by David Dodd

Before becoming a Baptist minister, Paul Colman’s dad was in the theater.  The combination of the two injected Paul’s music in a positive fashion.  At 11, he formed his first band, devoting the songs to Our Lord.  Later on, he played in clubs doing covers as well as his own material.

“The songs I wrote were focused on that element of faith, they were kind of subtle songs because I was singing in a pub and you can’t really go from singing America Pie to you know, Your Love, O Lord.  It doesn’t work that well.  Some people have tried it but they didn’t keep their gig that long.”

 After years of success with the Paul Colman Trio followed by a successful solo career, things began to change drastically for the Aussie rocker. 

 “Not too long ago,” Colman tells Apostles That Rock, “I was running myself on this driven, aggressive course. I always wanted to know the answers to what I was doing:  What’s the plan?  What’s happening?   And due to some of the things God’s been doing in my life, I was beginning to live out the title of my last record, Let it Go.   He gave me the understanding that unless the seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot be raised up.  Unless Jesus died and submitted Himself to that, He couldn’t have been raised up.” 

“I was going through that season a lot in my life and trying to understand what it is to live like that as opposed to running ahead of Him, which I feel that even though He’s used me and I’m under His grace, I feel like I’ve done a lot of running ahead, sometimes being impetuous and not waiting.  I know there’s a balance between working and striving and I’ve done a lot of striving in my life, and so, this season for me is really about understanding what it is to sit and wait on the Word and to seek His kindness.” 

 “There was a night in June of 2005 when I was playing a festival in Houston, and I should say that over the last 6 years I’ve played with the newsboys about 120 times and I’ve always hung around and watched them, pursued a friendship and I always felt they were the big thing.

 That night I was angry about things not going well and now that I look back and realize that the bitterness, rejection, greed and desire or dereliction that was in my heart, God was bringing to the surface, like an ointment draws out the poison.  I can

totally see that now, but at the time I was totally consumed inside. 

So here I am singing these songs of redemption and inside I’m racked with jealousy and ironically the band that I was jealous of was the newsboys because I would turn out to these events and be there all day performing and I would see their crew shining their guitars, setting up the stage, getting the big cannons of confetti ready with the big backdrops and lighting rigs and the band hadn’t even arrived.  And I was just like, what have I done wrong?” 

      It was the leader of the newsboys, vocalist Peter Furler, who made a life-changing impression on Colman. 

     “In hindsight, I can see that night that my anger really came to head, and I decided to leave before they played.  I thought, I don’t want to watch these guys, and I ended up going to the side of the stage and saying, ok I’ll watch this song, ok, I’ll stay for one more song.  Then Peter started speaking and sharing his testimony and it was a pivotal moment because I was sitting there listening and I was weeping.  It just caught me and God spoke to me through Peter.” 

      “I met with him the next week and I said,

      ‘Peter I have to tell you something.’ 

       I sat down with him and I said,

      ‘Peter, I’m so jealous of you.’ 

       And he said,

      ‘What?’ 

       I said,

      ‘I’m sorry, this is a confession, you know, The Bible says to confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16).  So I want to pray. And I’m consumed with it.  And Peter the truth is, I love you and I’m not jealous of you.’” 

      “And when Peter speaks now, I hear him say what he said that night, and he said,

      ‘There’s something inside of us that’s too powerful for us, and it has to be defeated by something more powerful than it, and the only thing more powerful than that is Jesus.’  That was a pivotal moment for me.”

 “After that I had this idea of becoming the newsboys regular opening act.   I could warm up the crowd.  And instead of asking Peter about it, I decided for one of the first times in my life, to go to God and say,

 ‘Ok God, I’m going to leave this one with You.’  

 “When I saw Peter it was excruciating not to mention it.  You know, some people struggle with alcohol or narcotics, that’s never been a problem for me.  My drug was myself, was my own validation was seeking to better where I was at and always having a plan together and wondering what’s in this for me. 

There was about nine times that I wanted to say something to him, I was like, ‘Ok God, I’ve held out long enough,’ and then I thought no, no, let it go.”   

“I got together with Peter one day and he said, ‘What can I do for you?’ 

I said, ‘What?’ 

And he said. ‘What can I do for you?  I was just praying this morning and your face came into my prayers and I just felt I had to ask you, what can I do for you?’

My hands started shaking, and I started to tear up.  I said, ‘Peter, I can’t believe this.’  And he said, ‘What can I do for you?’  And I said, ‘Well, I want you to take me on the road. I want to be with you, I want to hang out with you all the time and with the other guys.  I just feel there’s something about me being with you guys where I feel I need you guys in my life.  Because you’re the guys that I love and I want to walk with, so maybe if you took me on the road as your opening act we could hang, you know, we could study the Scriptures together and we could be together and I wouldn’t be on my own.’”

“Peter immediately called up management and said, ‘let’s get Colman on.’    

About three weeks later I flew down to Florida to meet up with them and I really said to the Lord, ‘Lord, I want to turn from the way that I have been and I want You to be in charge.’  So on the tour, if they gave me thirty minutes, I took twenty eight.  I didn’t sit in the same dressing room.  I led corporate worship as an opening act and just did one song of my own; I didn’t do a Paul Colman set.  I didn’t even take merchandise with me, I didn’t ask to be introduced, I didn’t do a sound check,  I just went out there and played some songs written by my great mate Rueben Morgan from Hillsong that just pierced my heart, they just took the hardness and melted it, he’s such a beautiful songwriter.  And so I would sing, Lord, I give you my heart, I give you my soul.  I really meant it.  I would lead the people in worship, I would step up to the microphone and I’d just be saying, ‘God, this is my prayer, let Jesus in my heart.  I want you to be my Lord and I’m desperate for You in a way I’ve never been desperate for You before.’”

“The next morning I went to a church and a guy gave me a prophesy about the Lord abstaining my heart and knowing I would be intimate with Him.  This guy never met me before.”

 “The next Monday, I felt like man, I can see a change here, I know this is God because I tried to replace this thing and I couldn’t, I’m defeated by it.

Peter calls me about seven that night and says.  ‘Let’s go to Starbucks,’ and I said, ‘You know, I think I really want to spend some time with my wife.’  And he said, ‘I really want to talk to you.’  And then I suddenly thought, oh no, what have I done?  I’ve suddenly done something wrong.  I’m a loser.  And then he said, ‘I’ll meet you at Starbucks in a half an hour.’

So I get there and Peter’s there and he goes,

Alright, I don’t know how else to say this but I want you to join the band.’ 

I literally said, ‘what band?’   

No way in my mind was I thinking the newsboys.  And he said,

‘I want you to join the newsboys.’ 

And I said, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ 

He said, ‘No, I had this idea about two weeks ago and then when we watched you play the other night I couldn’t get it off my heart and I didn’t want to tell my manager because I thought he’d go, what Colman in the newsboys, you’ve got to be kidding?  And then my manager said he had the same thought but he didn’t want to tell me.’

And so, I was shocked and I said, ‘What do you want me to do, play the guitar?  Sure, I can do that.’

Then I thought, what about the other guys?  Because I know that I can be quite loud and sometimes obnoxious by taking up a lot of space in a room and so I’ve always had this insecure feeling and I’ve always struggled with that all my life and so I immediately said, ‘what do the other guys think?’  And he said, ‘I called every one of them last night and they’re all in.’ 

And that’s when I thought to myself, this is unbelievable. 

And so I went home and told my wife, Rebecca and she thought this was crazy.

I went to Europe for the next five days and I was just praying the whole time and all of a sudden I realized this was an answer to prayer.  That I got a chance to step back from Paul Colman for awhile and be Paul, and I got a chance to be with some guys that I already really liked, it wasn’t like I was joining a band I didn’t know.  I was already close to the guys in the band, I live on the same street as Phil and Duncan; the road manager and the monitor guy live in the neighborhood.  I always sought to be with these guys, if I was in the same town, I always wanted to see the newsboys because I was drawn to the music.  And all of a sudden I realized that this is exactly where God wants me.  And this peace, awwww, man.  It was like this sweetest water when you’re parched, it was like this peace and this joy in the sense of God going, ‘My hand is on you and this is where I want you.’ 

“I was just talking to people a few minutes ago about my next solo record and Peter asked me what I was going to do and I told him I didn’t know.  He said, ‘Dude, you’re on the right track.’

All I know is I want to make a record that when people listen to it, they hear a heart that is sinful and thankful for God’s Grace.  If all of them are someone else’s songs, or if all of them are my songs, whatever it is, I just want an album where people listen to it and go, that is a person that God has moved in his life, and so this is the best season I feel like I’ve ever been in.  I don’t have a lot of good preaching words to say, I don’t have a lot of teaching, I just feel like I have a testimony of God’s Goodness and His Grace.” 

“So that’s kind of the long version and actually that’s the longest version I’ve ever told, but God has been so good to me and He has really moved in my life and I’ve been so thankful.”