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by David Dodd
When it came to recording their previous records, the guys in Kutless
looked forward to taking off a couple months of touring as they headed
to the studio to create their works for Christ.
Not so with their latest release, To Know That You’re Alive,
recorded in Portland, San Diego, Baltimore, Nashville, and other
destinations as the demand for the Portland rockers live show has
escalated after every release.
Apostles That Rock sat down with lead singer Jon Micah Sumrall in
Nashville where we caught up for a chat about the new record and, more
importantly, effective evangelism at 35,000 feet.
So much for taking a couple months off of touring to relax and record
the new album.
Yeah, it was crazy. We were running late on a couple of tracks but for
the most part, we just couldn’t get away from our obligations on the
road, so we recorded in a number of different cities and cut demos in
hotel rooms, backstage at concerts and in the back of the tour bus.
Kutless can never been categorized as a veteran band who takes the
cookie cutter approach to releasing records, but still, this one seems
to have an added element of change and freshness.
Exactly. We used a different producer and a different approach to
writing as well which is where that freshness to the sound comes in; we
kind of changed the formula a bit.
And that’s evident in
the first single,
Complete.
That was one of those songs I was struggling with. I was in the back of
the tour bus, kicking the song around and Chris Taylor, who was on tour
with us, popped his head in and threw out a few ideas, we were just
mulling it over. Typically, I usually write all the lyrics, it’s
generally me and the producer tidying up those lyrics in the studio and
that’s just about it.
In this case here we are on a song that I already made two attempts at
and just not feeling, so the whole band came back there and started
throwing out ideas and we took this thing on and wrestled it as a
group. That’s when everything started happening.
The Bible mentions the word complete often, especially in the epistles
of Paul, yet the world doesn’t associate the word with Christ. I think
this is a great example of association between evangelism and Jesus with
that word.
You’re right. It’s a really encouraging song that talks about how
basically you can’t really find that fulfillment and wholeness and find
yourself being complete without God in your life. And it’s almost
ironic how when we find God we find ourselves. So many people find
themselves searching their whole lives and they’re looking to find who
they are and who they want to be. The fact is, it’s not until they
actually find Christ that they can settle into that and realize their
purpose because we were created to worship, we were created to glorify
God and so by finding Him we find who we are.
Music is such an incredible and effective platform to evangelize.
It sure is, especially since we as Christians often feel uncomfortable
evangelizing directly to people. I almost think there’s this
misunderstanding that Christians have because we’re told so often that
we need to be bold in our faith, and I’ve seen this approach where
Christians almost feel like they need to be talking to everyone that
passes by and say, ‘Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you….Hey, did you know
Jesus loves you!’ And when you do that, people look at you and say,
‘Dude, whoa, chill out, you’re a freak.’
I’m finding more and more that approach gets a very negative response
and it’s not very effective, so as I’m traveling through airports, I’m
realizing that people don’t want me to instantly break into, ‘Hey, I’m a
Christian, did you know that? Did you know that Jesus died for you?’
Because they’re like, ‘Hey, I just met you!’
The subtle, truthful, testimonial approach can be far more effective.
What I’m learning more and more I think are those situations where I can
just be myself and I can just live my life. I send people to our
website all the time when they ask about the band. There are times that
I share what we’re about because I feel the Holy Spirit is leading me
that way, but I know the website is helpful because there’s testimonies
there and I don’t have to shove my faith down their throat.
That sounds a lot like
Smile, a
song you wrote for the Hearts of the Innocent record.
That was actually a time when I sat next to a lady on a flight. We
began to talk and she asked me about the band - the name in particular -
and I told her we’re a bunch of Christian guys and here’s what the band
name means. She said, ‘I know you’re Christians,’ and I thought, ‘What
do you mean? How could you possibly know that?’ And she’s just like,
‘When you guys walked on the plane you had a smile on your face and a
joy in your heart and I knew that it could only come from one place.’
And I thought, man, I didn’t have to say a word and this lady knew I was
a Christian.
So more and more I’m realizing that being bold in your faith is living
loud more than it is talking loud. |
