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by David
Dodd
When the five members of the Christian rock powerhouse ensemble, Red
decided to rely on Scripture instead of critics by touring with secular
bands, they quickly discovered the strength of their camaraderie in
Christ fueled their intensity, love and absolute focus on the Cross far
more powerfully as the Christian brothers surrendered by relying on
their only means of true hope to tackle the tenuous obstacles of the
world – Jesus Christ.
Apostles That Rock sat down with the entire band, and even though singer
Michael Barnes did not speak because of vocal problems, he prayed with
us as the other members of the band shouted out their love, desire, and
true devotion to the blood of Christ.
Drummer Hayden
Lamb:
We knew it
was a calling for us, a door that obviously God was opening for us by
placing us in the atmosphere of touring with secular bands. We had
prayed about it individually and together. We were just being
obedient. For us to be given the opportunity, we just thought this is
where God is calling us to be.
Guitarist Anthony
Armstrong:
I think we as a band have grown as Christians more by being involved in
the secular industry than in the Christian industry because it’s easy to
get comfortable when the pastor comes in and says, ‘Can I pray with
you?’ It’s beautiful and don’t take this wrong, but it becomes very
routine.
When
you’re out there in the secular world on your own and you’re the ones
doing it, you have to get on your knees every day. That makes us
stronger individually.
The bleeding heart of Red was formed five years ago when five guys
from very diverse backgrounds emerged as a unit to give God all the
glory through powerful beats, surging guitar riffs and intense vocal
prowess.
Bassist Randy
Armstrong:
We knew each other as friends before we started writing and forming the
band, and so when we sat down to write, everything we knew and had
written about was experiences we had been through. We wanted to write
something universal that people could relate to.
A lot of
the subject matter of heavier music is very dark. Musically, we could
go there, but from more of a repentive place. Some of our testimonies
and our experiences just kind of came out when we wrote, and that’s the
bond that we have.
At the end
of the day, we’re Christians first, and no matter what kind of venues
we’re playing in, no matter what kind of bands we’re touring with, our
ministry and our focus remains the same.
The results of taking the stand to shine the Light of Christ into a dark
world has paid off for the band who have chosen this route because Jesus
told us to go out and preach the gospel in the great commission.
Randy:
We’ve been on a lot of mainstream tours lately, and last year we came
off one where in terms of mainstream culture was, I guess you could say
it was pretty extreme. There was the second hand smoke every night,
lots of alcohol and drugs, and everything that goes along with that.
We started
the tour and the other bands didn’t know what to expect from us, they
knew we were Christian guys and we were a Christian band, and some of
them even admitted to us that they had an attitude towards us about
being a Christian band and taking up the support slot, but early on they
realized there was something different about us.
We carried
ourselves in a different way. We had just as much fun without the beer
and the drugs and everything else.
Plus,
living and touring in those situations brought a lot of strength to the
band, both individually and collectively. Our ministry grew in ways
that we hadn’t imagined up to that point because we were put into a
situation to be able to minister to mainstream bands.
We didn’t
go in there thinking we were better than anybody and we still don’t, we
just went in there and loved and supported them, you know, and treated
them like we treat our family and friends.
They’re no
difference because we’re no better than they are, even when you compare
what they’re doing to what we’re doing, there’s no difference because
we’re all sinners and we all fall short. It was just amazing to see the
difference - from the beginning of the tour to the end of the tour - how
their attitudes toward us changed because of the way we treated them.
That was our focus going into it, we’re going to minister to these guys
just by being who we are. We don’t have to get on stage and give a
testimony every night; it was about our personal lives, and who we are
and how we interacted with people that would change their thinking.
By the end
of the tour there were a couple of guys asking us, ‘tell me more about
what you guys believe in.’ Other guys were saying, ‘I get it, I fully
get what you’re doing, I understand it and I love it.’ At the end of
the day they respect you more for being real and being humble, with
absolutely nothing to prove.
Once they were offered to travel on a secular tour, the guys prayed
individually and collectively for the answer. They received it rather
quickly and had no apprehension of going out on the road with secular
bands.
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