
MARK
HALL (Casting Crowns):
If I could say only one thing I would say: God loves you just the way
you are. He wants a friendship with you, and the only way to that friendship
is with Jesus. It’s gotta start there.
Tracy
Darlington is
a freelance writer, and her work has appeared in Brio, Breakaway,
YS, CCM Magazine, Insight, Susie Magazine,
and other publications. She has interviewed countless Christian musicians including
Rebecca St. James, Delirious, Newsboys,
Leigh Nash, Barlowgirl, Krystal Meyers, Joy Williams, Pillar, Michelle Tumes,
and many others. In her spare time she can be found riding horses or listening
to
music
and
sipping
a Venti 3-shot sugar-free vanilla latte. Visit her online at her
blog where she talks about Music, God, dogs and coffee. You can also look
her
up
at
Twitter and Facebook.
