We either are or we aren’t. It’s not both.

Admittedly, in the recent years of my Christian walk I have been under the impression that it’s not effective to be overtly Christian in the eyes of an unbeliever. I thought that the best way to make an impact was to be relevant with a perfect amount of “worldly” peppered in. Not too Christian. Not too secular. Of course, the problem then becomes defining what that means because it can get pretty convoluted pretty quickly. But I digress.

In my honest and earnest attempt to be as “real” as possible, I even compromised the wording of my message, using the adjective “spiritual” as my hipster definition of faith. Don’t get me wrong, my faith has everything to do with my spiritual life, but I am not spiritual first, faithful second. And this is something I had to realize when I put myself in an unbeliever’s shoes.

See, I used to work in marketing for a Christian company. I came in thinking I knew everything about how to effectively market to the lost. Don’t be too “Christian,” it turns people away. That was my mantra and I stuck to it pretty religiously (if you will pardon the pun) until I was asked to really start analyzing how the world views us. When I started to try to think outside my own box, something hit me.

No one wants to be conned into faith. Geez. Does that mean I’ve been a Christian con-artist all this time?

Okay, maybe that’s a little extreme, but my point is simply that if I’m so preoccupied with what the message looks like that I compromise the message itself, I’ve gone from being a real, honest person who just wants to share what’s on their heart, to someone who is trying to sell you something. And that’s EXACTLY what I was trying to do, with the best of intentions, let me assure you.

So to all of you out there who have wondered for a while about Lately, let me make it clear. We are not “Christians in a band that sings about spiritual stuff that could possibly be interpreted as having something to do with Jesus.” We are believers in the saving power of the blood of the Lamb of God. This is not something we want to shove down your throat or force upon you in any way. And moreso, it’s not something we hope you stumble upon when you happen to listen to our lyrics more closely. This is what we believe, and we thought you might like to know about it.

If you’re not interested at this time, there will be no hard feelings or judgment on our parts. But feel free to come back anytime with questions, concerns, or if you decide you do indeed want to know more about this Jesus fellow. He is intriguing, rebellious, and completely awesome, I can assure you. But yet again, I digress.

If at any point during the life of this band you have felt duped, misled, or conned, I offer you my sincerest apologies. I, as are we all, am on my own journey in this life, and I fully admit that I made a mistake in my youth, replacing the message of Jesus with relativism – worldy crust on an otherwise Christian pie. It was deceiving and I am sorry if you ever felt used or duped by it. I promise that was not my intention, but I see now that it was most likely the result.

I hereby promise that from this point forward, you will know full well that I am indeed a Jesus Freak, and if I may rip off the apt phrasing from my best friend, I’ve “grown some god-balls.” I’m not afraid to tell you that I love him and I’m doing all of this for him.

And for those of you who already believe in Jesus, I would like to encourage you to shed the garments of this world and don your nerdiest christian garb, so to speak. Wear your faith with
pride. Now, more than ever, you and I have nothing to hide. In fact, if we don’t share it, who will?

That is my spiritual (oh dang, there’s that word again) insight for today. May it serve us all well.

And may the force be with you.
The Captain
(confessed Jesus Freak)